It Wasn't Me (The Hueys) by Oliver Jeffers
| It Wasn't Me (The Hueys) by Oliver Jeffers | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Margaret Young
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| Summary: A lovely, unique book that is so wonderfully entertaining because most children will recognise something of themselves in the story. This book is sure to result in shrieks of laughter, but is does impart a gentle moral as well. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: April 2013 |
| Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0007420674 | |
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The title of this book will be familiar to every small child. I think it may be one of the first sentences many learn. The scenario will also be very familiar. The story is about a family, who usually get along very well. But just once in while - they don't. This just happens to be one of those times when they are not getting along at all, and Gillespie walks into a huge argument. He asks why they are fighting, but as mad as everyone is, no one can quite remember. A few start pointing fingers as to who started the fight, but each character insists he was not the one who started the row. They never do remember what caused the quarrel but eventually wander off for something a bit more exciting.
Oliver Jeffers has a unique style of illustration. I have read some criticism of the fact that his people have stick legs without any feet, and some may feel these are crudely drawn. I don't think this is the case. Oliver Jeffers is an artist as well as an author. He not only illustrates his own books, he sells painting as well and some of these are really exceptional. He brings this talent to his books, giving them a very individual quality. Personally, I really like this. There is something special about his illustrations which I can not put quite into words. He has mastered the art of minimalism, but there is something more to it than that. His characters are very simple, in fact my sons calls the Hueys egg people, but they are charming and heartwarming at the same time. This book uses empty space, usually white as the background for all of the illustrations, with simple characters, and in some cases speech bubbles, using texts, others using crayon drawings of pictures like storm clouds and scribble marks as a substitute for words.
In addition to a minimalistic style of illustration, Jeffers carries this style over to his writing as well. There is no unnecessary text in this book. There is never more than a single sentence in the main text of the page. This text is always in a very large font on a white background . It uses primarily very easy to read words, with the exception of the name Gillespie, making this book ideal for children who are learning to read to follow the text as a parent reads, and later to read themselves. The speech bubbles may be a bit harder to read as the font is more stylised, but children will quickly memorise many of these . There is a lot of repetition in these and the majority of the words are very common, easy to read words such as he did and of course It wasn't me.
We really enjoyed this book. It is short, but very funny, especially because most children have had huge arguments, and forgotten what made them angry in the beginning. This is an especially useful book to bring out when siblings have been quarrelling for a while, or a child has fallen out with a friend. It puts everything in perspective. The story does have a moral, but this is given as humorous nudge and a wink rather than a long winded sermon. It also gives children the message, very subtly, that even if families or friends get angry and shout, the anger blows over like a storm cloud and the love or friendship remains. It's OK to be angry sometimes, but it is also good to let go of the anger and move on, to have fun again. But despite plenty of positive messages, the main impact of this book is quite simply having a laugh. It is very much a laugh out loud story, and jokes are always so much more funny when they convey and underlying truth.
Our other books by Oliver Jeffers are perfect bedtime stories with a gentle calming tone and soft colours. This is different. This book is much more fun read in loud voices with indignant shouts. My son insists the scribbled out sections in the speech bubbles are bad words, which he finds especially amusing, but children can interject their own arguments into these parts, adding another dimension to the book. My oldest did find this enjoyable as well at age 8, but at this age he will only read the story once and be finished with it. I do think it would suit as a story for a teacher to read to a class of children class up to age 8, and provide a very good opportunity to discuss feelings and friendships as well. But for parents considering purchase, I would recommend this book from about 18 months - age 6.
If this book appeals then we can recommend two other books by Oliver Jeffers: The Way Back Home and Lost and Found.
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You can read more book reviews or buy It Wasn't Me (The Hueys) by Oliver Jeffers at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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