Tag Archives: rhyming

Nov17

It’s Raining Cats! It’s Raining Dogs! It’s Raining Bats! And Pollywogs! by Sherry West

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It’s Raining Cats! It’s Raining Dogs! It’s Raining Bats! And Pollywogs! written by Sherry West and illustrated by Sherry West and Larkin Stephen-Avery, picture e-book, published by Morgan James Publishing in 2019.

The rain began with cats, followed by dogs, but then things just got crazy! A zoo of animals begins raining from the sky in this fun picture book.

This really is a laugh out loud silly rhyming story book full of  gorgeously rendered animals in pastel colours.

Each page contained just a few lines of easy to read text. Most of the text is printed in black, but a selection of words are brightly coloured, which draws the eye to them. The lyrical story flows well, making it perfect for reading aloud. And overall, it was such a fun book to read.

The illustrations are whimsical and stylised, and perfect for little readers. I love the herd of guinea pigs, and the mice, and the penguins, and… oh, really I just adored all of the illustrations; they are so cute!

It’s Raining Cats! It’s Raining Dogs! It’s Raining Bats! And Pollywogs! is most suitable for toddlers and preschoolers. Lower primary school children may also enjoy reading this by themselves.

 

*I received this book as a digital copy from the author, who asked me for an honest review of this book. I did not receive any other remuneration, and the review is composed entirely of my own opinions.

 

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Mar15

Have You Ever Seen? by Sarah Mazor

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Have You Ever Seen? by Sarah Mazor and illustrated by Abira Das, picture e-book, published by MazorBooks in 2018.

Auntie Lily has conjured up some very silly rhymes for the children before bedtime.

I believe that rhymes and rhythm are important for early literacy. Not only are they pleasant to listen to, they are also important for early speech development, and for reading and spelling later on. Silly rhymes are lots of fun and can even help to encourage reluctant readers to get involved. And Have You Ever Seen? is definitely full of silly rhymes.

For me, there were a few things that I struggled with when reading this book. Firstly, the presentation of the mobi. file I was reviewing was awful. The edges of the pages were cut-off, so I adjusted the page size so that I could read all of the text, but then each page of the book was spread across two pages on my reader, as well as being slightly distorted. This is one of the reasons why I prefer to read a physical book, especially in the case of picture books. Have You Ever Seen? is available as a physical book as well as the Kindle edition.

Reader difficulties aside, the story was going along fine until donkey was rhymed with monkey. Yes they both have the same finishing sound, but these words do not rhyme. And to me, an almost rhyme is worse than no rhyme. There were a few examples of this, such as swan and lawn, hippo and depot.

What exactly is the Yak spreading his ketchup on? I think it’s supposed to be a burger, possibly ‘mac’ refers to the fast food burger chain, but I think this rhyme is just forced. The dove “raining pee pee from above”, well, that is actually how birds pee, so this page didn’t really fit with the rest of the silly rhymes, unless the author just wanted to use the words “pee pee” for the laughs.

The rest of the rhymes were just the right sort of funny and silly. I liked the sheep sleeping in the melon and the goat gardening on a boat. The illustrations were quite nice too, capturing the text extremely well. The mouse was super cute, but my favourite picture was the dancing lion.

At the end of the Kindle edition there are a number of rhyme riddles for the kids to solve. This was a nice addition to the story, and a great way to get kids practicing their rhyming skills.

Have You Ever Seen? is suitable for preschool and lower primary school children.

 

*I received this book as a digital copy from the author, who asked me for an honest review of this book. I did not receive any other remuneration, and the review is composed entirely of my own opinions.

Dec8

Ann Can’t Sleep by April Peter

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Ann Can’t Sleep by April Peter, picture e-book, 21 pages, published in 2017.

Ann is having trouble getting to sleep. A toy to cuddle will help, but which one is her perfect bed-time companion?

Ann Can’t Sleep is a lovely book, perfect to share with toddlers and preschoolers at bed-time. The rhyming language is soothing to read, with short, easy words forming a fun and engaging story.

The illustrations are bright and bold; perfectly appealing to young children. I really liked all of the pictures, but I especially liked the illustrations where Ann was active and having fun with her toys. Riding the donkey is my favourite. I did notice on the page when Ann picks out the plane to sleep with, the illustration below that shows her sleeping with the doll again, instead of the plane!

This e-book is let down by its typography. The words run together on every page, and at least once, letters actually overlay each other. As an adult, it is reasonably easy to correct such errors whilst reading, but for an early reader, this would be difficult for them to decipher.

Ann Can’t Sleep is suitable for children from birth through to early primary school, and is best shared aloud.

 

*I received this book as a digital copy from the author, who asked me for an honest review of this book. I did not receive any other remuneration, and the review is composed entirely of my own opinions.

Aug1

Spot the Duck by Gerald Hawksley

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spottheduckcoverSpot the Duck by Gerald Hawksley, picture e-book, published in 2014.

Chuck has lost his duck called Spot. While he searches for Spot, Chuck meets some other people who have lost things. He searches everywhere, but will he ever find his duck?

With its bright, bold, yet simple illustrations throughout the book, Spot the Duck, will appeal to even the youngest children. I like when Chuck searches near and far.

The story uses simple language and rhymes, making it perfect for reading aloud. It is also quite funny, and had my toddler giggling away.

Most suitable for toddlers and preschoolers through to lower primary school children, Spot the Duck is perfect for sharing a laugh with your little people.

Jul23

The Wandering Troll by Russ Hughes and KayeC Jones

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wanderingtrollcoverThe Wandering Troll by Russ Hughes and KayeC Jones, picture e-book, 35 pages, published in 2016.

A troll leaves his under-bridge home because it has become too noisy. He searches for a new home in the forest, snow and desert. Will he ever find a peaceful place to stop for good?

This rhyming tale of a troll trying to find a spot to settle down is a lovely book for sharing with younger children. The inclusion of onomatopoeic ‘noise’ words, such as swoosh, thwack and click were fun additions to the reading aloud experience. His journey was repetitive, allowing for children to easily predict what might happen next.

The story was enjoyable, and we did giggle at the plight of the poor troll. He seemed so very happy in the snow (that’s probably my favourite page), but he needed somewhere much quieter. It was good for him to find a cosy home, and the ending made me feel happy.

While I liked the meandering text placement, it does make it slightly harder for newer readers to follow. The letters and words varied in size, spacing, colour, and direction. There was even the occasional misplaced upper case letter. It was all very whimsical, though it did suit the style of the illustrations and the story well.

The illustrations are gorgeous in The Wandering Troll. It appears as if each part of the picture is sewn to the page like appliqué pieces. Even the text is done in this style, with stitching through the centre of each letter. The troll is quite simple, yet his button eyes and stitched mouth are surprisingly expressive throughout the book. I like his angry face when he hears too much noise.

The Wandering Troll is suitable for toddlers, preschoolers, and lower primary school students.

 

*I received this book in digital form from the author, who asked me for an honest review of this book. I did not receive any other remuneration, and the review is composed entirely of my own opinions.

Oct11

Ten Terrible Dinosaurs by Paul Stickland

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IMG_5266Ten Terrible Dinosaurs by Paul Stickland, paperback picture book, first published by Ragged Bear Publishing Ltd. in 1997, this edition published by Picture Corgi in 2014.

This is a cute count-down book perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. It uses simple language and large text, making it easy for young children to follow the words. The illustrations are bright and colourful. The story is funny, it rhymes, and most importantly there are dinosaurs!

My toddlers have been asking me to read Ten Terrible Dinosaurs a lot lately. They like to make roaring sounds throughout as they pretend to be the dinosaurs in the story. The repetition of the numbers has been helping them to learn the numbers, and we like to count the dinosaurs together. Knowing that the number will rhyme with the previous line has encouraged them to try to predict the next number. They also laugh every time we get to the dinosaur whose silly trick goes wrong, and when one of the dinosaurs gets stuck in a tree!