View source for BOO! by Jonathan Litton and Fhiona Galloway

{{infobox2
|title=BOO!
|author=Jonathan Litton and Fhiona Galloway
|reviewer=Sam Tyler
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Put the real BOO! into peek-a-BOO! with this colourful and friendly first book for babies.
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=16
|publisher=Little Tiger Kids
|date=August 2015
|isbn=9781848691254
|aznuk=1848691254
|aznus=1848691254
|cover=1848691254 
}}

Creating a fun book for a young toddler or older baby appears easy, but is actually tricky to pull off well.  Just shoving a few animals or shapes into a cardboard book is not going to capture the imagination; there needs to be colour, fun and a certain je ne sais quoi to stand out from the many other baby books on the market.  Setting a book around Halloween and all things spooky may not seem to fill these criteria, but a little fear can sometimes make a small child surprisingly happy.

''BOO!'' is all about witches, warlocks, pumpkins and all things scary – but who makes these things fearsome?  To a baby, a bright orange pumpkin is more inviting than frightening and a witch can be nice if given a smile.  This is a simple card book over 16 pages that has increasingly smaller holes cut into the page as you progress.  These holes are actually the eyes of the next character.  The left-hand page introduces a character, whilst the right-hand page has a full-colour illustration of them.  

Turning the page to see who is next is great fun and you may find yourself turning back and forth through the pages as your baby looks to find their favourite character once again.  Throughout the book, the colourful creatures are asked what is happening and it is not until the spooky surprise on the final page that you find out.  

The book itself is made out of thick quality cardboard sheets that will take a battering from a baby and are wipe clean.  This makes the book an ideal sharing story for babies bored with just looking at number or letters.  The quality of the book itself is simple and understated, something as easy as offsetting all the eyes works wonderfully so that each character has a series of colourful irises.  Babies are attuned to looking at eyes and this book really draws their attention with its spooky peek-a-BOO!!

Jonathan Litton's story is not overly complex, so praise must be given to Fhiona Galloway's illustrations, not only because they look so good, but also because they don't evoke a bad reaction.  The monsters and Ghoulies and manifestations on offer in 'BOO!' are colourful and jolly, not dark and scary.  Galloway achieves this by filling the pages with brightness and smiles; something that you will be seeing from your baby or young toddler when you read the book with them.
  
We think you might also enjoy [[Cheep Cheep Pop-Up Fun (Little Snappers) by Jonathan Litton and Kasia Nowowiejska]].  There are other friendly witches and warlocks out there to read about, who can forget this particularly  [[The Worst Witch to the Rescue by Jill Murphy|bad witch]] or the wizarding adventures of  [[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J K Rowling|our Harry]]?

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[[Category:Jonathan Litton]]
[[Category:Fhiona Galloway]]