Oh Dear, Look What I Got! by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury

The creators of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt have teamed up again for another book full of surprises.

                I went to the shop to get me a carrot.

Oh dear, they gave me a …

… parrot!

Not just any parrot – a rather grumpy havoc-wreaking parrot that kicks off a story packed with unexpected events.

It’s fun to guess what might be in each of the brown paper packages offered to the trusting young shopper. Look closely for clues – a beak here, a fluffy tail there, a hoof and even a forked tongue. Every purchase is more startling than the last.

The puzzled shopper perseveres, followed by a mismatched menagerie who look equally bewildered. Finally, in echoes of The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, chaos erupts. A knock on the door saves the day: the shopkeepers come to their senses and deliver the right orders after all! I love how the main character and his caregiver face the challenges – and the mess – so calmly.

Although this tale is not quite as suspenseful or gently scary as Bear Hunt, it’s a fun (and shorter) story to read aloud. It’s also a great introduction to rhymes and wordplay. Oxenbury’s illustrations are a terrific match for Rosen’s verbal humour, and there’s plenty of detail on every page of this large hardcover book.

Reviewer: Anne Kerslake Hendricks

Walker Books