“Portis (Froodle) examines the push-and-pull between a parent who wants to get where she’s going and a boy whose journey is all about discovery. The two figures are drawn with thick black lines, and their light brown skin and dark hair give them a universal appearance. “Hurry,” the boy’s mother says, looking at her watch; they have a train to catch. The storefronts they pass are brick, and the buildings they pass could be five years old, or 50. The boy looks behind him and sees a woman walking a dachshund. “Wait,” he says, holding out the back of his hand for the dog to sniff. “Hurry!” his mother repeats. “Wait,” the boy says again, this time at the sight of a cement mixer spilling cement on the road. On they go, the alternating words “Hurry” and “Wait” the story’s only text until, right at the door of the train, the boy spies something so lovely that his mother has to agree: “Yes. Wait.” Economy and affection give this story the dimensions of a classic.” STARRED REVIEW

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY starred

“A harried mother rushes her toddler son through the busy city streets, and he resists, stalling to look at everything they encounter. This fundamental tension plays out in a series of spreads illustrating the same refrain. She says “Hurry!” looking at her watch or checking her phone, and he says “Wait,” stopping to wave at a construction worker, feed a duck, or discover a butterfly in a bush. Soon rain begins to fall, and the rush gets quicker. But just as the doors of their train begin to close, he insists on one last pause. The pair stops to see a brilliant rainbow stretching over the city. “Yes. / Wait.” Portis fills her friendly, accessible images with predictive details. Observant children will notice slickers, umbrellas, and other clues of things to come throughout the pages (is that a rainbow pop he points to on the ice-cream truck?), adding richness to this sweet story about appreciating life’s simple pleasures.” STARRED REVIEW

Horn Book Starred

“The conflicting agendas of a mother and preschooler play out in this classic scenario depicting a leisurely/rushed walk to the bus. Two of only three words employed in the text form a call-and-response pattern. Naturally it is the adult who admonishes, “Hurry!” The protagonist wants to greet a friendly dog, wave to the cement truck worker, and feed the ducks in the park. Portis’s signature black outlines surrounding the people, creatures, and objects offer a pleasing clarity that contrasts with the softer, more amorphous backgrounds. Rendered in charcoal, ink, and pencil, with digital coloring, these scenes provide ample opportunity to follow the boy’s lead, pausing to notice details, count things, and discuss colors, shapes, and signs. There is much to notice, such as the ladybug perched on the title page’s “t”—drawing attention to the titular word itself. The insect or a replica of its form appears in surprising spots as the book progresses, as do other visual threads. One delightful scene places readers inside a tropical fish shop peering through an aquarium; the view aligns a fish’s eye with the boy’s. Pacing varies, controlled by perspective and the number of pages between words. After the mother exclaims, “Hurry!” three times in a row, as showers fall, the pair reach the bus. The imploring child gets the “Yes. Wait.” he has longed for, however, when his parent notices the double rainbow. VERDICT Portis has a gift for creating rich visual narratives for young children; this one will resonate with their caretakers, too.” STARRED REVIEW

School Library Journal Starred Review

This picture book employing only three words follows a young boy and his mother on a walk through a city. Mother pulls the boy along, looking at her watch and urging “Hurry!”; the boy is distracted by the many fascinating things along the way (a dachshund, a cement truck, an aquarium, etc.) and keeps calling “Wait.” When it starts to rain, the two head for the train platform; just as they are about to board, the pulls his harried mother back to see a double rainbow spread across the urban skyline (“Yes. Wait,” the mother finally agrees). The dichotomy between kid purpose and adult purpose will be a familiar one to adult readers aloud, and the message comes sweetly and subtly through the little boy, who is more present in the moment than his hurried parent. The art, pencil, charcoal, and ink illustrations touched with digital color, incorporates chunky outlines set against white, and on many of the spreads the focus shifts from a wide-angle view of a bustling city street to a tightly focused depiction of the singular object that caught the boy’s eye. Both innovative and joyful, this clever new offering from Portis will charm children and grownups alike with its simple but effective reminder to slow down.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

This picture book employing only three words follows a young boy and his mother on a walk through a city. Mother pulls the boy along, looking at her watch and urging “Hurry!”; the boy is distracted by the many fascinating things along the way (a dachshund, a cement truck, an aquarium, etc.) and keeps calling “Wait.” When it starts to rain, the two head for the train platform; just as they are about to board, the pulls his harried mother back to see a double rainbow spread across the urban skyline (“Yes. Wait,” the mother finally agrees). The dichotomy between kid purpose and adult purpose will be a familiar one to adult readers aloud, and the message comes sweetly and subtly through the little boy, who is more present in the moment than his hurried parent. The art, pencil, charcoal, and ink illustrations touched with digital color, incorporates chunky outlines set against white, and on many of the spreads the focus shifts from a wide-angle view of a bustling city street to a tightly focused depiction of the singular object that caught the boy’s eye. Both innovative and joyful, this clever new offering from Portis will charm children and grownups alike with its simple but effective reminder to slow down.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“A mother struggles to get her curious little boy to their morning train. Flat illustrations and matte digital coloring evoke the two-dimensional, strategic thinking she needs to successfully advance her morning commute. Heavy charcoal linework and thick outlines offer broad, vivid projections of the friendly people, animals, and city scenes that greet the boy and his mother on their walk, as well as the child’s strong desire to investigate and the mother’s urgent need to make the train. She steers insistently headlong up the road as he zigzags and doubles back to points of interest: a waving workman, bubbling tropical fish, a butterfly, hungry ducks. Back and forth and with each page turn, the two call to each other, “Hurry” and “Wait.” Sheepish grown-ups will see themselves in the mother, with her eyes and body angled away from the boy, and children will grin at this book’s implicit validation of young people’s desire to meander. Panoramic double-page spreads describe their movements toward the station, where the mother finally shouts out a bigger “hurry,” and large raindrops begin to fall. Just as the train boards, the boy stops dead in his tracks, seeing something in the sky that just demands a moment to enjoy. Finally, his mother agrees, scoops him up, and marvels. Beautifully controlled pacing and an immensely satisfying rainbow resolution make this book an effective refutation of frenzied schedules.” STARRED REVIEW

Kirkus Starred Review

With just three words spoken over the span of a walk to the train platform, Antoinette Portis (Not a Box) shows how a child teaches an adult to pause and appreciate the moment.

“Hurry!” says a woman, glancing at her watch and leading a boy by the hand down the sidewalk. The child spies a Dachshund. On the next page, he says, “Wait.” He bends down to let the dog smell his hand. “Hurry!” repeats the woman, as they walk past a blue truck with a fish pattern, and approach a construction site. “Wait” reads the text on the next double-page spread, as the boy waves to a worker who’s filling in a pothole. The book’s genius design, in alternating spreads, plays up the energy of the adult intent on reaching her destination–the exclamation point, the italicized text, the crowded double-page spreads–and that of the observant child pausing to take in his surroundings. Portis rewards readers who, like the boy hero, linger. The truck with the fish motif shows up a few pages later in front of a fish store. (A striped fish matches the boy’s T-shirt.) As the adult urges the child to “Hurry!” past an ice cream truck, he points out a rainbow Popsicle stick (“Wait.”), a foreshadowing of the book’s climax.

Portis quickens the pace when rain arrives. “Hurry!” comes three times in a row. But the child tugs back (“Wait”) to show his adult companion (who introduces the third word) a miracle of nature: “Yes. Wait.”

Discover: A nearly wordless picture book stars an adult in a hurry and the child who teaches her to wait.

Jennifer M. Brown
Children’s Editor, Shelf Awareness

http://bookpage.com/reviews/18434-antoinette-portis-wait#.VYlgrTBVhBd

On the third spread of this story of a hurrying parent with a curious child, readers see a street scene with a “one way” sign in the background. It’s fitting for this horizontally oriented book of a mother rushing to get someplace on time. “Hurry!” she keeps telling her son, dashing to the next page. But “wait,” he says. There’s a big and endlessly intriguing world to see, and he wants to slow down and take it all in.

There are several surprises from Antoinette Portis in this story about the unexpected joys of the world. For one, don’t rush past the title page spread. The boy stands next to the book’s title in warm, orange letters: Wait. And he stares at the letter “t,” because—look closely now—perched on it is a ladybug. His mother walks off the spread, tugging him along. She has, we already know before the story begins, somewhere to be. And fast.

Portis takes advantage of every available opportunity to tell this quiet, poignant tale. Even the book’s front and back cover cleverly convey the heart of the story, as we see a relaxed family of cats going one way (following the aforementioned ladybug, no less), while the boy—so eager to stop and pet them—is dragged along by his mother, stage left. Readers are invited to read slowly and carefully, just as the boy would have it: Look carefully, because what looks like a blossom on a bush is actually, as seen on the next spread, a butterfly, just waiting to be seen and appreciated.

Using pencil, charcoal and ink with digitally colored spreads and thick outlines, Portis showcases a primarily cool palette that gives way to a vivid, colorful rainbow that the boy insists his mother stop to see. She gives in, mercifully, even forgetting the subway car she had been so diligently heading toward.

This is a story to be savored.

Julie Danielson

Book News and Reviews: BEST OF 2015: Our Favorite Books for Young Readers

http://bcplreviews.blogspot.com/2016/01/best-of-2015-our-favorite-books-for.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/10/summer-reading-books-for-kids_n_7547634.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly&utm_campaign=18d34bb6e8-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0bb2959cbb-18d34bb6e8-304468481

“Using only the words “wait” and “hurry,” Antoinette Portis perfectly captures the daily tensions involved in getting a small child to school. Where a toddler sees opportunities to meet neighborhood animals and dodge raindrops, his mother sees only obstacles designed to make them late. Parents and children alike will recognize themselves in these pages — and maybe learn to see the other’s point of view in the process.”

The entire text of “Wait” consists of three words: wait, hurry and yes. Yet the “savor the small stuff” message, the boy’s wonder and his mother’s enlightenment and acquiescence deliver a powerfully big lesson.

http://m.jacksonville.com/lifestyles/columnists/brandy-allport/2015-09-25/story/read-all-about-it-wait-shares-important#article=6827DBB9BC4245BB86FBBD0543D6513DF9C1