Use Your Imagination

Reviewed by: Deidre Walsh - Goodall Memorial Library, Sanford, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: October 13, 2015

Review

An innocent and unsuspecting rabbit is bored. Along comes a sinister wolf who wants to "help" the rabbit. The wolf gives a shout out to librarians when he convinces the rabbit to use his imagination to create a story. The problem is that the wolf wants to recreate "Little Red Riding Hood" and eat the rabbit at the end. The theme of use your imagination is represented very well here. Wolf and rabbit have conversations about where the story should go, wolf always reminding rabbit to use his imagination to create the story. The flow of the story is aided by the illustrations. They are done in mixed media and are clear and bold. They are in good harmony with each other. The illustrations nicely depict what is going on in the text for each page. A variety of different fonts and boldness are used throughout to emphasis what the rabbit is imagining versus what the wolf is imagining. You can also see the sinister sneer on the wolf's face as the story progresses to where the wolf chases the rabbit through the forest. On the other hand, the rabbit's expression never changes. The rabbit is not worried or afraid of the wolf. He is just bored and wanted something to do. The wolf provided that something. In fact, when we get to the end of the story where the wolf is supposed to eat the rabbit, the rabbit stops him and says, "I don't think so...I'm going to use my imagination!". And instead of being eaten the rabbit sends the wolf of into outer space in a rocket ship. And this ending literally unfolds into a four page spread of the chagrined wolf jettisoning off into space. The back cover of the book has a square cut out with an open door and the rabbit peaking out. Where will his imagination lead him next time? This is a must have for most libraries. It can be used in large group story time settings. Wonderful as a read aloud. Children will preschoolers and kindergartners will enjoy shouting out ideas for the story with rabbit and to watch out for wolf. Pair it with "The Dot", and "Ish" by Peter Reynolds, along with "Harold and the Purple Crayon" for a creativity/imagination themed story time. Or with "Wait No Paint" by Bruce Whatley and "Falling for Rapnuzel" for a fractured story time for both young and slightly older children. This is a sturdy, well conceived and fun book. Drawbacks, if any, would be the four page fold out won't last long in a public library. Nor will the hole cut out of the back cover. Repairs will be necessary soon and often.

Overall Book Score: very good