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Hare by Deborah Hinde (PictureBook Publishing)
I showed
this book to my writers’ group and they all oohed and aahed over it. Illustrator
Heather Arnold thought the art work very captivating and said it was an
excellent example of artwork and white space, as well as contrasting pages. She
also liked the creative way Deborah incorporated speech bubbles. We thought
Deborah had cleverly introduced extra story into the art and speech bubbles for
the adult reading the story to the child too. For example, the tortoise worrying the lost idea was
going to be a race referring to the fable ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’, and the
rabbit being indignant that the hare was taking over his/her job and then being
delighted when it is presented with its first Easter egg.
The story
premise is that Hare has lost his idea. [How many of us can relate to that?]
The animals in the forest ask for descriptions but the Hare has no idea. The animals
help him look for it, but they only come back with things they’ve found
littering the forest. In frustration the hare goes back to where he lost his
idea and finds it. Read on to find out what his harebrained idea is.
Pre-school
and Junior school teachers will use the book as a great lead-in to discussions
about direction and opposite words: high low, big small, etc. Also teachers can
talk about the saying ‘hair-brained ideas’. And how many parents have said – go
back to where you last had it - when you’re looking for something? There are
lots of discussions that can come out of reading this book to pre-schoolers and
5-6 year olds. It’s going to be a family, kindy and new entrant favourite!
Deborah has
illustrated over 60 books for mainstream publishers Scholastic and independent
publisher Sharon Holt. This is the second book Deborah Hinde has published
herself; she recently released her and Kyle Mewburn’s book The Hopplepop. Hare is the first book she has written
and illustrated, and she’s done a fabulous job. I wish her good luck in her
marketing and I hope it sells well.
ISBN: 978-0-473-36294-2
RRP $19.99
Buy it at all good shops or here
Reviewed by
Maria Gill
