My son won this book as part of a set, in a Cbeebies competition about a year ago. He loves it.
***The Author & Illustrator***
Julia Donaldson is such a popular author that I feel she needs only a small introduction. Famous for her bestseller The Gruffalo, amongst many others, she has become a household name.
The illustrator in this book is the same as quite a few other Julia Donaldson books such as Hippo Has A Hat and Conjurer Cow. Together their words and pictures are a pleasure to look at.
***The Rhymes***
This book is full to the brim of rhymes - in fact there are seventeen in total, each one very different and extremely fun to read out loud.
All Change is about what a little girl likes to do when she is fed up of being herself. The illustrations show the different animals and the actions that they do.
Animal Voices introduces us to lots of different sounds and explores how a child can repeat these sounds. On the opposite page there are lots of animals with speech bubbles coming from them with the sound they make in them.
The Terrible Tickle is a rhyme about what it is like for a tickle to start in your toes and go all the way up to your nose.
Toenails is a counting rhyme which encourages your child to count to ten using their toenails.
How Does Your Garden Grow? is a double page spread of what is needed by a gardener to keep his flowers looking lovely. This follows it through from the early stages of hoeing the ground, to planting the seeds, to watering it and making them grow.
Nod, Shake, Shrug explores the things that make you want to do these actions.
One, two, three, BLOW! is a simple counting rhyme with a very funny ending.
Goldilocks is simply retold in the next rhyme and this is another one that will have your child laughing at the end.
Snakes is a tale of how a sleepy snake won't hiss but a wide-awake one will.
Nut Tree is about the lifespan of a tree and how it starts with a nut under ground and ends up with the leaves flying off in autumn when the new nuts fall from the tree.
Birdsong is a lovely rhyme about different noises that different birds make. From the owl to the cockerel, there is a familiar sound for your child to make as you read this.
Sniff, Sniff, Sniff is the story of horrible smells, including mouldy cheese, rotten vegetables and smelly socks. My son loves this one - boys!!!
Open Wide introduces children to different sounds that are made whether it be Ah, Ooh, Ow or Er.
Handy Work is a story of all the different things you can do with your hands from scrubbing the floor to cuddling a bear.
Quick! Quick! Hang Out Your Washing is a familiar tale of how you just seem to get your washing out in the sun, when the clouds appear and the rush is on to get it all back in again, before the rain starts.
Two Feet is the story of a duck who learns about what he can do with his feet and also explores the area of what is left and what is right.
Shhhhhhh! is the last rhyme in the book and calms things down by showing how you can see certain animals if you stay quiet.
***The Illustrations***
The pictures go perfectly with these rhymes and are bright and colourful throughout. My favourite in the book is one in One, two, three, BLOW! It shows three very cheeky looking monsters in a girls dream and she is letting out a scream.
***My Thoughts***
I love rhyming books for children as it helps them with their pronunciation and understanding of sounds. As well as doing this, Wriggle and Roar also includes some very funny situations and some wonderful drawings too.
It's very unusual to find a collection of rhymes like these and what I like best about them is their simplicity. They are often repetitive so a child can quickly learn the main part of them and join in as a parent reads them. This encourages your child to take part and this for me is the point of a book like this as rhymes should really be read out loud to get the full effect.
There are lots of themes in this book but I really love the rhymes that have big sounds in them such as the animal noises and the sigh as a girl can't quite reach the biscuit barrel. The counting rhymes are also a great idea for helping young children learn their numbers through repetition.
I can't say a bad word about this book and hope that this review inspires you to get out there and buy this beautiful book for a young child. I'll leave you with my son's favourite - Sniff, Sniff, Sniff.
"Sniff, sniff, sniff. What can you sniff? A lump of cheese all covered in mould, Looking about a hundred years old, That's what I can sniff.
Sniff, sniff, sniff. What can you sniff? A nasty, mouldy, rotten old veg, Soggy inside and fluffy round the edge, That's what I can sniff.
Sniff, sniff, sniff. What can you sniff? A pair of socks that never have been Anywhere near a washing machine, That's what I can sniff."
***Price and Availability***
The price on this hardback edition is £9.99 and the paperback retails at £4.99. The paperback can be bought from WH Smith for only £3.99.
Hardback ISBN No. 1405021659 Paperback ISBN No. 1405021667
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