Animals Home Alone by Loes Riphagen
Posted by: Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan
Cindy: Thing 1 and Thing 2 have nothing on the critters in Animals Home Alone (Seven Footer Kids 2011)! As soon as the owners are out of the door, this houseful of pets and other non-human residents get busy having fun. Most of the action is wordless as mini dramas unfold throughout the book. The fish finds many interesting places to stay wet, the cat is using the phone, the dog is lacing up purple tennies, and the bird has escaped his cage. But careful “readers” will see pig emerge from the pages of a book and bear from a picture frame. On every page there are four fanged flying insects and three mischievous cockroaches to keep tabs on in addition to all of the other nonsense going on. Unlike in The Cat in the Hat, not everything returns to status quo before the humans arrive home. Hmmmm….I wonder what my daughter’s bunny is up to right now?
Lynn: Our focus group gave this fun book 2 enthusiastic thumbs up. They are especially fond of books that have clues, paths to follow and embedded funny details – which pretty much describes this book. The googly-eyed cast of characters is introduced on the inside cover and the stage is set for fun. The boys loved finding the many antics on each page and spotting each unfolding catastrophe. Think jammy footprints and disappearing shoes and what are Buzz, Flap, Flit and Chew anyway? A fun series of questions at the end take readers right back into the story to pinpoint more zaniness. Start out with this as a lap book and then watch kids pick it up again and again independently. How DID Arnold, Sylvester and Bruce end up in the sewer??
December 7th, 2011 at 8:10 am
well it might have been a good book to read i will take a day off to go find it i think others will like this book no dought