Inside! Inside! Inside!

by Holly Meade

Noah and Jenny play a game in which they place one item inside another, over and over, until they place it all in the shower, then imagine and draw the shower inside the house, inside the neighborhood, and all the way to the solar system.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2005

About the author

Holly Meade was the illustrator of many acclaimed books for children, including On Morning Wings by Reeve Lindbergh, That's What Friends Are For by Florence Parry Heide, Virginnie's Hat by Dori Chaconas, In the Wild by David Elliott, Naamah and the Ark at Night by Susan Bartoletti and many more. She wrote and illustrated the picture book If I Never Forever Endeavor. Meade's illustrations for Hush!: A Thai Lullaby by Minfong Ho won a 1997 Caldecott Honor for illustration.

Reviews

[Samantha Zapata · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was just darling! The story starts off with a brother and a sister, Noah and Jenny, and Jenny finds a marble that belonged to Noah. Well Noah has this great idea that playing this game called inside, inside, inside would be fun! So they put the marble in the salt shaker, then the cereal box, then the recipe box, then Jenny's hat and the list goes on until they put the hamper in the bathroom and they have to stop because they can't move the bathroom. So they keep going anyway and start drawing. They draw the house, neighborhood, town, state, country, continent.. until they reach the solar system.

Very cute and loved how it made you think with them before they would show you on the next page.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagination is a wonderful creative process and childhood is where it is abundant and can be fostered and encouraged. This story is of a brother and sister actually placing objects inside each other and then they turn to art to continue the creative game of inside, onside, inside. Good title to encourage imagination and creativity in the digital age.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two siblings, Noah and Jenny, start with a small marble, and take their play time and imagination to heights and beyond. Their simple game of putting one object inside another will amaze the reader, to possibly give it a try.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you ever get a present that was inside a box that was inside a larger box that was inside a larger box that...? Did you ever muse that your bedroom is in your house which is in your town which is in your state which...? If you've done either, you'll immediately identify with these children. If you've done neither, you poor thing, you need to learn from these children.

I like that it's all told in dialogue. Creative, fresh, and perhaps just a little challenging (but in a good way, of course). I'm not sure I like that the kids made a mess - it doesn't seem to add anything to the story and is distracting to the adult reading this with the kids.

[babyhippoface · Rating 2 out of 5]

A brother and sister play a game of “inside, inside, inside,” beginning with a marble inside a salt shaker inside a cereal box, and ending with the solar system inside the Milky Way galaxy. Meade’s colorful illustrations, a combination of cut paper and drawings, add a playful touch and help explain the concept. After an initial reading, kids will want to try Noah & Jenny’s game for themselves; explore spatial relationships by allowing them to play it with things in the classroom and encouraging them to draw those things that stretch beyond the boundaries of what they can touch.

[Hannah Grosse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inside, Inside, Inside is a book which fairly accurately describes the average relationship between a mischievous boy and his little sister, stepping into the role of accomplice. It's a charming story which allows us to enter the minds of young children as they follow their dreams in the form of imagination. The plot-line is simple as well as the language, which seems to match the simplicity of the pair of siblings playing a game with a mere marble and some household containers. All in all, it's a pretty good book.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

It might get a little confusing after everything is in the shower and the book is written as a dialogue between the brother and the sister. But done with a felt set and reading half of the book might work in story time.
Noah and Jenny play a game in which they place one item inside another, over and over, until they place it all in the shower, then imagine and draw the shower inside the house, inside the neighborhood, and all the way to the solar system.

[Mattie Troyer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not care for this book much at all. The only way I could see it being usefully used in a classroom setting is if you broke the class up into pairs and gave everyone a copy of this book. This way they could read the two characters back and forth to each other working on voice while reading. I think this would be a confusing read aloud because of the conversation between the boy and girl in the story. I probably won't be picking this book up to read again anytime soon.

[Tahya Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great interactive book. It has an older brother and a younger sister that are communicated back and forth the whole book and their lines are highlighted with different colors. One person could be the sister, Jenny, and the other person could be the brother, Noah. While it is a very interactive book, it also has teaching lessons about the world and what's "inside of the outside". I would recommend this to grade starting to develop high level thinking about the world.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lately, I have been letting my oldest daughter(1st grade) rate the books she reads to me and tell me the reason for her rating. I have my own thoughts about the books she reads to me but I let her decide it's rating. She wanted to give this book 5 stars because she liked the discovery game Noah and Jenny created and she said she liked learning about the Solar System.

[Stacie Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

So fun! The kids start with a marble and put things inside of the other, brother teaches sister what things go inside of other things! Great book!

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids loved it.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

We got this one at the library and liked it so much that we got it! It kind of has a "Me on the Map" vibe.

[Amy L. Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

read this to two groups of kids and it just didn't get much of a reaction. Probably better for one on one.

[Hailey Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: contemporary realistic
Reading Level: elementary

This book shows the story of siblings who play the game “inside.” They go as far as what is inside the universe and the galaxy. I️t was a fun read.