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Back in print by demand, this delightful and clever book is a visual surprise that literally unfolds before your eyes. Each fold-out spread contains a simple image-a cup, a fish, an apple-which is transformed into an entirely new image by lifting a flap. Goffin's lighthearted, colorful illustrations both amuse and entertain, while the book's design is a springboard for the imagination. A terrific book for backseat traveling, quiet reading, and storytime.

JOSSE GOFFIN has written and illustrated a number of children's books published in the United States. He lives in Belgium.

24 illustrations in full color, 12 foldouts, 9 x 105/8"

PreSchool-Grade 1-- Mundane items--a cup, a clothespin, an apple--expand into playful fancies with the lift of a page-sized flap in this wordless book from a Belgian illustrator. Goffin combines simple lines, plenty of empty space, and a rainbow palette to create colorful, instantly recognizable images; children will echo the book's title as the toe of a shoe suddenly becomes a dragon's tail, as one end of the crescent moon turns into a twisty snake reaching for a ping-pong paddle, or as a hand with a pointing finger is seen, once the flap is opened, to be holding on to a crocodile balancing a teacup on its nose. An appealing imagination-stretcher, accessible to prereaders and suitable for sharing, even with large groups. --John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Crisply drawn illustrations fold out for a series of visual surprises, with a new item in each as the basis of the next transformation: as the first right-hand page unfolds, a pointing hand grasps the tail of a cheery alligator balancing a cup on his nose; on the next spread the cup opens to become a ship; the tail of the fish by the ship becomes the tail of a bird. Amusingly playful use of easily read images and bold, handsome design. (Picture book. 2-7) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.