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Please Play Safe

Please Play Safe!: Penguin's Guide to Playground Safety

ISBN: 0439528321
Format: Hardcover, 32pp
Pub. Date: August 2006
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER
Penguin and his rambunctious young friends are off to the playground, running so fast that they knock each other down. Is that right? No, that's wrong! They should walk so that no one gets hurt. At the seesaw and slide, the silly mishaps continue, with pals like Elephant and Chimpanzee playing dangerously (in funny ways), then safely. Hippo bounces a ball off of Penguin's head (BOINK!), and Rhino throws sand in Lion's fur. But by the end of the day, the friends have learned the rights and wrongs of playground play, and they even pick up their toys before heading home!






FROM THE CRITICS
Booklist
This helpful book cleverly plays on young children’s burgeoning sense of irony. Instead of dutifully listing the way kids should act on the playground, little ones get this: “When Elephant plays on the seesaw, he should jump off quickly so that his friend bumps to the ground. Is that right?” Kids will enjoy screaming “No!” at the top of their lungs. Then they can consider the advice offered on the next page: the elephant should “stay put until his friend climbs off.” There are discussions about playing on the monkey bars (given by a chimp), sliding down a slide, jumping rope, and lots more. Hillenbrand’s artwork features simply shaped, high-spirited animals outlined in black. All the fun they are having is contagious. Whether kids will remember these rules of the road (playground version) when they are on-site remains to be seen, but they will certainly like this activity-filled trip to the park.
––Ilene Cooper

Kirkus Reviews
Penguin's second outing is all about playground safety, with a healthy dose of good manners and respect thrown in for good measure. From taking turns on equipment and sharing toys, to getting friends to play games and cleaning up when it's time to go home, Cuyler covers all the bases. Hillenbrand masterfully portrays facial expressions on his simple cartoon animals, making it clear to even the youngest of readers what the friends are feeling when the playground rules are broken. So expressive are his characters that the text does not spell out why the rule needs to be followed-youngsters can see the panic on Hippo's face when she is sliding down the slide and Bear starts to crawl up, for instance. Penguin's fans will be happy to learn that the author/illustrator team has kept the same format: A blatant wrongdoing is followed by the question, "Is that right?" A turn of the page, and likely a chorus from listeners, reveals, "No, that's wrong," while the text and illustrations demonstrate how to do things the right way. Required reading for parents and children alike. (Picture book. 3-6)

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