If you’ve been to my house, you’ll know that we absolutely love books. So much that all of our bookshelves are over flowing and we are in desperate need for a bigger house with more storage room.
The girls also love books and so far in this school academic year, Matilda has read over 200 different books (yep, not the same book, completely different ones).
So when we saw Allan Thompson had written two new books, we jumped at the chance of getting our hands on them. And Allan Thompson kindly sent us two personally signed copies to the girls.
We have from the ‘Ohhh My Strawberry Monkey Collection’ ;
Stop Eating! Strawberry Monkey and Strawberry Monkey ‘Loves the Sun’.
And I can happily say, before you read any further, they are BRILLIANT. Just look at the girls faces.
The ‘My Strawberry Monkey’ books, follow a tale of friendship between a monkey and a giraffe (Betty). Strawberry Monkey is a little clumsy. He will make you laugh and you’ll want to jump into the books and give him a cuddle (or is that just me?). Both books that we read, give the readers messages. It is not ‘just’ a story, it’s a hidden message within a story and a way of showing children that we learn from our mistakes.
Stop Eating! Strawberry Monkey
This book follows Strawberry Monkey eating everywhere that he goes; a picnic in the park, pizza in the dark and burgers and chips while sailing a ship. The book gives children the message that eating unhealthy (and eating so often) will make you gain weight and your belly could pop out of your clothes and you might need to be carried home in a digger. The story sees Strawberry Monkeys best friend Betty the Giraffe teach him that healthy eating and exercise makes a much happier and healthier person. Or monkey in this case. The illustrations and wording are fantastic and they captured the attention of both of the girls, who found it hilarious when Strawberry Monkeys top popped open from eating so much food. And have you ever seen a giraffe on a treadmill? If not, you need to get this book.
Strawberry Monkey ‘Loves the Sun’
Strawberry Monkey in this book goes out in the sun without putting on his sun cream. The story explains (in easy to understand language and pictures) that you should wear suncream if you go out to play in the sun. The book made Matilda laugh when Strawberry Monkey got redder and redder and looked like a tomato. And when we went out a few hours later, Matilda was asking for her suncream as she didn’t want to look like a tomato.
We really loved the books and at a recommended retail price of £6.99 I think they are a bargain. These are books that you could read again and again. I’ve already read them to the girls 4 times today. Wonder how many times I’ll read them tomorrow?
If you don’t mind your little ones playing on a computer, you can also pop online to mystrawberrymonkey.com for games and activities from My Strawberry Monkey. So the fun doesn’t have to stop with the book.
Thank you Allan Thompson for writing and illustrating such fantastic children’s stories. We cannot wait for the next in the series.
Hey, if you liked this review or maybe were inspired to try this out because of my post, you can always buy me or the kids a drink or a slice of cake on our next big trip! Just hit the button below, if you want to. 🙂
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