Since Little Man started in Reception in September he has been bringing home a new book once or twice a week for us to share together. At the end of last week he brought home Shark in the Park by Phil Roxbee Cox and illustrated by Stephen Cartwright which is part of the Usborne Phonics Readers series.

The story is about a cute little dog called Pup who thinks he has spotted a shark in the park. He runs around the park telling all his friends - Fat Cat, Big Pig, Hen and Sam Sheep - that he has seen a Shark and describing different attributes of it like its nose, fin and teeth. Pup's friends are quite sceptical that he has seen a shark so they all go down to the lake to look. Is there really a shark in the park?

This book is designed to help children as they begin to learn to read, using a lot of rhyming and repeated phonic sounds and I think it would be ideal for a child that has understood the basics of reading and phonics. However we used this book just to read along at home - Little Man only turned 4 in August and is the youngest in his class, and is only just starting to get to grips with phonics and this is a bit too wordy for him at the moment. He really loved this book though, and the repetition meant that he could memorise parts easily and loved joining in with '"There's a Shark in the Park!" Pup barks.'

The illustrations in the book are simple but lovely, with an almost cartoon like quality. There are lift the flap pages where Pup describes the shark's features which are always a winner with Little Man. There is also the added extra of a little yellow duck being hidden on each page for you to find - it's not quite Where's Wally but was enough to get the attention of a 4 year old!

This is the first book I have read from the Usborne Phonics series but I will definitely be looking out for more in future. They work well as read together books, as well as having the longevity of becoming read alone books as your child progresses. We only borrowed our copy, but the RRP of the book is £4.99 and it is available on Amazon for £3.74 delivered.