A Hole in the Wall

A Hole in the Wall 

Written and illustrated by Hans Wilhelm

Holiday House, 2016, Ages 4-7

The story is about four animals and a hole in the wall. The dog found a hole in the wall, so he looked in the hole and saw another dog. The dog then went back and told his friends the lion, elephant, and warthog that he found a hole in the wall and there is another dog inside. After this the lion, elephant, and warthog each went and visited the whole, by themselves, and they each came back and said that the animal who looked in the whole before them was wrong because each of them saw that same animal that they are in the hole. This made all of the animals mad so they went and looked in the hole together, and this time they saw each of them in the hole, and this made them happy because then everyone was right! However, at the end it explains that the hole in the wall wasn’t actually a hole, and the picture shows that it is a mirror. 

The author's writing style is very short and simple, but it goes along with what he is trying to teach his readers. The author uses colors to match the animal words to the color of the animals, so when a child is reading this they can see that a warthog is pink. The author also uses repetition through out the entire book. Since the author uses repetition this will help his readers learn how to say elephant, and maybe they will even be able to recognize the word elephant by the end of the book. Overall, the authors writing style will help his readers learn and be able to recognize simple words and the words for certain animals. 

The illustrations really help the readers understand what exactly a lion, elephant, dog, and warthog look like. This is good, especially for young readers, because they will be able to connect the word with the picture of the animal. The illustrations also show the readers that each time the animal is going to the hole they are seeing something that looks exactly like them, and the animal in the hole is doing exactly what the animal outside of the hole is doing. Meaning that the illustrations are giving a hint to the readers that maybe this isn’t a hole in the wall. The illustrations also do a good job in showing when the animals were mad for being told that they were wrong, and then at the end when the animals were happy because they were all right about the hole. 

Overall, I liked this book, and I defiantly recommend it for others, especially young children and teachers. I liked this book because it is a good book to read to younger students to get them to recognize certain words, colors, and animals. Having said this, I would defiantly read this book to my future students if they were in pre-school or maybe at the beginning of Kindergarten. The book is also a good book because it is simple enough that a child who is just starting to read on their own could try and read this book, and if they needed help while reading the pictures go along with the text well enough that they could use the pictures to help figure out the words. 

Reviewed by Christine Stemen