Today we have books for little ones, reviewed by Wendy…

Banana Monster and Ella’s Bath – Peter Bently

These books are part of the Wild Tales A Read-aloud story. The formula of these is described as original stories specially written for preschoolers with fantastic wildlife photos and bold illustrations.

Banana Monster is about a chimp called Charlie and his brother Chester. Charlie tries to scare his little brother by telling him about monsters but ends up scaring himself and thinking that the different sounds he hears is a monster. It ends up with Charlie finding out that the sounds he heard were not a monster but his brother eating his entire banana store.

Ella’s bath is about Ella on a hot day and the different ways she tries to keep cool, such as in the water, a mud bath and a branch as a fan.

These stories are short and simple and ideal for preschool children though my daughter who is 5 also liked them as she could read them herself. They are illustrated with a mixture of cute animal photos and drawings.

At the end of both books are notes for parents and teachers which give ideas for discussing the story and other activities based around it. I used some of these ideas with my children and it was lovely hearing my 4 year old describe the stories for himself and the different interpretation he put on events.

Thanks, Wendy, and thanks to QED Publishing for sending us copies.