Megan

The Big Yawn Written by Keith Faulkner - Illustrated by Jonathan Lambert

[[image:http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NB7P603JL._SL500_AA300_.jpg width="418" height="418" align="right" caption="'The Big Yawn' front cover"]]Context
Keith Faulkner is an Australian author and has written many other children’s books, mostly about animals. He seems to value his privacy as there are no images of him, nor a biography page that I could find. He has written books such as //The Wide Mouthed Frog, The Long Nosed Pig, The Puzzled Penguin// and //The Hiccupping Hippo.// His books are usually very colourful and have only small amounts of text, relying on images, popups and cut-outs to tell the story. The Big Yawn is a great example of that. With the stark contrast of black background and the bright illustrations each image pops from the page without the use of popups and is very engaging to young children.

This book was first published in 1999 in Australia by Koala Books. This culture is almost the same as the culture that we would know today in modern Australia, just a bit behind in technology and fashion. It was released just as we ourselves (the class) would have been young children learning to read. One of the pages in the book has a crocodile taking up most of the page, possibly trying to reference that the book has an Australian aspect, but it also has animals from all over the world.

Personal
I chose this book because as child I loved it. I thought the cut outs were amazing and it was different to all the other books we had. My mum used to read it to me before bed and I would pull down the panel at the end. Eventually I started reading my own books and I still liked this one best. It means a lot to me because it reminds me of when I was growing up and it brings back lots of memories. It was well loved, there is even a small rip on one of the pages that has been fixed with a bit of sticky tape.

Meaning
This book expresses how the community of the rainforest comes together all as one. Although being very different animals and living in different parts of the rainforest, they all sleep and yawn. Together they make the rainforest and each play an important part, from the little bug to the terrible tiger. At the end of the book they put away all their differences, say goodnight to each other and go to sleep amongst the stars.

In //The Big Yawn,// the text is arranged around the cut outs and increases in size as the book goes on. The Author uses some descriptive language for each animal, describing them as terrible or gigantic or little, etc. Also, the mouths of all the animals are cut out so you can see through to the next page and on the last page there is a pull down panel, which reveals the end of the book. This adds another aspect to the book, it makes the reader more interested in what could have been a boring book. Without the bright images, creative text and interesting cut outs, children wouldn't fins this book very interesting. Its the way it is presented that makes it a good book. Despite the well considered presentation it is a book that is intended to be read to young children because of its simplicity.

By Megan Cunningham