Splat!

Hilarious and very creative and quirky kids' book

Entertaining picture book for kids! Interesting concept so the reader could stimulate kids thinking.

Fun

My 8year old loves it, she picks it up again and again.

My entire family loves this book. its so great!

A hilarious/lovely/creative book by a hilarious/lovely/creative artisté. Splat!

Brilliant gift idea! So funny and creative, very enjoyable.

My family and I attended a live reading of SPLAT! by Jon Burgerman himself and it was hilarious. This book, like the rest of his work, is full of joy and freedom.

Our little one loves it, hilarious for toddlers.

Nice animation but not a story as such!

Despite the blurb, books that talk to the reader and encourage interaction with the pages are not new, in fact some do it in a much more interactive and discovery way  Press Here  and  Tap the Magic Tree  to name two, but this is different in that it approaches from a place of pure silliness.In fact this is like the Chuckle Brothers or more so the Sooty or Gigglebiz approach to literature; onomatopoeic and messy.The story begins with a grinch-like hairy blob being splatted with eyes and a mouth to anthropomorphise it, my 4 year old has dubbed him 'Splatterman' as there was no name given in the book. Splatterman over successive pages take custard pies, sandwiches, and cartoon disguises to the face and said splatting is feasted on by beetles and birds before it is washed and whooshed off before *SPOILERS* everyone gets splatted with ice creams. Poor Splatterman as my daughter says.Deliciously silly? yes, funny? yes, educational? Oh yes.Burgerman's book is a treasure trove for early learning in both literacy and investigation/scientific method.There is rich language opportunities in Splat! the outcome of each turning of the page is accompanied by a onamatopoiec word; splat, squish, squash, splash, whoosh. This offers opportunities to discuss onamatopoiea and 'noises' with younger children and even learning opportunities to come up with more or carry out experiments to create/act out our own 'noise words' to see if they are onamatopoiec.They are also very simplistic phonics-wise once the 'qu' digraph has been introduced giving opportunities for the beginning reader to decide and blend the words and maybe paired with an older/adult reader to read the other side of the page.From a scientific point of view it offers much more than counting the insects and birds but instead early interaction with the scientific method, predicting what will happen on the next page and cause and effect as the sandwich attracts insects and the insects attract birds which can be turned into real experiments and discussion about life cycles and food chains. Encouraging children to make predictions helps with their understanding of stories as well as cause and effect.Early years providers may see a theme week out of this book with opportunities for literacy, science and even messy play through this book giving it a well earned place in Young Children's bookshelves.Overall, a very silly book has plenty of concrete learning opportunities, or you can forget all that and just have a good laugh at poor Splatterman. Press HereTap the Magic Tree

This is a really fun picture book for younger children. It has bright vibrant pictures and also imbues a great sense of anticipation as each splat comes. Full of great onomatopoeic words, it's fun to read out loud too.I'm not sure about the longevity of the book. Older children will like reading it through a few times, but once the surprise has been revealed there isn't a huge amount left for them. Though of course, one should never underestimate the comedic power of somebody having things thrown in their face! It would be great in a pre-school or reception class setting, as I imagine collective anticipation would be great.I'm not sure SPLAT! is destined to become a modern classic, but it is a great fun, slightly surreal and very engaging picture book.

This is a fun, colourful book that's ideal for pre-schoolers. Our 2 year old really likes it, but it's too young for the 7 and four year olds. It's basically a slapstick book that's really fun. We love the illustrations. It's not quite up to Oliver Jeffers standards, and I can't see it becoming a classic in our house, but we do like it and it does make the kids laugh.