I Am Blop!

Right away, the shape of this book -- an uneven quadrangle without right angles -- signals that it is something different. Like the author's Press Here (rev. 7/11), the heavy paper, rounded edges, and thick board covers indicate a younger, hands-on audience. But while Press Here's text provides instructions for interaction, this book lets the audience figure out how to read it. A "blop" is a blobby object similar to a four-leaf clover, and it is the only shape used in the book, which progresses from easy (black and white blops, different sizes and numbers of blops) to more complex (blops in a book within the book, merging and mixing their colors à la Lionni's Little Blue and Little Yellow). By the end of the book, the blops become personified: pictured in a classroom (ordered rows), on the playground (circles, random gatherings), and getting sick (red spots). Near the end, Tullet invites his audience to extend their play into the world around them, providing ten blop shapes partially die cut and ready to be punched out, while the final spread asks fifteen open questions about blops ("What do blops eat?" "Do blops like to sing?") So, is this a book or a toy -- or both? You decide. lolly robinson