Ball

By Mary Sullivan

A dog with a ball is one of the most relentlessly hopeful creatures on Earth. After his best little-girl pal leaves for school, this dog hits up yoga mom, baby, and even the angry cat for a quick throw. No luck. Forced to go solo, the dog begins a hilarious one-sided game of fetch until naptime’s wild, ball-centric dream sequence. The pictures speak a thousand words in this comic book-style ode to canine monomania. Ball? Ball.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Apr 2, 2013
• ISBN: 9780547681245

Mary Sullivan

Mary Sullivan spent a great deal of time drawing in her formative years. Though she received a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin, she considers herself a self-trained illustrator. Ms. Sullivan has shown her work at galleries and coffees shops in Dallas and Austin. She channels her considerable creative energy  into projects for Highlights for Children, Scholastic, Innovative Kids, School Zone, Oxford Press U.K., Pearson and many more. Her first picture book for HMH, Ball, was a 2014 Geisel Honor Book. She lives in Cedar Park, Texas. www.marysullivan.com Twitter: @sullivandraws Instagram: @sullivandraws

Book preview

Reviews for Ball

[kaethe_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very-nearly-wordless book about a dog who cares only for one thing. Sullivan does a brilliant job conveying a dog's single-minded focus, and a child's indulgence.

Charming and amusing, Tash and I agree.

Library copy.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A dog and his ball. Hilarious!

[pussreboots · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ball by Mary Sullivan is a book suited for transitioning readers. It's about a dog who loves to play ball and the little girl who is his primary play mate.Ball is mostly a day in the life of an energetic house dog. The day begins with breakfast and some ball playing. Then the girl goes to school and the grown ups go to work. The dog is left without someone to play ball with.Everything in that time alone becomes a reminder of the ball playing the dog and girl could be doing if only she were home. For every visual reminder, there's the dog saying "Ball!"Ball for its reliance on primarily one word is very much like Ed Vere's Banana!. But this one is very clearly aimed at children who have or like dogs.

[honanb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a good choice for a digital book because the text and illustrations are easy to read and view on an e-reader. Most picture books are large and lose valuable details when they're shrunk down for an e-reader, but the size of the physical book was already small so it's well suited to the format. The only word used in the entire story shows the complete devotion of the pleasantly ugly dog to his ball. His humorous attempts to find someone to play with, and the inventive dream sequence gives children a funny and imaginative insight into the mind of a dog. His expressions are endearing and make words completely unnecessary, with utter dejection, worry, hope, and sheer delight conveyed through forehead wrinkles and tail wags. The artwork is very yellow and warm, and gives the book a messy, natural feeling. The book also allows children to imagine what life is like for their pets when they're at school.

[dukefan86 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The illustrations are pretty cute, but I didn't enjoy the story as much as I'd hoped.