4 out of 4 stars
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Who are those fuzzy, yellow creatures on the cover? Where are they racing to (or from)? Find out by reading this lively children’s story by Kenya Y. Thompson, Oh No! They’re Here!
Gazing at the cover, I had so many questions. The energy was palpable—the color and font in the title made me want to know more. It was amazing how fun bold punctuation, a splash of color, and the occasional word in all caps could be. I believe the author was intentional in placing all three to maximize the energy. Although it had zest and zing, the sentence structure was grammatically correct, and I found no errors in the book.
Illustrations are important in a children’s book, and Oh No! They’re Here! includes captivating illustrations, but the author uses a different approach to hold the young reader’s attention. Instead of being entertained by a picture of a scene that matches the story, the excitement is built around the presentation of the words. Every page has the same design: a couple of yellow creatures holding a green sign that looks like an old-school green chalkboard. The only thing that changes from page to page is the message on the sign.
This is a great read for children ages three to eight. The easy-to-read font is black with a few fun exceptions. The letter o is always white. Each page also has at least one word in white, and the page with the big reveal has its own special color scheme. After a few times, the younger reader will recognize the letter o, and with more iterations, they will learn the words in white by sight. Besides the use of color, the story itself is energetic, even including a bit of slapstick humor that I was surprised to find in a book of only twenty-nine pages. The adult will enjoy trying to figure out the mystery as much as the child (at least the first twenty times). With the vocabulary and the fast pace, six- through eight-year-olds will be able to read this book with minimal help.
Because I had so many scenarios in my mind after seeing the cover, I had to reread the story a few times to appreciate who “they” actually were. This was the only aspect of the book that I felt was a letdown, but it was still fun and had a positive message.
I rate this energetic read 4 out of 4 stars. It is a versatile story that will help a child grow in their reading proficiency.
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Oh No! They’re Here!
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It was a fun adventure.
