Oh No! by James Foley

Onomatopoeia, words that are written as they sound, will thrill readers of this funny book, full of words that reflect sounds. Who can say clap, or boom or splat or crash without knowing exactly what it means then succumb to the urge of miming what it means.

In this book, there is definitely an elephant in the room, as he comes down the stairs holding a three tiered wedding cake. A page of claps cheers him on until he trips, yeeargh! and splat and crash, as he falls down the stairs, cake going everywhere. Without warning there are two elephants falling down the stairs, bash, crash, smash. 'Oh No!' Now a whale joins the melee, with a splash.

Each double page adds another animal to the text with one page of word, answering the question atop each page, 'what’s that noise?'

By now readers will be calling out along with each page, 'Oh, no!' And ‘what’s that noise?’ As well as yelling out the words that describe the noise. I can imagine lots of noise and miming of these words as the pages are turned.

A pig in the pool becomes a piranha in the pool, and before one chomps the other, a whale drops in. Chomp, splash, crash, bash. A wider perspective on the next page shows us the context with a wedding in the foreground, and the pig in the pool behind the hedge, and stairs leading to the pool. Kids will be delighted at the possibilities this scene promotes, with all the noisy words still in play.

The repetitive format suddenly changes as the whale hits, and the pig is catapulted into the wedding. But the elephant lands happily, the cake reappearing intact on his arms. All seems to be headed to a happy conclusion, until 'Oh no!' something untoward happens. Kids will be laughing all the way through the book, as one thing builds along another, making a mayhem of the wedding, with lots of noise and clapping, stomping, and crashing. Kids will love joining in with the noises, and predict the next page and what will happen to make the scene even worse.

Illustrations by Foley add to the fun, with a range of animals shown in difficult circumstances. I love the expressions on the piranha’s face, and the elephant and pig as they trip. Each noisy word is given a prominent place on the page, ensuring the readers will take the words to heart and act them out. Teacher's notes are available.

Themes: Animals, Humour, Onomatopoeia, Word play.

Fran Knight