Oi Frog

I've been LOUSY about reviewing picture books recently. Well I've been lousy about reviewing anything much- but picture books in particular. In truth we're not consuming them at home in the same quantities we once did. This is a sadness and something I should work harder to rectify perhaps- filling my pull along shopping trolley at the library again more often. A pile of picture books always went down better than the back of the cornflakes box at breakfast for instance.

However there's Bill at breakfast with his nose in a Charlie Higson, Derek Landy or an Anthony Horowitz ("Bill-are you sure you should be reading that- it says '11+ Contains Zombies, Death, Gore and Graphic Violence' on the back?" "Yes. It's SUPER cool") and Eddie reading impenetrable non-fiction about transport systems, Human biology ("These are my testicles- see Mum?" "Yes I do, thanks for that"), wii games and superheroes and the picture books get neglected. Children will keep growing despite one's best efforts to slow them down and family rituals can be replaced or forgotten with terrifying speed.

I do have an occasional excuse to browse and buy though- and that's searching out new, at least semi-decodable but irresistible material for the kids I read with each week through Beanstalk. And so begins the first of a few (I hope) posts about some of the recent books that have hit the mark. Books that they choose repeatedly with a grin. Books that leave us both bouncy at the end of a session.

'Oi Frog' by Kes Gray, illustrated by Jim Field has been one such. It's a book with one central joke running through but it's a good joke and there's a great pay off, so what else do you need?

A frog has grown tired of sitting on a log and seeks a new seat. This is not going to be allowed by a didactic cat (smug on her comfortable mat) who explains the rules of animal seating to him. Rhyme is everything. Of course it is; and as we meet gorillas perched on pillars and gibbons on ribbons we could feel that the frog has a reasonably good deal. 

There may be a final catch though.

There are really joyous combinations of nouns in this book, a pleasure in the silliness of phonetic rhyme that gets close to Seuss-like. The perfect antidote to the dry work of 'sounding out' in a literacy hour constricted classroom. Plus the opportunity to practice one's supercilious cat voice- always a pleasure.

Jim Field's witty illustrations in the most cheering, happy making sunny palette of colours (I do like a proper rich egg yolk YELLOW book) repay joy-filled poring over details: Fleas! On peas!

A book that makes me and one particular Yr 1 reader who often picks it giggle like giggling sticks.

We also like to discuss what the cat would make us sit on. I am all for avoiding hollies, caulis, brollies or follies please. Yes. Pollys' sit on lollies I think. Not ice ones obviously- that would induce piles; I'm thinking a very large traffic light one? Like a sticky red bar stool. 

How about you?

'Oi Frog' written by Kes Gray, illustrated by Jim Field, Published by Hodder, isbn 978-1444910858

Eat your peas

Bill doesn't like peas. Or carrots. Or sweetcorn (he'll wolf down broccoli, spinach and a variety of beans though in case you were thinking I've completely Failed As A Mother)(...'wolf'.. may be overstating the case) It's still a puzzle. I'd go as far as to say he's almost phobic about peas. I had to individually fish them out of a shepherd's pie on a playdate recently whilst he cowered in his seat moaning; 'I can see another one mum. quick! there! under that piece of mashed potato! GET IT. QUICK....'

He shares this attribute with Daisy, the heroine of Kes Gray's wonderful 'Eat your Peas': Daisy and her Mum sit at the dinner table contemplating her plate, empty except for the hated peas.

'"Eat your peas," said Mum. Daisy looked at the little green balls that were ganging up on her plate. "I don't like peas," said Daisy.'

Daisy's Mum begins the well established practice of trying to bribe or 'incentivise' her to eat those peas. She starts small; 'If you eat your peas, you can have some pudding'...but without success. The incentives start to escalate. 'If you eat your peas, you can have some pudding, stay up for an extra half hour and you can skip your bath.'. Daisy's expression and response on each double page spread remains the same: 'I don't like peas.' The escalation escalates. 'If you eat your peas you can have 48 puddings, stay up past midnight, you never have to wash again, I'll buy you two new bikes and a baby elephant.' And escalates further: 'if you eat your peas, I'll buy you a supermarket stacked full of puddings, you never have to go to bed again ever, or school again, you never have to wash, or brush your hair, or clean your shoes, or tidy your bedroom, I'll buy you a bike shop, a zoo, ten chocolate factories, I'll take you to Superland for a week and you can have your very own space rocket with double retro laser blammers.'

This is a book which you shouldn't read aloud whilst anybody is drinking anything because they are guaranteed to start the sort of snorty giggling that makes milk come out of their nose. Nick Sharratt's deceptively simple, flat cartoon style of illustration complement the text perfectly; especially the small diagrammatic pictures accompanying Mum's promises.

Does Daisy eat her peas? Let's just say there's a nice twist, but ultimately everyone gets pudding. Mums' apparently aren't perfect beings either. This is a good reminder about the holes that may be dug in the name of Authoritarian Parenting.

There are lots of other 'Daisy' books, both in picture book form and as longer stories in simple chapter books. 'Daisy and the Trouble with Zoos' is one of the latter, and another favourite here; it's hard to resist a story of baby penguin kidnap. If Bill emulates Daisy in Pea Hatred I started getting ideas of my own from her at London Zoo's great new Penguin Beach Exhibit. Honestly, they swim so close to you, and they're very sweet, and then they'd fit in very well in this house because everyone likes to eat fish....

'Eat Your Peas' written Kes Gray, illus. Nick Sharratt, pub. Red Fox, isbn 978-1-862-30804-6