Oh No!
By James Foley
Reviewed by Mia Macrossan
James Foley is well known for his original and unconventional take on life. His books for children are characterised by a zany humour, challenging ideas and memorable illustration. His CBCA Notable Bigfoot vs Yeti (A Love Story) ‘delivers a worthy message by way of a delightfully fun and complex visual journey’ (Lara Cain Gray). Here in Oh No! he is having lots of fun with onomatopoeiac words. Notice the first three letters of that word which James has taken to create a new word Oh-NO -matopoeia – the sounds of things going very badly.
You know immediately you open the book this is all about noise as the endpapers feature sound words such burp, bash, bump, oink, crash writ large.
What’s that noise?
CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP.
It’s for elephant. He has a special cake.
What’s that noise?
OINK! BUMP! YEARGH!
Oh no! That’s the sound of a dizzy pig in speedos bumping into an elephant holding a cake . . .
The story concerns this special cake held by an elephant standing at the top of some stairs. He is very formally dressed so you know this is important. He is accidentally knocked over by a dizzy pig, followed by another elephant and a whale, all tumbling down the stairs. Complete mayhem involving a blue whale, the pig, some unfortunate piranhas, and a wedding follows.
Each page uses a repeated phrase What’s that noise? with sound words created in larger and larger fonts building a crescendo of noise, very satisfying for young readers who can join in. Foley is clever with his use of colour so that the meaning of words is conveyed visually as well. The letters of Splish splash are a watery blue surrounded by water drops while Chomp! is in red and white with each letter having a few sharp teeth.
Young children will delight in the chaos, learn lots of sound words and maybe get a glimmer of understanding of what onomatopoeia means. Teachers can use this book to give that lesson but eveyone else will just enjoy the noise, the words, the expressive illustrations and the sense of impending disaster that permeates the whole.
James Foley
