Scan barcode
stefhyena's review
4.0
I didn't think I was going to like this story. I get uncomfortable when the children pick little creatures up and try to make pets of them and often I think might kill, harm or traumatise a little creature. I didn't want to encourage the practice.
But the book is cleverer than that. It acknowledges the joy and connection children feel in sourcing little garden "pets" but ends up trying to shift the idea to having some empathy for the creature's wants and needs. The book does this very gently.
Even though there was no colour in the pictures and a lot of text, the text was simple and engaging enough so that my 4-5 year olds sat there and asked me to continue when I would have left it at the end of a chapter. It was full of the sort of asides children like to engage in (what the play was like, what the initials of the snails were). To me as an adult I thought that was a longwinded tangent to the story. The children clutched at them and wanted to talk about them.
At the end (without giving a spoiler) we were in two minds about whether it was a happy or sad ending. Depending whose feelings you were looking at in the story, changed the perspective and it was interesting to see the children debate this.
This story has a lot to offer a learning program about nature, the outdoors and children's agency.
But the book is cleverer than that. It acknowledges the joy and connection children feel in sourcing little garden "pets" but ends up trying to shift the idea to having some empathy for the creature's wants and needs. The book does this very gently.
Even though there was no colour in the pictures and a lot of text, the text was simple and engaging enough so that my 4-5 year olds sat there and asked me to continue when I would have left it at the end of a chapter. It was full of the sort of asides children like to engage in (what the play was like, what the initials of the snails were). To me as an adult I thought that was a longwinded tangent to the story. The children clutched at them and wanted to talk about them.
At the end (without giving a spoiler) we were in two minds about whether it was a happy or sad ending. Depending whose feelings you were looking at in the story, changed the perspective and it was interesting to see the children debate this.
This story has a lot to offer a learning program about nature, the outdoors and children's agency.
More...