Description

Written by Kyle Mewburn who has written lots of books for kids. Some of her picture books – like Old Hu-hu, Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! and Melu – have even won awards. Originally from Brisbane, Kyle lives in a self-built house with a grass roof in Milllers Flat in Central Otago. The Hoppleplop was Kyle’s first picture book.

Illustrated by Deborah Hinde. Before illustrating picture books, Deborah worked as a graphic designer and illustrator providing images and design to the souvenir trade, manufacturers, point of sale and publishers. Deborah works from her home-based studio in rural Waikato.

Reading ages: 2-5 years

Review

The Hoppleplop is perfect for the older pre-schooler and for the first few years of school. It is a perfect resource to increase a child’s level of reading comprehension with the range of language complexity and how it ties between the story and picture.’ Fern Anderson – Swings and Roundabouts

’In this delightful fantasy designed to stimulate the imagination, careful examination of the final illustration reveals that all is not what it seems. The ironic relationship between image and narrative comes to the fore as we learn to doubt the voice of the narrator and the concept of normality! The illustrator has precisely captured this play on expectations. The cottage gardens are suggestive of utopia. Butterflies flutter and a dog lazily sleeps on a lounge chair. But there are unsettling details as we begin to read the illustrations: caterpillar handles, mushrooms growing through the floors and (surprise) a magazine entitled Saurian Way! That’s just the beginning … This is a good introduction for the middle school child to begin to acquire new skills in decoding picture books using such ideas as intertextuality, irony and double coding. Highly recommended.’
John McKenzie

Meet Kiwi author and illustrator Deborah Hinde

Deborah Hinde lives with her partner in the small village of Wharepapa South in rural Waikato. She has illustrated more than 70 titles, both fiction and non-fiction with around 40 of these as picture books.

Deborah works from her garden studio where the landscape and wildlife provide a continuous source of inspiration. She writes, illustrates and publishes her own stories under the imprint PictureBook Publishing.

Find out more about Deborah and how to contact her by visiting her author page.