Traditional child book with innovative twist

The first time my DD heard the story of the three little pigs was when I Told it to her from memory. It was the first time in maybe a quarter of a century that I was recalling the details of this story :-).

I surprised myself by remembering most of it. My DD loved it when I said in a gruff voice:

"Little pig, little pig let me in."

And then in a tremulous high pitched voice:

"Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin."

A couple of days later I got a copy (The Three Little pigs, retold by john Duncan, Published by Dalmation Press) of of this story that has crossed many generations- but this version had a surprise ending! The big bad wolf became the big sad wolf and then in the end the big glad wolf!

Now how did this happen? The three little pigs encouraged him him to direct his wonderful talent of huffing and puffing to a more positive channel :-0.

The Gruffalo: award-winning child book

I like The Gruffallo by Julia Donaldson. It's easy to read.

Before you say "duh", think about this.

Have you ever stumbled over the words when reading to your child? Is it that you are a lousy reader? Could be :-). But some books do that to you. (Can you imagine what they do to your child?) The sentences are choppy, or, are way too long, or, are just not built to roll off the tongue:-).

Not with The Gruffalo. I got it right the first time everytime . I think it's simply because the author uses the best techniques for writing children's books. For instance, altough it's a story, it's written like a poem. Once you catch the rhythm in the first four or so lines, the rest is easy- like breathing.

Another thing I liked about this award winning child book is how well the writer paints the gruffalo with words - if there were no pictures I'd still be able to visualize him.

And what a fine job Axel Schefler does of illustrating the gruffalo!

Funny, the gruffalo isn't the hero, although the book is named after him.

The hero is actually a very clever little mouse who stays alive even though so many animals want him for dinner.

That's cool. I want my daughter to learn survival skills.