'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Thursday 19 January 2023

Review: Snap!

This book is one of unbridled joy.

An adorable, totally endearing and awkward little frog, takes us on a sound-journey through the forest. 

Using only pictures and select words, we instantly hear the thrumming, the snicker-snackering, the swishing and pulsing vibrations of the landscape in a sound-bath for our eyes! 

Along the way, Frog finds things to play with and places to hide in amongst all manner of danger - and fun.

The rhyming text is wholly onomatopoeic, which is a stunning and extraordinary achievement. There are playful moments of surprise and delight, when sleeping predators wake up or swoop to accompanying sounds of ‘snap’, ‘sneak’, ‘snap’ in large font!

The sense of urgency and excitement is real, visceral and inordinately funny. This book makes you laugh! Celebrated author Anna Walker’s ability to imbue her characters with personality through the placement of an eyeball, the angle of a mouth line or the reaction of another character, is masterful.

The colour palette is not traditional ‘pastel’ but it is definitely soft, while still managing to be forest-like. Plants, creatures, trees, flowers, shrubs, birds – all are vibrantly alive, yet not overwhelming on the page. Texture, shape, line, colour combinations and layering interweave to create an exciting sense of lush undergrowth, spaciousness and surprise. 

This work is, quite simply, divine. From the endpapers front and back, to the gorgeously sumptuous yet simple double spreads, we are taken on a beautiful deep dive through the eyes of little Frog.

A truly gorgeous offering that will no doubt have children and grown-ups, reaching for it over and over again.

Pure delight.

Title: Snap!
Author/Illustrator: Anna Walker
Publisher: Scribble, $24.99
Publication Date: November 2022
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781922585387
For ages: 0 - 4
Type: Picture Book