There's a giraffe in my soup

Ross Burach

Book - 2016

Each time a waiter returns with a new bowl of soup to satisfy a customer's complaint, a different animal appears in the soup.

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Subjects
Genres
Picture books
Published
New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers [2016]
Language
English
Main Author
Ross Burach (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 27 cm
ISBN
9780062360144
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

A burst of pure silliness, this debut picture book is packed with large animals that pop out of one very alarmed little boy's soup bowl. This boy, all dressed up, is seated in a restaurant and politely points out to the waiter that there's a giraffe in his soup (we see the giraffe's body in the soup, its neck extended all the way to the waiter on the facing page). The snooty waiter whisks away the offending bowl of soup and presents the boy with a new one, this time inhabited by an alligator. Each fresh tureen contains another surprise animal, including an elephant, a yak, an ostrich, a snake, and a koala bear. A final creature reveals the humorous cause of the mix-ups. The simple text contains rhymes and puns, and cartoonlike drawings appear against ample white space, making for a fun, uncluttered reading experience. Readers may also want to check out Rod Campbell's Dear Zoo (1983) and Giles Andreae's Giraffes Can't Dance (2001).--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2016 Booklist

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

The old joke about a diner complaining about a fly in his soup gets an update from newcomer Burach, as a dapper boy discovers a string of impossibly enormous animals in his entrée. Working in pencil, paint, and digital media, Burach gets in a lot of solid visual jokes: when readers first see the boy, he has just left the chunky plastic keys to his tricycle with a befuddled-looking valet, and the titular giraffe's legs and neck trail like wobbly strands of spaghetti as the waiter races the bowl of soup back to the kitchen to fetch a replacement. Later, the sights of giant alligators roaring out of tiny bowls and a lion peering out from under a cloche are sure to trigger laughs. It's only in the text that the story falters: occasional rhymed lines and bits of wordplay ("Waiter! Waiter! Save her! Save her!.... There's an elephant in my soup, and I don't think she can swim!") don't quite keep pace with the humor of the artwork. Ages 4-8. Agent: Lara Perkins, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Review by Kirkus Book Review

Lively and quirky, Burach's first picture-book outing aims to send kids into fits of giggles. A little boy pops into a restaurant expecting a delicious bowl of tomato soup. Instead, he encounters a whole zoo-ful of animals in his soup. Hilarity ensues. First, a bowl with a gangly giraffe arrives at his table. This is followed by an alligator with an appetite for children and then a host of animals including a drowning elephant, a sleeping koala, and, ultimately, a massive blue whale. Giving up on soup, the boy decides to go straight to dessert. Alas, the waiter can't get that right either! While the dialogue is succinct and simple, attempts at wordplay are more contrived than clever. " YAK! YAK! YAK!' Yuck? Yuck? Yuck? / Oh. YAK. Yuck.' " Later, the waiter thinks the boy is accusing him of lying when he's warning him about a lion. However, Burach's illustrations more than make up for this shortfall. Dynamic angles and multiple points of view ensure that the colorful characters leap off the stark white pages. Double-page spreads emphasize size and heft. Amusing facial expressions animate the characters, and googly eyes and rosy cheeks make even normally scary creatures seem cute and docile. Plus, brilliant use of the front endpapers starts the story with an unexpected prologue. A zany read-aloud book for the youngest of diners. (Picture book. 2-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.