Sammy and the skyscraper sandwich by Lorraine Francis and Pieter Gudesaboos

Book Island (NZ), 2012. ISBN 978 0 9876696 0.
(Age: 4+) Board book. Picture book. Endeavour. This unusual board book expounds the tale of a young boy gathering together a whole range of food items from the kitchen cupboard and the fridge, to make a sandwich. He piles stuff on top of each other until it reaches the second floor of the house, passing dad in the bath. Then on until it reaches the roof, going through the roof to go ever upward until he needs a crane to add things to the top. The twist at the end takes Sammy back to reality.
This board book is unusual as it has a large number of words to read out to a child wanting it read aloud. As it is a board book, it is one that a child can hold and be rough with, but its size (about 40cm by 25 cm) takes it out of the range of a very young child. It will need adult supervision because of its size and the number of words, and children will need help with the story as it is most unusual, telling a tale about a child using up all the food to build a sandwich which he then does not eat.
Younger kids will love it being read to them and they will love finding all the food mentioned in the text, as well as following Sammy's adventure and mum's patience. Each page has a variety of things to look at and talk about.
Fran Knight