View source for Doug the Bug That Went BOING by Sue Hendra

{{infobox2
|title=Doug the Bug That Went BOING
|author=Sue Hendra
|reviewer=Lorraine McDonald
|genre=For Sharing
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-0857074461 
|pages=32
|publisher=Simon and Schuster Children's Books
|date=September 2013
|aznuk=0857074466
|aznus=0857074466
|cover=0857074466
|website=http://www.worldofsuehendra.com
|video=
|summary=The colourful, active and noisy story of one bug’s ascent to the heights of the top floor, and his return journey to his friend on the ground
}}
Ever found an insect in your attic or an arachnid on your roof and wondered how DID they get there?  Doug the Bug c.ould tell you and you can find out too in Sue Hendra’s picture book, ‘Doug the Bug That Went BOING!’. 

Doug is a bright, bold, purple bug.  He likes to play with his friend Trevor in the garden.  After a fall out during a game, disaster strikes and he finds himself transported to the upper floor of a house.  He’s too high up and far away for Trevor to hear his cries for help.  All Doug wants is to go home.  A friendly, though rather dim-witted, fly tries to assist his descent.  However, Doug is a heavy bug to carry so it’s not long before he is going BOING all around the house! There is (of course!) a happy ending for Doug as he uses his initiative to find a way to return to the ground and his friend Trevor but not before he’s got in to a range of scrapes.

‘Doug the Bug That Went Boing’ is an attractive picture book to read aloud to children.  The illustrations are bright and colourful.  The big ‘wobble’ eyes and large mouths of the insects appealed to my very young boy.  The layout includes both single and double paged spreads.  The artwork is fairly basic, however, there are some interesting pages showing a bug’s eye perspective and one impressive double page spread that shows just how high up Doug is and what it is like for him looking down.  The text is integrated in to the illustrations delivering a dynamic reading experience. Not every aspect of the tale is spelt out in words meaning pre-readers can have the satisfaction of studying the pictures to understand what is going on, giving them an active role at story time. 

‘Doug the Bug That Went Boing’ flows wonderfully when read aloud.  Each page connects to the next with either a question or an ellipsis giving more cliff hangers than your average soap opera.  In this way, the momentum is maintained from page to page. This book makes fantastic use of onomatopoeia.  There’s a lot of fun to be had for the reader making the sounds – I got a little carried away and had to tone down my BOINGS, BZZZES, PLOPS and SPLATS to avoid alarming my little one.    

I can’t imagine many children not liking Doug – he’s a cheery, plucky fella who gives bugs a good name.  Throw in some escapades worthy of Loony Tunes and this is a lively tale sure to please. There’s a slight moral involved in the story of taking turns, sharing and being kind to friends but it’s lightly done and not a central tenet.  

So, next time you find a bug on your balcony, check if it’s Doug.  If it is, don’t worry about him, he can BOING back to earth.

If this bok appeals then you might also enjoy [[No-Bot, The Robot With No Bottom by Sue Hendra|No-Bot, The Robot With No Bottom]], also by Sue Hendra.

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