Shouting Sharon

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The subtitle of this muddled work is at best two-thirds correct. It is inarguably a counting book (albeit a less than distinctive entry in this jam-packed field); and the illustrations are indeed riotous-generally too much so, as overcrowded pages and awkward compositions obscure the book's purported aim. Rhyme, however, is almost entirely absent, the sole apparent example being the pairing of ``bats'' and ``cats'' (unless ``cut'' and ``chocolate'' strike the fancy of the poetically impaired). The book's format: Sharon halts a ``numerical'' scene (``Two tired twins asleep in a carriage''; ``Three busy barbers snipping beards'') with a disruptive exclamation (for the preceding, ``Wake up!'' and ``Cut!''), whereupon the irritated characters pursue the girl across the bottom of the spreads. And about that title: Will parents really want their little ones to emulate a hollering heroine? Ages 2-5. (Mar.)

School Library Journal

PreS-K-Numbers scattered on the endpapers like confetti set the tone for this lively counting rhyme. Mischievous Sharon's habit of shouting causes a great deal of trouble for ``One daring Desmond ready to dive,'' ``Two tired twins asleep in a carriage,'' ``Four fat ladies trying to lose weight,'' etc. Each person or group that she disturbs starts chasing her, so soon she has an unhappy caravan trailing her through the pages. As expected, all the various characters end up in a muddled heap at the end. A bit of suspense is added when Sharon meets ``Ten lions licking their lips.'' Momentarily frightened, she shouts for help. When none is forthcoming, the unrepentant little girl simply roars at them, ``...and that was the end of that.'' The cartoon illustrations match the tone of the text-the colors are bright and the words are bouncy. While this book is not a high-priority purchase, it would be worth adding to collections in need of enjoyable counting books.-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA