Publishers Weekly
A funny, absurdist take on guessing game books from the team behind Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, these silly rhymes avoid easy answers (a robot who hatches from an egg and cries “Cheep Cheep!” on the first page hints at the brand of humor in store). Beside a black silhouette of what appears to be a rabbit, Barnett's opening entry encourages readers to give a traditional answer to a four-line stanza: “His floppy ears are long and funny./ Can you guess who? That's right! My.” But turning the page, readers see not a bunny, but “Grandpa Ned,” shown standing on his head, his floppy gray socks providing the rabbit's lopped ears. What seem to be white sheep on a mountaintop are actually abominable snow monsters, Grandpa Ned appears again in a tree like the Cheshire cat and a dragonlike shadow that terrifies a knight belongs to a dentist. The playful tone is enhanced by cutouts, flaps and a triple-page foldout, but knowing the answers to the amusing visual/linguistic jokes may limit the book's potential for rereadings. Still, readers should find this twisted good fun. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)
Children's Literature
- Sylvia Firth
This book tries to give children an interesting puzzle. They must use word and picture clues to try and guess what is being portrayed. The last sentence on each page is incomplete and invites conjecture about what is shown on the next page. All of the portrayals are quite different from what the text leads the reader/listener to expect. The illustrator is in on the act; in each puzzle, the mixed media and gouache pictures strongly suggest a logical, but wrong answer. Something totally unexpected appears on the response page. For example, one description and illustration infer that the response should be a cat, but instead Grandpa Ned appears. Various methods are used to reveal the answers. These include a lift-up flap on Captain Gluebeard and a full-page fold-over flap for a dentist named Dr. Larry Roberts. The cover shows a flamingo looking through a large hole at what seems to be a large egg that turns out to be the lower part of a robot. Children will enjoy this humorous book, but if the library or classroom collection already includes Look Again by Tana Hoban, this is not a necessary purchase. Reviewer: Sylvia Firth
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2—The earliest indication that this is not your typical guessing game comes on the endpaper as a robot energetically hatches out of an egg. For each round of guessing, readers are presented with a page of Rex's oil-and-acrylic illustrations opposite a rhyming quatrain. The completely unexpected and delightfully off-the-wall conclusion of the verse's final line is revealed on the next page. The images are especially droll. A spread set in a kitchen with a die-cut hole in the wall suggests that what's on the other side is a little mouse: "Who climbs our counters and eats our cheese?/We've set up traps all through the house/But still can't catch that pesky…." Turning the page, readers will see that what they thought was a cute little mouse was in fact the repulsive toe of a huge Viking. This is an especially fun book to share.—Laura Butler, Mount Laurel Library, NJ
Kirkus Reviews
A series of rollicking riddles with unexpected answers. In the first spread, the picture on the left apparently shows a rabbit in silhouette while the short verse on the right provides the clues: "He steals carrots... / His floppy ears are long and funny. / Can you guess who? That's right! My . . . ." Turn the page for the answer: "Grandpa Ned." (Ned's upside-down, with socks half-pulled off to resemble rabbit ears.) Grandpa Ned turns up twice more, as the answer to a riddle that seems to be about a cat and later as the setup answer to another riddle. The book's four other riddles involve a pirate, snow creatures, a mouse hole and a dark cave. A lifting flap and a gatefold add tactile interest. Rex's straightforward gouache-and-mixed-media illustrations downplay the mischief of the premise, appropriately lobbing visual softballs at an audience disoriented by the goof on a tried-and-true formula they've encountered over and over. In all, it's a refreshing (albeit slight) spoof for jaded young readers who have aced easy Q&A books; some may find it too cool for the room. (Picture book. 4-6)
