Toby, Where Are You?

by William Steig, Teryl Euvremer (Illustrator)

Toby loves hiding from his parents—upstairs, downstairs, just about anywhere. But when Toby begins to think that his parents will never find him, he just can’t stand it. ‘Here I am!’ he cries.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Family

28 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

William Steig was born in New York City in 1907. In a family where every member was involved in the arts, it was not surprising that Steig became an artist.

He published his first children's book, Roland the Minstrel Pig, in 1968, embarking on a new and very different career.

Steig's books reflect his conviction that children want the security of a devoted family and friends. When Sylvester, Farmer Palmer, Abel, Pearl, Gorky, Solomon, and Irene eventually get home, their families are all waiting, and beginning with Amos & Boris, friendship is celebrated in story after story.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/willia...

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

This does not feel like a William Steig book at all. He has an illustrator and the drawings are lovely to look at. It really feels very little like a Steig book.

The story is cute enough. The little muskrat is having a picnic with his parents and his game is to be all sorts of different animals and his parents guess who he is. It’s cute.

The nephew thought the creature, the muskrat was pretty cute and he liked the dynamic between the parents and the kid coming up with fun animals. At one point he fools the parents putting a real turtle under a hat that moves. The nephew laughed at the hat. It was a little beneath him, but he thought this was cute. He gave this 3 stars. He had fun with it.

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The books in this series are enjoyable. My own Toby loves how this Toby is able to trick his parents in such fun ways. In this one, you can look for clues as to where Toby is hiding.

[Rachel Rouleau · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of William Steig's books are longer with too much text for a toddler, but this one is probably best for 1.5-2 yr olds. Fun to find Toby on each page. My three-year-old liked it.

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Whenever William Steig delegates to another artist the illustrating work in any of his books, it seems that the chosen artist is tremendously capable of casting light upon the work of this great author.

Playing a game of Hide-and-Seek with his parents, Toby dashes from hiding spot to hiding spot throughout the house, always staying a few steps ahead of where his parents are searching. The illustrated scenes around the house and outside are surprisingly beautiful in some cases, nicely commending the artistic skill of Teryl Euvremer. The best one of all, I'd say, is the picture in which Toby's mother and father open the front door to look for him outside beneath the dark night sky and its glowing stars, while Toby quietly hides on the roof.

Toby, Where Are You? is a nice book that is well suited to its intended age group. I might give it one and a half stars.

[Kyjafree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toby pretends to be things and his parents have to guess what he is. on there last guess his parents asked if we get this one right will you go to sleep? so they guessed it right and he had to go to sleep. but before he did he pretended to be a scary monster.

[Rochelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

We've read it 100 times....it's not too good, but we bought it because the troublemaker's name is Toby!

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toby is some sort of rodent who enjoys hiding from his parents. At first this annoyed me. What utter brats mysterious rodents can be! But, as the parents are in on the gag, everything becomes hunky-dory. This is really rather cute once you're into it, and looking for Toby in each illustration can be lots of fun. (Is it weird to be envious of a mysterious rodent family's amazingly well-stocked pantry? I was practically drooling over all the food they have put by.)

I would hope that reading this book to your children will not encourage them to start hiding from you. Perhaps, after you're done with the story, you could maybe mention that any child who goes missing will instantly be replaced by a kid from the local orphanage.

One who likes to weed and do yardwork.

[Taylor Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very cute for the early childhood imagination. I liked it because it encourages imagination and childhood play especially alongside the child’s parents. It is important to remember that pretending is good for the early child’s mind. Hopefully this book inspires kids’ imagination to grow all around them.

[Jeniann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally William Steig is a bit too weird for me, but this one was illustrated by someone else. It looks like there are a couple of versions of the illustrations. I love the illustrations in this book in particular where the little boy hides from his parents and they are looking for him and you can see him hiding someplace else. My two year old just loves this one. And this review is now probably longer than all of the text in the actual book. Ha!

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a humorous tale about playing hide and seek at bedtime. The narrative is good for reading with younger children, and they will love searching for Toby on each page. I knew that this book would likely be a bit too 'babyish' for our girls' tastes, but we have really liked William Steig's books, so I thought I'd check it out. We enjoyed reading this book together.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short book about a little mouse hiding from his mother and father. Could be usd to teach prediction for early readers.

[Clarissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is great, but too small to read to a large group, alas!

[Gemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved it despite being terrified by the pictures. Creepy.