What little kid doesn’t love a game of hide-and-seek? With gentle humor and whimsy, Il Sung Na’s latest picture book, Hide & Seek, seamlessly mixes the excitement and thrill of this favorite childhood game with a lesson in counting and directional vocabulary. When a group of animal friends gather together in a rainbow-hued forest, Chameleon suggests a game of hide-and-seek. Elephant (reminiscent of the charming pachyderm protagonist in Na’s The Thingamabob) offers to count as his pals rush off to hide. Suspense builds as the elephant begins counting (1, 2, 3…) on the right-hand pages while various exotic critters try to blend in with their environment on the left. Giraffe wonders which tree he should hide behind while Elephant counts “3.” Rhinoceros considers crouching behind a colorful rock while Elephant counts “4.” That rock, by the way, turns out to be poor put-upon Tortoise whom Gorilla later uses as a pedestal in his hiding strategy (“‘I will pretend I am a statue.’”). Up above, the starlings hide in the branches while Elephant counts “7” and down below, the bush babies shuffle into the bushes while Elephant counts “8.” Sharp-eyed readers will notice that as the elephant counts, a corresponding number of butterflies flutter around him. Finally, it’s time for Elephant to look for his friends: “‘Ready or not, here I come!’” he shouts eagerly.
As in his previous books, such as A Book of Sleep and Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit, Na’s illustrations are distinctive and intricate. Created by combining handmade painterly textures with digitally generated layers, his artwork contains splotches of radiant color, finely etched swirls, and contrasting patterns that somehow all work together to create a harmonious blend of cheery, inviting images. Without realizing they’re practicing their counting, young children will have fun seeking the animals in the pictures—the most challenging being the cleverly hidden chameleon.
Can you recommend other books with a hide-and-seek theme?
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Sandra Lee Rella, mother of two budding bookworms, is a freelance editor and writer, and a former children’s book review editor.
