Praise for On All Fours

STARRED REVIEW! ? "A toddler bear takes a tactile journey in this translation of a French title… The compositions provide a rich aesthetic experience with gorgeous multihued backgrounds that change to reflect the mood and the little one’s body language. The scenes brim with delightful details, such as a crimson spider that reacts to each situation… Dorémus’ luscious, emotive illustrations will inspire frequent readings. The spare, repetitive narration lends itself well to memorization; be prepared for little ones to shout out their favorite lines. Youngsters will relish the ride from exploration to reunion."
Kirkus Reviews

One of 100 Scope Notes's New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books 2025 Predictions! "Dorémus previously appeared on the NYT Best Illustrated list with his 2012 book Bear Despair. Here he takes his layered pencil style to new heights, creating pictures that practically shimmer."
100 Scope Notes (A School Library Journal)

“Ideal for a story-time... Be sure to check out these beautiful bright colors.”
A Fuse #8 Production (A School Library Journal blog)

Throughout a lively picture book, Dorémus captures simple miracles of moving the body and exploring the world. Observational text—'On all fours, here I am on Earth'—accompanies saturated spreads of an ambling blue bear cub... Texturally rich spreads attend to splashing water, sloppy mud, and slippery slides as the cub meets the small mishaps that befall new navigators. Masses of color, fine lines, and comforting words capture an era of young life when commonplace experiences are new.
Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Born in 1971, Gaëtan Dorémus received his degree from the School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg, France. Once out in the world, he picked up a few other degrees while creating picture books and illustrations for the press. Dorémus has illustrated more than 25 books and has produced hundreds of editorial illustrations and cartoons. He loves bicycle riding, walking in the mountains, eating green tomatoes with cinnamon, and being a papa. Dorémus’s Bear Despair was a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2012. Growing up in a French–Chinese American family, Emilie Robert Wong attended school in the French national education system before studying comparative literature and neuroscience at Harvard College. She is an associate editor at Enchanted Lion, as well as the co-translator, with Karin Snelson, of You Can’t Kill Snow White (shortlisted for the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative’s Translated YA Book Prize) and At the Drop of a Cat (a Kirkus Best Book of 2023 and a NYPL Best Children’s Book of 2023).

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