Hide & Seek

by Janet S. Wong

It's a hide-and-seek day! Where's the best hiding place? Here? Or here? Or maybe here! Better find one lickety-split (. . . one . . . two . . . ) because Daddy is counting (. . . three . . . four . . . ) while cookies are baking ( . . . five . . . six . . . ). Is this the spot? ( . . . seven . . . eight . . . ) Ready . . . or not! Introduces simple counting skills.

Genres: Picture Books, Counting, Storytime, Childrens

Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

About the author

Janet S. Wong was born in Los Angeles, and grew up in Southern and Northern California. As part of her undergraduate program at UCLA, she spent her junior year in France, studying art history at the Université de Bordeaux. When she returned from France, Janet founded the UCLA Immigrant Children's Art Project, a program focused on teaching refugee children to express themselves through art.

After graduating from UCLA, summa cum laude, with a B.A. in History and College Honors, Janet then obtained her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a director of the Yale Law and Technology Association and worked for New Haven Legal Aid. After practicing corporate and labor law for a few years for GTE and Universal Studios Hollywood, she made a dramatic career change—choosing to write for young people instead. Her successful switch from law to children’s literature has been the subject of several articles and television programs, most notably an O Magazine article, a "Remembering Your Spirit" segment on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and the Fine Living Channel’s "Radical Sabbatical."

Janet's poems and stories have been featured in many textbooks and anthologies, and also in some more unusual venues. Poems from Behind the Wheel have been performed on a car-talk radio show. "Albert J. Bell" from A Suitcase of Seaweed was selected to appear on 5,000 subway and bus posters as part of the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority's "Poetry in Motion" program, and was later highlighted on the Hallmark Channel’s "New Morning" show. And, in April 2003, Janet was one of five children’s authors invited to read at The White House Easter Egg Roll.

Janet and her books have received numerous awards and honors, such as the International Reading Association's "Celebrate Literacy Award" for exemplary service in the promotion of literacy, and the prestigious Stone Center Recognition of Merit, given by the Claremont Graduate School. Janet also has been appointed to two terms on the Commission on Literature of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Janet currently resides near Princeton, NJ, with her husband Glenn and her son Andrew.

Reviews

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for me. I don’t appreciate poetry. The counting in this was very disjointed, uneven numbers of words on a page. Confusing story. They play hide and seek by finding 10 different places to hide, dad looks all the places they tried to hide in order, which took 10 seconds but apparently the looking takes 8 minutes because then dad gives up? And then the timer goes off? And they surprise someone with their head in the oven?
My toddler is most concerned they don’t give the cookies to the dog.

[Miss Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terrible rhyming

[Aarvik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice read!

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is for children younger than Julia. This would be a wonderful, fun tool for parents or teachers teaching young kids their numbers.
Even though once we got home from the library and I noticed Julia was "too old" (oh, how strange that sounds!) for this, we still read it.
And I have to give it a good rating because it's not a bad book even though it's not for us.
The story is about a father and his son playing hide-and-seek and there are short, fun rhymes scattered throughout the book in accordance with the numbers from the father counting. The son, during this time, is busy trying to find the ultimate hiding place.

*Is it just me or does the kid look kind of like the son from King of the Hill? Especially on one of the last pages, where he and his dog are pictured?*

[Janae · Rating 3 out of 5]

W actually enjoyed this because he's obsessed with the idea of hiding. A dad and a son bake cookies and while they're waiting for them to be done, the son goes to find a hiding spot with his dog. I was kind of annoyed (plus, it's confusing if you're trying to teach a toddler how to play the game) that the boy just came out of hiding at the end because the cookies were done. What a spoiler! Anyway, it does help teach counting (Dad counts out loud while son finds hiding spot).

[Paul Farbman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The numbers in this book serve a dual purpose. They represent the father counting while his son hides and the number of places the son finds to hide. It has a small plot because the game takes place while the father and son are waiting for cookies to bake. The son eventually comes out of hiding to get a cookie.

The illustrations, designed from various printing techniques on Rives paper, appear to pop and catch the viewer's eye.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It also teaches 1-10 Noah really payed attention

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful counting and rhyming book!

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

During cookie making time it is also tome for a little boy to play hide and seek. While his father is counting he tries different hiding spots. Colorful illustrations

[Miss Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

a young boy and dog play hide and seek with their dad and find 10 great hiding spots while waiting for the cookies to be done. Toddler and up. Probably more preschool.