Boing!

by Nick Bruel

A baby kangaroo tries desperately to learn how to jump, but can't quite make the leap. . .

Again and again she tries, with the hearty encouragement of a frog, a grasshopper, and a rabbit, not to mention his doting Mama. But instead of boinging he blomps, bloomps, and blomps. But then, a koala comes up with a surprising solution, and our little hero boings literally right off the page! A sweet and silly book with wonderful artwork and a pop-up surprise that will have kids squealing with delight.

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

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Nick Bruel is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of children's books including Bad Kitty, Bad Kitty Gets a Bath, Bad Kitty Meets the Baby, and Boing!, among others. Nick is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist, and during his down time, he collects PEZ dispensers and grows tomatoes in the backyard. He lives in Tarrytown, NY with his wife Carina and their lovely cat Esmerelda.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/nickbruel

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has several flaws, the chief of which is that it is difficult to read to someone since the author provides no non-visual queues for who is saying what. This forces me to ad lib so that the girls can follow along with the story. The other is that the story is paper thin and the dialogue almost nonexistant.

All of that though pales in comparison to this books chief virtue, which is that it makes my little undersized former premie with the physical development problems want to jump!

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute. Reading it out loud to a group was a little awkward because it's presented comic book style. That's my only complaint. It's a fun, cute book. Better for preschoolers than toddlers.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rabbit, grasshopper, frog, and mamma kangaroo encourage a little girl kangaroo to jump. She tries and tries but keeps landing on her face. A fellow marsupial, the koala, asks, "What do you have in your pocket?" The little kangaroo pulls out enough toys to fill a toy box, and is finally able to jump. This book has adorable illustrations and a surprise pop-up at the end. Good for use in a storytime with a lot of movement-- you have to jump a lot!

[Candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sophie, almost three, gave this five stars today by asking me to read it over and over again and then laughing each time. When we got home from the library she delightedly showed her mommy and grandpa this wonderful book. I guess I will have to give this five stars, too. It's lots of fun. A little kangaroo is trying to learn to hop, but isn't having much luck. The pictures are simple, bright, and entertaining. Not much dialog - mostly "boing!" - but lots of fun.

[Tawnya Yardley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to my 6 year old nephew and he loved it. He begged me to read it outloud to him again and again. The bright colors add interest and excitement expecially for young readers. This is a pattern book, but an interactive book too. I highly recommend this for a read outloud book.

[Jennifer Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun! I read this in storytime. After reading two books that featured frogs, I asked if anyone knew of other animals that liked to jump. At all but one storytime, at least one child said kangaroo, which was a great lead into the story. The children loved the Boing Boing Boing!

[Jesse James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its the best book yet. My favorite book.

[Elsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially good if you have the kind of kid who likes to collect "treasures" in pockets. Light on text, but big on personality, this one is definitely a picture book - almost a graphic novel for kids, with lots of sound-effect worda and information in the illustrations. See if you can read the text-heavy page in one breath, and then look for all of the objects in the list.

[Beatrice Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice ismple book. It succeeds in having absolutely adorable and appealing artwork. It shows a mama kangaroo teaching a joey how to jump, with the help of other jumpers: a cricket, a frog, and a rabbit...and...a koala. It's clever and original. It's one of those books that's kinda sparse but allows you to enjoy the spread of a scene. Such cute characters.

[Emily Carlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really fun book! Do kangaroos have a hard time learning how to jump? They do! this book is full of characters showing the joey how to jump. He tries very earnestly several times. It's fun to pretend to crouch down like the kangaroo as he is getting ready to jump, and count to 3 then turn the page. The build up really lends itself to the excitement of the last page.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book. I think the list of things in the joey's pocket would be quite funny if you actually collected all the articles. Even as a list, it is amusing, and the pop-up final page does add an element of fun as well.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable. Little kangaroo can't jump like his mama can, but why not? His friends help him find out. And it's funny.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would be a great book to use for studying growth mindset, how to use onomatopoeias, and how to be a good friend. Fantastic book for ages 1-8!

Kids will love the pop up words at the end too!

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun book about the challenge of a kid trying to walk. The key to success is a bizarre surprise revealed suddenly rather than with the usual foreshadowing and I think the foreshadowing would have been more effective. The style includes some graphic symbols for flourish and some surprise (and random) sky color changes (from blue to magenta to orange and then changing back for no apparent reason, though the visual idea of the changes is nice) and little asides by the characters. Surprise pop-up in the book at the end as well. A little bit of everything for an okay-fun read.

[Ann Haefele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have loved Nick Bruel's Poor Puppy and Bad Kitty books, and was surprised to find this one on the library shelves. I did not know about this first book of his for children. Fun story about a baby kangaroo learning to hop. He is not successful until a koala bear recommends he take all the stuff out of his pocket. This page is fun because it is like an I spy page. There is a list of everything he takes out of his pocket, and it is all there on the page to find. Love the expressions of the animals watching his hopping lesson and enjoyed the big pop up at the end.

[jacky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I missed most of this one at story time today because Natalie was trying to socialize with the mother and toddler next to us. In actuality, she was falling between two chairs and trying to poke the poor little girl in the eyes. Anyway, what I did see and hear of this one looked good. Cute kangaroos. Plot appeared to be about the young kangaroo learning to hop. Funny section on what was in his pouch.

[Roben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this in story time today and the kids really enjoyed it! Especially when Koala asks Joey what he has in his pocket. We started the story by practicing our jumping skills. This was a good, quick book for story time that could be used with a variety of themes including jumping, learning new skills, books about Australian or zoo animals, and, of course, pockets!

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little kangaroo is getting bouncing lessons from his mama as a koala, rabbit, grasshopper, and frog look on. No matter how hard he tries, he just can't seem to jump. The other jumping animals demonstrate how to do it, but it's the wise koala that figures out what the little kangaroo's problem really is.

Excellent illustrations.

[Alea · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was not much dialogue in this, but I can see where children would be entertained by this book. A rabbit, grasshopper, frog, and mamma kangaroo encourage a little girl kangaroo to jump. She tries and tries but keeps landing on her face. The koala, asks, she has in her pocket. The kangaroo has her pouch filled with toys that can fill an entire toy box. She then is able to jump.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute- too short for storytime.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains very few words (except on 1 page). My kids love it. They want me to read it over and over and then read it themselves.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little kangaroo learns to hop.

[kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liby likes this book. It's cute.

[Greta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty fun.

[Tati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable! The joey can't hop because he has stuffed his pocket full of too many things!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book can be about trying your hardest and figuring out what weighs you down. You can also talk to kids about how we can encourage one another.

[Abbie Arensdorf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read, it is good for a young child, there is not a lot of words but very easy to interpret pictures.

[Casandria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough to do for story time, but a cute story nonetheless. Mama kangaroo and other natural hoppers are trying to teach baby kangaroo how to Boing!

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, fun, fun!

[Bottom Shelf Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://bottomshelfbooks.blogspot.com/...