Zip Zap Wickety Wack
A Story About Sharing
Published on 30. September 2025
Book
Hardback
48 pages
978-0-8234-5871-4 (ISBN)
Description
New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffee makes his children’s book debut with this laugh-out-loud twist on the classic animal sound book.
One of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Books of the Year!
A New York Times Best Children’s Book of the Year
The cow says “moo.” The horse says “neigh.” Everyone can agree on these.
But when the sheep says “baa,” the goat cuts in. The goat also says “baa.” Now what? No one wants to share their sound!
The sheep has an idea—he’ll just say something no one’s ever said before: “zip zap wickety wack bing bang walla balla flip flap yackety yack.” But an otherworldly visitor shows up to lay claim to this sound, too—and the alien doesn't want to share his identity either.
When the alien proposes a radical new way forward, the sheep and the goat find a compromise—and it may sound familiar to adult readers . . .
New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffee’s hilarious wit will be an immediate hit with young readers in his first picture book. Sure to inspire boisterous read-alouds and threaded with a sneaky message about sharing, Zip Zap Wickety Wack will inspire new nonsense and new values in homes, classrooms, and farmyards around the world.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
One of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Books of the Year!
A New York Times Best Children’s Book of the Year
The cow says “moo.” The horse says “neigh.” Everyone can agree on these.
But when the sheep says “baa,” the goat cuts in. The goat also says “baa.” Now what? No one wants to share their sound!
The sheep has an idea—he’ll just say something no one’s ever said before: “zip zap wickety wack bing bang walla balla flip flap yackety yack.” But an otherworldly visitor shows up to lay claim to this sound, too—and the alien doesn't want to share his identity either.
When the alien proposes a radical new way forward, the sheep and the goat find a compromise—and it may sound familiar to adult readers . . .
New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffee’s hilarious wit will be an immediate hit with young readers in his first picture book. Sure to inspire boisterous read-alouds and threaded with a sneaky message about sharing, Zip Zap Wickety Wack will inspire new nonsense and new values in homes, classrooms, and farmyards around the world.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Children/juvenile
US School Grade: From Preschool to Third Grade, Interest Age: From 4 to 8 years
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 257 mm
Width: 232 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
420 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8234-5871-4 (9780823458714)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Matthew Diffee has been contributing cartoons to The New Yorker since 1999. His work has also appeared in Time, The Huffington Post, The Believer, and Texas Monthly. He is the editor of three volumes of The Rejection Collection: Cartoons You Never Saw and Never Will See in The New Yorker, and has also worked as a freelance illustrator. Diffee is a recipient of the Silver Reuben Award for gag cartooning, and was recently named Chairman of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society. He grew up in Texas, and now lives in Los Angeles.