The plot was not what I expected, but it ended up exceeding my expectations! I started the book thinking it would be about Rosie adjusting to getting glasses for the first time, and I was intrigued to see how that would play out without words. Instead, the fantastic illustrations take the reader on a journey of emotions and perspective. This would be a great book for adults to enjoy alongside children and I would be interested to hear what message my students take away from this book. Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

This wordless picture book is full of feeling. Rosie has been having a dreary day when she follows a colorful butterfly and finds magical glasses that change her world from gray to brightly colored. She sees things more positively through her new glasses. While there is no explanation to why the glasses change her perspective, the ending redeems the story. She loses the glasses, and things change gray again, but a friendly dog bounding by changes her world to color once more.

Rosie's Glasses is a charming little wordless picture book. The illustrations are very clever -- there's a lot going on in most of them, but it's always clear what the main point of the scene is meant to be, even without any written story or dialogue to direct the plot.

Rosie is having a bad day. A spectacularly bad day. When she stumbles across a pair of magic glasses, she's amazed at the difference in the way the world looks. Those glasses seem to make the world a much happier place! But will Rosie need to wear those glasses to have good days? What will happen if she loses them?

Although I really like the idea of this book, I think it needs to be read together with discussion at least the first couple of times. For a story with no words, there's quite a bit going on in this book, and it would be easy for some young ones to take away the wrong message (having the right "thing" can fix everything that's wrong in life). Overall, though, I think this book has a good message and the illustrations are my favourite sort -- lots of stuff going on in the background for little imaginations to use to make even more stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for providing me with a free electronic ARC of this book.

I'm so impressed with this story without words. It really is a book of possibilities and provides an opportunity to talk about mental health in a safe, non-threatening way. Great opportunities for open-ended questions to ask a child "what do you think is happening on this page" and more.

This is a cute wordless picture book about a little girl who only sees her world in black and white. Then she finds some glasses and suddenly her world is in vibrant color. I thought this book was going to be about getting glasses for the first time (because I remember how sharp and colorful my world became when I got glasses), but then she loses the glasses and her world stays colorful. The illustrations were done very well and there was a lot to see on each page.

It is amazing how much of a story can be told without words. The illustrations on each page tell so many different stories while allowing the reader to imagine what is happening and create their own ideas. When the glasses go on and everything is in color, it all comes alive! The artwork on the walls in her bedroom to the class hamster and the face of her alarm clock! I think so many of us can use the idea of seeing things through a different set of eyes whether it is our moods, our backgrounds and lives that are coloring them, so much potential with this book!

Bravo to the creators of this book for attempting a wordless picture book/graphic novel, but I still don't know what the end means. The message is that love can bring as much brightness and colour to your world as science – if not more than. But what the chance encounter in the last picture tells us, I fail to understand. Before then we have a very quick read due to the lack of words, and a pleasing kind of tale. It's certainly not great, but it's worth a look.

Review to be posted in August on all places mentioned in my profile.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

WOW. Just WOW. This was even better than I had hoped, and I already had high hopes based on the cover (which I absolutely adore).

This is a wordless picture book about a little girl and her monochrome world. How she feels quite unhappy. How everything seems to just suck. How everything seems to go on and on, how her days are endless rains and unhappiness. Until one day. When she finds a beautiful coloured butterfly and comes upon glasses. Glasses that will give her a whole new view of the world. Are the glasses magic? Or can we, as humans, change the way we view the world by just simply adding something new to the mix? I would say a bit of both. It is certainly magic that the girl found them, that such a colourful butterfly made his way in her monochrome world. And it is a bit of both when she looks through them. The glasses give her a chance to see something different. To see that the world isn't always gloom and doom. Sometimes you just need a tiny nudge to see things differently.

And I have to say, I am not a kid, but I could definitely use this book in my life. Maybe I also need a little nudge, in the form of something, to show me that my life isn't always dreary and monochrome.

Plus I was at first very sad, yes, I gasped, when that happened to Rosie's glasses, but it seems that she doesn't need the glasses any more, she has something else that can show her that the world will always be the fun place. You just need a tiny little nudge, something that makes your heart flutter, something that opens your eyes to the beauty around you.

I loved how the author showed the clear differences in worlds. The monochrome world is drab, doom, and sad, and the colourful world is full of happy smiles, sun, and colours.

The art is just perfection. I knew I would love it based on the cover and what I saw there, but that I would love it so so much? No. I definitely have a new favourite illustrator in my life. Even in the droopy parts it was much fun to see all the details. Like the fangs on the school's door, or the crying baby, or the birds.

All in all, a wonderful and special book and I would highly recommend it to everyone!

This was incredibly beautiful and powerful using only images to tell a story. This book is so creative and quite frankly pure genius. This author was able to create a story with no words whatsoever and had a very powerful message behind it. Absolutely incredible!

Rosie has a tough morning, like many kids do. This wordless book is a great way for educators or people who work with children to see what comes to them each morning. Rosie ends up finding these glasses that literally change her entire perspective of the world around her, which changes to bright colors and joy. Her whole life has changed! But when she loses these glasses, will she still be able to find joy in her life? SPOILER: Yes. And bonus- another little kid having a tough day finds these glasses later, implying his perspective is soon to change.

LOVE this book for class discussions, writing prompts, and small group chats. Also great for professional development on interacting with children.

Wow! This is one of the best books I’ve never read! Both wordless and speaking volumes at the same time Rosie’s Glasses is allegedly a children’s book but I think it’s profound enough for all ages to get something from it. I’d actually dare say that the older you are the more you may need this book.

I love the idea of ‘reading’ this book with a child, taking turns telling the stories that are happening within the pages. It’s never too early to learn about perspective and never too late to be gently reminded of it. I adore the exploration of how our emotions can influence the way we see the world and interact with it.

I was talking to one of my doctors last week about how it’s easier to do the same thing over and over again. She is the undisputed ‘Queen of Analogies and All Things Poetic and Deep’ in my life so naturally she likened thoughts and behaviours to grooves; water being more likely to want to travel the already well worn path. She talked about how it’s possible to carve a new groove in your life, that over time you can essentially train yourself to think and behave in physically and mentally healthier ways. We tend to get set in our grooves of how we see the world and those grooves deepen in time as we tread the same path, unless we make a conscious effort to change them. (P.S. Unlike most people I actually look forward to appointments with my doctors because I have the most profound, caring, extraordinary ones ever!)

This book reminded me of that conversation. The same thing that’s true of grooves can be said for perspective. We can inadvertently get stuck seeing the world one way when there are so many unexplored possibilities. It can take just the slightest shift in your perspective and your entire outlook can change, much like when Rosie puts on the glasses in this book and all of a sudden a world of colour and wonder opens up around her.

I love that reading the title Rosie’s Glasses made me think of rose-tinted glasses. The positivity associated with rose-tinted glasses seems to get a bad rap all around and even when I looked up ‘rose-tinted’ in the dictionary, Mr Collins told me that it’s “excessively optimistic”. I don’t know though. Is there such thing as too much optimism? I like to think that even when things in our life suck and there doesn’t seem to be any colour in sight that we can still choose to hope. Surely we can acknowledge the suckage of life (I’m not advocating denial) and still find the good as well.

I took some photos while I was sitting at the beach several years ago. Looking out across the ocean the water was sparkling, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. It was a gorgeous day. Then I looked behind me and there were angry storm clouds ready to release buckets and the sky was prematurely dark. If I showed you the photos you’d be forgiven for thinking they were different days, maybe even different seasons. Yet what the camera recorded was determined by what I was looking at at the time.

Until I opened this book, remembering the contrast between the sunny and stormy photos has been my go to in thinking about perspective. Now I think I’ll be imagining Rosie’s glasses whenever I catch myself needing an attitude realignment. If I’m seeing a monochromatic world I can remind myself that I don’t need glasses to change my perspective. I just need to allow myself to see the rest of the spectrum.

I’ve said in a number of reviews now that the illustrations bring the book alive or they are everything. In this book they really are everything. They’re deceptively simple, easy to ‘read’ but with depth that you appreciate more as you keep looking. Dave Whamond’s illustrations capture the mood and story so well that words really aren’t necessary.

So, as usual, here I am writing a review that’s longer than the actual book but at least this time I’ll have company. That is, unless someone is smart enough to post a review that simply shows two illustrations, one of Rosie’s world without glasses and one with them. Now, why didn’t I think of that?!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for the opportunity to discover this little gem. Kid’s book? Sure, I can see that. Yet it’s not only a kid’s book. I’m looking forward to the release of Rosie’s Glasses because in my world it’s going to be a coffee table book so kids and once upon a time kids can both appreciate its message.

Great art work! Wordless picture book is a first for me! As a substitute teacher, I think this would be a great book for observation! Thank you netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I really liked the illustrations on this book. The style is very vibrant, energetic. There's a lot going on. However, I didn't like the fact that it was without a written story. I think it was very easy to add a story that would make it more interesting for a kid.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for granting a copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a lovely message this wordless book gives us! As a speech language pathologist working with young children, I am always looking for wordless books that help encourage language concepts and usage. This book begins with Rosie in her bed, with a black cloud over her, representing a cluttered mind and space and pessimism. In her day, she finds a special pair of glasses as she follows a butterfly, which allows her to see color and ultimately optimism in her world. There is so much to be unloaded here for all ages of children. I would recommend this for teachers for classroom teachers, as well as counselors and social workers to capture the social and emotional themes. Lovely artwork and easily to adapt for most children. Five stars!

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for a pre-publication ebook in exchange for an honest review.