Thursday, July 2, 2009

All Afloat on Noah's Boat

All Afloat on Noah’s Boat! by Tony Mitton, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees, is an eye-catching book full of ear-catching rhymes. The story begins with Noah building his ark and progresses to the loading of the boat as the rain begins to fall. Noah clangs his bell to call the animals and tells them, “…the ground’s getting wet. It’ll soon be mud. Come and keep safe from the rising flood.”

The animals get restless and bored on the ark (to quote the book, "the snakes got the wriggles"), so Noah devises a talent show for them. My children loved the funny facial expressions on the animals. I thought the talent show antics were really cute, especially the back-flipping frogs.

The only creatures that can’t perform are the caterpillars because they’re still wrapped in their cocoons. But Noah needs a grand finale, and the surprise is the metamorphosis that occurs when the caterpillars are “done.”

The artwork throughout the book is colorful and detailed, but the surprise is the huge, bright butterflies at the end.

What I Like: The illustrations are bold and humorous. This story is a new and unique spin on a well-loved Bible story.

What I Dislike: Nothing. Some parents might like the book to mention God’s role more specifically. My children are familiar enough with the context that I didn’t think it was needed.

Overall Rating: Excellent

Age Appeal: Ages 4 to 8, although much younger children would enjoy the pictures and would be familiar with Noah’s Ark

Publisher Info: Orchard Books, 2007, ISBN-10: 0439873975, Hardcover $11.55

3 comments:

MizB said...

Hi! I'm happy to have found this website (kind of by accident -- though, with God, I don't believe there are really any true "accidents") today!

Do you know of anywhere that would allow an 8 year old girl to review books? My daughter wants to become a reviewer, and I don't know if that's possible at her age.

Thanks in advance!

MizB of Should Be Reading

Kristina said...

Glad you found us :) I don't know of a site featuring reviews by children, but you might want to check out Amazon.com. I think you must be at least 13 there, but it's worth checking out. Or, you might help her create her own blog!

Jean said...

Sounds adorable. I appreciate your reviews and take your advice seriously when shopping for my grand children.

Thanks.
Jean
http://www.jeanmatthewhallwords.blogspot.com