The Best Picnic Ever - Hardcover

Jarrett, Clare

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763623709 ISBN 13: 9780763623708

Publisher: Candlewick, 2004

Synopsis

Mom packs the picnic, and Jack brings the dancing menagerie in this summery salute to a child’s imagination.

When there’s a giraffe going gallopy gallopy, an elephant trumpeting tootley-toot-toot, a leopard leaping lollopy lollopy, and a tiger tap-tap dancing in the park, then you should know it’s going to be a very unusual day! With sprightly, childlike illustrations and a bouncy read-aloud text, Clare Jarrett spreads a picture-book feast for THE BEST PICNIC EVER.

About this title

About the Author:

Clare Jarrett is the author and illustrator of three children’s books, including CATHERINE AND THE LION, for which she received the prestigious Mother Goose Award as the most exciting newcomer to British children’s book illustration. She has worked as a fine art painter and printmaker and has exhibited her work internationally. She lives in Norfolk, England.

From Publishers Weekly:

At first, it looks like Jack's al fresco lunch in the park is going to be strictly a mother-son affair. But no sooner does Jack say, "I wish there was someone to play with," than a cheery giraffe appears. Jack asks Giraffe to lunch; the animal accepts, "But first—let's play!" Jack sits astride Giraffe and the two go "gallopy, gallopy through the tall grass" while Mom finishes setting up. Jarrett (Catherine and the Lion) sets her colored-pencil drawings against expanses of white space—only Mom and the picnic blanket feel especially grounded—and the pictures have the spontaneity and joie de vivre of a classroom art project. A few scraggly marks serve as grass, while enthusiastic squiggles constitute clouds or a tree's crown; the curvilinear form of the giraffe captures the energy and length of his stride. Jack and Giraffe meet a succession of other playmates—a trumpeting elephant ("tootley-toot-toot"), a leaping leopard ("lollopy, lollopy") and a tap-dancing tiger—and when Mom finally has the spread ready, it's everything a kid could wish for: hot dogs, pizza, chocolate cake and strawberries. With simple-hearted whimsy and celebratory, imaginative spirit, Jarrett lays out a treat, too—a picture-book banquet few readers will likely resist. Ages 2-5.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0763623709
• ISBN 13: 9780763623708
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Jarrett Clare