A Hop Is Up

Toddler-PreS—Don't expect young audiences to sit still for this fun-filled trip around the neighborhood. This motion-packed miniadventure invites kids to hop, jump, slip, slide, boing, leap, and generally join in the fun as a young boy walks his dog around his culturally diverse neighborhood. In this book, each spread introduces some new form of action in an admirably simple turn of phrase with just enough silliness to capture its audience's imagination. While adults might ponder the meaning of "A boing-boing-boing is a skip-skip-skip," the preschool set will, with very little prodding, start boinging and skipping along. The illustrations are really what drive this exuberant tale, however. Starting with the opening endpapers, where a series of paw prints move up and to the right, the digitally created watercolor and ink drawings pull readers forward, just as the boy's dog pulls him along on their walk. Most of the illustrations are spreads, featuring an abundance of horizontal lines, all directing viewers' eyes to the next page. Cyclists pedal across the gutter, dancers leap from left to right, etc. A few well-placed exceptions provide visual spice. Characters and objects that define the central action are in bright, attention-grabbing colors, while everything else is grayed out in pastel tones.