This Way, That Way

by Anne Louchard, Anne Louchard (Illustrator)

Overview

How does a giraffe sleep with such an amazingly long neck? Does it wrap itself around a tree? Does it curl up on the ground, or stretch out like a hammock? In this hilarious lift-the-flap book, each idea is illustrated with great visual humor. Whether the giraffe likes sleeping this way, that way, or in some way only a child could imagine, children will love these clever variations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789888341412
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	09/01/2017
Pages:	18
Product dimensions:	5.73(w) x 8.36(h) x 0.56(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

ANNE LOUCHARD was born in Brussels, Belgium, where she studied communication. In addition to illustrating books, she is also a junior editor in an educational publishing house.

Editorial Reviews

09/11/2017
The quirky question driving this board book—“How does a giraffe sleep?”—appears on its cover, which includes a flap that unfolds vertically to reveal the extreme length of one such animal’s neck. Inside, the narrator posits various answers (“Perhaps he rests his neck in a tree?”), but each one is shot down (“No, that would make him cough”). Louchard’s airy cartoons put the yellow giraffe through the wringer, almost literally, as it sleeps with its neck entwined with that of another giraffe and stretched out to create a hammock, among other goofy scenarios. “Isn’t guessing fun?” asks the narrator toward the end of a book that’s less about right answers than imaginative possibilities. Ages 3–5. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

01/01/2018
Toddler-PreS—An oddball title that charms despite its slightly head-scratching resolution. It starts with a simple question ("How does a giraffe sleep?") posed playfully on the front cover, along with a lift-the-flap revealing the amazing length of the creature's neck. On each successive spread, Louchard asks readers to consider a variety of silly possibilities: "Does he curl into a spiral? Certainly NOT! He'd get dizzy… Why not stretch out between two trees, like a hammock? That would be FUNNY!" The ink and watercolor images are understated, surrounded by crisp white space. No answer is given by the end. Instead, the author encourages young readers to think and imagine. Older kids and adults will want to do a quick Internet search to find the answer, but the toddler set are likely to simply revel in the silliness.—Kiera Parrott, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

2017-08-27
Louchard sticks her neck way out in this slight but pleasant volume whose design seems grander than its concept.Clean, uncluttered illustrations, fold-out flaps, and text that twists, turns, and bends to augment the drawings it describes are used to posit answers to the age-old conundrum, "How does a giraffe sleep? His neck is amazingly long." While a definitive answer is never forthcoming, several scenarios of varying degrees of silliness follow. The anatomically incorrect giraffes are charming, with friendly faces and improbably long, skinny necks that could never support their skulls as they twist, turn, and stretch in many uncomfortable-looking directions. Caregivers will find themselves twisting and turning this board book in every direction as the text follows the giraffes' long necks while they search for a comfortable position. The text is unrhymed and a bit uninspired, although readers in the target age group likely won't complain. Though the prose never rises to hilarity, each scenario in which the giraffe finds himself—curled into a spiral, resting his neck in a tree, or wrapping his neck around a tree limb, for example—is summarily dismissed as laughable, with such statements as, "What a STRANGE idea! Have you ever seen anything so silly?" "No way!" and "That would be FUNNY!" While that may be the case, it might have been best to let young readers reach their own conclusions.Sure to leave children wanting an answer, though. (Board book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews