Thunder Down Under
Timothy Knapman and Steve James
Little Tiger

This is a terrific laugh-out-loud story about a rear end explosion that will be a sure fire winner with youngsters. It had my partner in fits of giggles too; and neither of us were certain whether the diminutive numbat, star of the show, is actually a real animal or not until we looked it up.

The sweet smell of the air heralding the arrival of summer brings the animals outdoors for some boisterous play. So intent on their games are they that they fail to notice one small Numbat looking for food. Then, quite suddenly into that sweet scented atmosphere there erupts an exceedingly obnoxious fart that turns the air green and causes consternation among the animals as to who is responsible.

Eager to make his presence felt, the numbat says, “Ask me!” but nobody listens and the discussions continue with various suggestions being put forward as to the culprit each of which is immediately denied by the accused.

And every so often comes that “Ask me,!” from a certain tiny creature, which of course goes unheeded: only an important, large animal could have created such a stink.

All of a sudden there comes a second ear-shattering flatulus

followed by the moment of revelation … The message is clear, so too is the moral …

Steve James’ wonderfully wacky, expressive scenes of creature consternation combined with Timothy Knapman’s hilarious rhyming text result in a picture book that can’t fail to delight. I suspect an initial read will lead to cries of “again” whether you share it with an individual, group or class. It’s certainly been my experience.