Children are Naughty by Vincent Cuvellier and Aurelie Guillerey
| Children are Naughty by Vincent Cuvellier and Aurelie Guillerey | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Ng
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| Summary: Poking fun at the stresses and strains of living with naughty children - loved the stylish artwork and the story made us laugh! | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 28 | Date: May 2014 |
| Publisher: Flying Eye Books | |
| ISBN: 9781909263260 | |
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Children are naughty. You don't have to tell me that. I have two monsters, one of whom I found this very morning standing on top of the toilet and putting nappy cream all over himself (fully clothed, of course!) I only left the bathroom for a moment! Anyway, this story tells you all about the naughty antics that children can get up to, with everything from biting to throwing food on the floor! Prepare yourself, things could get messy...!
I have to say, first of all, that I love the illustrations in this story. The style of the artwork is wonderful - quite retro, with very simply-drawn characters who somehow manage to embody an enormous range of emotions and naughtiness. The lively colours make this a fun read, and I personally like just looking at all the pictures, even without the story. But then I like to read the words too because it's an escalating tale of the naughtiness that children can get up to, full of noisy, shouting children, those who won't share, those who bite, those who play the piano with their bottoms! Dear me, it's probably the sort of book you should give to expectant parents, just to prepare them for the horrors that are yet to come! Anyway, there we have it, naughtiness piled upon naughtiness. But what about parents? Parents are nice, aren't they? And when parents were children they were nice too, weren't they? They never did anything terrible, oh no, not at all!
The end of the story is lovely, as we're told that children are naughty all the time, except for when they're asleep. When they're asleep, they're lovely! Yet the illustration accompanying this thought shows an angelic little one happily snoozing away, and in his dream we can see that he's dreaming of being a pirate and chopping up baddies, and blood and guts and gore...! Although it edges towards being more of a picture book for parents to enjoy than children, it works across the ages. The parents enjoy it because it's so very, horrifyingly true! The children enjoy it because it's so ridiculous to hear more and more naughty tales that couldn't possibly be true!
I expect there will be some who will turn away from this book in horror. I met a mummy once who declared 'oh, we don't use the word naughty in our house' just as I watched her toddler son running away behind her back, out of the church hall into the car park! If you have no such qualms about naughtiness then dash out to read this story, and hope and pray that it doesn't give your little darlings any terrible ideas!
For more naughtiness try I Didn't Do It! (Little Princess) by Tony Ross and We Are Wearing Out The Naughty Step by Mick Inkpen
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