Product Description

There's a curious commotion
At the bottom of the ocean
I think we ought to go and take a look

A delightful collection of poems for young children from Britain's best-selling contemporary poet.  A brilliant sequel to Rumble in the Jungle.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8330 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-13
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

Review
The round glass of a submarine porthole provides a window through which the animals of the ocean can be spied upon in all their "commotion." Crab, turtle, dolphin, jellyfish, shark, and more come under the scrutiny of Andreae, who gives each one a rhyming stanza or limerick that is often sing-song. Attributes of each creatures - a shark's big mouth, a dolphin's sounds, a swordfish's skewer - provide the subject matter, but the treatment is humorous, not scientific. The arms of the mother octopus enable her to tickle all of her children on their stomaches simultaneously; a crab's sideways movements turn him into a sneaky spy. The illustrations further anthropomorphize the undersea creatures, giving each one curly eyelashes and smiling faces. The only innovation here is a poem about barnacles written in tiny type on the underside of a blue whale, as if the words themselves are clinging to the giant. Otherwise, this British import is ordinary and often amateurish. (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

Beautiful and witty
I got this book for my 5 month old daughter and I love it and so does she. The pictures are big and colourful, and she loves me reading the poems to her in a sing song way. I prefer it to books with one or two sentences! We also enjoy looking for the starfish doing silly things! The reason I have given the book 4 stars is because I would would have liked it more had it had stiffer pages that would be able to handle pulling and pushing and being chewed on. The price is also a bit steep. That said, I will still be buying the rest of the series, as its beautifully written and illustrated.

EXCELLENT
Giles Andreae and his partners have written several colorful, snappy, rhythmic tales that instruct children in an incredibly fun way! Commotion in the Ocean succeeds in portraying even the swordfish and the shark in a realistic, yet not overly scary way. The illustrations in the book are superior, something I personally enjoy when reading to my children.

Commotion in my House!!!!
I have a 2 year old who thought this book was so good we have read it at least twice a day for the past 3 weeks!!!! The poems are fantastic and the pictures are really stimulating for young ( and older!!)minds. We have spent hours pointing out which fish are which and then reading the poems, and he still isnt bored with it. His older brothers have also enjoyed reading this with him.( they have even taken to making up actions for the different creatures!)
I will now be buying the other books in the series to see if they are as good!!!Father Christmas had better stock up on book tokens!!!!!