Shoo!

This is a super picture book to share with the very young – perfect for learning the names of farmyard animals and the sounds they make. It’s delightfully illustrated – I love the expressions on some of the animals’ faces – and the equally delightful storyline is simply told in a straightforward style. Cat is finding it too hot in the barn with all the other animals in there, so he chases them out one by one with a loud ‘Shoo!’ until he has the barn to himself. The trouble is, once outside, the other animals start a game of chase by pretending to be Cat. They run around saying ‘Shoo!’ to one another – or ‘Oink!’ or ‘Baa!’… and seem to be having a whale of a time together. Cat regrets shooing them out and invites them back into the barn, but they decline because it’s too hot in there. Luckily, one of the piglets pops in to ask Cat to come outside and play. Text and pictures are set out beautifully – the size of typeface has been well chosen to allow for an enjoyable shared reading experience with little ones.