WHO’S HIDING IN THIS BOX?
Written & Illustrated by Giuliano Ferri
Michael Neugebauer Edition
978-988-8341-96-2  3/01/2020
18 Pages   Age 3—5
6.5” X 6.5”

Genre:  Children’s Board Book
Themes: Animals, Surprise Boxes

 

Synopsis

There’s a different animal hiding in each box of this interactive lift-the-flap board book. Follow the clues and lift the flaps to find each one! With fun patterns and footprints, young children will love figuring out who’s in each box before lifting that flap to find the answer. And the last box holds a special surprise. This is both a fun board book and a game of peekaboo that the youngest readers will love. (from publisher)

Opening Sentences

“Who says ‘whoo whoo’ inside this box?”

Why I like Who’s Hiding in This Box

Do you like gifts? Do you like boxed up surprises? Those are really the best surprises. You never know what you might get and you find you have always wanted that little (or big) surprise. I like all of those things too, which is why I love reading Who’s Hiding in This Box? It’s not hide-n-seek, but it sure is close to that, just lots more fun.

On each spread are the footprints left behind by the critter that walked up to its box and climbed in. (Clue #1) Now the creature is waiting for you to figure out what it is.  But wait, look at the box, it’s wrapped in the animal’s patterns and colors. (Clue #2) Look above the unopened box. You should see a clue above the unopened box. (Clue #3)

Ready?  — watch out for the splashes.

The footprint here is actually a fin print. What critter has a triangle fin pointing toward his behind? The wrapping on this box are blue scales; the kind you clean off before cooking and eating a fish you caught.  Ooh, could be a fish, but what kind of fish? Figure it out or make a guess—and then open the box to see if you are right.

If you said any colorful FISH, you are right!

One more, but this time visualize the clues in your head. The footprints look like a dog’s footpad, with four toes and four claws. Could be a big dog, but the wrapped box has black stripes over reddish-orange at the top and white near the bottom. Okay, could still be a big dog or a black-striped, fat cat. The clue at top:  “Who’s growling inside this box?”  To recap: the creature in the box is orange-red with white near the bottom; has footprints with four toes and claws on each foot; and it “GROWLS!”  Do you know what animal is in this box?*

Even if you are not correct, the box contains such a nice surprise you won’t care. Each animal hiding away is a colorful creatures waiting to meet you. It could be a bee, a crocodile, a fish, a giraffe, an octopus, an owl, a panda, or a tiger. The very last spread is a special animal I can’t list (that would be a spoiler).

Who’s Hiding in This Box is a little gem worth opening many times. The illustrations are realistic and visually stunning. The critters will delight young children. They will love opening the flaps to reveal which animal is in the box. Even after several viewings, children will want to read it one more time. The colorful illustrations catch the eye. With only white space around them, the animals literally jump out at you. Who’s Hiding in This Box will easily become a favorite board book. Come on! The animals are waiting for you!

Extra:  The cover is a bonus, but there are no footprints like the boxes between the covers. So take a wild guess at what is inside this blue box with white bubbles floating on its sides. The box looks like the ocean, and whoever lives there that has pudgy arms and a big round head? It is an . . . OCTOPUS!

*Tiger

Available at Amazon

WHO’S HIDING IN THIS BOX?. Copyright © 2020 by Giuliano Ferri. Published by PUB, Kowloon, HongKong.

 

Copyright © 2020 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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