Too much changing for my liking! (All Change! - Ian Whybrow)

Member Name: Claribella

Product:	All Change! - Ian Whybrow
Date:	15/05/09 (30 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The illustrations.

Disadvantages: The rhyming text.

This is another book that we picked up from the library this week. Noah saw it on the shelf and went wild at the picture of the train on the front cover so we just had to get it stamped and put it in his book bag.

The book is written by Ian Whybrow and is fantastically illustrated by David Melling. It was written in 2001 and was published by Hodder Children's books.

The story is about a tiger who is rather upset because he didn't get a present from anyone on his birthday so Miss Lollipop takes him on a journey in lots of different
vehicles to try and cheer him up.

The illustrations are really good and are sprawled across the double pages. They are bright and colourful and there is an awful lot going on in each one which sparked a lot of conversations between Noah and I. There is plenty to discuss and we played 'Find the.....' as there was a lot of detail in the pictures.

The text in this book really got on my nerves which was the reason why I put in the request for this particular story. It is a rhyming story but the first time I read it, it was particularly confusing. You see the book rhymes in alternate lines but on the first page there is six lines so you don't actually realise that it is a rhyming book until you get a bit further on. Well I didn't anyway! Then the book changes again and the last few words of the rhyming line is on the next page. Then as you get to nearer the end of the story the text stops rhyming and by this time I was totally lost! It took a few reads to get into the rhythm of the story but I still think that the bit in the book that stops rhyming was uncalled for. Maybe the author was trying to tie in with the title of the book but I didn't think it worked.

The other thing about the text was that it didn't really make sense. At times it felt like the author couldn't think of some words to rhyme with the story so just threw in any old thing so you were reading utter nonsense.

I like the way the text is written on the page because it's very bold and big so you definitely don't need your glasses with this one! Some of the writing is within the illustrations which I liked but some people may find it a bit confusing as sometimes it takes a little while before you can find it.

Noah loved this book to the point of wanting to read it all of the time which was annoying for me! He loved the fact that there were lots of different vehicles that the animals took a ride in. He is a typical boy and loves cars, trucks and bikes so this was right up his street. He enjoyed studying the pictures and finding different objects. He also enjoyed trying to figure out what presents were in the different parcels. He particularly enjoyed shouting 'All change' when the animals left the vehicle they were in to change into another. He shouted it as loud as he possibly could and had a real giggle about it.

This wasn't one of my favourite books that we have read so far. There is no consistency with the text which I found very frustrating. I did enjoy the pictures but not enough to make me have any 'feel good' emotions about the book.

If you liked this book then there is a sequel which includes Miss Lollipop called 'Jump in'.

If you have a little boy who likes cars then it might be a nice idea to read it with him but prepare to feel a bit frustrated and annoyed with the wording. I have to say that I will enjoy returning it to the library on Wednesday and I will be praying that Noah doesn't choose it again in the weeks to come!

Summary: An odd story which didn't make much sense in parts.