Where Are My Lambs? by Francesca Simon and Emily Bolam

Where Are My Lambs? by Francesca Simon and Emily Bolam
Buy Where Are My Lambs? by Francesca Simon and Emily Bolam at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Summary: A very basic but high quality early reader which provides a good stepping stone on the journey from picture book to reading book.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 64	Date: March 2011
Publisher: Orion Children's Books
ISBN: 978-1444001969
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When you're just coming to terms with this thing called reading there's a big jump to be made. Gone are those nice big picture books with not too many words and in their place is something much smaller (and not nearly so easy to handle – you have to do it yourself) with a lot more words and probably just a few black and white pictures to break the page up and if you're lucky to give you a clue as to what those pesky words mean. There's a stepping stone along the way now and it might just help children who find that big leap a little daunting.

With only 64 pages the book's not quite so big as the usual early reader and the paper feels nice and substantial, not like the paper in most paperback books which feels as though it would tear, oh-so-easily. The pictures are in colour too and to begin with the format isn't greatly different from the picture books they know so well. All the animals on the farm are introduced with just a few words about how they sound. Then Mother Sheep loses her lambs, Tilly and Tara. The lambs are just being naughty, of course and Mother Lamb soon finds a way of bringing them home, but not before she's been round the farm looking for them.

At the end of the book there are some questions about what's been read. It's all about understanding the story, you see and not just learning what the words look like. The questions are simple and, of course, you can always go back and look for the answer. It doesn't take long for the new reader to feel the pride of having got a book under their belt. The vocabulary is just slightly challenging with nothing which will prove too difficult.

Here at Bookbag we've seen two books by Francesca Simon and Emily Bolam in this series and either would make an excellent starting point for a new reader. As well as Where Are My Lambs we read Runaway Duckling. You might be tempted to buy both books, but the first few pages in both books are very similar if not completely identical, although the stories are different. You might think the cover price of £4.99 is high in the circumstances, but I think the quality makes the expenditure worthwhile.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy of both books to the Bookbag.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Where Are My Lambs? by Francesca Simon and Emily Bolam at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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