ALA Booklist (Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2019)

Good news, Dear Reader! Sensei, the retired High Five Champion of the World, thinks you might have the potential to become the first human high-fiver ever! But first, as he explains in lilting, jaunty verse, he needs to test your high-five power. A match against Glen, a rather large elephant, ensues: the reader smacks Glen's huge, page-filling hand. The result? Glen ends up across the room, embedded in the wall. On to the championships! After intensive training (which features increasingly creative hand smacks), the games begin. One by one, the other contestants (including an octopus, which seems like cheating) are overcome by mighty, page-crushing high fives. Glen even puts in an appearance during the semi-finals. Including the cover, the text requires 17 high fives, with a big, bright paw, ready for a good smack, as a target. The rest of the pages are filled with witty, colorful illustrations that capture the thunderous impacts. This new offering from the Dragons Love Tacos team is sure to delight audiences d should make for lively story times.

Kirkus Reviews

The Dragons Love Tacos (2012) crew invites readers to the 75th Annual High Five Tournament.It's not going to be a walkover, as opponents in the five rounds range from Gigantic the Bear ("700 Pounds of Hair") and, after her, dizzying bouncer Kangaroo Paul to the ultimate challenger, eight-limbed Octopus Jones. Fortunately, young contenders have a yetilike ex-champ in their corner to offer vigorous if unevenly rhymed and metered commentary ("Was that your new signature slap? / My grandma fives better than that!") as well as savvy advice on hand positioning and style points. Accentuated by block letters in diverse hues and the occasional outsized "HIGH FIVE!" Salmieri's scribbly ink-and-colored-pencil drawings of the all-animal cast, audience, and panel of judges reflect the infectiously rising suspense and wild excitement as the unseen "Kid" the narrator addresses sends each foe in succession reeling away in stunned defeat. Just one thing left to do: "Hold up your trophy / and shout out ‘woo-hoo!' / The new high five champ is you!" Along with the verbal coaching, a chart of variations on "The Classic," such as "The Windmill," "The Double Behind the Back Slam," and even "The High Foot," offers further challenges to ambitious fivers of all genders. As characters frequently address "Kid" directly and hold up dramatically foreshortened hands or paws to viewers, caregivers should be ready for this book to take a beating.A high-spirited impetus to clap hands—or better yet, someone else's. (Picture book. 5-8)

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

In this interactive picture book by the Dragons Love Tacos team, a high-five champion called Sensei, who resembles Bigfoot and wears a multicolored belt, offers to apprentice readers. It-s all to prepare for the annual high-five contest, where, Rubin writes, -high five fans from far and near/ all press their palms against the rest,/ to see whose high five is the best.- Spreads invite readers to try out their best high fives, and Salmieri employs forced perspective so that each contestant-s slapping hand extends right up to the image-s foreground. The narrative arc is relatively straightforward: there-s the training, in which the reader apparently makes a very favorable impression; followed by the big competition, which slowly ups the ante; culminating in the reader matching slaps with Octopus Jones (-He has eight hands, you just have two.../ a little uneven, it-s true-) before the winner is revealed. Although Rubin-s rhymes are only serviceable and the plot feels less sturdy than the team-s other collaborations, the pictures offer plenty of room to receive readers- high-five innovations, and the pages crackle with Salmieri-s neon palette and scratchy, kinetic pencil lines. Ages 3-5. (Apr.)