Boris Gets Spots by Carrie Weston and Tim Warnes

Boris Gets Spots by Carrie Weston and Tim Warnes
Buy Boris Gets Spots by Carrie Weston and Tim Warnes at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Zoe Page
Summary: Boris has a spot of bother in this latest installment that would make a wonderful cheer up gift for any unwell child, with or without pox
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: August 2013
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 978-0192734167
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The pupils in Miss Cluck’s class have an awful lot of fun at school. In fact, if our schools were like theirs, you’d want to go every single day and never make a fuss. The latest news is that Mr Gander from the farm is coming to visit! Everyone’s excited – everyone, that is, except Boris who asks if he can sit quietly inside instead. Miss Cluck is a lovely teacher so of course she says yes but in the flurry of excitement, no one really stops to ask why the big, lively bear wants to miss out on the fun.

Outside the animals all go, and what fun they have learning about what the farm produces – the eggs and the wool and the honey. It’s only later on that they realise Boris hasn’t come out to join them so they go looking and, would you look at that, Boris is covered in spots! The poor thing has chicken pox, but luckily Miss Cluck knows what to do. As it becomes an epidemic, though, Miss Cluck is quickly left with an empty classroom, and that’s so boring, she has to hope her students get better soon so they can come back to school.

This is not Boris’ first outing, and I’m sure fans will be delighted by this latest tale. It’s quite a detailed book with lots of things going on, both in the text and in the pictures, and there’s definitely enough to make it a proper bedtime story, not one of those silly short ones over before they even start.

The story is a great topic children will soon be familiar with if not already – I’ve known four kids with the pox in the last few weeks, from 8 months to 5 years – and this one portrays it well, albeit with a bit of creative license: no one is told not to scratch for fear of scarring, for example, and theirs a 24 hour version of the virus with little incubation period from the looks of things.

The attention to detail is fantastic and some of the pages have extra ‘activities’ factored in thanks to the walls of the classroom. We have a labelled cow to discuss, showing all the things that come from it (butter, leather, cheese, milk…but not meat in case that’s a bit too gory) and later on there’s a tree with apples on for children to practice their counting, and their colours, on. At one point you even get a fully blown recipe thrown in which is a bit counter-intuitive for a children’s book (it could have been added at the end, not included in the narrative) but seems to work, more or less.

I can see why these books are a hit. The characters are great, friendly and a little bit exotic but still familiar. The illustrations are cheerful and the structure of the text builds the story well. Just be prepared to bake cookies as soon as you finish reading!

Thanks go to the publishers for sending us Boris’s latest adventure to review.

Carrie Weston and Tim Warnes have lots of other Boris books to browse while for another get well soon gift, Get Well Friends by Kes Gray and Mary McQuillan is a lovely option.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Boris Gets Spots by Carrie Weston and Tim Warnes 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 Boris Gets Spots by Carrie Weston and Tim Warnes at Amazon.com.

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