Reviews for Oops, Pounce, Quick, Run! An Alphabet Caper.

by Mike Twohy

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This abecedary tells a spare, fast-paced story through cartoon illustrations that excel at conveying movement. An opening picture from within a mouse hole reveals the occupant sleeping in a recliner: "Asleep." A "Ball" bounces toward the startled mouse; on the facing recto: "Catch." Whose ball is this? It belongs to "Dog," of course. Twohy's inventive illustrations show the dog in hot pursuit of the frantic mouse. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Leave it to a cartoonist (in this case, a regular contributor to the New Yorker) to cleverly create a picture book-length comic strip out of the alphabet. A mouse is Asleep in a chair opposite a hole in the wall when a Ball bounces through the hole into his lap. Next, a Dog's nose pokes through the hole followed by its Feet, and the chase is on! The mouse Jumps, hiding behind a curtain, but his tail gives him away: Oops! Will this end badly? No, the shrewd mouse gives the dog a wrapped presenta new ball. Each letter appears on one page, typically exemplified by just one word (exceptions are I'll chase, To Dog, Living room, Very Cool) with the capital letter in a colorful type. The simple line drawings of the gray mouse and brown-eared, yellow-furred dog place the two characters front and center against the white backdrop, dramatizing the action and reactions. Some of the word choices are obvious, such as Pounce, Quick, Run, Wag, and only a few are unexpected: Missing, Nowhere, Unwrap, and Xoxo. Twohy could have gone the traditional route of portraying a cat-and-mouse adventure, but using a dog gives the romp relatively more energy and excitement. Give this "alphabet caper" an F for Fun. (Picture book. 4-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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