The Big Blue Thing on the Hill by Yuval Zommer

-

The Big Blue Thing on the Hill is by Yuval Zommer, who comes to the world of picture books after many years as a creative director at some of the world's top advertising agencies. His debut is wonderful, and the story reminds me of a bit of the picture books of the environmentally conscious, animal friendly Bill Peet. Zommer's illustrations are full of energy and a little bit kooky, especially the grins (or are they leers?) on the wolves snouts. His forest is inviting, but it's also clear that this territory belongs to the forest creatures.

The Big Blue Thing on the Hill begins, "Far away from the city, in the middle of the Great Forest, was a special place called HOWLING HILL. During the day, it was peaceful and quiet because all the animals were asleep."

At night, all the animals come out and head to Howling Hill where they make quite the chorus of growls and howls. That is, until the big, blue thing arrives with rumbles and roars.
Part of the fun of The Big Blue Thing on the Hill is the animals gathering together and trying to figure out what's going on and what to do about it. They flee from Howling Hill into the Great Forest to confer. Everyone thinks it's something different - a big, blue elephant, a big, blue dinosaur are guesses from the weasels and badgers. But it's the foxes who knowingly inform the other animals that it is, in fact, a BIG BLUE THING." 


Once they know what it is, the animals are determined to make it leave. But no amount of howling from the wolves, growling from the bears, pushing and shoving from the wild boars or digging from the foxes seems to get even the slightest reaction out of the big, blue thing. It is the Wisest Old Owl who has the final solution - a BIG BUG FLYING SQUAD. As the sun rises and the bugs zoom in for the win (with a few snakes thrown in for good measure) the animals are thrilled to see their plan work. Soon, Howling Hill is peaceful and quiet once more until . . . the final page of The Big Blue Thing on the Hill. Zommer closes his fantastic book with a great joke that will have readers laughing and wanting to read The Big Blue Thing on the Hill again and again.

Source: Review Copy


Popular posts from this blog

Fox + Chick: The Sleepover and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

-
Image
Fox + Chick : The Sleepover and Other Stories  by Sergio Ruzzier Review Copy from Chronicle Books Friends. Opposites. Inhabitants of a pastel-hued, water color world that is vaguely surreal, Fox and Chick are back for a third installment of their inviting, if curious, easy-to-read stories. In "The Sleepover," "The Hammer," and "The Surprise," Chick's odd logic is once again upending Fox's life. Happily, Fox responds with patience and even wisdom at times. To these unforgettable characters and luminous illustrations, Ruzzier brings a sublime simplicity that makes this series perfect for emerging readers, adding books with character and intelligence to the often dull world of beginning reader books. If you aren't familiar with this delightful duo, definitely check out my reviews of the first two books (links below) where I put the greatness of Ruzzier's work into historical ( Frog & Toad ) context. Then check out ALL of Ruzzier's p
Read more

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala

-
Image
Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala Review Copy from Abrams Kids I picture-walked Be a Tree! three times before I actually read the words. Felicita Sala's illustrations for Maria Gianferrari's poetic text are mesmerizingly immersive and richly colorful within a palette of earth tones. Throughout the text, Gianferrari, who shares her inspiration for this book in the author's note ( Peter Wohleben's The Hidden Life of Trees ), gently maintains the human connection to trees and the connections (and communications) trees share with each other.  Be a Tree!  begins exuberantly, inviting the reader to "Be a tree! Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun. Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you." From your spine/trunk to your skin/bark and your heart/pith, the words carry you inward and then zoom outward and up to the canopy and ultimately, the forest. "You are one of many trees," and our roots "twine with fung
Read more

Reading Levels: A Quick Guide to Determining if a Book Is Right for Your Reader

-
Image
While I wrote an article titled Reading Levels: How I Assign Reading Levels to Books, How the Publishers Do It and How You Can Help Your Reader Find the Right Book at the Right Time that discusses how reading levels are determined by professionals and amateurs like myself, there is more on this subject to discuss. Determining the reading level of a book from the children's section is never easy, mostly because there are several different standardized methods of determining reading levels. Add to this the fact that knowing their children's reading level is most often the only tool a parent is armed with when exploring the bookstore, library, website, etc, and the job becomes even more difficult. While I think that knowing a child's reading level is a very valuable tool if your child is reading below grade level, I think that it is a secondary consideration when finding books for children reading above, especially well above, grade level because, in most cases, content app
Read more