Pouch! [Hardcover]

David Ezra Stein (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up

The delightful tale of a curious baby kangaroo, from the creator of Leaves

When you?re new to the world, every hop brings another surprise! Joey wants to go exploring, but everything he discovers is almost too exciting. Bees, rabbits, birds . . . other creatures can be scary! But Mama is never far away, and who knows?Joey might even make a friend.

David Ezra Stein?s gentle story will amuse and comfort readers.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1—Stein continues to create deceptively simple yet very affecting picture books. One day, little Joey peeks out of Mama Kangaroo's pouch and says, "I want to hop!" Each time he leaves his safe haven, he takes more steps, meets a strange new animal, yells out "Pouch!," and hops back to his mama to hide. But when the final animal is another little joey who also yells "Pouch!," the two realize there is nothing to fear, have a good laugh, and hop off together. When their mamas offer their pouches, the youngsters say, "No, thanks." The marker, watercolor, and crayon illustrations are rendered in Stein's trademark simple, scribbly, loosely drawn style. The increasing distances Joey hops from his mother are clearly represented with increased page turns and use of perspective. Stein's choice of easily identifiable animals (a bee, a rabbit, and a bird) is particularly apropos, giving the book universality that it might otherwise lack. The repetition will appeal to the intended audience, as will the chance to identify each animal Joey meets. The subtle sophistication of the story gives it broad appeal: while it could be used one-on-one with toddlers, older preschoolers would enjoy it in storytimes, and the minimalistic text would be effective with beginning readers as well.—Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT END

Review

"Warm and inviting, this buoyant tale is hopping good fun." --Kirkus

"Stein continues to create deceptively simple yet very affecting picture books...The subtle sophistication of the story gives it broad appeal." --School Library Journal

"Stein's minimal, to-the-point text and breezy mixed-media illustrations convey Joey's energy and swing of feelings." -- Horn Book

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (September 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399250514
• ISBN-13: 978-0399250514
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 10.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #300,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Roo-esque, December 21, 2009

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pouch! (Hardcover)

Today I had to tackle a preschool storytime. I am not a particularly brave librarian, though. If I find a picture book that works, I have to really work at not using it over and over again in front of a crowd of two to four-year-olds every time I do a storytime. Kids are unafraid to inform you when you are boring the socks off of them. after all. So today I was brave and I used not one, not two, but THREE brand new picture books. It was scary, but it worked. And "Pouch!" by David Ezra Stein, was one of the three. Admittedly, I brought it out because I knew I wanted to review it, but it wasn't field tested (as it were) yet. Now I am happy to report that when read with the right amount of verve and near panic, this is a delightful storytime option that kids and adults alike will both love. Clearly the kangaroo word for "retreat" is "POUCH!"

Joey's a sweet little baby kangaroo who one day gets a wild notion. "Mama," he says, "I want to hop!" Mama's willing, but little Joey is a bit of a panicky sort. On his first outing he runs across a bee. His reaction? "POUCH!" and in he hops. On his second hop about the woods he meets a rabbit. You can guess his reaction. Trip #3 and it's a bird that freaks him out. But on Trip #4 he meets another baby kangaroo. And after both of them give a cry of "POUCH!" they realize how silly they've been. So much so that when their mamas offer a pouch to them at the end, they confidently slap their arms around one another and say with pseudo-nonchalance, "No, thanks."

Stein has style. They say that when you write fiction you should have a distinctive voice. Well, Stein's distinctive voice is in his brush. You can see it in his previous titles like "Monster Hug!" or "Leaves" and you can see it here. In this book he employs watercolors, china marker, and water-soluble crayons. This sort of makes it the kind of art where it looks childlike, but with obvious skill creating the linework. The colors gel together nicely too. From the warm brown/oranges of joey's fur and interior pouchworld to the green/blue sky and that shock of white that outlines the characters at key moments, everything here feels right. And pay attention to when Stein opts to do two-page spreads full of color (as when the two joeys meet for the first time) and when he uses a lot of white space (when they both scream "POUCH!" at the same time). The artist also hides characters in his seemingly simple illustrations. In one shot Joey takes five hopes to the pasture fence. Behind him, the bird and rabbit are hidden, but still in view. Pretty slick.

I also love that the dialogue often, though not always, looks like it's been cut out of the background. The thick white letters have this magnificent hand drawn character to them (you can see it in the title on the cover). It just feels right. Like a kind of kangaroo-speak, maybe. Finally, check out those endpapers. You might miss them the first time around, but look close. Light orange silhouettes play against a yellow background. Those silhouettes turn out to be the animals that frightened little Joey before he met another of his kind.

Joey is consistently afraid of other animals, but it's not as if they're practically threatening. Even the most benign rabbit or jovial bird is cause for panic. Joey's continual advance and retreat will be familiar to anyone who has watched a baby puppy or kitten approach another animal. Stein just gets that trepidation down pat. I love watching the little Joey's body language. You can tell that he's ready to back away at a moment's notice at all times. When he meets the bird his left foot is already raised, ready. Curiosity will win out in the end, but for a while anything that speaks is considered potentially dangerous. Until, of course, it becomes surprisingly familiar.

Ultimately this is a story about coming out of your pouch. For little kids, it's pretty comforting. Mama is almost always nearby, open pouch waiting. The animals deemed scary couldn't be less so unless you slapped ridiculous eyelashes on them (not a suggestion). Stein is just one of those picture book author/illustrators that understands his readers. What he does is hard to do. "Pouch!" is just the latest example of this. It's a prepossessing little gem. Not big and showy. Just the kind of thing that works beautifully in front of big groups or as a cozy one-on-one bedtime book.

Ages 3-7.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My daughter loved this book from the start, November 15, 2009

By 

Pencils (Long Island, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pouch! (Hardcover)

Usually it takes one or two readings for my daughter to appreciate a book, but she immediately took to POUCH! We've had it since Friday and I think we've read it about twenty times. Luckily, it's a very sweet book with wonderful illustrations and the adults have been enjoying it too. It's a simple story of a young kangaroo exploring his world, with his mama and her comforting pouch always there in case he's frightened. Not that his world is truly frightening, Joey is just very young. And this is a fun book too, yelling "POUCH!" is fun for both child and parent.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous, November 13, 2009

By 

Jessica (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pouch! (Hardcover)

This is a simple and delightful illustration of a child's use of his mother as a "home base" for exploring the world. For more on this principle, see here: [...]