Josh Shipley – Mom Read It

This Is a Whoopsie!, by Andrew Cangelose/Illustrated by Josh Shipley, (Oct. 2018, Lion Forge), $15.99, ISBN: 978-1-941302-87-3

Ages 4-8

Hot on the heels of May’s This is a Taco!, Andrew Cangelose and Josh Shipley are back to exploring the lighter side of wildlife with This Is a Whoopsie!, where readers meet a clumsy moose nicknamed… well, Whoopsie. Like This Is a Taco!, This Is a Whoopsie! intends to be a book educating readers on moose, but Whoopsie blunders through the book, tripping over logs and causing general chaos. He feels really bad about it, though. He doesn’t even think he should be the moose example for the story, but his blue bird buddy is there to cheer him on and get him through the book. The story plays with words and language in one series of spreads, where Whoopsie takes out a page of text and tries to reconstruct it, with hilarious results, with sentences like “Moose wear wild wigs and laugh all night with trampoline hamsters”. Blue bird finally suggests that Whoopsie tell stories about the times he’s fallen down and created silly scenarios, to boost his mood, and it works! Whoopsie gets to relive some funny situations, including some hilarious photobombs and an anecdote about wearing a camper’s underwear on his antler, and readers get a belly laugh.

The artwork is so much fun, from the brown endpapers that start off with antlers and pinecombs and finish with taco-covered underwear and tidy whities. In between, we have a cartoon moose with an expressive body – gangly limbs, top-heavy antlers, and a penchant for pratfalls. Little blue bird is stout and sweet. We get some good facts about moose, a sweet story about friendship, a charming and clutzy hero, and a little cameo from our friend, Taco the Squirrel.

Whoopsie! is a sweet story that kids will love. It’s a nice add to your picture book collections.

In a twist on the classic Wizard of Oz quote, I found myself with a tiger book, a bear book, but no lion book. Lion Forge came to the rescue with a hilarious (and animal-related) picture book! Enjoy!

This is a Taco!, by Andrew Cangelose/Illustrated by Josh Shipley, (May 2018, Lion Forge), $15.99, ISBN: 978-1941302729

Recommended for readers 3-7

Everyone knows that tigers are sleek, silent, and totally terrifying. Except for Little Tiger. He can’t seem to get anyone in the forest to notice him, let alone be afraid of him! After his brother bets that he can’t scare any animal in the forest, Little Tiger sets off, determined to frighten someone. He tiptoes his way through the book, trying to scare boars, elephants, and monkeys, with no luck. Isn’t there anyone he can scare before the day is out?

This is a great book for the littles, who LOVE “scaring” people. I remember I couldn’t walk out of my bathroom without my little guy jumping and “boo!”-ing me starting around the age of 3. (He’s 5 now, and still tries it; these days, it’s usually with a Nerf sniper rifle.) The author speaks to a child’s desire to be seen as someone bigger, and the frustration at being ignored, or worse – laughed at – when they’re trying to be like the bigger folks. The repetition of Little Tiger’s tiptoeing up to his prey invites readers to be part of the story, whether they tiptoe with their toes or walk their fingers on a surface. Let them give their best ROAR! to see how they’d match up with Little Tiger.

The pencil and watercolor illustrations are adorable; very kid-friendly, and leave a lot of open space to show the size differences between Little Tiger and the rest of the animals. Green endpapers with fern leaf patterning bring readers into the story. The Tiptoeing Tiger is a fun story about being small, but determined. A fun additional book for animal lovers.

The Curious Cares of Bears, by Douglas Florian/Illustrated by Sonia Sánchez, (Aug. 2017, little bee books), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1-4998-0462-1

This rhyming story takes readers through the four seasons with a group of bears and how they spend their time. In the spring, they love to climb trees and steal honey from bees, play and chase each other; in the summer, there’s swimming and games, family reunions, and parties; in the fall, they play all day and sing by a campfire at night; and when winter arrives, it’s time to make their way to their den to hibernate, until the spring thaw comes, and they get ready to explore their world all over again.

This is a gentle, fun read about the seasons. The group of cuddly bears pass their time in similar ways to our own families, which makes for some fun questions to pose to readers, especially near different seasonal school breaks. The rhyming text has a nice, steady rhythm for readers and the soft art makes the bears look fuzzy and cuddly, like the best bear books do. Endpapers feature an extended family group of bears wandering around the forest, setting the tone for the story. Give this to your teddy bear loving readers, and booktalk with some easy reader season books, like those from Rookie Readers.