Hold onto your seats. I usually gravitate toward story-driven books, so this choice is an unusual one for me. Except that I loved the last book from this team, too. Seeing a pattern for this duo . . .
Title: Where's the Baboon?
Author: Michael Escoffier (click on the British flag
to see the book list in English! Author is French)
Illustrator: Kris Di Giacomo
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books, 2015
Intended Ages: 4-8
Themes: Word games, Clues, Animals
Synopsis: The answers to a series of questions about the illustrations is hidden in the wording of the questions themselves.
Opening line(s): Let's go search for hidden words! Who is the headmaster?"
What I like about this book: The illustrations in this book are tremendously fun, yet simple enough that children just learning to decode letters as well as early readers can figure out the answers to each question. The "clue" word uses red and black lettering, with the "important" letters in red, and in order. No scrambling required. Ex. headmaster
The first one, in my opinion, is the hardest since kids this age in the United States are probably more familiar with the terms principal and teacher and may not know what a headmaster does, nor recognize the small bell-ringing creature as a hamster. But cows, apes, etc are easy game!
The illustrations look like they were painted on brown craft paper, adding texture and mottled color variations. Two thumbs up!
Resources/Activities:
Practice more wordplay! Googling wordplay for kids or preschoolers brings up a host of possibilities. I especially liked the series at FunBrain.com that lets you pick easy and hard settings.
Scholastic has a good article about making up your own word games.
Visit the Zoo and try to find hidden words in each animal's name!
Are their hidden words in your own name? (you might need to scramble the letters!)
This review is part of PPBF (Perfect Picture Book Friday) where bloggers share great picture books. Organized and curated by author Susanna Leonard Hill, she keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. #PPBF
Thanks for stopping by! Is this book new to you?
Sounds like a great interactive book. I plan to check it out. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteGlad to share it with you!
DeleteThis sounds like a fun bedtime read. It takes some thought and is kind of a puzzle. Great choice today.
ReplyDeleteThe illos give almost enough information to decode each page turn! It really is fun.
DeleteMy kids love these kinds of interactive books. Great pick.
ReplyDeleteIt is so "outside the box" from a story--and it works!
DeleteThis sounds like a super fun interactive puzzle book. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy puzzling it out!
DeleteIf you haven't read it already, I'm sure you would enjoy another collaboration of theirs: Take Away the A
ReplyDeleteYes, I love that one too! I should have included the link from my earlier review of that one. I'm hooked on these two. :)
DeleteHamster! Hamster! Hamster! I see it! This looks like a fun book. Thanks for sharing it with us!
ReplyDelete:))
DeleteI'm all for wordplay. This book looks like fun! I can't wait to recommend it. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like fun! I'll check it out! :)
ReplyDelete