Wiggle!

by Taro Gomi

It's more than a book—it's a game! Every spread is missing a key element of a featured animal—from an elephant's trunk to a penguin's beak, these creatures are incomplete. And it's up to young readers to help them out! Kids can finish the illustration by wiggling their fingers through suitably placed die-cuts. Children are sure to giggle at the silliness of turning their fingers into elephant trunks and chameleon tongues—and learn a bit about animal features on the way!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Storytime

16 pages, Board Book

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

Taro Gomi (五味太郎) is a major children’s illustrator and writer. He has more than 400 book titles to his credit. His work has been widely translated into 15 other languages.


Tarō was born in Tokyo and he graduated from ID department, Kuwazawa Design Institute. His readers range from babies to adults, with an equal number of fans overseas. His work has been appreciated considerably with both domestic and international honours such as the Sankei Jido Shuppan Bunka Award, Bologna Children's Book Fair Award among others.


Along with authoring children's books, he is well-known in the fields of Stationery design, clothing design, production of young children's animated videos, CD-ROMs, essays etc.


His popular books published in English include Everyone Poops, Santa Through the Window, Where's the Fish?, My Friends and The Crocodile and the Dentist.

Reviews

[Erin Reilly-Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great idea here, with the hole for fingers to animate the picture and the art has a sense of unexpected whimsy to it with dark, saturated colors and bleeding edges. There are a couple issues though. One is that there are, by necessity, two holes on every spread, one of which is neglected. The other is maybe an issue of translation- The crocodile "flashes his fang" just seems a bit off-kilter. I also like that about half the animals are female (compare to entirely male-centric books like Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell).

[Furbjr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Olivia read this to Mabel while we were at the library. Mabel wiggled her fingers while her sister read the words aloud. I really loved this and it made me laugh.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stick your finger through the hole in this book to help you get to the 'point' of the picture. Great book for toddlers!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great story for our babies story time.

[Anna Fillmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

So playful and imaginative, with great language.

[Cami Barn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Como muchas obra de Gomi Taro, es un libro interactivo que siempre es diferente.
Es muy difícil no sentir la pulsión de meter el dedo!
Inicialmente pensé que sería un libro que buscaba fomentar la actividad física, pero no.
La paleta de colores es hermosa y muy estimulante.
Puede que todo esto se deba a la formación como diseñador de Gomi Taro.

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idk why—but I found this book completely delightful. There are a plethora of books where you can stick your finger through a hole and wiggle it…but I found this one particularly charming. This is probably a 4.5 for me. I really really like Taro Gomi’s illustration style. I guess the book was just very whimsical and I liked the variety of actions that all of the animas are doing.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow I'm torn. Very cute concept. But I despise the illustrations that often don't even look enough like the animal that a toddler could recognize them. And I'm not sure I could do all the different actions (peck, sway, flap, etc.) satisfyingly.

[Deidre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taro Gomi is so amazing. This would be a great baby shower gift. Each page has a hold you stick your finger through to do things like flap wings, wag tails, etc.

[Ally McCulloch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great idea! Unfortunately some things need two fingers (antlers) and the crocodile's mouth is closed when "fangs" are supposed to be sticking out. But otherwise, great!!

[Andrés · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is so fun to animate the creatures via the hole in this book.

[Evelyn Slinkard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evie enjoyed it! :)

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice interactive book with finger action through the page holes.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute idea for an interactive book.

[Marcie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun interactive for little ones.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the concept, the "wiggle" factor holds attention but I wish there was more story to the book.

[Aneesa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is something wrong with my finger?

[Brynna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute idea that gets kids more involved with reading this book.