- Picture Books
- Ages 3–6
- Comedy
The Hueys in What's the Opposite?
Book 4 of 4 in The HueysView the full series
Part of the Oliver Jeffers universeOpen the collection
What is the opposite of a Huey? The Hueys investigate. Oliver Jeffers turns the concept of opposites into a visual comedy that is simultaneously a genuine early-learning tool and an absurdist joke about the limits of binary thinking.
- Best for3–6
- FormatPicture
- Length40 pp
- Read aloud~8 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Conversational
- Comedic
- Repetitive
Tone
- Funny
- Silly
- Gentle
- Whimsical
- Absurdist
- Thought provoking
- Warm
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
What's the opposite of a Huey? The Hueys consider the question carefully. Some opposites are obvious, big and small, fast and slow. Others are harder. What is the opposite of a friend? What is the opposite of nothing? Oliver Jeffers uses the Hueys' minimal visual world, white figures, white space, very few words, to make opposites funny and strange simultaneously. The book works as an introduction to the concept for very young children, but the comedy is layered enough to work for adults: some of the visual jokes play on the ambiguity of opposition itself, and the book quietly resists the idea that everything has a simple opposite. The fourth and final entry in the series maintains the deadpan voice perfectly. Best read after The New Jumper and It Wasn't Me, when the Hueys world is already familiar; the concept-driven books reward readers who are already invested in the characters.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 3–6
- Read aloud · 3–7
- Independent · 5–7
Prose load
Minimal
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Excellent
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Reading together
- Reluctant readers
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
3 / 5 · Workable
Sensitive-child
4 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Opposites concepts
- Discussion starter
- Reluctant readers
- Gift book
- Educational fun
Avoid if
No common reasons to avoid this one — a rare clean sweep on the sensitivity flags.
Particularly good for children who are…
- Interested in art and creativity
- Reluctant reader
- Struggling with reading
In the classroom
How it works in school.
Oliver Jeffers' minimalist, funny Hueys books about being different — a great read-aloud that opens talk about individuality and getting along.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific delight is the question — the Hueys taking 'what's the opposite of an elephant' entirely seriously, the solutions getting steadily madder, some opposites turning out not to have clean answers at all. The fourth Hueys on the limits of binary thinking.
- Trickery and cleverness
- Friendship and belonging
Why parents love it
The final Hueys — concept book that quietly resists the everything-has-an-opposite assumption, deadpan voice intact. Best after The New Jumper and It Wasn't Me; the concept-books reward readers already invested in the characters.
- Shared humour
- Conversation starter
- Quick to read
- Beautiful illustrations
In the series
The Hueys.
4 books · open the series →
About the author & illustrator
Oliver Jeffers.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
More like this…
Books that share themes and topics with this one.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
When you buy through the links above, we may earn a small commission — it never costs you more, and it never changes the books we choose. How we’re funded →