Jane Godwin (text) and Sylvia Morris (illustrator), The BEST Hiding Place, Affirm Press, September 2022, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922848086
The BEST Hiding Place tells the story of a group of children playing hide and seek.
The illustrations begin on the half title page with each child and their name clearly identified. This allows the author to move straight into the story without introducing each character. This technique works well catapulting the reader into the action of an energetic game of hide and seek.
Archie finds an excellent hiding place. So excellent that he begins to worry that the others may have moved on to another game and he may have been left behind or forgotten. Godwin, the master storyteller, chooses descriptive language that has the reader feeling what Archie feels as he settles down to hide in a cupboard, hides so long that his foot goes numb, worries about spiders and a strange looking teddy bear in the cupboard and more persistently begins to worry that he may have been forgotten. Finally, Archie’s joy and relief at being found are expressed beautifully and the children admire his hiding place before moving on to the next game of hide and seek.
These artful language choices are accompanied by gentle and evocative illustrations by debut illustrator, Sylvia Morris. This reader’s personal favourite is the cover illustration which looks like a doll house and shows each of the characters trying to find the best hiding place, there’s even a tiny, sleepy possum already hiding with the hot water system.
The BEST Hiding Place is an excellent picture book for sparking conversations with children about working together, managing emotions and turn taking.
Reviewed by Anne Varnes
