Okey dokey, let’s do the wombat hokey pokey!
Put your right paw in, put your right paw out,
Put your right paw in and shake it all about.
Do the hokey pokey and turn around,
That’s what it’s all about!
Hokey Pokey Aussie Edition features Australian animals doing the hokey pokey in their own distinctive style. The wombat puts a paw in and out, the kookaburra a wing, the platypus a fin. Illustrations are cumulative and each opening includes the featured animals, those that preceded, and also the animal that will feature on the following opening. Text curves across the pages, with lead words in larger, different colour fonts. Hokey Pokey is accompanied by a CD with music from Colin Buchanan, and includes an instrumental version in addition to the song.
Many children, and most of their families will be familiar with the Hokey-Pokey song and actions. This new Aussie version offers an opportunity to look at the similarities and differences of the native fauna. Readers can play the CD and read along. Pre- and early-school classrooms will be hopping and spinning as they join in the celebrations. The instrumental track on the CD also offers the chance for teachers/parents/family to improvise with their own words. Recommended for pre- and early-schoolers.
Hokey Pokey, Ed Allen ill Sarah Hardy Scholastic 2014 ISBN: 9781742836454
review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller