Review Detail

Kids Indie 175
Picnics can be dangerous
Overall rating
 
3.7
Plot
 
3.0
Characters
 
4.0
Writing Style
 
N/A
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
4.0
In this wordless picture book, a woodland picnic is interrupted by an eagle who manages to gather up a picnic cloth that is filled with all manner of possessions that the picnic attendees have brought. He flies off with it, but doesn't get very far before dropping it. The animals all scamper across the cliff by the sea to try to find their items. The soccer ball is quickly located, and some of the animals play a game. A cat battles with a gorilla for her hat, and a mouse child and his mother are devastated as they look for a stuffed toy. Eventually, the items are retrieved, and the group returns to the picnic. A dog family has been baking the cakes outside in a woodfired oven, and they are all decorated and ready to be eaten.

Good Points
There was a bit of a Where's Waldo feel to the illustrations, which were rendered in fine black line and colored in a water color or chalk pastel look. Small children will want to follow the escapades of the different characters through the whole book, and turn back to follow another once the poodle has retrieved her violin or the pig finds her umbrella. The characters all seem to help each other, which is good to see. I was intrigued by but also a little confused by the gorilla; he seems to have been asleep under a bush and not part of the picnic, and I don't know why he was intent of stealing the cat's hat.

I don't read a lot of wordless picture books, but this has a little in common with Newman and Day's Found. Take this one on a long car trip, and have an available three year old make up different versions of what goes on in the story to "read" aloud to keep you amused.
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