Keep Out!
Sally Grindley and Peter Utton
Hodder Chidren’s Books pbk
‘KEEP OUT! ‘and ‘BEARS ABOUT!’ caution the signs on the cover and title page of this book by the duo who gave us SHHH! This brilliantly interactive lift-the-flap sequel is equally all involving.
Despite the trepidation of the narrator who is constantly urging would-be adventurers not to proceed, we cannot help but disobey all the warning signs and continue the journey through the book, deeper into the woods. Woods where creatures lurk behind stones and logs, in ponds, under bridges

 

and in trees. Then there’s a door in the wall – definitely not to be passed through; who knows what could be waiting beyond. But through we go of course: what are all those bees doing buzzing everywhere and why the hives? We know which animals like what they provide.
KEEP OUT! says the doormat outside the cottage and BEWARE OF THE BROCCOLI! warns the notice in the garden – watch out veggiephobes! In we go however and knowing readers will quickly realize they are following in the footsteps of Goldilocks – that’s if they haven’t already. But the bears are very much in residence so there’s only one possible escape …

There is so much to explore in every new scene (some are wonderfully mock-scary) that one reading just won’t be enough. One five year old I shared it with commented, “It’s my favourite book ever.”

The Fox in the Dark
Alison Green and Deborah Allwright
Alison Green Books pbk
PHEW! A terrified rabbit dashes home in the nick of time, safe from the “fox in the dark.” Before long though there’s a Rat-a-tat-tat! on his door: surely it can’t be that fox, can it? No, it’s Duck followed shortly by Mouse, then Lamb

and then – OH NO! … ‘A FOX IN THE DARK!’
Wait a minute though, this fox doesn’t look very scary:

but what’s that shadow looming? … another knock …the tension mounts …
This is definitely one to keep young audiences on the edge of their ‘seats’ as the beautifully rhythmic, rhyming text gallops along at a pace to that final satisfying climax.

Deborah Allwright uses contrasting dark and light to maximum effect – in the moonlit, shadowy outdoor woodland scenes and those inside Rabbit’s burrow, some of which are illuminated by lantern,

others by the moon shining in, and also in the animal silhouettes and ghost-like outlines against the black. Every turn of the page brings a visual treat.

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