Oh Dear, Look What I Got!
by Michael Rosen
illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Candlewick Press, 2025. 36 pages.
Review written September 16, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
Looks to me like we’ve got a new storytime classic here! Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury, the creators of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt have teamed up for this new picture book.
The situation is simple and silly, illustrated on the first few pages:
I went to the shop
to get me a carrot.Oh dear, they gave me . . .
a parrot!
Oh dear,
look what I got!Do I want that?
No, I do NOT!
This text repeats six times, each time with a different object and a different rhyming animal. It builds to delightful chaos, and then all the shopkeepers come, bringing the correct object, and are pictured leading away the animals.
Does it make any sense? Could this ever happen? Not really.
Do I want to read it aloud?
YES, I DO!
Maybe it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I predict you can get a whole roomful of preschoolers chanting along with the fun.
Check it out, and see if you aren’t charmed!
michaelrosen.co.uk
helenoxenbury.co.uk
candlewick.com
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/oh_dear_look_what_i_got.html
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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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