This is another classic Julia Donaldson book that is illustrated by Axel Sheffler. It is 32 pages long and costs £5.99, published by Macmillan.
It is a story of a snail who has an "itchy foot" and dreams of far away places. He finds a whale that will take him to places he's never seen or dreamed of and everything is going well until disaster happens… will the snail be able to save the whale? It is written in the familiar style of many of her other books with a gentle rhyming text that just wills you to read on and on and on.
The illustrations are beautiful showing a wide range of places that the snail is visiting. There are plenty of things to see which complements the text.
The snail and the Whale is also available on audio book read by Imelda Staunton who just brings the story alive. As I type I can hear the gentle lilt of the text and the subtle jokes which make it a joy to read, not just for the children but also for the adults. How does she write such a succession of good quality stories? I would say that this story was aimed at 3-7 year olds and once read will become a firm favourite by all members of the family.
This book won the Early years award for best preschool book in 2004, the Blue Peter award for 'best book to read aloud' in 2005 and the Giverny award for Best Science Picture book in 2007. The audio book won the spoken book gold award for the best audio for 6 and under.
