Heave Ho! - Hardcover

Heinz Janisch was born in Austria and studied journalism and German linguistics. He works as an editor and a moderator in radio. In addition to his work in journalism, he has written a number of award-winning books for children. He is also the author of North-South Books' Noah's Ark, illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger.

PreSchool-K–A dog, a cat, and a few mice take exactly 12 steps to procure their dinner in this concept book that begins, This story is told in twelve sentences. (Start counting now!) In the first sentence, a cat runs into the story.... Children will laugh as the characters go to great lengths to extract some cheese and sausage from the refrigerator, until a shadow indicates that they have been caught. The text is flat and its self-referencing awkward; however, it clearly demonstrates a narrative sequence as well as ordinal numbers in action. This is a comfortable read-aloud, with double pages of dark, saturated color and a bold, comical font superimposed on one side of the spread. The book is a quick match, in a supporting role, for other sequential narratives such as Philemon Sturges's The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza) (Dutton, 1999) and Audrey Wood's The Napping House (Harcourt, 1984).–Teresa Pfeifer, Alfred Zanetti Montessori Magnet School, Springfield, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.