Friday, 8 June 2012

Book Review: Silly Doggy by Adam Stower

Lilly wakes up one morning to discover there is something wonderful in the garden. It's big, brown and hairy with four legs, a tail and a big, wet nose, and Lilly has always wanted one.

Unfortunately, Lilly's mum is not so enthusiastic so Lilly must try and return 'Doggy' to his home. She designs a poster trying to describe Doggy, but secretly she hopes no one will claim him. They do, of course, and Lilly is sad until she looks out of the window next morning and discovers... ...well I'll let you find out for yourselves!

My five year old daughter has just got this book out from the library and she read it to me for her bedtime reading. Absolutely wonderful! She spent the whole time tutting at Lilly for thinking it was a doggy when it was obviously a bear, and laughing at Doggy's exploits.

I liked the fact that Silly Doggy didn't have too many words to a page so a reasonably confident reader can feel a sense of accomplishment at reading the whole book in one sitting. The illustrations are beatifully done and open the possibility of lots of question and answer sessions between parent and child.

The endpapers were also quite entertaining: they look like articles from a newspaper being read at the breakfast table and expand on the story. The front endpaper has a clipping explaining about the escape of animals from the local safari park, while the rear endpaper hints Doggy's return to the safari park, oh, and the results of a local cat show.

Altogether a well told story, beautifully illustrated and presented in a well designed book.