Don't Drink the Pink by B C R Fegan
| Don't Drink the Pink by B C R Fegan | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Jill Murphy
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| Summary: Lovely story about the friendship between a little girl and her grandfather and the special birthday adventures he creates for her. Children can explore the naming of colours, the delights of rhythm and rhyme, and the pluses and minuses of growing older. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 40 | Date: August 2019 |
| Publisher: TaleBlade Press | |
| ISBN: 978-1925810097 | |
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Madeline is very fond of Grandfather Gilderberry. He's always busy in his workshop, creating crazy potions. and he always has a smile on his face. Madeline's dad thinks he's a bit bonkers and Madeline's mum thinks the same but gives him a pass because he's old. But Madeline? She thinks Grandfather Gilberberry is just great. Particularly on her birthday when he unfailingly arrives with a selection of potions and allows her to choose one as a gift. And he always says the same thing...
"Happy birthday, Madeline,"
He said with a wink.
"Take a potion, take a brew.
Just don't drink the pink."
On her first birthday, Madeline takes the red potion and spends the day breathing fire! On her second, she takes the blue potion, turns into a mermaid and spends the day in a lake! Imagine! And Madeline's colourful, potion-filled birthdays carry on in a wonder of fun, adventure and imagination until her fifteenth birthday, when it's finally time to drink the pink. And, thanks to Grandfather Gilderberry's irrepressible magic, pink turns out to be the saddest-but-happiest potion of them all.
Don't Drink the Pink is a lovely picture book full of the warmth that a true friendship between a grandchild and a grandparent can engender. It rises from the pages as a beloved grandparent magics up wonderful birthdays for a beloved grandchild. You can't help but love it. The rhyming text has a gentle rhythm with lots of humour and adventure. The vocabulary is accessible and at times slightly stretching, in a good way. The illustrations by Lenny Wenn are vivid and energetic and contain lots and lots of detail to talk about. I particularly enjoyed the scene in which Madeline frightens the life out of her father by putting her head through a wall - rest assured that nobody was harmed by the taking of the clear potion!
The one I chose was clear,
and I almost made Dad fall
when I ran home to surprise him
and could walk through any wall.
Besides the story, young readers will learn counting and colours as they go through Don't Drink the Pink. And they will also find out about the pluses and minuses of growing older in a safe and kindly way. Every child deserves a figure in their lives who always has a twinkle in their eye. Madeline's Grandfather Gilderberry is the perfect example and Madeline's birthday adventures were a pleasure to read about. Just Don't Drink the Pink would make a great addition to any child's picture book shelf.
You might also enjoy The Grumpface, also by B C R Fegan, which has some delicious rhyme and a lot of laughter.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Don't Drink the Pink by B C R Fegan at Amazon.com.
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