Starred Review ALA Booklist (Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

Starred Review A carefree brown boy with a toy plays underneath a eucalyptus tree, catching the eye of a magnificent yellow snake hidden in the branches above. Opening his great jaw, the snake gobbles up the boy whole! From inside, the boy encourages the snake, "there's more you can eat." What's the boy thinking? With each prompt, the gluttonous snake, with his googly eyes and silly grin, sneaky-slidey zips and devours a bird with a worm, a moss-clothed sloth, an ape eating grapes, and more. His stomach stretches as the multitude tosses and turns, their bright white eyes popping inside his belly dark and deep. Onomatopoeia and action words abound, as does the rhythm and repetition, making this cumulative tale skip along. The rainbow eucalyptus tree, its leaves, and the fanciful mix of critters are depicted in marvelously colorful digital illustrations. They appear in dramatic, shifting planes as the snake zips and wiggle-waggles toward each animal in succession, gobbling them up. When will the snake be sated? Even swollen and tongue lolling, when urged by the boy, the snake cannot resist a small piece of fruit topped by a teeny-tiny fly. Oh my! "Gurgle-gurgle came a blurble," and with a gigantic "BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" the snake expels them all! Whew! The boy happily closes his eyes underneath the tree . . . but is that a crocodile watching him? Children will eat this up.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

A dark-skinned "boy with a whirly-twirly toy" skips through the forest, unaware of the snake lurking in the eucalyptus tree. That sneaky snake gobbles up the boy and his toy. From deep inside "the belly dark and deep" the intrepid boy repeats a refrain suggesting that the snake is still hungry and should eat something else, as there is certainly more room in its tummy. Finding a plethora of animals in the double-named tree, the snake eats a bird with a worm and, encouraged further, proceeds to gobble a cat, a sloth, a bear, and an entire hive filled with bees. Finally, goaded by the boy, he swallows a small piece of fruit, complete with fly. The hugely engorged snake can hold no more and gurgles and belches out all the creatures it has swallowed, including the little boy, who goes merrily on his way with his toy, leaving the snake with a massive tummy ache. Bernstrom's spritely language rhythmically sings an exciting, laugh-filled, cumulative story. Bold, large print highlights the events as the snake slides, wiggles, and twists while the animals crinkle, munch, and buzz. Wenzel's wildly imaginative, brightly hued digital illustrations are a wonderfully goofy complement to the action, whether depicting the goings-on in the dark tummy or the creatures' idiosyncrasies and their bug-eyed surprise as they are consumed. Marvelous fun. (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A dark-skinned "boy with a whirly-twirly toy" skips through the forest, unaware of the snake lurking in the eucalyptus tree. That sneaky snake gobbles up the boy and his toy. From deep inside "the belly dark and deep" the intrepid boy repeats a refrain suggesting that the snake is still hungry and should eat something else, as there is certainly more room in its tummy. Finding a plethora of animals in the double-named tree, the snake eats a bird with a worm and, encouraged further, proceeds to gobble a cat, a sloth, a bear, and an entire hive filled with bees. Finally, goaded by the boy, he swallows a small piece of fruit, complete with fly. The hugely engorged snake can hold no more and gurgles and belches out all the creatures it has swallowed, including the little boy, who goes merrily on his way with his toy, leaving the snake with a massive tummy ache. Bernstrom's spritely language rhythmically sings an exciting, laugh-filled, cumulative story. Bold, large print highlights the events as the snake slides, wiggles, and twists while the animals crinkle, munch, and buzz. Wenzel's wildly imaginative, brightly hued digital illustrations are a wonderfully goofy complement to the action, whether depicting the goings-on in the dark tummy or the creatures' idiosyncrasies and their bug-eyed surprise as they are consumed. Marvelous fun. (Picture book. 3-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

It-s never a good day to be eaten, but when a hungry snake swallows a brown-skinned boy in -the shade of the eucalyptus, eucalyptus tree,- the child doesn-t skip a beat. From inside the snake-s -belly dark and deep,- the boy cannily advises the snake to gorge away: -There is room, so much room./ Go ahead, please enjoy!- Down the hatch go wide-eyed critters big and small, each one proving once again that Wenzel (Beastly Babies) knows how to mix his media: there-s a luxuriously whiskered cat, a sloth with a sweaterlike coating of moss, -an ape eating grapes,/ lounging like a queen,- and a very big bear. Debut author Bernstrom eschews the usual rhythmic recapping common to cumulative tales, instead drawing in readers with lilting refrains and exuberant wordplay (-Up, up snaked the snake/ from his place in the leave,/ and gobbled up the bear/ with the qually-wally hair-). The book-s rhythms are perfectly suited to reading aloud-as is the enormous onomatopoeic regurgitation that sends the swallowed creatures back into the daylight. Ages 4-8. Author-s agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Illustrator-s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (May)

School Library Journal (Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

PreS-Gr 2 "One day in the leaves/of the eucalyptus tree/hung a scare in the air/where no eye could see." A large yellow snake with purple forked tongue lies in wait for its next meal. Along comes a wide-eyed little boy, who gets gobbled right up. "'I'll bet,' said the boy,/in the belly dark and deep,/'that you're still very hungry/and there's more you can eat.'" And so, with the clever tyke's encouragement, the greedy predator proceeds to eat a bird with a worm, a cat, an ape eating grapes, a bear, a hive full of bees, and a fruit with a fly. "Gurgle-gurgle came a blurble/from that belly deep and full" and out exit the animal's victims, leaving the regretful snake with a "crummy tummyache." The digitally created art features full spreads depicting the ever-inflating snake and its alarmed victims on the recto and the boy and the other victims cloaked in the darkness of the snake's belly on the verso. Children will enjoy the rhythms of the musical text and eagerly anticipate each new meal, reveling in the inevitable outcome. VERDICT Pair this title with any version of "There Was an Old Lady" for a satisfying storytime. Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools