Are You Looking At Me?
Philip Ardagh and Enrico Lorenzi
Little Tiger

From gazing gazelles and gawping gibbons to squawking parrots and gawking storks, the creatures we encounter in this story all use their eyes to stare in one way or another, but the scariest of starers may well come as a surprise to readers and listeners.
With its plethora of alliterative examples, Philip Ardagh’s jaunty rhyming text reads aloud really well

and young listeners will delight in joining in with the repeat refrain when it comes. It’s likely though that the final decision on the scariest of starers, voted for by the animal cast we’ve met during the story, will be a big surprise to audiences.

Exuding zaniness, Enrico Lorenzi’s portrayal of the ursine starer and its rivals in staring are terrific and his frequent use of fluorescent orange makes each spread one to pause over and enjoy the delightfully daft details.

A great read aloud that will surely make this one of those ‘read it again’ books. It deserves a place in every Foundation Stage and KS1 collection. I wonder what other animals children can think of and decide how they might look at the author