Once you start it, you won't be able to switch it off!
Advantages:
funny, great illustrations, simple language
Disadvantages:
none !
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ A Piece of Cake ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
This is another children’s book by Jill Murphy which I love because it demonstrates a rather true portrayal of family life using the Large family (a family of elephants). The book was first published in 1989 by Walker Books London. The book is a hardback book, which cost £6.99 although it is possible to find varying prices on the Internet.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The story ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
One of the things I love most about this book is the story line because it is so funny. The story is about a family of elephants; Mrs Large, Mr Large, Lester and Luke (the sons), Laura (the daughter) and the baby. The story begins with Mrs Large deciding that she is too fat, her children disagree apart from the baby who says “Mummy’s got wobbly bits” (I love that sentence although when I was little my mum wasn’t impressed when I repeated it and directed it at her!!) and so she puts the whole family on a healthy living diet, the family are forced to eat healthy food and instead of watching television they have to go for a jog around the park. After a few days of rigorous exercise and bland healthy food, Mr Large points out that they aren’t getting any thinner and Luke suggests that perhaps elephants are meant to be fat! However Mrs Large is determined not to give up and all the baby has to say is “wibbly-wobbly, wibbly-wobbly”!! One morning a parcel arrived from granny – a cake! Mrs Large puts the cake away but all of the family want to eat some of the delicious looking cake.
Now comes the spoiler but I am assuming that there are no 2 year old reading this review so here we go!
After laying in bed thinking about the cake, Mrs Large sneaks down to the kitchen to have a piece but there is only one piece of cake left! The rest of the family were hiding under the kitchen table and had already eaten the rest of the cake. In the end Mrs Large agrees that perhaps elephants are meant to be fat after all and enjoys eating the last slice of cake. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The Illustrations ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The pictures in this book were done by Jill Murphy herself and are brilliant. They are not too complex but really capture the mood and characters of the elephants. The illustrations are frequent though out and every child I have read this book with has loved looking at the pictures and laughed at many of them. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Evaluation ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Children love this book because it has a funny storyline and amusing pictures. The language is simple and so the children are able to understand it easily and eventually begin to use it as a reading book. The story line of the book is quite different from other children’s books and is not at all boring which makes it great for either a bedtime story or as a group reading activity. Using elephants as the characters particularly appeals to children as to a child, the whole idea of an elephant trying to be thin is highly amusing and seeing pictures of them trying to do it is even more funny! On a more serious note, one of the things i admire about this book is that it covers the issue of dieting without programming childrens minds into it. The story revolves around Mrs Large trying to be thin but in the end it is decided that its just a silly idea as elephants arent meant to be thin. Im glad it takes this approach as it is really worrying when children are brainwashed into the idea that loosing weight is such an important thing. I love the way that Jill Murphy writes her children’s books and the illustrations never fail to please so this is definitely another book of hers which I would recommend for young children.
Thanks for reading and sorry for the sudden flow of childrens book reviews but I am enjoying reading though them all!!!!
Em x
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