Tuesday 8 October 2013

Picture Book Review – I'm Not Ready! – Jonathan Allen (Author & Illustrator)

Picture Book Review – I'm Not Ready! – Jonathan Allen (Author & Illustrator)

Recommended for - Toddlers, Younger Readers

 

In the same vein as I’m Not Cute! comes another offering from Jonathan Allen. This time Baby Owl isn’t ready for nursery – why is his mum forcing him to go when he has so much to do?! But once he’s finally arrived, will he even want to go home?

This story is particularly relevant to my wife and I at the moment, as we've just had to send our son to nursery – he’s fine going, but he hates us leaving him and – sorry, you’re here for a book review, not an emotional blog on the despair at leaving your child with strangers. Anyway, I love this sort of story, because it gives you a chance to talk to your child about issues such as them being afraid of going to nursery in a fun way, and show that really they’ll have fun when they go if they give it a chance. It’s easier with slightly older kids of course, but I'm sure it helps from any age.

Just like I'm Not Cute!, Baby Owl gets more and more frustrated, and I find the idea of a small angry owl absolutely brilliant. Grumpy animals make me laugh more than any other, and it’s great that on this occasion there’s a genuine reason behind it, that being the fear of going to nursery. The illustrations are recognisable as Jonathan Allen’s style, and the story is a great one to read to children, as you can get louder and louder as Baby Owl gets more and more frustrated – the Baby Owl books always go down well at Storytime in the library.

Always worth checking out one these titles.


9/10

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