Beetle in the Bathroom - Brian Moses

...skiing down the bath, a beetle singing in the shower, a centipede giving itself a manicure, a spider bungee jumping from the sink and ants using the sink as a skating rink etc.....

All the while the narrator is waiting to use the loo so shouts ever so loudly at the minibeasts if he / she could come in for just one minute............PLEASE?

And so ends the story, leaving it up to the reader to decide whether the human ...
...Illustrations ~

The illustrations in this book are fantastic and in my opinion make the book so popular amongst children. They are very amusing with the centipede giving itself a pedicure and the spider bungee jumping from the sink!

They are very detailed whilst at the same time being very bold and eye-catching.

~ Style and Format ~

This book is suitable from 2 years upwards. It is full ... more

This is a brilliant humorous tale of what really happens in the bathroom at night when all of the creepy-crawlies come out to play!

~ The story ~

It begins with a 'human' peeping in to the darkened bathroom and all he/ she could see were lots and lots of yellow eyes peering back at him / her.

'When I peeped around the bathroom door. I couldn't believe the things I saw.....'

And so begins a humorous account of what the minibeasts in the bathroom are doing:
' A caterpillar was washing his hair with my shampoo - I don't think that's fair.'

'An earwig was using Dad's aftershave. A woodlouse saw me and started to wave.'

It also includes a ladybird skiing down the bath, a beetle singing in the shower, a centipede giving itself a manicure, a spider bungee jumping from the sink and ants using the sink as a skating rink etc.....

All the while the narrator is waiting to use the loo so shouts ever so loudly at the minibeasts if he / she could come in for just one minute............PLEASE?

And so ends the story, leaving it up to the reader to decide whether the human was granted his / her request.

~ Illustrations ~

The illustrations in this book are fantastic and in my opinion make the book so popular amongst children. They are very amusing with the centipede giving itself a pedicure and the spider bungee jumping from the sink!

They are very detailed whilst at the same time being very bold and eye-catching.

~ Style and Format ~

This book is suitable from 2 years upwards. It is full of rhyme and is very easy for children to commit the text to memory and join in after the first or second reading.

There is great use of space in this book with the words and the illustrations working together in perfect unison.

The text is not set out in a specific place on each page and is certainly more interesting for children to look at as it sweeps and glides across the pages.

~ About the author, Brian Moses ~

Brian Moses writes and edits poetry and picture books for children as well as teacher resource books. His own poetry is featured extensively in anthologies and in BBC Radio programmes for schools.

He also runs writing workshops and has performed his own poetry in thousands of schools across the UK and Europe.

He has written a range of books which come under the PSE area of the curriculum, some of which are listed below:

• I feel angry
• Values: It wasn't me! Learning about honesty
• I feel sad
• Values: I don't care! Learning about respect
• I feel frightened
• It's not fair

The number of books that he has edited are too many to list but here are some of his own books:

• Blood and Roses: Poems about British history
• Teacher's Revenge
• An encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Gods and Heroes
• So you want to write poetry

~ Price ~
The RRP of this paperback, ISBN: 0-14-056704-6 is £4.99 but it's well worth looking on amazon as they are selling used and new versions from 20p so even with P&P this is a bargain!

~ Verdict ~

This is a great book, with lots of humour in it and is very popular with young children. My only disappointment is that I wish that Brian Moses had included more creepy-crawlies and made the book longer. 

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