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Hide And Seek Fog

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In a Cape Cod seaside village, the children romp and play throughout a heavy fog with strange and mysterious effects.

Hardcover

First published April 1, 1965

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5 stars
133 (25%)
4 stars
155 (29%)
3 stars
178 (33%)
2 stars
57 (10%)
1 star
9 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
Profile Image for Calista.
5,419 reviews31.3k followers
March 26, 2019
This books is so beautiful. A seaside town is going about it’s beautiful business when the fog rolls in and it shuts everything down. Boats race in and parents grumble about having to stay indoors with kids. This fog last for 3 days. The only people who are ok with it are the kids who play hide and seek on the beach.

This is a mysterious little book and the artwork conveys the mystery of the Fog. I have never lived in a 3 day fog bank and it looks like something I would love to experience. The author created this character of fog and he created a mood that goes with it. It’s a fun little story.

The kids love hide and seek. We live in a small house and they love to play that game all the time and it drives us crazy. They have the same few hiding spots. They saw this book and about being able to hide outside and they thought this was really cool. They would love to be able to experience this, they think. They would probably get bored after awhile. The nephew gave this 4 stars and the niece thought this was a cool story. The first page they use a phrase she loved: “He watched the fog turn off the sun-sparkle on the waves…” She loved that line. She also gave this 4 stars.
Profile Image for Hilary .
2,294 reviews485 followers
May 13, 2019
A sea fog comes in and this community spends days in a soft white veil. Having grown up in a seaside town I know how it can be sunny and hot one minute but the next you can't see beyond your arm. I loved the illustrations, soft and ethereal and totally got across the mystical dream like quality of this fascinating weather condition but I didn't get much from the text apart from this weather was spoiling the fishing and catching lobsters which I don't enjoy hearing about. Wonderful illustrations though.

Read on openlibrary.
Profile Image for Lisa Vegan.
2,900 reviews1,308 followers
April 25, 2012
I read this because I live in San Francisco, and spent most of my formative years here too, and I’ve almost consistently lived in the foggiest areas of a city prone to fog, and unlike many people, I love the fog. (except for driving in it on the freeway when you literally cannot see past the front of your car; that’s pure terror)

And the fog was depicted well in the illustrations.

But, I don’t like reading about lobstermen or clambakes either. And they’re a huge focus of the book. So, I can’t say I enjoyed 90% of the story.

I wish there had been more focus on the children’s experience of playing in the fog.

I appreciated the illustrations more much than I did the story. I do have to admit the story was well and poetically written.
Profile Image for Luisa Knight.
3,199 reviews1,181 followers
November 11, 2022
This is a treasure! The words in the book are delicious and paint just as vividly as the illustrations do. Be sure to read this with your children; exposure to elevated prose, no matter the age, is always a wonderful idea.

Ages: 4 - 8

Cleanliness: nothing to note.

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Profile Image for Luann.
1,302 reviews122 followers
March 14, 2012
How do you illustrate fog? Well, Roger Duvoisin figured it out and won a Caldecott Honor in 1966 for his efforts. I think the illustrations really capture the essence of fog and the feeling of a foggy day. I haven't experienced too many foggy days living in Arizona - and never three full days of it. But after reading this, I definitely know more of what it would feel like.

Reading this I also learned a new word: spoddle. In this book the children "spoddled in the lazy lapping waves on the beach." I'd never heard that word before, although the context gave me an idea of the meaning. I only found it in one dictionary online, which defined it as "to play with your food or drink." That isn't quite what I got from the sentence but close. Maybe it's a regional word not widely used? I also didn't find it in the huge unabridged Webster's I have here in the library. A fun word, though!
Profile Image for Katherine.
891 reviews101 followers
December 8, 2021
My artist brother gave me this book years ago when my children were small. Now he's gone and they are grown but I still enjoy reading it. He loved it because of the watercolor illustrations and the descriptions of the ocean, the bay and the fog; I love it because he did.

Lovely older noteworthy award-winning book.
5 stars
Profile Image for Jenny.
3,326 reviews38 followers
April 7, 2015
Fog rolls in over a seaside town, covering everything and preventing fishermen and the lobsterman from working and sending most townspeople into their homes to read, complain and entertain the children. The children have a wonderful time playing hide and seek. This felt like a "quiet" book to me...perhaps because the fog carpets the whole town and mutes the pictures...it felt as if it also muted the action/noise. Not in a bad way, at all. While I was more especially drawn to the bright colors and distinct lines of the last couple of pages, the muted colors and indistinct lines worked well to convey the fog and its consequences. An early Caldecott honor book, well worth reading.
Profile Image for Kelly.
8,819 reviews18 followers
September 19, 2017
This book begins my journey into reading the Caldecott Honor books.

This book is about a seaside town overcome by fog one day, and the many days that follow it. The townspeople do what they can to fill their time during the fog.

The illustrations so accurately portray the mood of the story. And the story is wonderful. It lilts along, much like a fog. And the words feel like they float and hang, like the fog.

Brilliant.
Profile Image for Cynthia Egbert.
2,623 reviews37 followers
August 2, 2020
I requested this one because I love Duvoisin's artwork and fell in love with the book. In some ways I feel like this one is a metaphor for all that we are currently experiencing with the pandemic and the shelter in place. This is just a beautiful story and a reminder that the bad stuff does move along and the sun does come out!
Profile Image for Katelynn Callahan.
44 reviews1 follower
Read
October 2, 2011
This story starts out with a lobsterman who is on the ocean and has to go back to shore because he notices the fog is about to set in. The families on the beach also start to pack up and go home The streets are completely covered in fog and no one can see a thing that is in front of them. Day after day for 3 days no one can do anything. They are all sad and the dads are angry that they are spending their vacation trapped inside. However the young kids have fun playing hide and seek because they can hide anywhere outside and not be found. At the end of the story the fog fades and the moms, dads, fisherman, and children can all go back to their normal days.

The pictures in this book are not very detailed and they look like they were done with water colors. I think that this book would be well suited for children who live near a beach and know what it is like to live where there is fog. It does not a have very exciting story line and might be boring to a lot of students. I wouldn't recommend this story for a classroom.
Profile Image for Chelsea.
10 reviews3 followers
January 27, 2013
"Hide and Seek Fog” written by Alvin Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin is children’s picture book that tells the story of how fog comes into the lobsterman’s town- and as a result, keeps most of those from the town inside for the next three days. The fog is so thick that pedestrians on the street even run into one another as they walk! However, the fog goes away after three days and the people from the town resume their lives as normal. I did not particularly like the text of the story. I though the story was very boring and uneventful. I do not think the text itself would hold children’s attention. However, I did enjoy the illustrations throughout the picture book. Depicting fog seems as if it would a challenge- nevertheless, the illustrator does it perfectly. The illustrations are very faded out, and thus one has to look very closely in order to see what the text is trying to convey. Overall, I did not particularly like this book- but I did very much enjoy the illustrations and think children would too.
Profile Image for Rachel.
2,839 reviews61 followers
December 5, 2013
As I've done this Caldecott Challenge, I've gotten to read two of his previous Caldecott Honor/Award winners "White Snow, Bright Snow" and "Rain Drop Splash", both of which I have enjoyed. Those, like this book, are about a natural event - in this case fog. It rolls in off the coast of a small fishing village and blankets the town and its inhabitants and vacation-goers for three days. Although the fog completely stops the lobstermen and other businesses in their tracks, it doesn't deter the kids, who are out playing hide and seek in it. It is hard to depict something like fog, but Roger Duvoisin, Tresselt's regular illustrator, does an excellent job of depicting it in watercolors. For a detailed biography on the author and his works, check out this site: http://blog.moonshadowecommerce.com/W...
Recommended for ages 4-8, 3 1/2 stars.
Profile Image for SamZ.
821 reviews
April 29, 2015
1966 Caldecott Honor. Favorite Illustration: the page showing the clothesline with the brightly colored clothing hanging on the line being washed out by the fog twisting "like slow-motion smoke."
I don't have a ton of experience with fog, but having lived near a large lake most of my growing up years, I do have some small memories of early morning fog. I can't imagine, though, a fog rolling in and lasting for 3 days! This story was slow moving and peaceful, without a real plot. I loved the way the illustrations themselves were hiding behind a thick layer of fog, making you look for what could be there!
Profile Image for Becky B.
9,181 reviews181 followers
December 26, 2015
A heavy fog rolls into a seaside town and puts a halt to all normal activities. Both the pros and cons of the fog are explored, and then normal activities resume when it recedes two days later.

An interesting book for the topic. Not many books out there cover fog days, the headaches they bring for those on a coastal town or the fun it provides for kids who play in it. The illustrations are simple in that they are mostly impressionistic and especially the fog ones are sparse in detail, but they do encapsulate the feel for heavy fog oh so well. Though this book is now 50 years old, it isn't very dated. Most of the activities covered are timeless. I can see kids today still enjoying it.
Profile Image for Stefanie Burns.
792 reviews3 followers
January 19, 2017
The story tells a time when fog rolls in on a summer New England (I'm guessing from the language) town. It tells about what different people: lobstermen, fishermen, fathers, mothers, and children, do when this happens. Sheds a little light on what life and vacation was like for people in small New England coastal village.

It was a little boring and read more as a list of facts than a story. The illustrations were done mostly in pastels both before and after the fog. I would have liked more of a contrast. Bland story with bland illustrations. I don't foresee a student picking it up to read nowadays.
Profile Image for Maria Rowe.
1,064 reviews14 followers
November 18, 2017
• 1966 Caldecott Honor Book •

The cover of this book doesn’t do it justice - it’s a great book! I love how the fog is drawn - the art is really beautiful and skillful. There’s something relaxing about this story - it just makes me want to go to Cape Cod (like in the story) and go swimming and be on vacation. I always thought fog was fascinating when I was a kid, and I would have loved this book when I was little! Neat little gem!

Materials used: unlisted
Typeface used: text: Caslon 540 • display: Franklin Gothic
Profile Image for Katie Fitzgerald.
Author 25 books250 followers
October 6, 2017
This lovely book illustrates the look and feel of a three-day fog which settles in over the bay where children, lobsterman, and sailors must wait for it to lift. The pictures in this one are really impressive. It's amazing how, with so few clear lines, Duvoisin is still able to hint at the shapes of houses and people behind the thick, oppressive fog. I can remember being fascinated by fog as a kid, and I think Tresselt and Duvoisin understood that feeling and incorporated it into this book.
Profile Image for Katt Hansen.
3,842 reviews107 followers
August 5, 2015
The illustrations are perfect...indistinct and foggy as the story meanders through life at the seashore (I'm picturing New England) during a really foggy spell. Honestly, I would have given this the Caldecott medal in 1966 instead of Always Room for One More just because I liked how the style matched the story so well.
Profile Image for Mitchell Friedman.
5,741 reviews219 followers
September 19, 2018
Okay Caldecott Honor book. Fog at a New England beach. It does a good job of capturing a moment in time. But the writing is kind of lame and the art isn't good enough to rescue it. No real story, no real characters and no real place. 2.5 of 5.
Profile Image for Jen.
1,837 reviews7 followers
August 26, 2018
The idea of this dense fog that stopped people from going out for days is so fascinating and fun, with just a bit of an idea of how it could be scary. The illustrations were perfect.
10 reviews
November 18, 2016
Hide and Seek Fog by Alvin Tresselt highlights what it is like to live a few days in a fog storm and how it affects business and people who live near the water in everyday life activities. Children who live near bodies of water or know about the water could relate to this book. This book is appropriate for Pre-K to third grade students. The reading level for this book is a guided level M. Hide and Seek Fog is a Caldecott Medal Winner.

781 reviews10 followers
June 21, 2010
This isn't one of those books with a clear story and a plot and all that. Instead, it's one that just describes something - in this case, a three-day fog and the effect it has on everybody.

It's not a very exciting book, but it has its own quiet poetry to it, and the illustrations are to die for.
Profile Image for Ashlee Reed.
76 reviews1 follower
December 3, 2017
Age: Upper Elementary (3-6)
Genre: Contemporary Realistic

I picked up this book on a whim at the library because of the Caldacott Metal. I was disappointed. The pictures were not what I would consider "award winning" and the story was boring and didn't keep my attention. I was not impressed by the book at all.
Profile Image for Samantha.
4,985 reviews60 followers
May 18, 2012
A thick fog rolls in and disrupts daily life for all the town's residents. Artwork consists of paintings and much of the color palette for the book is misty gray (to represent the fog). The colors brighten up in the end when the fog recedes.
93 reviews
June 5, 2012
In a village by the sea, a heavy fog rolls in and lasts for three days. The lobsterman cannot trap lobsters, the sailors cannot sail and the children play hide and seek around their cottages in the fog until the sun breaks through and life returns to normal.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews

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