Hungry Roscoe by David J. Plant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Roscoe is a hungry raccoon and he's fed up with eating rotten junk out of the bins. What he wouldn't give for a lovely bit of fish or some fresh, juicy fruit and where better to find food than at the zoo! An excellent idea. Except for the grumpy zookeeper who's intent on keeping Roscoe OUT. But Roscoe's determined to eat, and sure enough he's come up with a plan to disguise himself as a zoo animal . . . What could possibly go wrong? Join in the mayhem in this hilarious picture book from new talent David J Plant.
When this arrived for me to share with my class, I thought it would be a book that they would like. I wasn't wrong.
Roscoe is a raccoon, who is very hungry, he spends most of his time searching for food around the town and is very fed up that he is never getting anything to eat except for the odd few scraps. He is looking thin and is so unhappy, one day he has a great idea - the animals in the zoo get fed all the time, so all Roscoe needs to do is get the zoo keeper to believe he is one of the animals at feeding time.
This is a very funny story about the identities Roscoe takes on throughout the book. The children loved it, they also found the ending very funny. - I won't mention exactly what happens as to not spoil it for you. This does come with a slight message - perseverance.
The book is illustrated beautifully, the text is easy to read - something that slightly older readers could enjoy on their own.
The cover is very sturdy, my only negative and it is mine rather than the children's is that I thought the quality of the paper was not a good as it could have been. Having high quality paper in books in a school for me is key, the books get read a lot and to make sure they last it is important the paper is of good quality so if I would change something it would only be that.
I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.
One Day On Our Blue Planet . . . in the Savannah by Ella Bailey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
From breakfast to dinner, dusk to dawn, children will love spending the day with this curious lion cub.
A new series of children's books focused on the way our young animal friends spend a day begins with a curious lion cub. Minding his mother and playing with his father, this little lion can't help chasing trouble and fun as he explores the little corner of that big blue planet he shares with us. Fans of animals, nature, and ecology will be thrilled by the adventures of our playful lion cub as they learn all about young animals and their homes. Ella Bailey's breathtaking illustrations present biologically and factually accurate depictions of our animal friends, and children will be able to see a bit of themselves in these young animals. All readers will be delighted to learn about the natural world and its inhabitants with this book.
When I took this into school to read to my class they were very excited. I was interested in the book too, as I am always on the lookout for books that I can use in the classroom that are educational.
The first thing that I loved as well as the children was the inside cover. There are beautiful illustrations of all the day time animals that live in the Savannah. This was a great discussion point to use in the classroom with them. Similarly the back cover is similar with all the night time animals. We began to discuss nocturnal and what this means. We also noticed the different types of animals in the Savannah at different times.
This story takes us on a journey of a cub through the first 24 hours of his life. There is good language in the story which children are keen in order to understand.
This is a really great story for teaching about Africa or different types of animals. It would be nice to see this as a series of other types of animals.
I asked the children if they would recommend this book to others, they all said that they would. The said it would be good to read to younger siblings, so they would be able to learn more about lions. They also said it was they type of book that they would like to read again.
I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.
