Thursday, 9 January 2014

Off To Market by Elizabeth Dale and Erika Pal (Children's, Picture book, 10E/10E, a semi short 'n' sweet review)



 2nd January 2014, Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 32 pages, Hardback, Review copy

Summary from Amazon (At the time of posting this review the Frances Lincolcn website was down - I gain nothing from mentioning Amazon)
Hop on board the market bus! Everyone wants a ride and soon it's full to the top. But when the bus reaches a steep hill it just can't go any further. How will they lighten the load? Little Keb has the answer, proving that even the smallest person can make a big difference.

Nayuleska's thoughts
I was intrigued about this story because I love learning about what life is like in different countries. Sometimes in England trains seem jam packed (for medical reasons I don't use buses), but, like the bus in this story I know trains in other countries can have passengers on the roof (I think). Having so many people in the bus works because people seem happy to share their space with others in order to get to market, even though initially no one wanted to volunteer to help the bus carry on its journey; Elizabeth captures the atmosphere well with her carefully chosen phrases that add another dimension to the informative illustrations.

Everyone seemed happy and content despite the chaos, there was a sense of community, which Keb had to remind everyone about. I adored seeing the animals on every page, especially the rounded goats who made funny expressions depending what was going on in the story. I thought I knew how the story would end - to some extent I did but there was a huge surprise for Keb which shocked me in a good way-I so wish I could tell you what it is... You simply must read the story to find out!

Suggested read
For more ways of how different communities live check out Ife's First Haircut by Ifeoma Onyefulu (Children's, Picture book, 10/10E) 

 

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