Katy loves hopping about but unfortunately she seems to accidentally cause trouble with her clumsiness. Constantly right behind is her little brother immediately tattling, "Katy did it!" Can Katy ever do anything right?

The first time I read this book, I wasn't thrilled by it immediately. But with my niece requesting to hear it dozens of times, I found it grew on me a little each time. My initial dislike included that the ending felt a tad bit abrupt and tacked on, and that's still true. But the rest of it is pretty good. I like the play on words with the katydid being constantly admonished with her brother's taunting "Katy did it!" The book and its lively text call for being read aloud in fun voices. There are some solid life lessons packed in this book that pertain to young children, including the tattling problem and Katy learning to use what she loves to help out someone else instead of causing chaos by not paying attention. While not one of my favorite pieces of children's literature, this title does make a good read aloud to be shared with young kids. ( )

GENRE:Fantasy.
USE: Learning when to misbehave.

Katy loves to jump. She jumps over/onto a bunch of stuff and gets into trouble. Eventually there comes a time when she is needed to jump to save an ant hill from an olive stuck on top. Her mom was very proud. ( )

This is a fun book that teaches kids that it is okay to be spontaneous and try new things as well as meeting new people. Children can really gravitate towards this book as it is very fun and enjoyable

Katy, like any good katydid, loves to hop! When Mama sends her outside to hop (hopping in the house is quite sensibly forbidden), it's not long before Katy has hopped right into trouble. First she scatters pollen, then she scares aphids, and the trouble keeps on coming - always announced by little brother Lou's cry of "Kary did it! Katy did it!" Will Katy ever find a place to hop where she won't get in trouble?

Older siblings will immediately sympathize with Katy's troubles with her tag-along little brother, but the ending of the story sort of just fizzles. We get the great scene of Katy rescuing the ants and then we end with Mama saying she's proud of Katy when that was never really shown as being doubted. For the coda with Mama to make sense Katy needed to get in trouble for hopping inside to begin with. As it is, Mama is clearly not mad or even annoyed at the beginning of the story; she just quite cheerfully reminds Katy that she needs to go outside to hop.

Siomades' illustrations are digital but the style is reminiscent of cut-paper collages with a very three dimensional feel. The bright colors really pop from the stark, white pages although the lack of a background does feel weird at times. I also wasn't always thrilled with the text design and placement except for the "Boings."

My favorite part of the book was the "Boing Boing Boing Uh-oh!" refrain; my storytime crowds picked up on the repetition very quickly and joined right in. I think there's just something inherently fun about saying the word "boing;" it has a good feel in your mouth and is onomatopoetic to boot!

Used for Here Comes Trouble! Storytime - Terrific Ts and Preschool 1/19/10; Family 1/21/10. ( )