Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
With the careful placement of a banana peel, a hyena with a serious case of schadenfreude sets off a chaotic series of misfortunes. Giraffe slips on the peel and skids "straight into a tree-KER-RANG!" which causes a coconut to fall on Hippo, making him step on Snake, who bites Ostrich, and so on. Hyena, ignoring his friends' indignant repetition of the phrase "That's not funny!" cackles away-until his prank lands him in a pile of elephant poop. Reynolds-who previously worked with Willis on Who's in the Bathroom?-contributes cartoony watercolors that play up the numerous animals' expressions of anger and shock. The message is more "what goes around comes around" than "be nice"-as Hyena slinks away into the sunset, the other animals, who so resented Hyena's howling, guffaw just as heartily at Hyena's predicament as he did at theirs. Those looking for a morality lesson won't find it-this story is all about the pratfall. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-When Hyena puts a banana peel on Giraffe's path, he sets off a chain of events that he finds extremely hilarious. He laughs and laughs at the other animals' misfortunes-a coconut falls on Hippo's head, Snake gets stepped on, Rhino tumbles into the swamp, Turtle lands on Vulture, etc.-while they exclaim, "That's not funny!" The joke, of course, is on Hyena when he slips on the forgotten peel and steps into a huge, steaming pile of Elephant's poo, causing all the other animals to laugh. Children will love the large, colorful illustrations that clearly show each animal's pain and anger in a fun and cartoony way. The text placement is fairly interactive with the pictures, and there are plenty of onomatopoeic words ("Bink!" "Ker-rang!" etc.). Good for reading aloud and sure to be popular with the storytime crowd.-Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH (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
Hyena plays a joke by placing a banana peel in Giraffe's path. This launches a chain of events that causes discomfort to Hippo, Snake, Ostrich, and other creatures. Although Hyena laughs hysterically, he receives his comeuppance when he falls in "a huge, steaming heap of Elephant's poo!" Bright, cartoony illustrations aptly picture the marginally funny story's chaotic events. (c) Copyright 2011. 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
(Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
