Oisin the Brave: Moon Adventure by Derek Mulveen and Michelle Melville
| Oisin the Brave: Moon Adventure by Derek Mulveen and Michelle Melville | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A nicely pitched adventure story with the added bonus of the introduction to a few words in Irish. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: May 2012 |
| Publisher: Eire's Kids | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0957230002 | |
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After a long day of play Oisin and his friend Orane the Dragon were resting beside the old oak tree and watching the sun go down. They wondered which of the stars would be first to come out to play and it wasn't long before they saw the Big Dipper, the Milky Way and the North Star - that's the one that used to guide explorers home. But then Oisin spotted something very unusual: there was a flashing light coming from the surface of the moon. Before long the two friends had powered up their space ship and they were on their way to the moon.
Of course it's only to be expected that when you go to the moon you're going to meet some different people. The three moononians they met when they landed were very friendly and more than willing to help them to look for the strange flashing light. They did find it after quite a bit of searching - and it' as well that Oisin was not only brave but sharp-eyed! I'm not going to tell you what it was that he found - that'll be a nice surprise when you read the book - but there's an extra which I really wasn't expecting, in addition to a good story in a picture book.
There's a very gentle introduction to Irish. You'll notice it first in the names of the moononians, as the names on their bodies - Aon, Dó and Tri - correspond to the number of eyes which they each have. They then introduce us to their friends who have even more eyes and when you get to the last few pages of the story you'll find an absolute feast of words in Irish and with the English translation. It's an idea which left me very corraithe! If I've one minor quibble it's that I'd have loved some guidance on pronunciation.
Don't feel that you have to want to learn Irish - or that your child should learn Irish - before you pick up the book. You could read the story and enjoy the adventure or look at the pictures and enjoy the fun of it all. But isn't it a lovely bonus, a lovely way of helping children to understand that there's more than one way of saying things? I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
For more fun with dragons we can recommend Dragonmazia by Rolf Heimann.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Oisin the Brave: Moon Adventure by Derek Mulveen and Michelle Melville 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 Oisin the Brave: Moon Adventure by Derek Mulveen and Michelle Melville at Amazon.com.
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