Can You Make a Scary Face? [Hardcover]

Jan Thomas (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 2009 | Age Level: 3 and up

What kind of a face would you make if a tickly green bug were sitting on your nose? Or if it were—eek!—inside your shirt? Could you make a scary face to frighten it away? Or, even better, stand up and do the chicken dance? Yes? Then better get to it! This exuberant, interactive picture book starring a bossy little ladybug and a GIANT hungry frog will have kids leaping up and down and out of their seats to dance and make silly scary faces of their own.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-K—This book will have youngsters jumping, wiggling, dancing, pretending, and laughing—all in reaction to a bossy, toothy ladybug with chartreuse skin. "Hey, you! Yes, I'm talking to you! STAND UP! No, I changed my mind…SIT DOWN! No….STAND UP!...Pretend you have a tiny bug on your nose. WIGGLE IT OFF!" Each spread has a dialogue balloon with large text and fonts that vary in color and size. Backgrounds change with every turn of the page, revealing glowing shades of blue, orange, and fuchsia. The expressive ladybug is outlined in broad black lines and seems only inches away from readers. Adults will enjoy using this title to encourage lively activity and imaginative games. Children will love everything about it—especially the surprise ending.—Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Jan Thomas is the creator of Rhyming Dust Bunnies, Can You Make A Scary Face?, and Here Comes the Big, Mean Dust Bunny. She lives with her family in Socorro, New Mexico.  Visit her at www.janthomasbooks.com.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Beach Lane Books (August 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416985816
• ISBN-13: 978-1416985815
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 9.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #234,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Going Through a Face, August 27, 2009

By 

Spudman (Pasadena, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Can You Make a Scary Face? (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

"Stop making those ugly faces or your face will freeze and stay that way the rest of your life."

I should have listened to Mom. But kids like making faces, the uglier, scarier, and funnier the better.
In "Can You Make a Scary Face" a fluorescent-green faced ladybug invites reader/listeners to engage in a frenetic face making frenzy to scare away a giant hungry frog. In the spirit of Simon says, kids are invited to stand, sit, and dance all around. It's the kind of activity a group of kids will love and the number of kids participating will increase the fun exponentially.

This is a Fun book with a capital F, with bright colors, big pages, silly premise, and an engaging ladybug character. I don't have young children but some of my coworkers do, and their kids thoroughly enjoyed the kinetic fun of this book.
"Can You Make a Scary Face" is a winner. Put it at the top of your list of read-aloud books.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have for the Preschool Classroom, August 25, 2009

By 

The Book Nosher (Bainbridge Island, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can You Make a Scary Face? (Hardcover)

With Can You Make A Scary Face, Thomas sticks with the same brightly colored illustrations and silly humor, but now offers a more interactive book. This book begs to be read aloud, preferably to a gaggle of kids.

It starts off with a ladybug shouting to the reader "Hey, you! Yes, I'm talking to you! Stand up!"
Turn the page and the ladybug says: "No, I changed my mind...sit down!"
And so it goes. The commands come faster and faster and soon the ladybug is ordering the kids to wiggle their noses, laugh, dance the chicken dance and blow tiny, tickly bugs out of their mouths. It's contagious and sure to be a hit in every preschool classroom.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grab a copy this book, a passel of children, start reading and you'll have the perfect formula for a rollicking good time!, August 28, 2009

By 

D. Fowler "Dragonfly77" (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Can You Make a Scary Face? (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

It's lots of fun to pretend and even more fun if you can find a few friends to pretend with. Wait, there is a big smiley ladybug with two big front teeth who is smiling and pointing at you. "Hey, you!" she says, "yes I'm talking to you!" She wants you to stand up so she can give you some directions. You can stand right up as tall as her antennae and follow her instructions. Ooops, no sooner do you stand up she wants you to sit down. PLOP! No sooner do you sit down she wants you to stand up again. Now this is going to be some funny bug!

Do you know how to pretend? I'm sure you do and that's a LOT of fun. The ladybug is going to get us all in the pretend mood. The first thing she says to you is "Pretend you have a tiny bug on your nose. WIGGLE IT OFF!" She wants you to wiggle, laugh, dance, jiggle, move about, but most of all PRETEND as much as you can. She tells you not to fret if you have a tickly bug in your shirt because "there's a giant hungry frog coming to eat that tiny TICKLY bug STUCK in your shirt!" Get ready to have lots of fun because this ladybug is as silly as they come!

If at first perusal of this book you might say to yourself that it doesn't look like much or appears to be very appealing, but just add to the mix a few preschoolers or a Kindergarten class and it will be uproariously fun and zany. It reminded me a bit of Simon Says, but there is no room for error in this book because every youngster has his own "brand" of pretending. Just picture this book, a passel of children, a lot of laughter and you have the formula for a rollicking good time! What kind of a scary face can YOU make?