Review of the Day: The Terrible Plop by Ursula Dubosarsky

Before I begin, a word to the adults out there. Ahem. GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!!! THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT! I wish I could say that the creators of this book were all wide-eyed innocents when they named it The Terrible Plop, but let’s be realistic here. Honestly? More adults AND kids are going to pick this book up when they read the cover, if only to figure out whether or not it’s as dirty as the title implies. What they will find instead is a funny bit of writing packed in a story that may well be the best readaloud picture book I’ve encountered all year. Pack up your rabbits and hide your chocolate cake, ladies and gentlemen. This is one Aussie winner that’s going to charm everyone it meets. Plop or no.

“Six little rabbits / Down by the lake / Munching on carrots / And chocolate cake.” Unfortunately this peaceful cake-laden scene is interrupted by a horrid sound. From NOWHERE (which is to say, an apple falling into a lake) comes a “terrible PLOP”. Like lightning the rabbits take off, terrified of the sound. Every other animal in the forest soon joins them, until they interrupt a sunbathing bear. When informed that this so-called PLOP is stronger and fiercer than he is, the bear is incensed. He picks up the straggler (a little rabbit that cannot run very fast) and insists on being taken to the PLOP. The rabbit is reluctant, but when faced with the choice of going back versus getting eaten right then and there, it wisely opts for the former choice. Once they return, it notices an apple swinging on a branch that falls into the nearby lake creating a second PLOP. Mystery solved! Of course the bear didn’t notice this, and so he high-tails it out of there, scared out of his ever-loving beary wits. So it is that the littlest rabbit returns to munching on chocolate cake, saying aloud to himself with glee, “All this running / Should really stop . . . / Who’s afraid / Of a silly old PLOP?”

By all accounts The Terrible Plop is Andrew Joyner’s first illustrated picture book. I find this pretty hard to swallow. Really? He never made one before? Riiiiight. Uh-huh. Pull the other one. Look, dudes, I’ve seen first time illustrators, okay? And first time illustrators do not hit it quite as far out of the park as Mr. Joyner has here. I mean, consider the evidence. First off, there’s his artistic medium. Joyner has created a kind of watercolor + ink + clip art + collage style that’s difficult to pin down. The slices of cake in the first two-page spread are photographs, the knife a kind of printmaking collage, and the rest of the scene drawn. The bear, for this part, is a funny mix of paint and ink, but filled with real brown shag that is either a cleverly cut photograph, or actual brown fur, filling the image. Who puts such elements together so seamlessly right from the start?

So there’s that. Joyner also happens to be very comfortable in knowing how to lay out his pages. I’ve mentioned Dubosarsky’s penchant for a good joke. Well some of those jokes only work because Joyner is in on them. For example, when the littlest rabbit cracks the mystery of the terrible plop, he turns around to tell the bear. The bear, however, has exited stage left. When the rabbit calls out to find out why, you turn the page and find yourself facing a magnificent two-page spread of the bear’s face. Clutching his big meaty paws to his head in a picture of ridiculous fear he yells, “I cannot stop! / Quick! It’s coming, / The terrible PLOP!” Kids’ll get a kick out of that one if you read it right.

Creative art, a story that bobs and sways with its own internal rhythm, and that hard-to-define spark that makes a title a readaloud whiz. What more could you possibly want out of a picture book? Those adults that can get past the title will find a marvelous tale inside. Those that can’t will miss out big time. A surefire storytime hit.

In the event that you can, you may as well also check out this interview conducted with the author in question about the title.