One can only imagine the subject matter of a book whose title includes the word ‘plop’ so I was both surprised and delighted (though I wouldn’t have minded if it was the other ‘plop’!) when I discovered the plop is nothing more than an apple dropping into a lake.
Or is it?
When six little rabbits, nibbling on carrots and chocolate cake by the lake, hear a terrible plop, they scatter (hoppily) away, terrified from the monstrous possibility of something awfully and terribly fearful chasing them. A Terrible Plop.
As the rabbits pass the fox, they pass on their fear. As fox passes the monkey, he transfers the terror. As they all pass the pig and the elephant, the dread follows suit – and so on it goes until the animals reach the big brown bear who finds it hard to believe there could be anything more fearsome than he.
Forcing the littlest rabbit to return to the lake to face the plop, can the wee bunny draw on every ounce of inner strength to face his nemesis? And what of the terrible plop?
Dubosarsky pens The Terrible Plop in beautiful rhythmic rhyme and a delicious, almost stream-of-consciousness style that’s so consistent in her work, with stylish plays on words that are almost Dr Seuss-like.
Joyner’s joyful illustrations are sheer perfection for this book, making it a true all-rounder in terms of content, style, storyline and sheer fun – and effortlessly earning its CBCA Book Awards nomination for 2010.
Gorgeous.
Title: The Terrible Plop
Author: Ursula Dubosarsky
Illustrator: Andrew Joyner
Publisher: Viking, $24.95
Publication Date: 2 March 2009
ISBN: 9780670071418
Format: Hardcover
Type: Picture Book
