Ages 2-4. A raucous cacophony drives this follow-up to Warthogs in the Kitchen: A Sloppy Counting Book (1998) and Warthogs Paint: A Messy Color Book [BKL Je 1 & 15 01]. Told almost entirely through onomatopoeia, the story describes the disorderly warthogs' disaster as they prepare for a dinner party. One sneeze sets off a chain reaction of spilled soup, toppled furniture, skidding hooves, and flying toys ("A-A-A-A-choo!" "slop," "slither," "crash,"), followed by frenzied cleaning ("swish," "splash") and cooking before the guests arrive. All's well until someone sneezes and . . . . Each sound word is printed in large, lively color as the bright, playful paint-and-pen illustrations depict all the rambunctious antics and story gaps left by the spare text. Preschoolers will delight in the noisy mishaps and chant along with each new sound. A concluding note explains onomatopoeia and invites kids to create their own words for familiar sounds. Gillian Engberg
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reS-Gr 2-The lovable, hapless creatures from Warthogs in the Kitchen: A Sloppy Counting Book (Hyperion, 1998) are cooking soup for their dinner party, with mishaps occurring from the very first sneeze to the one at the end, which will likely start trouble all over again. The onomatopoeic sounds will delight youngsters. Cole's pen, colored-pencil, and watercolor pictures complement so very well the chaos in the kitchen, even down to the detail of the little blue teddy bear that, once again, ends up in the dessert. Match this title with Lucy Cousins's What Can Rabbit Hear? (Walker, 1991; o.p.) and Bill Martin, Jr.'s Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? (Holt, 1995) for a rousing storytime. It's lots of fun for lap-sits, too.
Kay Bowes, Concord Pike Library, Wilmington, DE
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