Nobody Messes With Mama! The Giant Jumperee by Julia Donaldson

Heading home to his burrow one day, Rabbit was stopped in mid-hop by a unexpected voice from inside his hole.

I'M THE GIANT JUMPEREE AND I'M SCARY AS CAN BE!"

"HELP! HELP!" CRIED RABBIT.

Cat is within earshot and comes at Rabbit's call. She's confident she's got this one.

"DON'T WORRY," SAID CAT.

"I'LL SLINK INSIDE AND POUNCE ON HIM!"

But this marmalade cat is halted in mid-pounce when she hears the same loud voice issuing from Rabbit's house. She, too, hollers for help!

Bear, as burly and boastful as bears can be, comes to Cat's aid. Bravely, Bear approaches the burrow, ready to reach deep inside with a mighty swipe of his powerful paw, when he hears the same frightful sound.

Bear is abashed and backs up hastily, bellowing for help!

Elephant hears the ruckus and stomps up to the hole with a intrepid trumpet. He's got a terrific trunk and he knows how to use it!

Or maybe not. When he hears that loud, scary voice, Elephant is affrighted and grabs a tree for support. Bear wraps himself in Elephant's trunk, and the others fall back aghast, looking for a place to hide.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER,?" ASKED MAMA FROG.

Mama Frog is a take-charge type. Arms akimbo, feet planted firmly, she steps up to beard the Giant Jumperee in his lair.

"I'M COUNTING!

ONE, TWO, THREE!"

Don't mess with Mama! In The Giant Jumperee (Dial Books, 2017), kids will have a pretty good guess what they'll see with the turn of the next page, and the story ends with all--Rabbit, Cat, Bear, Elephant... and Little Frog (a.k.a., the Giant Jumperee)--following Mama Frog home for tea, in Julia Donaldson's latest. Noted author Donaldson's rhythmic meters and rollicking rhymes are in evidence again, and with the aid of artist Helen Oxenbury, famed for her quaint illustrations of charming children and animals, the story builds with just enough suspense to end with a gale of giggles at the big reveal of the true identity of the bogeyman in the hole. Oxenbury's drawings, done in grainy, rough blackline, filled with soft watercolors and shaded with delicate stippling, are just right for this folksy cumulative tale of the bad, bad bogeyman in the hole.

Publishers Weekly's starred review says, "Donaldson knows that less really can be more, and her straightforward, occasionally rhyming narration is all the setup her peerless collaborator needs. Oxenbury paints Mama Frog as a don’t-mess-with-me matriarch whose decisive physicality . . . instantly establishes her as a force to be reckoned with."

Julia Donaldson is well known for her holiday staple, Room on the Broom and the notable Helen Oxenbury is the illustrator of the classic We're Going on a Bear Hunt (Classic Board Books).