One Voice Please

Many readers may recognize Sam McBratney as the author of beloved picture books, including my own personal favorite Guess How Much I Love You. Now, McBratney has put together a collection of short stories for older readers under the title One Voice, Please. In the books introduction, McBratney explains how he once heard this phrase silence a crowded pub so that one man could share a story with the entire crowd. This is a fitting title, given the nature of the book's collection of tales. Many of these fables will be familiar to readers, including the story of the ion and the mouse, and the Pied Piper of Hamlin. However, most of these stories were unfamiliar to me. This pleasant combination of the familiar and the unfamiliar made the transition from story to story smooth and comforting. Each tale is a sort of fable with a lesson or moral at the end, but the collection is not overly moralistic, preachy, or didactic. The writing is smooth and pleasant, and as indicated by the subtitle, would be perfectly suited to be reading aloud.

The stick-like illustrations found within the text are the work of another well-known picture book author/illustrator, Russel Ayto. The sketches are an edgy yet whimsical accompaniment to this smooth text. This book is truly a good transitional book, with aspects that will be greatly appreciated by readers ranging from preschoolers who are being read to, to grade schoolers looking for a simple, comforting text, to the adults who share this book with their children.

My only criticism is the fact that while this collection contains stories from all over the world, no note is ever made of the stories' origins. Granted, it is somewhat refreshing to not have multiculturalism slammed down our throats in an obvious way, and this lack of information almost makes the stories blend together a bit more seamlessly. The stories come together under the category of "story" rather than under the guise of "world cultures" - which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, it may have been nice to at least have a note or appendix at the end of the text with this information so that readers can easily investigate a story or its culture more thoroughly should they desire.

Overall Grade: A