Short and sweet book along the lines of the game "Telephone" -- everyone mishears a secret as it is passed along, with briefly sad but eventually happy results. Art reminiscent of the Drummer Hoff era. ( )

Ustekabeko festa kontakizun metagarria eta kateatua da, pertsonaia nagusi batetik abiatuta beste eragile batzuk gehituz doana, harik eta, une jakin batean, ordena alderantzizkatu eta istorioaren hasierara itzultzen den arte, pertsonaia guztiak bilduz.

Untxi eta Igel, Hontza, Katagorri, Ahate, Sagu eta Azeri, aurre-irakurleentzako eta lehen irakurleentzako album hau (zurrumurruaren edo ‘hondatutako telefonoaren’ jolasa gogora ekartzen duena) bere umoreagatik eta komunitate bateko kideen arteko harremana naturaltasunez kontatzeagatik nabarmentzen da.

Hala, konfidentzia bat ageriko sekretu bihurtzen da, eta gaizki-ulertu harrigarri sorta eragiten du, amaiera zoriontsura iritsi arte.

How does one start out with "Rabbit is having a party tomorrow," and end up with "Rabbit is reading his poetry tomorrow?" Simple! Pass the message from person to person (or animal to animal, as is the case here), and it will become progressively more garbled as it travels along from one to the next. This certainly proves to be the case with Rabbit's "surprise" news, creating a series of misunderstandings that make it difficult for him to get his friends to come to his party...

Another basic concept-book from English children's author Pat Hutchins, The Surprise Party addresses itself, with amusing results, to the errors that accumulate in the course of spoken communication - what we call "the game of telephone," here in the states. I picked it up, initially, because I'm planning to read The Silver Christmas Tree, and the characters from that book were apparently first introduced here. As is proving to be the case with many of this author's titles (Rosie's Walk, Which Witch Is Which?), I found it far more appealing, than I had expected to, enjoying both the idea and the execution. A great, non-didactic way of introducing the idea of errors of transmission, this is also just a fun animal story, with colorful and appealing artwork. ( )

Rabbit confides to Owl that he is planning a party, but as the message is passed from animal to animal, it gets more and more confused. ( )