View source for Lucky Wish Mouse: Starting School by Clara Vulliamy

{{infobox2
|title=Lucky Wish Mouse: Starting School
|author=Clara Vulliamy
|reviewer=Anne Thompson
|genre=For Sharing
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=9781408314692
|pages=32
|publisher=Orchard Books
|date=August 2012
|aznuk=140831469X
|aznus=140831469X
|cover=140831469X
|website=http://claras.me/
|summary=A charming picture book about starting school that will reassure worried little ones. This is a gentle story with detailed and appealing illustrations.
}}
Lucky Wish Mouse, a very special mouse with wings, looks after the Ten Tinies in their teapot home on Sugar Lump Lane. There is great excitement in their house for today there is to be a big adventure. The ten tinies are starting school! However, not all the tinies are looking forward to the big day. The tiny twins are very worried as they think they may get lost in a big school.  Lucky Wish Mouse offers some gentle encouragement and so the twins join the rest of the family on their journey to school. This story follows them through their first school day as they learn that school can more fun than they realised.

This book should gently reassure young children, and perhaps their parents too, who may be a little worried about starting ''big'' school. The story put a smile on some worried little faces amongst the nursery children that I read it to. The plot is simple but told gently and with kind humour. There is much to look at in the illustrations and after finishing the story children will probably want to go back and examine the pictures in more detail. The double-page spread, in particular, is wonderful for showing just how a reception or nursery class looks in most schools today. All sorts of activities are portrayed from the water play to the paintings hanging on the line to dry, from a small puppet theatre to the book corner. This will provide parents with the opportunity to chat about the things their child will do throughout the day and should be helpful. The details in the illustrations throughout are lovely and I particularly liked the different behaviour of the little mice in the classroom as there are some small characters that are easy to identify. The weary little mouse slumped against his neighbour as he listens to the story is very cute. 

The book also provides opportunities to practise counting as the ten tinies get ready for school with their ten tiny pencil cases, ten school bags etc. Clara Vulliamy also cleverly uses everyday objects in this tiny world, for example, the school is a pencil tin and the classroom clock is a wristwatch. Children may like to see which objects they can identify after they have listened to the story.
 
The illustrations and the characters may possibly appeal to girls more than boys but this charming book will comfort those who are a little nervous and reassure many children as they start school. However, it is a lovely book to share with young children at any time too. 

My thanks to the publishers for providing the Bookbag with a copy of this book. We also have a review of [[I Heart Holidays by Clara Vulliamy]].

Clara Vulliamy has written another story about starting school for young children that you may wish to try, [[The Bear With Sticky Paws Goes To School by Clara Vulliamy]] For a first day at school with a difference I would suggest [[The Witch's Children Go to School by Ursula Jones and Russell Ayto]].  You might also enjoy [[A Big Day for Migs by Jo Hodgkinson]].

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