My oh my! Big elephant tramping, big hippo rolling, big tiger snatching. TRAMP! ROLL! SWAT! But can they catch that pesky fly? In this stunning picture book for the very young, the bigger jungle animals try to use their superior muscle to squish a teeny-weeny fly. But somehow, the cheeky little chap always gets away… Michael Rosen chalks one up for the little guy in a rollicking read-aloud rhyme with an irresistible refrain. The action-packed story is matched by Kevin Waldron’s strikingly dramatic illustrations, using bold perspectives rendered in pencil and gouache.

“A perfect book for reading again and again.” The Bookseller

Product Details

ISBN

9781406330977

Publisher

Walker Books Ltd

Date published

June 1st, 2011

Lexile measure

570L Lexiles are the global standard in reading assessment. They are unique as they are able to measure a child and a book on the same scale – ensuring the right book gets to the right child at the right time.

For more details see What is a lexile?.

Accelerated Reader

AR book level: 1.1; Lower years; 0.5 points

Condition

New

Author/Illustrator

Michael Rosen

Michael Rosen was born into a London Jewish family, the son of two distinguished educators – Connie and Harold Rosen. Michael’s childhood was rich in books, stories and conversation.

Michael attended Middlesex Hospital Medical School for a year but transferred to Wadham College, Oxford to study English Literature. At Oxford, he started to realise his ambition of acting (as well as writing and directing). Michael still says that if he wasn’t a poet, he’d like to be an actor. Anyone who has seen him in performance knows that he already is!

The narrowness of his course of study proved a source of dissatisfaction and Michael began looking outside his recommended reading to contemporary working, class ballads. He retains a passion for street rhymes, popular songs and folk stories.

Michael Rosen has been writing poetry since the age of 18. His first collection, Mind Your Own Business, was published in 1974. Although it was not planned as a collection for children, it appeared on Andre Deutsch’s children’s list. This, says Michael, was a turning point – “Suddenly it all fused: the writing, the performing, the popular audience. It was just incredibly exhilarating.”

He quickly made a name for himself with his collections of humorous verse and picture books for children. He is described as one of the most significant figures in contemporary children’s poetry, drawing closely on his own childhood experiences, and ‘telling it as it was’ in the ordinary language children actually use.

Michael is now a poet, author and broadcaster, and was Children’s Laureate from 2007-2009.

Reviews

Kcha
on 12 December 2015

I think the US cover

I think the US cover looks amazing! Really stdans out the cover of the story! But I remember picking out The Look’ and thinking that it would be a good book just from reading the blurb. I know You’re never meant to judge a book by its cover, but people do that! And the cover of the UK version speaks inside of the book more, unlike the US one. When I read the book, I read the unexpected. And that’s what made me love it more! The cover didn’t have to speak a lot for me.

4out of 5