Meg and Mog: Meg Goes to Bed by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski
| Meg and Mog: Meg Goes to Bed by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Luci Davin
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| Summary: A lovely addition to a long running series, with quirky illustrations by Jan Pienkowski for children and their adults to enjoy | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: October 2010 |
| Publisher: Puffin | |
| ISBN: 978-0141331232 | |
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Meg is a witch who lives with her cat, Mog, and Owl. This is the latest in a lovely series of picture books by Helen Nicoll and illustrator Jan Pienkowski. In other books in the series they travel around the world and beyond, but Meg Goes to Bed describes an evening/night at home.
Meg isn’t the most competent witch and her spells normally go a little bit wrong, landing her, Mog and Owl in sticky situations which they have to find a way out of. Tonight, a spell to make spaghetti for tea produces a pan full of worms who wind their way round the trio before wriggling out of the door, leaving nothing to do but go to bed hungry.
Like other books in the series, this is a picture book which offers pleasures to readers and listeners of various ages. The words are mostly very short and simple, and the occasional longer word is often one which children will have come across, such as tomatoes and spaghetti. The story is quite short, which allows a bit of time for talking about Jan Pienkowski’s pictures which are my 3 year old’s favourite aspect of the book (and mine too). They are witty, and there are extra things for curious children to look for, such as a couple of worms still wriggling out of the door and window while the trio wonder where supper has gone. For children just beginning to read themselves, the simple words should make the book accessible. The words and pictures are integrated – So they went up to bed is printed one word at a time on each step of the staircase.
The quirky charm of the pictures makes them attractive for adults who will probably have to read them again and again. When we read this one, our son always wants another Meg and Mog story or three from those in our collection.
This book is highly recommended, and thank you very much to Puffin for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
Another picture book about a witch is Room On The Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Older children may enjoy Jill Murphy’s Worst Witch series, for reading aloud or to themselves – The Worst Witch to the Rescue is reviewed here.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Meg and Mog: Meg Goes to Bed by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski 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 Meg and Mog: Meg Goes to Bed by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski at Amazon.com.
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