A smiling boy, dressed in a green T-shirt, jeans, and socks that are about to fall off his feet, wants to have a picnic, but his six little friendsWhitey, the bear; George, the monkey; Hippo; Croc; Millie, the elephant; and Wilson, the giraffeare hiding from him. While the boy narrates his search in catchy rhymes, readers lift up flapslooking under the blankets, inside boxesand discover the missing, as well as the end of the rhyme. Not only do children have the satisfaction of finding the animals, but they have words to shout as they search. Butterworth (The Rescue Party, 1993, etc.) employs good cheer in drawings that make the whole venture extremely user-friendly. (Picture book. 1-5)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-316-11932-6
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1995
An in-your-face version of a 1966 action poem, with a retro look and feel (do demolition crews still use pickaxes and sledgehammers?). In Merriam's kinetic depiction of an urban rebuilding project, the ambiguity hinted at (there is excitement as well as regret in the lines, ``Down go the houses,/down go the stores'') here is overshadowed by the violence of the demolition process: the wrecking ball seems about to fly off the page into viewers' laps. Noisy words (``slam,'' ``bam,'' ``crash,'' ``pow,'' ``zam'') appear in fat, colored type (although a ``zowie'' is nearly lost in a blue-on-black treatment), the palette is built around intensely vibrating complementary colors, and the stylized figures of the workers (exaggerated shoulders and torsos tapering to absurdly tiny hands, feet, and heads) gleam with the slick highlights of shiny plastic inflatable toys. A real attention- getter, this book looks as harsh and raucous as it sounds. (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: March 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-8050-3527-3
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1995
With a repetitive rhyme, Morley introduces the sounds of animals in an imaginative look at a farmyard. The cat goes ``fiddle-i-fee,'' the hen goes ``chimmy-chuck,'' the cow goes ``moo, moo,'' etc. Most of the creatures look as if they've been plucked right out of a Grandma Moses painting and laid down on plain brown wrapping paper, while the people and cats have the long thin look of fashion illustrations of the `20s and `30s. All wind around and through snipped and spindly flowers and trees while the various animals raise their voices in a cacophonous expression of farmyard life. Toddlers will love joining in the melange with their own resounding ``fiddle-i-fees!'' (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: March 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-671-89551-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
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