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HIDE-AND-SEEK TURKEYS

Name: HIDE-AND-SEEK TURKEYS
Author: Judith Enderle
ISBN: 0-689-84715-7

by Judith Enderle & illustrated by Teresa Murfin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2004

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As much an exercise in sequencing as a counting rhyme, this features ten turkeys trying to jump into increasingly large items of clothing before a fox catches them, e.g., “Five turkeys hid in some britches round. / One more came and it was found, / there was not enough room! / Not enough room / for six turkeys / in those britches round. / So . . . six turkeys hid ’neath a petticoat wide.” Ultimately, a farmer’s arrival sends prey and predator scurrying to find separate hiding places. Martin envisions the characters as children in home-made costumes, galloping enthusiastically through a capacious stage set, held together with liberal amounts of scotch tape. Except for unchallenging hide-and-seek scenes at the play’s open and close, it’s often hard to see exactly how many figures are on stage—still, even younger listeners and onlookers will enjoy all the frantic rushing about as much as the occasionally glimpsed audience seems to, and appreciate the episode’s predictability enough to forgive the rather disconnected plotline. (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-689-84715-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: McElderry

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

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ALL BY MYSELF!

by Aliki & illustrated by Aliki ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 30, 2000

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Essentially a follow-up to Robert Kraus’s Leo the Late Bloomer (1971) and like tales of developing competency, this follows an exuberant child from morning wash-up to lights out at night, cataloguing the tasks and skills he has mastered. Activities include dressing himself and joining in school activities, choosing his own books, helping with dinner and other household responsibilities, and taking a bath alone before bedtime. In Aliki’s sunny, simplified pictures, it’s a child’s world, seen from low angles and with adults putting in only occasional appearances. Like the lad, the fitfully rhymed text gallops along, sometimes a little too quickly—many illustrations are matched to just a word or two, so viewers aren’t always given much time to absorb one image before being urged on to the next—but underscoring the story’s bustling energy. Young readers and pre-readers will respond enthusiastically to this child’s proud self-assurance, and be prompted to take stock of their own abilities too. (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2000

ISBN: 0-06-028929-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

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by Aliki & illustrated by Aliki

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QUIET IN THE GARDEN
by Aliki and illustrated by Aliki

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A PLAY’S THE THING
by Aliki & illustrated by Aliki

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TRASHY TOWN

by Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemesha ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 1999

Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches...

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Listeners will quickly take up the percussive chorus—“Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the Trashy town! Is the trash truck full yet? NO”—as they follow burly Mr. Gilly, the garbage collector, on his rounds from park to pizza parlor and beyond.

Flinging cans and baskets around with ease, Mr. Gilly dances happily through streetscapes depicted with loud colors and large, blocky shapes; after a climactic visit to the dump, he roars home for a sudsy bath.

Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches Eve Merriam’s Bam Bam Bam (1995), also illustrated by Yaccarino, for sheer verbal and visual volume. (Picture book. 5-7)