The Flea's Sneeze (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Karla Firehammer (Illustrator) "On a dark, dark night..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The rollicking rhythms and kid-pleasing repetition of Downey's (Sing, Henrietta! Sing!) rhyming verse recommend this perky volume for a lighthearted read-aloud. In a tumbledown barn, all the animals sleep peacefully, except a tiny flea, who coughs, sniffles and utters a plaintive plea to his snoring pals, "Does eddybody hab a tissue for be?" Finally, he issues an enormous sneeze that manages to rouse the menagerie: "It scared the rat,/ Who cried 'Boohoo!'/ And woke the cat,/ Who hissed 'Mairoo!'/ It baffled the bat,/ Whose eyes turned blue,/ And confused the cow,/ Who muttered 'Moo Moo!' " After the mouse (whom "the flea used for a house") produces a tissue, all settle back to sleep, save the hog ("No one heard his garbled wheeze,/ 'I think I'b godda sdeeze'"). Debut illustrator Firehammer's acrylic art shows the slumbering cast in humorous poses: on various spreads, the frog sleeps atop a dog who is curled up on the back of the hog, the bat hangs upside-down from the cow's tail and the owl stands on one leg as it dozes on a windowsill. Even better, their positions change from one spread to the next. Preschoolers will eagerly point out each animal with the repeat mentions of the barn's residents. Ages 3-6. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-The cover, showing a flea on a mouse on a cat on a dog on a pig on a cow, with other creatures jumping, perching, and flying about, affords a preliminary hint of the simple story within. All of the animals are asleep in the barn. The flea coughs, but nobody hears him. He asks for a tissue, and is still unheard. When he sneezes loudly, everyone abruptly awakens, a tissue is found, and they all settle down-until the hog feels a sneeze coming on. The rhymed text is forced, so that while other animals are called by their familiar names, the hen is "a feathered fowl" to rhyme with "owl." When the menagerie begins to hoot, crow, bark, etc., the hog screams "'Eeeeeeww!'/And reminded the frog/Of his old nephew," a line both puzzling in context and unnecessary. The softly colored, warmly textured acrylic illustrations are lively and funny. However, the text suffers from an overbalance of build-up leading to an understated ending, which seems anticlimactic after the long, tedious repetitions of the catalog of animals. For a book about an explosive sneeze with comical consequences that's easier to read aloud, try Ruth Brown's The Big Sneeze (Lothrop, 1985). It's economical, direct text emphasizes the humor rather than overburdening it with words.
Marian Drabkin, Richmond Public Library, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (September 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805061037
• ISBN-13: 978-0805061031
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 10 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #829,354 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great artwork, contrived story, April 1, 2003

By	Emma Bean's Mom "emmasim" (New England) - See all my reviews

I love love love the illustrations of this book. They're so full of colour, movement and personality. Lots of kid appeal! However, I feel that the artwork is its strongest point. While I appreciated the value in the repetition and the rhyming, I found the story and the rhyme itself very contrived. I felt as if the author was trying too hard to get the rhyme to fit neatly and compactly into the almost 30 pages that the story rests on.

That said, my 3 year old daughter loves this book and whenever she asks me to read it, I have to do so several times before I manage to redirect her attention towards a different book. She laughs hysterically whenever we get to the part where the flea sneezes. That reaction must count for something and probably has more merit than the opinion of her cranky mommy.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, October 3, 2001

By	Sandi Di Buono (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Any book that can make my three year old grand-daughter
laugh out loud deserves a five star rating. It was a delightful story, very easy to read. It is a favorite of ours, that will be read again and again.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tumble-down wonderful, December 28, 2001

By	lisa m hayes (Greenwich, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This is one of the best children's books we've read. Our 3 year old loves the repetition and after a couple of readings, has memorized the entire book. We have to read it every night before bed. It is a wonderful story, and the illustrations are fabulous. A must have for your child's library.