Upside Down Babies by Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds

Upside Down Babies by Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds
Buy Upside Down Babies by Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Zoe Page
Summary: The world's gone funny and so have the mummies in this mixed up book of odd animal pairings. Can someone fix it all and send them back where they belong?
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: September 2013
Publisher: Andersen
ISBN: 978-1849395335
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Upside Down Babies is not about flipping little ones over and getting them to do headstands before they can walk (though, seriously, the earlier you start the better). No, it’s even more fun than that. The Earth has flipped! The sky is no longer blue – it’s brown like the ground instead. And the ground is brown like the sky used to be. Uh oh! Everything and everyone has gone tumbling, from the animals in the pictures to the text on the page. And while what goes up must come down, it might not come down in the place it should.

Mummy Parrot has a nest that now boasts Piglet...but he won’t fly! Mummy Camel is in the desert and so is Polar Bear, but it’s much too hot for the poor little thing. In fact, all the mummies and babies have got mixed up and the pairings are odd to say the least. It makes a refreshing change from your typical mother and baby animal book, because it has a proper story to it, but by the end it’s still clear to see who belongs with whom. And it's funny not sad because no baby is left without a mummy, there's one for everyone, just not their usual one.

This is a lovely animal book with the cutest of drawings and a nice mix of critters, including the perhaps more unconventional otter and sloth. There’s lots to learn from it, for example where animals live (squirrels in dreys and so on) and how their characteristics compare to those of other animals (poor little Lion Cub is dumped on Mummy Cow and does not take kindly to being offered a herbivore’s diet, for example). It’s an exciting story too, and it has a lovely pre-ending followed by a final, chuckle-inducing proper ending.

Told in rhyme, this was absolutely made to be read aloud and enjoyed together. The pictures are huge, taking up most of the page with only enough space for a line or two of verse, and they are so bright and comical – I love Polar Bear’s stroppy face and the fright in Mummy Owl’s eyes when her ‘new’ baby introduced himself. Every single one of the animals is cute. The tortoise? Cute. The cow? Cute. The Cheetah? Frankly adorable.

I’d like to thank the publishers for sending us this brilliantly funny book. There's not a thing I'd change about it, and it's sure to be a hit at home and in the class room.

Love animals? Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell is a must, while the newly released Animal Noises by Nicola Killen is good for even tiny ones.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Upside Down Babies by Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Upside Down Babies by Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds at Amazon.com.

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