Anne Miranda

The rhyming text is great -- very fun to read aloud. But I do have some hesitations about this book:

1. I'm not sure I understand how the lever freed the shapes from being tangled in the jungle gym. It looks like it somehow destroyed the jungle gym. Is that really a good solution? Especially considering it's referred to as "her" later in the text as though sentient. I will have to share this with some kids to find out if it's confusing to them.

2. As the Kirkus review points out, the female show more shapes have a bow and/or eyelashes, which is annoying. When my daughter was a toddler she insisted only girls have eyelashes. I was like, where are you getting this? And then I realized it's from cartoons like this. Male characters are neutral. Female characters have something added (usually eyelashes or a bow) to mark them as different. Sigh.

3. Do you really understand what a tetrahedron is from the illustration in this book? I certainly did not and had to look it up. It's a three-dimensional shape rendered as a small triangle inside a bigger triangle. I don't think it works.

4. My public library copy of the book has the book jacket taped on so I can't see the full endpapers. If an illustration is crucial to your book, please don't put it on the part of the endpapers that are covered by the jacket. show less

Great book, funny, rhymes, great animal pictures, lots going on. Children will want to reread this book often. The illustrations are great and the last page will keep them laughing every time.

I'm guessing that this appeals to some audiences much more than it does to me. But it isn't a patch on the classic [b:Go Away, Big Green Monster!|159061|Go Away, Big Green Monster!|Ed Emberley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541359994l/159061._SX50_.jpg|153526] and is much more fragile.

Ok.....but, not my favorite. The pigs are having a large gathering.....a " Pignic". The reader is taken through a list of what the pigs will bring to the picnic, in alphabetical order, and in rhyming story form.

A cute concept....but not well executed in my opinion. The rhyming is forced in several areas and the cadence off. My children are equally lukewarm about it.