Hop jump

Ellen Stoll Walsh

Book - 1993

Bored with just hopping and jumping, a frog discovers dancing.

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Location Call Number   Status
Children's Room jE/Walsh Checked In
Subjects
Genres
Picture books
Published
San Diego : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich c1993.
Language
English
Main Author
Ellen Stoll Walsh (-)
Physical Description
unpaged : ill
ISBN
9780606108454
9780152928711
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Ages 3-6. Betsy the dancer watches the other frogs go back and forth, back and forth, "Hop jump, hop jump. It's always the same." At first an outcast for her leaps and turns, she eventually inspires the others to try their own moves. When the other frogs then thoughtlessly turn on the last happy hopper, spurning his hopping and jumping, Betsy comes to the rescue, stating categorically that there's room for both dancing and hopping. Preschoolers will understand the message, but they'll find the illustrations the most captivating part of the book. Using collages of textured and speckled paper against a spare, white background, Walsh creates a series of dynamic double-page spreads that will have kids hopping, jumping, and dancing. Few illus~trators working in collage have Walsh's sensi~tivity to line, which energizes every well-composed picture in this simple, satisfying book. ~--Carolyn Phelan

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Walsh ( Mouse Paint ) is at her sprightly best with this tale of Betsy, who's bored by hopping and jumping like all the other frogs. Looking for another way to express herself, Betsy tries imitating falling leaves and soon discovers dancing. The others ostracize her (``No room for dancing,'' they tell her), but Betsy, refusing to be squelched, goes off on her own. Soon the others grow curious and come to watch, and in the end, of course, can't resist the urge to join in. All except one, that is. ``Hey, no room for hopping,'' the other frogs tell the new rebel, but once again Betsy steps in and puts a stop to their discrimination. The text is both musical and minimal, leaving great clean expanses of white space for Walsh to punctuate with a flurry of fetching, fleet-footed frogs fashioned from paint-speckled cut paper. Wide-eyed and wiggling, rendered in a fresh, focused palette and invitingly designed, these hip hopsters are a joy to behold. Ages 3-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 2-"`It's always the same,'" complains Betsy, a green-speckled blue frog. She is tired of watching the others of her ilk engaging in their monotonous, ``Hop jump, hop jump.'' Instead, she imitates leaves-leaping, turning, and twisting-as they float to the ground. "`It's called dancing,'" she says. The frogs at first reject the idea, and then all but one join her. Betsy declares, "`There's room for dancing and for hopping.'" This gentle lesson in diversity and tolerance is presented in direct, graceful prose. Although there are just a few words per page, the text flows smoothly and is perfectly coordinated with the cut-paper collage illustrations. The ever-changing positions and relationships of the frogs, speckled with yellow, green, and blue, hold readers' interest. The large, clearly seen figures and flowing language will make this book a popular and useful story time choice.-Nancy Seiner, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

On open, handsomely designed pages that make extravagant use of white space, a blue frog watches green frogs hop and jump around her. Imitating nature, she learns to dance and shows others how to do the same. Children will be fascinated by the stippled froggish forms cavorting across the pages in this book about valuing differences. From HORN BOOK 1993, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Another outstandingly handsome book from the creator of Mouse Count (1991, ALA Notable). Betsy, a blue frog, only watches while the other frogs hop and jump, ``always the same''; she's more interested in the gyrations of a floating leaf, which inspire her to devise new movements, uniquely hers, that she calls ``dancing.'' When the other frogs declare there's ``No room for dancing,'' she's undeterred. But once she's found her own place ``for dancing only,'' the others are curious and join in- -except for one holdout hopper. ``No room for hopping,'' declare the converts, but Betsy is wiser: ``Yes, there's room...For dancing and for hopping.'' This amiable fable, briefer than the words it takes to describe it, is set in a large, square book with plenty of room for the cut-out frogs--in artfully spattered shades of green, except for the blue Betsy--to leap and twirl against a crisp white ground. A beautifully designed book that, like Walsh's earlier efforts, yields new subtleties and visual delights with each reading. (Picture book. 3-8)

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.