Wait a minute! by Shelly Unwin

Every excuse that has ever been made is wrapped up in this funny story. Procrastination takes a bow as the theme detailing the excuses one little boy makes when he simply cannot be ready on time. But these excuses are not what’s expected. The first page has the boy responding to his mother’s ‘Time to go’ with, ‘Wait a minute, I’ve got to tie my sh …’ children will yell out ‘shoelaces’ as the page is turned, only to laugh out loud at the funny excuse the lad gives, not including the word shoelaces, but sheep!

These first two pages set the scene for the rest of the book, as excuses are given which elicit an expected response from the children, but the excuse becomes fanciful as each page is turned. So, ‘I’m going to brush my t. ..’ becomes brushing a tiger’s tail, and ‘I’ve got to find my h …’ becomes finding a hungry hippo. 

Children will love working out their own excuses and changing the expected response as the book does. 

A frustrated mum lists all the excuses he gives, but the boy interrupts her, saying ‘Oh wait a minute! I forgot my water b …’ The expected water bottle turns into a very funny buffalo lying in a soapy bath reading his newspaper.  But then mum calls out again ‘Let’s go’, and he tells her ‘Wait a minute, You need your k …’

Instead of letting him finish with a fanciful response, she breaks in with all the things she can think of that start with k. Again readers will love calling out all the things named, offering some themselves which fits the scene. And turning the last page, gives the reminder the boy is offering his mother. 

A wonderfully upside down story, in which kids will laugh at the responses the boy gives, turning the expected responses on their heads. Kids will love the fun of working out what will come after remembering the repeated lines and saying them as the story is read to them, predicting the response. 

Zany illustrations cover each page, capturing the readers’ attention as they turn each page. They will love the range of animals pictured, and the positions the illustrator puts them in: the two legged sheep race, the tiger tail being brushed, the laughing llama and so on. I loved the ugg booted crab, the startled kangaroo and the hungry hippo and the last page where all the animals follow mum out the door, finally, but it has taken a lot of patience on her part.

Larrikin House is producing some very funny picture books and the inside back cover shows some of their enticing range. They are well worth seeking out.

Themes: Procrastination, Excuses, Family, Humour.

Fran Knight