Peek-a-Little Boo

Britta Santowski is a freelance writer in Victoria.

Peek-a-Little Boo is a rhyming alphabet book that features the image of
a child and a corresponding noun whose names both start with that
letter: Isra’s ice, Questa’s quilt, and Vili’s violin, to name a
few. The images are accompanied by a four-line stanza that ends with
“Peek-a-little boo” (except the letter “R,” which delights
children with the rooster’s unexpected “Cock-a-doodle do”). The
stanzas merely begin with the featured letter. The stanza for “A”,
for example, reads: “Amazing baby / how do you do? / Let’s play a
little game / Of peek-a-little boo.” This allows the parent to choose
the focus: younger infants can enjoy the sing-song melody and
repetitious nature of the words; older toddlers and young children can
enjoy matching the letter with children’s names and object. Each page
features a close-up image of a child’s face drawn by Laura Watson, and
the ethnic and gender spectrums are well represented.

Pocket Rocks is for a slightly older audience. It tells the story of
Ian Goobie, a young boy with a learning disability that makes school an
incredibly stressful experience. His world changes when he finds a
smooth, egg-shaped rock. With this new rock in hand, he closes his eyes
and is transported in his mind to a jungle where he can spiral and dip
and swoop about. He then becomes a rock collector, and each new rock
gives him a different adventure. He collects these new sources of
strength in his pocket until their weight causes his pants to fall
down—outside in the playground in front of other students. Ian then
meets a popular and successful storyteller who also used rocks to access
his imagination. The illustrations by Helen Flook greatly complement the
story. The brightly coloured, cartoonlike characters are quite animated
in both their misery and joy. This is an impressive book that
effectively conveys both the power of the imagination and the anxieties
that accompany learning disabilities. Both books are recommended.