Summary: The snatcher tries to get the grey lady's strawberries, as she escapes in magical ways. He learns his lesson in the end.

Personal Reaction: Maybe my favorite wordless picture book of all time. Molly Bang is an artistic genius, and conveys whimsy, magic, haunting menace, happiness, and ethereal wonder. Motion and sense of place are perfect. An absolutely great read for younger kids. ( )

A strawberry snatcher chases the grey lady trying to get her strawberries until he finds blackberries.There is no text. The pictures in the book create suspense and convey the movement of the chase. There are details in the pictures that make it fun to read more than once.
Themes - stealing, chasing, fear, families
It would be fun to let students look through this book and create dialogue to go with it. ( )

A lady dressed all in gray -- or rather, dressed in the color of the background of the illustrations -- merrily purchases some strawberries and goes on her way... only to be followed by the villainous strawberry snatcher, dressed in lime green and blue, leaving behind a snail-trail of mushrooms with every footstep. Without a singular setting, the "grey lady" and the strawberry snatcher go past what looked to me like row houses in South Philly, glossy tile alleyways, a mystical roundabout in a forest, and beyond! The strawberry snatcher is pictured on a skateboard, giving the otherwise fairy-tale like book a time-bending quality. This wordless read is an epic adventure! ( )

A magical, captivating book without any words at all that is filled with magical pursuit and escape, all for the love of berries. Watch the grey lady disappear into the mist as the strawberry snatcher persists in his pursuit to satisfy his berry craving. Exotically illustrated, featuring what appear to be an indigenous or island culture. It would be fun to make up the story, providing countless oral language development and writing activities. It might also be a fun social studies lesson with older kids to look for culture clues, as I was doing, noticing the horseshoe crab on the wall and the man playing banjo, or to discuss the 'grey areas' of character. One of my absolute favorite books to read with children. ( )

Top 100 pick because:

Molly Bang is pretty genius with illustrations and her intentional decisions with color, size and shape; the placement of every little thing on every page. Not that others don't do this, but her explanation behind her choices are fascinating. This book is a prime example of her creativity. It's such a strange idea and portrayal, yet it works magically. My only complaint is why does there have to be a woman on a skateboard with a basket full of snakes?
This is my last pick for my top 100. I kept coming back to it and this told me it needed to be on here. ( )