Customer Reviews

Once Upon a Picnic

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ISBN 1564028100 - Printed in Hong Kong (boo hiss to the Massachusetts publisher, Candlewick Press, for the outsourcing). Amazon has the book listed for ages 4 to 8, the book itself doesn't say, but I'd personally guess around ages 2 to 5, for a couple reasons.

A boy and his parents picnic alongside a stream. The boy points out that there's not much to do or see and seems momentarily bored before the action begins to pick up. The Three Bears arrive with their own picnic basket, a witch peers from a doorway, a giant is seen striding across the landscape and a billy goat is heading toward a bridge. For the remainder of the story, right up until the family heads home, the stories of various classic childrens' book characters unfold.

The text, by author Vivian French, is worth ignoring, really. It's limited and it's in awkward rhymes, nothing special. John Prater, the illustrator, is also the man behind the concept of the book, a fact that seems obvious when you look at it. The illustrations are 95% of the book, while the text could, for the most part, not exist for all it matters. Prater and French are also the creative team on Once Upon a Time (Read and Share), a similar tale. The images here are watercolors, full of fun details, but not so busy that the important bits get buried. The main reason that I think the book is best suited to the two to five year old crowd is that two year olds are just about the right age to be able to begin catching on to the sometimes subtle introduction of nursery rhyme characters, while six year olds are just about getting over nursery rhymes completely.

- AnnaLovesBooks