‘One, Two, Three,
Run away and hide!
‘Four, Five, Six,
Make sure I can’t hear you.
‘Seven, Eight, Nine,
Nearly there.
‘Nine and a half,
Nine and three quarters … Ten!
‘Here I come, ready or not.
Isla Lu, where are you!
Isla Lu and Mum are playing a game of Hide’n’Seek. Mum makes her way around the house and even into the garden, finding many things, but not Isla Lu. Other family members appear and ‘help’ in the search. Thus they join with the reader in knowing something that Mum apparently doesn’t. The growing family cavalcade explore the indoors and the out-of-doors in their wish to be part of the finding of little Isla Lu. The sparse and rhythmic text sits in pencil and water colour illustrations that are at once descriptive and gentle. Colours are pastel and range from pale backgrounds to more intense shades for the depictions of Isla Lu, Mum and other characters.
Hide’n’Seek is a perennial favourite of small children and is depicted here beautifully. With only a few well-chosen words, the text brings the reader/child right into the story, into the world of a young child, where the child is ‘tricking’ the parent. Mum finds many things, but not that which she seeks, as she loudly proclaims. Each spread increases the tension and the number of people who are in on the secret (even poor Jamie now out of the shower!) The Illustrations are full-spread but also use white space to allow the reader to bring their own interpretations. This is a delightful story for pre-schoolers which will be read as often as the game should be played.
Isla Lu, Where are You? Catriona Hoy ill Annie White
Windy Hollow Books 2012
ISBN:9781922081063
review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author