CM Magazine: Slither Slide, What’s Outside?

________________ CM . . . . Volume XVIII Number 36 . . . . May 18, 2012

cover
Slither Slide, What’s Outside?

Nora Hilb, Simon Shapiro & Sheryl Shapiro. Illustrated by Nora Hilb.
Toronto, ON: Annick Press, 2012.
32 pp., pbk. & hc., $8.95 (pbk.), $19.95 (hc.)
ISBN 978-1-55451-386-4 (pbk.), ISBN 978-1-55451-387-1 (hc.).

Preschool-grade 1 / Ages 4-6.

Review by Linda Ludke.

*** /4

excerpt:

Soaking my seeding
so I’ll get a tree.
Springtime’s exciting – it’s growing, come see!
LOOK!

In this engaging concept book, readers follow three children through the seasons as they plant seedlings, draw pictures of rainbows, carve pumpkins and shovel snow. internal art Easy-to-read, rhyming text describes each scene: “Slosh from the big one/ into the small./ Whooshing and sloshing – your own waterfall./ SPLASH!”. Nora Hilb’s charmingly simple watercolour illustrations show a bathing-suited young girl and boy having fun at the beach pouring water into pails. On the facing page, a closeup photograph of a rushing waterfall complements and extends the text. Another spread features a photo of rows of wind turbines alongside an illustration of a girl holding a pinwheel. A photo of migrating geese is paired with an illustration of two boys “honk[ing]” on their toy trumpets.

Children will be eager to mimic the characters and pretend to be a worm “(Lie down on your tummy./ Move side to side./ Wriggle and wiggle and slither and slide. / SLINK!”), a frog (“Bouncing and bounding /right over the log./ Long legs are leaping – it must be a frog./ CROAK!”) , and a bear (“GRRRRR”). This book encourages creative play, and, in the process, children will learn about colours, shapes, sizes and patterns.

internal art

The text and illustrations invite many opportunities for discussion and participation, making this a good choice for early years classrooms and libraries.

Recommended.

Linda Ludke is a librarian in London, ON

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364 Hosted by the University of Manitoba.

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