Review Detail

STOP THE BALL! is an engaging board book that will work well for infants and toddlers. Duck is at the park playing soccer with a ball, when he accidentally kicks it over the goal and it sails through the air. He chases it along with the other animals who see the ball along the way. Eventually, it falls into a pond, where an alligator is floating - but it isn't a real alligator, it's an inflatable with a child. The child kicks the ball out of the pond and into the goal. Everyone plays together at the end.

What I loved: This book uses a lot of repetitive text that is perfect for infants and toddlers. They will appreciate the repeating phrases and words that will help them to understand what it happening in the story, with the pages being very formulaic in terms of text. This also gives the text a good rhythm as readers travel through the book.

The illustrations are simple with good use of color and variety of animals (duck, owl, spider, dog, rat). The focus is on the bright red ball as it travels throughout the park. The sound words add to the fun of the ball and its journey.

What left me wanting more: Personally, the dog peeing on the post is something that could be skipped, but children who are getting into potty humor will find this amusing. As a small thing, some of the phrasing feels a little awkward from translation maybe, particularly towards the end.

Final verdict: STOP THE BALL! is a board book that will charm infants and toddlers with repetitive text and simple plot.