Goodnight Tiger by Timothy Knapman and Laura Hughes
| Goodnight Tiger by Timothy Knapman and Laura Hughes | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A delightful story of how Emily settles the animals in her wallpaper down for the night - so that she can get some sleep. A lovely bedtime story. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: April 2016 |
| Publisher: Little Tiger | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1848691865 | |
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It was the middle of the night, but Emily could not sleep for the noise. There was bellowing and stomping and growling and trumpeting. Brave girl that she was, she got out of bed and looked out of the window, thinking that the animals had escaped from the zoo, but the street was empty. Then she checked all the usual hiding places as well as her toy box - and suddenly realised that the noises were coming from the animals in her wallpaper. Emily's not just brave - she's resourceful too and she set about settling the jungle down for the night. And one solution turns out to work just perfectly.
It's a lovely story. The flight of fancy of the animals in the wallpaper not being able to sleep works perfectly, even on a jaded adult. It just seems so natural and so obvious that this is the problem. We move so easily through all those things which children do before they go to bed.
Have you had your bath yet? asked Emily.
No, said the tiger.
Well no wonder you can't sleep said Emily.
And all the animals go off to the waterhole (plumbing in the jungle is a little lacking, you see) and they have their baths, complete with plastic ducks, sponges, bath caps, some rather nice shampoo and a lot of fun, although the crocodiles might not have agreed with that last bit. When the bath doesn't settle them down, we move on to a mug of hot chocolate, only there wasn't any hot chocolate in the jungle and tiger had to improvise. Mud might look OK, but I'm afraid that it doesn't taste very good! There is a lovely solution which does get all the animals off to sleep: I'm not going to tell you, but every young child will know what it is.
If it's a lovely story then the illustrations really add to it. Laura Hughes has captured the animals perfectly. There's a picture of Tiger when he's had his bath. He's dripping wet and he's still not sleepy. Then there's gorilla mixing up the 'hot chocolate' - complete with chef's hat. When Emily gives the animals a soft toy to cuddle, just look at the expression on the bear's face. Every time I read through this book I find something else to smile at. It winds down gently until all the animals are fast asleep...
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
We've recently been entranced by another tiger: Tiger in a Tutu by Fabi Santiago.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Goodnight Tiger by Timothy Knapman and Laura Hughes 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 Goodnight Tiger by Timothy Knapman and Laura Hughes at Amazon.com.
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