It’s fair to say we’re a bookish family. At least, I am bookish and my daughter is bookish, but my husband prefers films and computer games, only picking up reading material on a beach when there’s “nothing else to do”. Anyway, this post isn’t about encouraging a 32 year old man to read, it’s about toddlers.

So.

We were sent a bundle of books to review by Maverick Books recently. It’s one of those parcels that you just don’t open right before bedtime, because the excitement is sure to mean a hyper two year old who will not sleep before 8pm. Did I mention that she LOVES books?

As much as she loves books, she loves the books she knows and isn’t much interested in the ones she doesn’t. It tends to take a week or two of a book being on her shelf before my daughter will deign to pick it up. And she’s VERY particular about her bedtime reading. This is the reason that tonight has been the first evening where we’ve actually sat down and read the books sent to us.

Tonight’s bedtime was accompanied by The Jelly That Wouldn’t Wobble, written by Angela Mitchell and The Fearsome Beasite, written by Giles Paley-Phillips.

Both books grabbed Frog’s attention for the entire duration, to the extent that she asked for them again when we’d finished. She’s the master of delaying tactics at bedtime.

The Jelly That Wouldn’t Wobble is a fun book about (you can guess) a jelly that wouldn’t wobble. The elderly and diva-like princess is the star of the book, shouting at the overworked chef to sort the problem before she banishes his creation to a punishment of melting.

Frog loved the bright, colourful pictures in the book and laughed along with the “Wibble, wobble” type of language. Being a fan of jelly, she just couldn’t understand why it wouldn’t wobble.

Secretly, I was a bit disappointed the stubborn jelly was duped into wobbling and being eaten at the end, as I rather liked his fighting spirit. Frog disagreed though, rubbing her belly with a “Yum, yum” at the end.

The Fearsome Beastie came next. This is a book not for the faint-hearted, so I wouldn’t recommend it for kids with a more sensitive disposition. About a (again, you can guess) “fearsome beastie” that lives in a cave and comes out at night hunting for children, it has shades of the Three Little Pigs about it. After scoffing a few gullible children, he meets his end when a no-nonsense granny comes to the rescue with an axe, freeing the kids from his tummy and turning him into stew.

Now, my daughter’s only two years old and has been known to be a bit of a scaredy cat at times. She cowers at all manner of things, but shouts with glee in equal measure at others. In short, her scaredy quirks are unpredictable. What I think she won’t like, she often loves with a passion.

This book is one of them.

As I read the words to her and showed her the dark picture of the menacing beastie, her eyes lit up. I think she quite liked him actually. She thought the idea of gran coming to the rescue absolutely hilarious and asked me to explain why HER “Mar Mar” doesn’t make beastie stew.

I guess it goes to show that with books and encouraging young kids to read, often anything goes. Afterall, what does mum know anyway?

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We were sent these books for the purpose of this review. Please see my disclosure page for more information.

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