Warthog: A Counting Adventure

by Birdie Black, Rosalind Beardshaw (Illustrator)

Overview

"A lively interactive counting book from the team behind Just Right for Christmas. . . . Beardshaw’s mixed-media artwork contributes significantly to the story’s physical comedy and sense of adventure." — Publishers Weekly

When a plucky little warthog sets out on an adventure, he meets all sorts of fascinating creatures, from two angry bees all the way up to nine scared monkeys. Children will love lifting the flaps to count the hidden animals and following the ten muddy footprints that lead to a fierce and funny surprise!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763693237
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	05/09/2017
Pages:	24
Product dimensions:	9.80(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Birdie Black is Kate Wilson, managing director of Nosy Crow. She has twenty-five years of experience in publishing, most of it in children’s publishing, and has written several books. She lives in London, England, with her husband and two children.

Rosalind Beardshaw is the illustrator of Just Right for Christmas, Box, and many other picture books. She loves creating new characters, especially if they can be based on her shaggy lurcher, Basil. She lives with her partner, daughter, and young son in York, England.

Editorial Reviews

04/10/2017
In a lively interactive counting book from the team behind Just Right for Christmas, verse with a nursery rhyme–like cadence follows along as a young warthog explores the landscape surrounding his village. Surprises are revealed under flaps shaped like bushes, flowers, and boulders, each leading to the warthog’s next small adventure: “A warthog went a-wandering,/ swishing through the grass./ He looked up at the big blue sky/ and watched the clouds drift past./ He found five lovely flowers.../ he found six butterflies./ One landed on his snuffly nose,/ which gave him a surprise!” After meeting nine monkeys, the warthog spots 10 large footprints, which belong to a lion that chases him home. Accented with vividly patterned details, Beardshaw’s mixed-media artwork contributes significantly to the story’s physical comedy and sense of adventure. Ages 3–7. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Beardshaw's attractive collage-and-paint illustrations provide a colorful...setting and plenty of details to pore over...The winsome warthog is appealing as he blithely hops, splashes, hums, and wanders his way through his day.
—Kirkus Reviews

In a lively interactive counting book from the team behind Just Right for Christmas, verse with a nursery rhyme–like cadence follows along as a young warthog explores the landscape surrounding his village...Accented with vividly patterned details, Beardshaw’s mixed-media artwork contributes significantly to the story’s physical comedy and sense of adventure.
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

05/01/2017
PreS—Warthog goes a-wandering in this lift-the-flap counting adventure. Along the way, as he gets farther and farther from home, he counts different objects, such as berries and birds, and different numbers hidden behind flaps. Warthog eventually wanders too far and finds a lion ready to eat him. Luckily, he makes it back home safe and sound. Bright mixed-media illustrations bring extra zing to the rhyming text, and readers will enjoy looking for the sneaky lion hiding on each spread. While children will appreciate the lift-the-flap elements, weak construction will make for few checkouts before damage occurs. VERDICT This engaging, tactile offering will be a supplemental purchase for most libraries.—Brooke Newberry, La Crosse Public Library, WI

School Library Journal

2017-02-20
An anthropomorphic warthog encounters items, animals, and plants in quantities from one through 10 while exploring the savanna that surrounds his African home.Jaunty rhyming verses describe each discovery, from "one scoop of honey" through "ten footprints, pair by pair," but numerals appear only on the endpapers, not within Black's text. Each verse begins with the phrase, "A warthog went a-wandering," a pleasing repetition that adds a sense of structure. Most of the things the warthog finds pose no real threat ("two angry bees" are easily eluded) or appear friendly, like the fluttering butterflies, but the footprints do lead him into a potentially perilous encounter. Luckily, if implausibly, he escapes and scampers home safely. Beardshaw's attractive collage-and-paint illustrations provide a colorful if generic setting and plenty of details to pore over. Varying patterns and textures add interest to the simple stylized shapes. The inclusion of a lurking lion in several scenes foreshadows the final encounter; his cheerful cartoon-style expression should reassure young listeners that all ends well. Differently sized and shaped flaps, some with cutouts, conceal some lines of the text and open to reveal clever transformations. Unfortunately, the storyline meanders, more a vehicle for the counting exercise than an actual plot. The winsome warthog is appealing as he blithely hops, splashes, hums, and wanders his way through his day, but it doesn't quite add up to an exciting adventure. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews