It's not hard to find a book that kids love and adults hate. My husband feels that way about "the Bear in the Cave" by Michael Rosen. Hates it with a passion. It all started when he heard the author reading the book and just took against it. No matter how well we tried to camouflage the book behind other far more enticing reads it was still a hot favourite for about four agonising months. Sometimes there's a happy medium where both parties are delighted with the book on offer, where the rhymes fairly sing and the illustrations work and storytime is fun.
And then there are picture books that are not really meant for kids. Babette Cole is an author who comes to mind with her hilarious books about sex, babies, etiquette, flatulence and worms, amongst many other things. My favourite would probably be "Mummy Laid an Egg" where a pair of rather gormless adults try to explain to their kids where they came from with stories about finding them in the cabbage patch. The kids, who are obviously far more switched on, end up saying no, this is how it works and explain the whole thing complete with diagrams. It is very funny, particularly after a glass of wine. As my son is only two I haven't had to give him 'the talk' so I'm not sure how effective it is for that, but in the meantime it is very amusing.
I found Mick Inkpen's very funny book "We are wearing out the naughty step" in a bookshop on Saturday and laughed. Out Loud. Alot. Thank god I didn't snort but I did get some funny looks.
The book is about three kids and one naughty dog who just can't seem to stay out of trouble and each time they do it's straight to the naughty step.
"Today we are on the naughty step because we made Angel (the dog) into a panda."
I started giggling because our big white dog had just been given a paint job of his own. Not Panda eye patches but long green stripes. Just the thing when you are a big white sheepdog.
And so it continues with the kids trying to be good but somehow just not managing it with a hamster getting lost, an elephant given chocolate and a bear's innards becoming outards. When their mum walks in to find them demolishing a chocolate cake she has what we would refer to in our house as a brain explosion and yells,
"I have reached the end of my TETHER!"
and then does something really unexpected and naughty enough to land her on the naughty step, much to her kids' delight.
"We are wearing out the naughty step" is great stress relief for any harried parent with lovely illustrations that complement the text perfectly. I laughed so much when I read it. Then I made my parents read it. Next I'm going to take it to playgroup and make the other parents read it. But I'm not showing my son. I don't want to give him any ideas.
We are wearing out the naughty step by Mick Inkpen
Isbn: 9780340959985
Published by Hodder Children's Books
Mummy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
Isbn:9780099299110
Published by Random House
Mummy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
Isbn:9780099299110
Published by Random House
I used to read the children a book called The Mummy Monster or something similar. It told the tale of a mother of two children who has a very harried day and slowly turns into a monster, growing a big green tale and giant green monster hands etc, until the kids finally pretty much destroy the house and she explodes. I particularly liked it because it wasn't all sweetness and light, it was a tale of sometimes naughty children and a mother who had enough and went all monster-y, then apologised after it all.
ReplyDeleteWe all loved it and in fact still say "the mummy monster is going to come out if you don't clean up that mess NOW!" ... or words to that effect.