Snap! - Hardcover

Marcia Vaughan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0590603779 ISBN 13: 9780590603775

Publisher: Scholastic Press, 1996

Synopsis

On a hot summer day, Joey, a young kangaroo, enjoys playing animal-appropriate games with his friends Twisker the mouse, Slider the snake, and Flatso the Platypus, until Sly-tooth the crocodile arrives and invites him to play a different game.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 3?On a "sun-hot, sky-dry day" along the Tumba-Rumba River, a kangaroo searches for a playmate. While Mama Roo naps in a shady spot, young Joey uses a jaunty rhyme to encourage the other animals to play, an invitation too enticing to resist. Twisker the bush mouse teaches him "hide-and-squeak," Slider the snake joins them for a game of "lots-of-knots," Flatso the platypus introduces "pass-the-mudpie," and Prickler the echidna gets everyone to "pick-up-quills." When Sly-tooth the crocodile slides down the riverbank, he is invited to join the fun. Anticipating an easy meal, he asks the smaller animals to crawl into his huge jaws for a game of "snap." Clever Joey quickly teaches the others "tickle-the-tonsils," and everyone lives to play another day. Vaughan's bouncy, sometimes rhyming text explodes with energy and enthusiasm. The creatures' names and games are cleverly constructed and fun to read aloud. The story builds quickly to the moment when the croc's jaws snap shut, a moment highlighted by staccato language and a dramatic, close-up illustration, and the resolution is fast-moving and satisfying. A glossary provides brief facts about the cast of characters. Contrasted against stark white backgrounds, Hutchinson's torn-paper collages suggest an arid, Australian landscape. The crocodile, with a mottled coat of mud-colored scales; the snake, resplendent in different shades of green; and the echidna, with quills that seem to stick up from the page, are particularly striking. Pair this with Mem Fox's Possum Magic (Harcourt, 1990) for a fun-filled trip down under.?Joy Fleishhacker, New York Public Library
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Vaughan provides enough energy and raw storytelling material in this Australian import to turn the most exhausted parent into a Scheherazade. As she did in Dorobo the Dangerous, Vaughan brings an ear-pleasing, rib-tickling sensitivity to language as she cooks up a unique animal tale. Joey, a kangaroo, invites a series of creatures to play. He plays "Hide-and-squeak" with a mouse, "Pass-the-mudpie" with a platypus, and so forth until a crocodile suggests his sly game?"Snap!"?and snaps his jaws shut around them all. But they tickle his tonsils until the "wiggling-jiggling, twittering-jittering, rollicking-frollicking, reeling-feeling zinging up and down and all around his bumpy body" forces a smile and out pop the animals. The zesty wordplay, repetition and rhyme make this a natural read-aloud. First-time illustrator Hutchinson's torn paper collages evoke stained glass with their suggestion of translucency. An illustrated endnote about the Australian animal cast rounds out this jazzy offering. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0590603779
• ISBN 13: 9780590603775
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Sascha Hutchinson