Michael Rosen is one of the most popular authors of stories and poems for children. His bestselling titles include Little Rabbit Foo Foo, Michael Rosen’s Sad Book, This Is Our House, Tiny Little Fly, Dear Mother Goose and its sequel Dear Fairy Godmother. He has also written many collections of poetry including Bananas in My Ears. Michael received the Eleanor Farjeon Award for distinguished services to children’s literature in 1997, and was the Children’s Laureate from 2007 to 2009. He is a distinguished critic and academic, co-directing an MA in Children’s Literature at Birkbeck College. He is often called upon to talk about children’s literature and his poetry readings are adored by children and adults. He also presents radio programmes for the BBC. Michael lives in London. Find him online at www.michaelrosen.co.uk and on twitter as @MichaelRosenYes.
The familiar cumulative game is played by four children, along with their father and their dog, at the typically British beach pictured on the lovely, expansive first endpaper. The children's real activities are shown in b&w drawings; the imaginative doings appear in full color. Although some of the color pages show perfectly possible events, most are clearly fantasy, suggesting just how close the two may be in children's minds. The family ends up in safe retreat in one big cozy bed; the bear is seen - on the second essential, beautiful endpaper - headed into a gloomy sea. Oxenbury's splendid watercolors and drawings perfectly evoke both landscape and the members of the questing family. A handsome edition of an old favorite. (Kirkus Reviews)