The Big Blue Thing on the Hill

The Big Blue Thing in the Hill is an intriguing picturebook which focuses on the lives and fears of a group of animals who live companionably in a great forest. During the day everything is quiet in the forest but at night all the animals come out: the wolves howl, the bears growl and other creatures scurry around. Their lives are regular, safe and patterned. All of them are happy living on Howling Hill until one night when a blue camper van appears. This causes great consternation between the animals as they do not know what it is. Each of them tries to guess what this thing is: could it be a spaceship, a meteorite or an elephant? Even though the animals do not see who is in the van they are disturbed by its presence so they try different strategies to make it go away. Some animals try to scare it, others try to dig it out but finally it is Owl who suggests a strategy that works. The animals and the readers will be relieved as everything will now back to normal until they turn to the last page! The illustrations are bright and colourful and Yuval Zommer has created animals with expressive faces that seem to listen to each other. This is a story which will read aloud well and engage KS1 children, especially as they might be encouraged to join in with the highlighted words which are linked to the different animals. Lastly, as the occupants of the van are unknown, children might surmise who they are and what their reactions are to the animals' bombardment.

Suggested Reading Age 5+