Zip Zap Wickety Wack: A Story about Sharing

New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffee makes his children's book debut with this laugh-out-loud twist on the classic animal sound book.

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

Author: Matthew Diffee
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Neal Porter Books
Published: 09/30/2025
Pages: 48
ISBN: 9780823458714


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 05/26/2025
Kirkus Reviews 06/01/2025
School Library Journal 08/01/2025 pg. 67

About the Author
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.