Open Up, Please!: A Minibombo Book

by Silvia Borando, Lorenzo Clerici

Lift the flaps to set the animals free! But whatever you do, stay away from the brown box, please.

Look at that little hamster in a cage, and the other animals, too—a bunny, a squirrel, a bird, a frog, and even a porcupine. All of these little animals want to play outside! Luckily, you, the reader, are in charge of the keys and have only to open the cages to make these critters happy. But wait—what’s in that box that you’re not supposed to touch? Uh-oh.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Humor, Storytime, Fiction

24 pages, Hardcover

Published August 2, 2016

About the author

Silvia Borando works as a visual designer for Studio Tiwi, where she loves to explore her great passion for color. She also heads up minibombo, a children’s publishing house based in Italy that brings together a love of stories, illustration, and interactivity to create innovative graphic picture books. She lives in Italy.

Reviews

[Earl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lift the flaps to free the cute animals from their cages. But don't open the box! Fans of Lucy Ruth Cummins's A Hungry Lion will appreciate the humor in this book.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

HA! Man I love weird picture books with surprise endings.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthy successor to "A Hungry Lion, or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals" - quick, simple, with a morbid laugh at the end.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book immensely, and that was before the hilarious (and subversive) surprise ending!

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this ending!!!

[Kristen Hylton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so fun! The kids at storytime enjoyed trying to figure out what kind of animal was in each cage before we opened the door, going off context clues like the little running wheel in the mouse's cage, the tree in the squirrel's, the water and grass in the frog's, etc. It was easy to add in Spanish words, too, to make it bilingual--we said "Open up, please" and "Abre la puerta, por favor" before lifting each flap, and I said the names of the animals in both English and Spanish.

The surprise at the end made the kids laugh! And I got to include a little bit of biology information, to let the kids know that some snakes do eat small animals (though probably not all of those at once!).

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interactive (you can open and close the cage doors) and open-ended in its use. We've read through it and had the snake eat everyone at the end; we've warned all the animals to stay in their cages; we've set everyone free but kept the snake locked up, etc.

Miss 3 and I like to explore different books and authors at the library, sometimes around particular topics or themes. We try to get different ones out every week or so; it's fun for both of us to have the variety and to look at a mix of new & favourite authors

[b.andherbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took this one home from the library without actually reading it all the way through. Simple and lovely illustrations of a different animal cage on each page with a door flap that when opened shows the animal saying "Thank you!" "Thank you" are the only words shown, so parents can be creative with their prompts to "open up, please!"

Reading this to my quirky five-year-old, we were quite surprised by the subversive ending. Let's just say you may NOT want to open all of the cages...Thankfully my kiddo is not too tenderhearted, so we had a good laugh. Other reviewers are comparing to A Hungry Lion, or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals, and I agree!

[Carissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect. Really perfect. A minimal amount of words (I think there are three total unique words in the book? Unless you count "Thank you" as one word. Then there are two.) and a genuinely surprising and hilarious ending. Also, flaps that actually move the storyline forward? Genius.

[Liz Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending. Just keep going!!!

[Nadine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and funny book with a twist in the end

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love listening to Marlinspike (2 y 7 mo) read this aloud (he adds more to the story than the text provides) and laugh!

[Addie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well played....2 year old and I were a little sad.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 1 out of 5]

Borando, Silvia Open Up, Please! Candlewick, 2016. $14.00 PICTURE BOOK

This lift the flap book features a variety of cages and when the reader lifts the flap, behind it is a small animal thanking them. Only the word Thanks is used in the whole book. I kept thinking that maybe we were freeing the animals back into the wild. After a few of these, one of the animals is a snake. The snake then chases and eats the animals you have just freed.

I think older readers who would think it was funny would not to play with a lift the flap book, while I think younger readers would be disturbed. It was a depressing book with all the cages, the hope of freedom, and the eating of cute animals.

PRE-K –NO Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2016/...

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book with flaps that aren't just a gimmick and a subversive ending too? Love.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh no!

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great surprise ending.

[Stephanie Tournas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Open the flap book with a twist. Dark and funny.