Guess What?

Australian author/artist team Mem Fox and Vivienne Goodman lead the reader through a guessing game about "that crazy lady called Daisy O'Grady" in this witchy picture-book. Each two-page spread features a question about the lady in question - is she tall?, does she wear a black dress? - on the right-hand-side page, and a full-page illustration on the left. Gradually, the reader realizes that Daisy O'Grady is a witch, although the narrative concludes with the information that she is not a mean one...

The fourth picture-book I have read from the prolific Fox, Guess What? is a title I expected to enjoy immensely, given my interest in witchy picture-books, and my appreciation for some of the author's other work. I did end up finding it quite show more interesting, and think that its question/answer format, when paired with the attention-grabbing, photo-realistic paintings of Goodman, make it an excellent read-aloud title for story-time. That said, somehow I just didn't warm to it, despite my interest. The artwork is apparently quite controversial, with a number of elements - bits of nudity, disturbing dead fish in underwear, and so on - that have led to it being challenged in various places. For my part, I found these elements more humorous than offensive, and suspect child readers will simply accept them as one more detail in the strange and surreal world depicted so vividly by Goodman. I struggled with my rating on this one, as I didn't find the book appealing, from a personal aesthetic perspective, but did find the design interesting, and the artwork striking. Recommended to fans of the author and/or artist, or to readers looking for unusual question-answer style picture-book narratives. show less

I was trying to figure out what reason this book could possibility be one of the 100 most banned books from 1990-2000. I thought maybe the crazy pictures that seem a little “druggy”. But apparently it was banned for spreading the occult and making witches seem harmless, nice, and fun. My main thought was that the illustrator was a friend of Salvador Dali. It doesn’t bother me that this is about a witch. The book doesn’t bother me at all, and it shouldn’t be banned, but seriously, if you have not read this, do. Just for the illustrations.

Detailed illustrations with lots of hidden objects to find, and a story that's fun to read aloud with a preschooler. My daughter loves to point out the words she knows, and the repetition and question-and-answer format helps increase her knowledge.

The humor & illustrations are a bit dark for the attended audience, but is a very fun way for children to be interactive with a book. The continuing guessing allows the readers to create their own idea of what the main character is... The detail in the illustrations is one thing to keep an eye for, & all of the hidden objects (especially the wardrobe page). Also, in the end, there is an unexpected twist in this character...

A crazy lady named Daisy O'Grady lives far away from here. Someone keeps asking questions about her and all the answers are yes. She is thin, wears a black dress, has a cat, cooks with rats' tails, toenails, and dead lizards' scales. People think she is mean, but "guess what?" She's not!

Guess What? builds on the lesson that looks can be deceiving. For this book, teachers can read one page at a time, allowing students write or saw what they think the main character looks like, and so on. By allowing students to talk about their own ideas and perceptions of the book, teachers can open a discussion about the importance of don't judging people by their looks.

This book would be a good book to read to your class in October around Halloween. Children are asked a question then it says guess. When you turn the page it says yes. Through-out the whole book they are describing a witch and the last qustion asked is she mean? Everyone assumes Yes she is but she really is not. You could read this when children stereotype other people.