HOP! PLOP!
by Corey Rosen Schwartz & Tali Klein & illustrated by Olivier Dunrea
A simple but pleasing story of two animal friends, Mouse and Elephant, who have trouble playing together at the playground because of their extreme size differences. Quickly, after accidentally breaking the seesaw and a swing, Mouse and Elephant realize that the playground doesn’t suit their needs and they improvise by using elephant’s trunk as a slide. Written in spare and sometimes flat text, fun onomatopoeic words like slurp, whoosh and crunch featured in large bright-colored text help pep up this story and make it a potentially lively title for group read-aloud sessions. Additionally, Dunrea’s light and playful illustrations of Mouse and Elephant in pen-and-ink and gouache add silliness and enhance the disparity between the character’s sizes. An accessible, but not overly exciting introduction to the concept of size differences and friendship. (Picture book. 2-4)