What's Going On Here?: A Tell-Your-Own-Tale Book

by Olivier Tallec (Illustrator)

Overview

In this Tell-Your-Own-Tale book, flip the die-cut pages to mix and match stories, creating countless scrambled characters and funny questions. Each new combination makes a new story! Answer the mixed-up questions, or let the characters inspire your own imaginative story. This one-of-a-kind book will leave young readers giggling, wondering, and telling their own unique tales.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452173177
Publisher:	Chronicle Books LLC
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Pages:	28
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 11.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Olivier Tallec graduated from the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués Duperré. His work has appeared in many newspapers and magazines, and he has illustrated more than 60 books for children. He lives in Paris, France.

Editorial Reviews

"Vastly amusing . . . Mix-and-match storysmithing, more subtle and therefore more evergreen than it seems at first glance." — Kirkus Reviews

"Vastly amusing . . . Mix-and-match storysmithing, more subtle and therefore more evergreen than it seems at first glance." — Kirkus Reviews

"This Tell-Your-Own-Tale Book, with sturdy pages, comical characters, and interactive appeal should provide children with on-going delight." — School Library Journal

"This Tell-Your-Own-Tale Book, with sturdy pages, comical characters, and interactive appeal should provide children with on-going delight." — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

10/07/2019

PreS-Gr 2-A fuzzy blue creature, in red overalls and with underpants on its head, starts readers off with a secret handshake. Thus begins this mix-and-match interactive book/game, in which each portrait-oriented page is die-cut into thirds. These cuts separate the text as well as the bodies of the characters so that they may be turned separately. There is no story line, just a series of statements and questions, like "What makes a bad day better?," "At birthday parties," and "Milton practices the trumpet." These various phrases, when blended together after flipping pages randomly, form statements that can be quite silly. However, the goofy cartoon kids and animals, in various costumes, are the main draw. Each image, rendered in acrylics and pencil, depicts the front side of the character and the backside on the flip side of the page. VERDICT This Tell-Your-Own-Tale Book, with sturdy pages, comical characters, and interactive appeal should provide children with on-going delight.-Mindy Hiatt, Salt Lake County Library Services

School Library Journal

2019-06-23
Split pages work comical twists on the clothes and actions of a cast of (mostly) animals.

Tallec (Who Was That?, 2018, etc.) invites viewers to giggle at silly headwear, flip to pair it with a character and a plot element, and then do something at least tangentially related such as sing a favorite song or, more often, answer a personal question: "Everywhere we go, / Carter puts on funny clothes. / What's something new you want to try?" The questions range from innocuous ("What superpower do you wish you had?") to provocative: "What sneaky things did you do today?"; "Do you have any secrets?" Except for brown-skinned Marc and an unnamed white cheerleader, the dozen two-sided cartoon figures posing on the fronts and backs of the central segments are grave- or annoyed-looking animals with anthropomorphic bodies clad in a variety of children's wear, from saggy swimming trunks to overalls. Visually, the permutations are vastly amusing. A grumpy-looking green duck might wear a backward baseball cap while sitting on the shoulders of a much-smaller, stressed-looking red creature clad only in a bow tie and tighty whities. "At the end of every book, / we feel a little sad," the outing concludes. "What should we do next?" More than a few readers will be tempted to flip back in search of further juxtapositions and scenarios.

Mix-and-match storysmithing, more subtle and therefore more evergreen than it seems at first glance. (Novelty picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews