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I think most people are aware of the Gruffalo, especially those with children, but for those who need a little introduction, The Gruffalo is the book which shot Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler to fame back in March 1999. Julia's beautiful, flowing words were accompanied by Axels stunning, ... Read review
One tiny snail longs to see the world and hitches a lift on the tail of a whale. Together ... more
they go on an amazing journey past icebergs and volcanoes sharks and penguins and the little snail feels so small in the vastness of the world. But when disas...
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One tiny snail longs to see the world and hitches a lift on the tail of a whale. Together ... more
they go on an amazing journey, past icebergs, and volcanoes, sharks and penguins, and the little snail feels so small in the vastness of the world. But when disaster strikes and the whale is beached in a bay, it's the tiny snail who saves the day.
One tiny snail longs to see the world and hitches a lift on the tail of a whale. Together ... more
they go on an amazing journey, past icebergs and volcanoes, sharks and penguins, and the little snail feels so small in the vastness of the world. But when disaster strikes and the whale is beached in a bay, it's the tiny snail who saves the day.
Advantages: Fun and easy to read, colourful, beautiful illustrations Disadvantages: Absolutely none!
As say the opening lines of this wonderful book: This is the tale of a tiny snail. And a great big, grey-blue humpback whale......
I think most people are aware of the Gruffalo, especially those with children, but for those who need a little introduction, The Gruffalo is the book which shot Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler to fame back in March 1999. Julia's beautiful, flowing words were accompanied by Axels stunning, colourful and ... ...Since then we have read the Gruffalo's Child and Monkey Puzzle. Both of which are wonderful, but, for me, The Snail & The Whale has clinched it.
In this story, a brave little snail, very aware of his smallness, embarks on an adventure with a friendly, gentle whale. With each page you visit scary, beautiful, cold & sunny far off lands, until one day, the unthinkable happens, and the little snail must overcome his insecurities to help ... more
As say the opening lines of this wonderful book: This is the tale of a tiny snail. And a great big, grey-blue humpback whale......
I think most people are aware of the Gruffalo, especially those with children, but for those who need a little introduction, The Gruffalo is the book which shot Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler to fame back in March 1999. Julia's beautiful, flowing words were accompanied by Axels stunning, colourful and exciting illustrations. After reading The Gruffalo (a few million times, I can recite it word for word) I didn't honestly believe I would find my son a book that would captivate him as much. Since then we have read the Gruffalo's Child and Monkey Puzzle. Both of which are wonderful, but, for me, The Snail & The Whale has clinched it.
In this story, a brave little snail, very aware of his smallness, embarks on an adventure with a friendly, gentle whale. With each page you visit scary, beautiful, cold & sunny far off lands, until one day, the unthinkable happens, and the little snail must overcome his insecurities to help his friend.
Julia writes with a lovely rhyming verse, it amazes me how she manages such descriptive story telling whilst keeping the story in order. There is always a little kind of 'twist' with her stories, some kind of moral to learn, this books being that size doesn't determine greatness and also to follow your dreams. Sounds deep for a childrens book doesn't it? (Remember, this an 'old romantic' adult viewpoint!). But believe me, your child will be enthralled by the rhyming and repetative text and will want it to be read night after night.
The pictures are gorgeous, our book is a fairly large paperback, wider than A4 but not quite as long. The front cover, as you can see from the picture above, shows the stars of the story in a very tropical setting. There are thirty pages, which sounds like a lot for a child, but each page has a large picture which clearly corresponds to the text. Amazingly, Julia & Axel work seperately, she lives in Glasgow, he in London. The pictures have so much detail and will keep children below reading age busy for quite a while and for children learning to read, the fun, rhyming style will keep the interest up. Also a lot of the words are used repeatedly, i.e. snail, small, tail, tiny, whale, which I have been told promotes good reading skills.
Here is a list of the books which Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffer have made together:
Tales from Acorn Wood, Postman Bear Tales from Acorn Wood, Rabbits Nap A Squash & a Squeeze, The Gruffalo The Gruffalo Child Room on the Broom Charlie Cooks Favourite Book The Smartest Giant in Town Monkey Puzzle Tiddler
I think it's worth pointing out that Julia & Axel have both created many books seperately too, details of which can be found on the websites listed below. I've yet to read any of these, but I have seen some of Julia's books are part of the Oxford Reading Tree, which is helpful when your child is learning to read.
I was very lucky, The Snail and the Whale was included in a pack I purchased from The Book People - 10 books for £10, so was extremely good value. The RRP on the back of the book is £5.99. However, I have checked the site and they do not have it in stock at present (although they do have the Gruffalo & the Gruffalo Child £3.99 each). I've recently bought Room on the Broom & Monkey Puzzle from W.H Smiths, the books are priced at their RRP, but are on special offer, buy one get one half price at the moment and they do have Snail & the Whale in stock. I have also seen many of these books in Audio form, boardbooks or as hardback jigsaw books, although I am unsure of the prices of them.
I would definately recommend this book, or infact, any of the collection. A happy, healthy imagination & a love of good books is a wonderful thing to give a child, especially in the hard world we live in at the moment.
Some helpful web addresses: www.juliadonaldson.co.uk www.imagesofdelight.com www.whsmith. co.uk www.thebookpeople.co.uk
watkins11 17.10.2007 (17.10.2007)
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Review of The Snail and the Whale - Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler
Advantages: Lovely rhyming text and great pictures Disadvantages: none
The Snail and the Whale
Another Julia Donaldson book, and one which is a real favourite of Little Miss.
THE STORY AND ILLUSTRATIONS
The story and illustrations really complement each other and give the story an almost melodious and certainly timeless appeal.
We start with a small snail who lives on a rock in a very busy harbour. The picture shows all of the boats and the lighthouse, and we get a feeling of movement and of ships visiting far flung ... ...rock and its immediate surroundings. The other snails don't understand his need to travel and tell him to stay where he is, but unperturbed, the small snail slithers to the side of a rock and with his snail trail,leaves a message " Lift wanted around the world"
We now meet the whale who sees the message when he swims to the harbour. Again, the picture is full page double spread with the text down the side, but this time instead of the busy hustle ...
danielalong 17.08.2006 (11.09.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Snail and the Whale - Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler
Advantages: lovely story and illustrations Disadvantages: none!
'The Snail and the Whale' is a particularly endearing picture book for young children written and ilustrated by the fantastic team of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, probably best known for 'The Gruffalo'
At the start of the book we meet a little sea snail who is full of wonderlust and longs to travel the world. He is not like all the other sea snails who seem content to stay on their one smooth black rock. So the little sea snail takes matters ... ...to write a message on the rock - 'lift wanted around the world!'. The message is answered by a huge humpback whale who allows the snail to travel with him on the tip of his tail.
The pair than go off on a fantastic journey around the worls - they see penguns and icebergs, fiery mountains and golden sands, and all sorts of fabulous things under the sea! In fact the pair are having a really fabulous time until one day it all goes horribly wrong - ...
kingfisher111 15.02.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Snail and the Whale - Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler
Advantages: Great adventure, lovely story, great illustrations Disadvantages: Not sure what age group it targets
...opinion)
Synopsis
This is the story of a tiny snail who longs to explore the great wild world someday, so he hitches a ride with a friendly whale.
Together, the two of them have numerous adventures throughout their wonderful journey. The two of them travel across the world coming across no end of exciting new things such as volcanoes, and icebergs. They also meet a number of friends along the way including cute little penguins and great big sharks.
... ...is that the snail, who feels too tiny to offer any value to the huge world stretching out before him is thrown into a situation that will prove once and for all how much he can contribute and how much he is needed, no matter what his size. I don't want to spoil the story for those of you who haven't read it, but one day while the snail and the whale are going along their merry way, disaster strikes and the whale becomes beached in a bay. As is to ...
ally2kc 26.06.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Snail and the Whale - Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler
...favourite childrens book.
"This is the tale of a tiny snail and the great big, grey-blue humpback whale"
The snail wanted to travel but she was to small to go far on her own, after leaving a message (saying "lift wanted aroud the world") trailing across a big rock near the seas edge a humpback whale comes to her aid and offers the snail the trip of a life time, they visit various seas and continents and marvel at the beautiful things the natural ... ...in speed boats make the whale lose his way and the whale gets beached. The snail realises she must help and manages (with the help of her silvery trail) to get people to help keep the whale keep cool until the tide comes in and the can return to the sea. The snail and whale return to the dock where they tell the other snails of the things they have seen, then the whale holds out his tale and each snail crawls on and the last page of the book sees ...
kath25 25.05.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Snail and the Whale - Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler
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Advantages: Great to read aloud Disadvantages: Small writing, so for slightly older children
Having loved books when I was a child, I am determined to get my son into reading also. Okay, so he's only 4 months old, but I already have quite a collection of books for him to grow into.
The Gruffalo was one of my first purchases, then on the back of this I bought 'The Snail and the Whale', which is also written by JuliaDonaldson & illustrated by AxelScheffler. I had heard good reviews about the book, but what really swayed me was finding the book in a half price closing down sale at my local bookstore.
I bought the boardbook version (RRP £5.99, mine for £2.99). It's 32 'pages' long if you count both sides & include the covers (or 16 'boards' if you prefer). The illustrations grab your attention immediately. The detail & colours are wonderful. Perhaps not colourful enough for a young baby, but my son seems mesmerised ...
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