Opal in the Closet - Hardcover

PreSchool-- To the discontent of the adults and the dog in her wealthy household, Opal has taken up a new game: jumping out of closets and cupboards unexpectedly to frighten passersby. These moments of surprise are energetically captured in Estrada's watercolor and ink drawings through facial expressions, expansive body gestures, and objects flying across the page. Children may be tempted to create similar havoc at home, but Opal herself ends this game to replace it with another--playing with the new baby. Although the adults finally acknowledge that Opal has been feeling left out, there is no real sense of her angst. She moves happily from one activity to the next and solves her own problem. The spare, rhyming text hops right along with her. It is the endpapers that tell the full story. Readers open the book and can immediately spy into all the windows of the house where everyone is busy except a forlorn Opal. Turn to the back pages, and they'll see that while everything else is the same, Opal has joined the baby and nurse. It's a safe and satisfying conclusion. --Martha Topol, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, MI
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Fond of hiding away in closets and cupboards, Opal likes to jump out at unsuspecting family members at inopportune times: while her mother is bathing, as the cook is proudly carrying an elegant soup tureen out of the kitchen. From under the stairs, "Then out leaps Opal like a frog, / To terrify the family dog." Opal annoys everyone--until they realize she is feeling left out with the arrival of a new baby. Though this is hardly a new theme, Knight's straightforward, rhyming text focuses on the fun, not the lesson to be learned. Estrada's loose, bouncy illustrations are just right for bringing to life Opal and her startling antics. Opal-enthusiasm bursts through these merry pictures--and sometimes right off the page. Every detail here helps tell the story: front endpapers of the house exterior depict busy inhabitants at every window while Opal looks forlornly out one of them; in the final endpapers Opal busily helps tend the baby, while everyone else is still at their previous pastimes. A sure child-pleaser. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.