Look: A Playful Illustrated Bedtime Story About Zoo Animals and Vowel Learning for Kids

by Fiona Woodcock

Look! It’s a book! Starring a brother and sister who go to the zoo, see kangaroos and baboons, and get to bring home balloons! Told entirely in words that contain a double o , this playful story is a great choice for emerging readers. Bright illustrations and an engaging, interactive text will invite repeated readings. Hooray! A brother and sister can’t wait to go to the zoo, where they have an exciting day ahead full of food, balloons, baboons, and so much more. This playful concept-and-story book is ideal for new readers. Author-illustrator Fiona Woodcock’s spare text uses only words containing double o ’s, an important concept for early literacy. Each word is cleverly woven into stunning illustrations. And it all ends with a bedtime book, of course. Good night!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Storytime, Fiction, Language, Family

40 pages, Hardcover

Published July 10, 2018

About the author

Fiona Woodcock knew a long time ago when she was growing up in Leicester that she wanted to earn her living drawing. Since graduating from Glasgow School of Art she has been working freelance in London on animated films, commercials and illustration work. Recently she has been concentrating on developing picture book ideas and her debut author/illustrated picture book Hiding Heidi was published in July 2016 by Simon and Schuster.

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ooooo! I loved this one.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brother and sister have an exciting outing to the zoo, and see ooh, so many words that contain double OOs. I love the author's unique artwork.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Language development, word association-content AND form, connections between visual and lingusitic literacy, skilled use of color and layout (use of negative space!)...you don't think it at first glance, but this could be a masterpiece.

[Jennifer Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is gorgeous. It is probably better for a slightly older kid than mine--my 2 year old doesn't read yet and didn't get that the words were a part of the artwork--but the pictures are bright and bold and colorful, and as the grown-up reading it, I was charmed.

[The Library Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is this a new gimmick-I also recently read the one where every word starts with an "S." Not by this author, but the same sort of thing. Here every word--and there is one word per page just as in the other book--has an "oo" in it. While this could get tiresome, there is enough story and lovely pictures here to set this head and shoulders over the old "Word Bird" series by Jane Moncure, or some such.

[Michelle Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever and fun!

[Christine (Tina) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vivid & all those *oo* sounds!

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple, creative, and quite fun. Rowan loves it, enjoying saying the words, seeing the pictures, and naming other objects in the illustrations. A layered work that stays loose, encouraging kids (and adults) to not worry too much about coloring inside the lines.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations tell the story in this book of few words. Early readers will enjoy finding the double o's on each page; some are hidden in words.

[RG]

I really liked how the words and pictures interacted on the pages.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focuses on words that have "oo" in them, such as look, balloon, zoom, etc. Sometimes, the "o's" are letters, and sometimes round objects. Very cute and colorful.

[Pita-eater · Rating 4 out of 5]

With charming illustrations and only words containing oo (double o), this book tells a simple story of two children who go to the zoo. Good for children learning to read.

[Gloria G · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brother and sister go on a trip to the zoo where everything they experience involves a “oo” word. The only word on the page is the corresponding “oo” word that is embedded in the illustration. An excellent picture book! Children really enjoyed using the illustrations to come up with their own story.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This might have been too high concept for me. I like the artwork and the conceit of a book filled with double o words but I'm not a fan of text being integrated into artwork. It felt like one too many things happening here.

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very cool concept-an entire story told only with words that have oo in them-that totally works. The book follows kids on a trip to the zoo. Lots of fun, and it was impressive to see all the different words she came up with.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever picture book telling the story of a visit to the zoo, where all the words have the letters "oo" and they are incorporated into the picture. Caldecott? This is in the picture book section, but would easily fit in the Easy Reader section as well.

[Tiff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great when learning words, words that look alike. Funny words and double O is the main feature in this awesome picture book. Artwork and hand-lettered text created by hand-cut rubber stamps, stencils, BLO pens, and additional pencil line work, all composited digitally.

[Raven Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

This should be a medium sized board book

[Lyrical Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fresh look at an alphabet book - word recognition, letter tracing and identification. And original illustrations.

[Lynsaroo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Join a brother and sister from the moment they wake in the 🍳 morning until their eyes are closed again that night. Much fun is to be had and sights to see throughout their day, from a glorious sunrise, a trip to the zoo busy with 🐼 animal exhibits and🍦dessert, and heading back home to 🛀 prep for bed. The best part: Each page represents one single word that contains a double O.

🎈This bOOk is so fun! At first glance I thought it was just a collection of words but quickly discovered it's actually a story. Woodcock really got creative finding words to fit the theme, but they don’t feel forced at all. This would be a wonderful choice for learning phonics and the 'oo' sound. My son loved going through each image and finding the OOs whilst attempting to figure out what each word said.

Find us on Instagram @3BittyBookworms

[Aolund · Rating 5 out of 5]

An almost poetic book, made up entirely of words with double-os and with the narrative carried largely by the illustrations, Look shows/tells the story of two kids (tan skinned with blue hair) going to the zoo. This book could work either for babies/toddlers, who would just enjoy looking at the colorful pictures and benefit from hearing all of those double-o words, or for older kids learning to read, who would revel in finding all the double-o words incorporated into the pictures!

Themes: Animals/Zoo; Taking a Trip

[Jody Rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

📚Look by Fiona Woodcock📚
We loved the bright playful artwork in this picture book. The story follows the day of two kids as they go on an adventure to the zoo. The author uses only words with the double “OO” sound and each word is worked into the artwork. Great for early readers and really makes that phonics sound memorable to my early reader.
⠀
The artwork includes stamps, hand lettering and blo pens. How fun! Normally a book with only one word on a page would not excite us but my young ones have opened this up over and over this week.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Fun, colorful and inventive way to tell a story using the concept of finding double o's in objects. Single words for most of the book tell the story, leaving the reader to fill in what is happening. I might have ended with good night, but the stars spelling out 'look' echoes the title page with the rising sun forming one of the o's in look.

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is best for kids who are learning to read, because every word in this book contains the letter pair OO, making it a great way to learn to recognize and read words with double O’s.

The artwork is wonderful.

Kids enjoyed this one.

It is a very short read, so maybe even young toddlers would enjoy the pictures and hearing a few words, but they’d miss out on the double OO appeal.

[Syntha Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

clever, great illustrations, my only bone to pick would be the blurb that states every word in the book has oo, when it has "see you soon", so perhaps it should read every phrase? This is, I'm sure, the fault of the publisher and not the author.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super creative story about kids visiting a zoo! All the words in this story contain "oo" and the reader gets the chance to experiment with the magic of the strange rules of reading in the English language. Also good illustrations.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice colors and a good aesthetic, but this didn't go anywhere for me. It might be good for a kid who is at the exact right age for some basic word/letter visuals, but my toddler wasn't interested either.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations and interesting art work that works with the one word text on each page for words that have 2 oo's in them. Would be best for a one on one read aloud instead of as s full group.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really beautifully illustrated book that makes use of the double oo's to tell a story about a brother and sister's visit to the zoo. It's fun to see how the text and illustrations work together. Could spawn some really cool art projects.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty design, great for recognising words with double-o's. Recommended for kids starting to read, who could likely read these short words with double o's. Makes reading silly while still being good practice.