Trying to fix things sometimes only makes it worse – as these animals are about to find out.
Oh, No!, by Candace Fleming & Eric Rohmann
Schwarz & Wade, ISBN: 978 0 375 84271 9
This is a story about a Frog falling down a hole and other animals joining him as they tried to help, until a Tiger comes upon them and they get saved, just in the nick of time. Sounds simple enough, but it’s not just told like that. Instead, it’s told in rhyming, rhythmic, chanting style that just begs to be read aloud like a spoken word poem, filled with sound effects and repetition. The ending, too, is cheeky in a way that will play really well read aloud and is pretty sure to garner a giggle or two.
Of course, no picture book can really be discussed without touching on the illustrations, which are make-or-break, an in this case, they’re just note-perfect. Rohmann’s style is bold, but the colours are muted enough to keep it in the natural world, and the comic touches in his style keep well with the story’s light notes. The animals are cute, but not cute overload cute, and the overall effect of the full-page design of the illustrations and the heavy, matte pages makes for a very nice book to have in your hands.
This one is a real winner, and I can see it being a read-aloud favourite. I can’t wait to try it out on a group some time, not to mention my own little guy!
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