Monday 23 July 2018

Splash Day by Nick Sharratt (Children's, 5 years +, Dyslexia Friendly, 9/10E)

A great summer read
15th July 2018, Barrington Stoke, 80 pages, Paperback, Review copy 

Summary from Barrington Stoke
 Hip hip hooray! It’s Splash Day today and everyone is ready for a water fight! They’ve got their trunks and wetsuits, wellies and rubber rings. Even the teachers are going to join in. Let’s see what happens when Mrs Thistle blows her whistle!

Nayu's thoughts
Here in England and many other countries we are in the middle of a wonderful heat wave, making the idea of this story highly appealing as a way to cool down in the heat. I love Nick's illustrations from previous books with other authors, so I was happy to see he had his own book. His characters seem to have so much fun - what makes this better than a lot of early readers is that every picture is in colour! That's part of Little Gems' books charm, the font is easy to read font, using off-white pages which can help a lot of readers. The idea of a Splash day (loads of water fun at school) is actually based on what a real life school did!! I wish all schools could implement this especially in summer. 

I was curious about how the day would unfold, and was happy as everything was explained. The only reason this doesn't have full marks is an entirely personal opinion: It gets pointed out that there's a safe zone where no water will be used so people can have a break, but not once does it get used. I'd really wanted a scene when a child sought refuge under there, rather than just showing it. That aside it's super fun and will make readers want to participate in water sports. Maybe if enough teachers read this then schools will make splash day a tradition. So spread the word and get everyone in and out of school reading it! 

Find out more on Nick's website

Suggested read
Other fun dyslexia friendly reads (which are for every reader regardless of your ability) include a super cold themed read: Nellie Choc Ice: Penguin Explorer by Jeremy Strong and Jamie Smith (Children's, 5 years +, Dyslexia friendly, 10E/10E) 

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