Peppa Pig Hide & Seek - Neville Astley

***Background***

It is the animation talents of Neville Astley and Mark Baker that have brought Peppa Pig to our screens through Milkshake on Channel 5. The show has been running since 2004 and has been a firm favourite with our son since the start.

The set up is quite simple. Peppa Pig is the elder child of the Pig family. She lives in a house with Mummy Pig, Daddy Pig and her little brother George. They all snort a lot and love nothing better than to roll about in muddy puddles.

As with a lot of these children's programmes, the merchandise has started flowing from the shops and you can buy everything from cuddly toys to dvds and books.

***The Story***

As you may have guessed by the title of this book, it is all about a game of hide and seek. "What gave it away?" I hear you ask?

It starts with Peppa counting while George tries to find a good place to hide. He hides under the table but his feet are sticking out from under the tablecloth flap and Peppa finds him easily.

Mummy Pig then helps George to count whilst Peppa hides. She is a bit better at hiding and George has to look under lots of flaps before he finds her. When it's George's turn to hide again he goes to get under the table again, but Daddy Pig decides to help him out and hides him under his newspaper.

Peppa is bewildered when he isn't under the table as he always hides there. She looks everywhere but can't find him until he pops out from the newspaper and surprises her.

***The Illustrations***

The drawings here are exactly like the animated drawings that we see on screen. This is great because children can recognise their favourite characters instantly. The flaps are very good at giving that little bit extra to the story.

***My Thoughts***

My son loves Peppa Pig and to be honest, I do too. I'm not really a fan of a lot of the modern animation but this one is kept really simple and that, for me, makes it a joy to watch. It is very funny too and a lot of the stories deal with everyday occurrences and feelings that children have to deal with.

This book is a chunky board book and is very sturdy. However, I would say that the flaps could be torn easily so it's not ideal for a child that has yet to master their control of strength.

Apart from that though, this book is excellent value. It has everything a book like this should have - bright colours, fun illustrations and above all a funny story to go with it.

My son at 4 is starting to get a little bit old for books such as this but when his sister saw this book at the library, she knew she had to bring it home to show him and he has looked at it quite a lot in the past few weeks. He always was one to love a book that had extras such as flaps or touchy feely bit in it.

I'm always a bit dubious when television programmes are turned into books for kids, as they can sometimes seem a bit of a rip off. This one, however, would be a great addition for any fan of the show as it shows how little ones sometimes need a bit of outside help when it comes to playing games with older siblings and how this can actually make them more fun.

***Other Books in the Series***

Noisy Day
Lost Glasses
Peppa's Car Ride
Peppa's Day Out

***Other Information***

The price on the back of this book is £4.99 but you can get it for only £3.99 from WH Smith or www.dvd.co.uk.

ISBN No. 184422645X