This was one of my favorite discoveries a few years ago. An Australian import, it's a delightful story in swinging rhyme with equally entrancing pictures.
A happy band of rabbits are gulping down carrots and chocolate cake by the lake (really more a big pond) when suddenly...there's a TERRIBLE PLOP! Their panic sets off a mass flight and soon the rabbits, a fox, pig, elephant, tiger, and more are all fleeing from the terrible plop. Then they encounter a rather cynical bear, who doesn't think anything, even a terrible plop, is as strong and scary as him! This time, a little rabbit realizes the secret of the plop - but not until the bear has been just as silly as everyone else!
The clues in the text and pictures will easily key children in to the solution of the mystery at the beginning of the book, so they'll be able to snicker along as all the animals flee from nothing much at all.
Andrew Joyner's are just plain fun with cartoon animals and backgrounds and the occasional grab your eye collage piece, like an elaborate knife for the chocolate cake. He does a great job adding hints to the text about the mystery and showing the growing panic of the various animals.
Verdict: A fun story with a moral about confronting your fears that's not too heavily emphasized. This is a favorite storytime choice for my library as well as a top read-aloud pick for parents.
ISBN: 9780374374280; Published August 2009 by Farrar Straus Giroux; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library
No comments:
Post a Comment