Hodder Children’s Books. ISBN 9781444-937329 £12.99
The Gray/Field partnership have already delighted young readers with Oi Frog!, Oi Dog! and Oi Cat! where animals are given a rhyming item on which to sit, which is much funnier than would first appear. This new title immediately alerts us to something different – Duck-Billed Platypus? Whatever rhymes with that? Or indeed Ostrich, or Hippopotamus, Ibex or lobster? Well, nothing! But Frog has a brainwave, and asks the creatures about their first names instead. Solution! So Dolly the Platypus sits on a brolly, Kate the Kookaburra sits on a gate, while Jean the Jaguar sits on baked beans. Frog finds something for all the impossibly named animals to sit on, until Geraldine the Kangaroo tells him all her many names. Frog’s response? ‘Sit where you like!’
Children will enjoy offering their own suggestions for the rhymes, as well as joining in once they have heard the book. A fun way to help young readers learn about rhyme, and some unusual animals! Age range 2 – 5.
Pam Dowson
