Fiddlesticks! by Sean Taylor and Sally Anne Garland
| Fiddlesticks! by Sean Taylor and Sally Anne Garland | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Rachael Spencer
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| Summary: Mouse has built himself a perfect house. Well, it's almost perfect, except for one crooked window. As his friends help him to put things right, they make things worse. And worse. And worse! What will become of Mouse's house? This is a nice book for very young listeners. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: May 2014 |
| Publisher: Simon and Schuster | |
| ISBN: 9780857076151 | |
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This is the story of a Mouse with very helpful friends, maybe even a little too helpful! Each time they fix something in his new, almost perfect house, they break something else. Things escalate until there is almost nothing left of the house at all and poor Mouse is despairing. What will he do to make things better and, more to the point, where will he live?! His friends soon come to the rescue and manage to make amends.
This has lots of lovely themes throughout it, with friendship amongst the various different woodland animals at the centre of it. I really liked the idea of this story, and the book design is nice too, especially the fold out page towards the end, which is a nice surprise in a fairly standard layout book.
I was a little disappointed with the text, as I felt it had the promise of being a funny story which would entertain both really young and older pre-schoolers alike, but the style in which it is written aims it very squarely at a much younger audience. However, that being said, it is quite nice to find a story with such a clear target audience, and it shows in each aspect of the book. The use of animal characters makes it instantly accessible to young children, and I like the repetition of the word 'Fiddlesticks!' as it makes a nice hook to keep the attention of the young audience it is aimed at. Equally it pitches its language very simply with straightforward sentences which will be easy enough for readers to understand.
The illustrations are bold and the story progresses very well to a satisfying, and thankfully happy ending which will keep small children entertained throughout. This is overall a very sweet book for a bedtime read which I'm sure will be asked for over and over again by its young audience.
If you like this author, you can also try Robot Rumpus by Sean Taylor and Ross Collins or if it's another tale about woodland animal friends you're looking for, why not take a look at Tappity-Tap! What Was That? by Claire Freedman and Russell Julian?
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You can read more book reviews or buy Fiddlesticks! by Sean Taylor and Sally Anne Garland 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 Fiddlesticks! by Sean Taylor and Sally Anne Garland at Amazon.com.
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