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PRESCHOOL
Matthies, Janna

Here We Come!

40 pp. | Simon/Beach Lane | March, 2022 | Trade ISBN 978-1-5344-1787-8 $17.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-5344-1788-5 $10.99
(1) PS Illustrated by Christine Davenier. Here is a book that begs to be read aloud at storytime--read aloud, and shouted, and paraded. The rhyming cumulative text begins with a child heading outside at night with a companion teddy bear and a tin whistle: "Here we come with a rum-pum-pum. / Wanna come?" The invitation is addressed to a dog inside a doghouse at the side of the road, who then emerges on two legs playing a guitar: "Here we come with a rum-pum-pum / and a pick and a strum." The pattern continues with Little Lu in her pajamas (who joins them with a "swish-swish bum"), a violin-playing bear ("fiddle-dee, fiddle-dum"), a mouse on a kazoo ("­zum-zum"), and more until there is a veritable parade of revelers...and until the newest sound is--uh-oh!--a drip on a drum. Just in time, they all take shelter under an enormous tree (though don't try this at home) as lightning strikes and the storm breaks. "Boom-boom-RUM-PUM!" From here the text reverses itself, dropping off participants as it unrolls, until finally it's just the child and teddy bear, "right back where / we started from." Davenier's watercolors in their nighttime hues capture all the excitement and movement of the impromptu music fest. Each double-page spread subtly introduces the next participant, much fun for observant viewers. A delight from start to finish--perfectly paced, joyful, with just the right amount of tension and drama for the young audience, and wonderfully inclusive with its welcoming refrain: "Wanna come?"
Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2022

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