Boom Boom Go Away! - Hardcover

Geringer, Laura

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 068985093X ISBN 13: 9780689850936

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2010

Synopsis

When his parents tell him it’s time for bed, a little boy enlists the help of his bedroom toys, one by one, to noisily emphasize his retort: GO AWAY! Definitely not your typical lullaby, the book’s repetitive beat of booms and dings and clinks and blings forms a rhythm all its own that will have kids joining in and marching right off to dreamland.

About this title

About the Author

Laura Geringer is the author of many highly acclaimed books for children and young adults, including the celebrated A Three Hat Day illustrated by Arnold Lobel; Myth Men, a popular series of graphic novels based on the classic Greek myths; and Sign of the Qin, Book l of the Outlaws of Moonshadow Marsh series, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; and Boom, Boom Go Away illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. She serves on the National Advisory Board of First Book, a charity that has distributed over seventy million books to children in need. Laura lives in New York City.

 

Bagram Ibatoulline was born in Russia and educated at the Moscow State Academic Art Institute. His first book was Philip Booth's Crossing, named a 2001 Best Book by Publishers Weekly. He is best known for his books with Kate di Camillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and Great Joy.   Bagram lives in Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 1—Each time a parent tells a boy to go to bed, the toys in his room delay the process by playing their instruments and saying they can't be disturbed. A gnome in his little home plays a bass drum, an elf underneath the shelf plays a gong, a prince makes people wince with his loud bassoon, and so on, coming full circle back to the gnome and a very tired child asleep at last, surrounded by his miniature musicians. The rhythmical text has an appealing cadence and a catchy refrain. Ibatoulline's watercolor and acrylic-gouache spreads of the child's room are wonderfully designed, and readers see everything from the playthings' perspective. Huge books, plants, and furniture bleed off the pages. The artist singles out each new toy on its own page along with its sound printed in bold. Then it reappears on the next spread along with previous toys and their sounds so that eventually, a weaving parade of music makers and their sounds march across the pages. Only at the end do children see the real music maker. While this noisy story won't lull little ones to sleep any time soon, they will have a grand time repeating the refrain and the sounds. They may even drop from exhaustion along with the young protagonist.—Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT
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Inspired by a song learned in a Dalcroze class (where musical concepts are taught through physical movement), Geringer’s text pairs with Ibatoulline’s clean and clear images of a noisy nursery to create a cacophonous offering that settles down by the lights-out conclusion. When a little gnome is told to head to bed, he impersonates every wide-awake child in his reply to his mama: “‘Hush! / Don’t spoil the rhythm / Of my drum . . . Go away.’ / Boom boom.” Other toys join in the protest, such as an elf dinging a gong, a prince “neeeeeeing” on his bassoon, and mermaids “plong plonging” away on their harps. Between the introduction of each new musician, members of a cumulative chorus blast and blow their sounds across the page until a young human boy, who is master of the toys, falls asleep, and all settles down. Rich with group-participation possibilities and full of energy and noise, this offers timeless and colorful fun for the eyes and ears. Preschool-Grade 1. --Andrew Medlar

Edition details

• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 068985093X
• ISBN 13: 9780689850936
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Ibatoulline Bagram
• Number of pages: 40