Review: What's Going On Here? by Olivier Tallec

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?

A Tell-Your-Own-Tale Book

by Oliver Tallec

Chronicle Books

Picture Book/Activity

28 pages ages 3 to 5

In this Tell-Your-Own-Tale book, flip the die-cut pages to mix and match stories, creating countless scrambled characters and funny questions. Each new combination makes a new story! Answer the mixed-up questions, or let the characters inspire your own imaginative story. This one-of-a-kind book will leave young readers giggling, wondering, and telling their own unique tales.

MY TIDBITS

Flip and mix, flap and match—this is a book full of tons of possibility and silly fun.

This is a long, solid and ready to use book, which invites to flipping through again and again. Twenty-eight different characters are divided into three sections: hats/tops of heads, faces and arms, and waist down. Each of these sections can be flipped through like it's own separate book, which means that the top, middle and bottom combinations change at will and invite many giggles and matching fun. Both sides match up as the backs are as fun as the front sides.

These creatures are quite original as well as the three parts they are divided into. And no matter how they are mixed or matched, they fit together nicely in the quirkiest ways. There is a short sentence or partial sentence on each section, front and back. These mix and match as smoothly as the creatures and create a vast variety of possibilities, many quite silly. The last of the three statements/sections ends with a question which draws kids into thought or could even lead into a discussion. For example: Everywhere we go, Loud brings his blue googles. What do you do when it's hot outside?

While I found the book entertaining, I noticed that sometimes the sentences didn't really match up with the questions below...in my adult mind. My kids saw this laying on the table and flipped through it saying, "Wow! This is neat!" They spent quite a bit of time flipping through the different possibilities and didn't find anything odd in some of the sentence combinations and their logic. They're reasoning—it's silly. Why does it have to make complete sense?

So, I'm giving this one a solid two-thumbs up because my kids love it, and they're the ones who should.


And here he is...

Olivier Tallec graduated from teh Ecole Superieure des Arts Appliques Duperre. His work has appeared in many newspapers and magazines, and he has illustrated more than 60 books for children. He lives in Paris, France.