It Rose to be our Favourite! (Annie Rose Is My Little Sister - Shirley Hughes)

Member Name: mummy2harry

Product:	Annie Rose Is My Little Sister - Shirley Hughes
Date:	08/08/09 (97 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wonderful tale of siblings, gorgeous illustrations, toddlers will love it

Disadvantages: None at all.

As an avid reader myself, I was hoping that Harry would grow up to be a booklover like his mum, and I have done as much as I can to encourage that in him. I have read him stories from a young age, and now he loves going to the library, getting a bag of books and coming home to read them with his mummy! My mum recently bought him three of the famous "Alfie" stories by Shirley Hughes which I enjoyed as a child, and Harry now loves them too. On one of our library visits, I noticed another Hughes book, part of the Alfie series but focussing on his sister Annie Rose. It's now proved to be Harry's favourite of the lot and I've had to buy him his own copy of the wonderful "Annie Rose is my Little Sister".

Shirley Hughes is an absolutely brilliant writer and author of some of the most wonderful children's books ever to have been written. The "Alfie" series are still being printed today as new editions, and other books such as the "Lucy and Tom" series are also still popular with children. Her amazing illustrations complement the wonderful stories about children doing what children do, and are a pleasure to read aloud and enjoy with your own children. There are many lovely Alfie stories to enjoy, and also some based around both Alfie and his younger sister Annie Rose, and this book is a wonderful tale of a brother and sister growing up together.

"Annie Rose is my Little Sister" is told from Alfie's world, a tale of his life living with his younger sister. This merely adds to the charm because it is an easy book to read aloud and is consequently easy for children to comprehend and enjoy even more. The book goes through the day to day activities of the pair growing up together; playing with their toys, going to be with their cuddly toys and playing outside in the garden with their mum. Many of the activites they do Harry can point out that he does with me, and that is a wonderful thing for me to hear. He loves exclaiming that he has toy cars and trains like Alfie and seems very proud of that fact!

As I mentioned, Hughes brings her books to life with her wonderful drawings which so beautifully sit with the text in the book. All of the drawings look like they have been painstakingly drawn, and look so incredibly realistic. It's lovely to see books that have pictures drawn by a real person rather than computer imagery all the time, and this just adds to its charm and likeability. It is not just the characters which look fantastic in this book, all of the surrounding scenery has such attention paid to it that it just looks beautiful and such a piece of art. There are a few images in this book, such as Alfie, his mum and Annie Rose sitting on a hill making a daisy chair, which make it come totally alive and bring out a real enthusiasm in the reader.

The paperback we have is quite a large copy with lovely big pages, big and bold drawings, and the text is a good size as well. There is a good amount of text in the story so this is probably one for the adult to read aloud , but it would be good for children to read when they are learning to read as well. This is helped by the fact that because the book is written from Alfie's point of view in the first person, the language used is basic and uses words that younger children will definitely recognise. The text flows beautifully and Harry sits, captivated, whenever I read this book to him. He loves to talk about what is happening on the page as well because of the lovely drawings, and that makes the book even more special for me.

I cannot recommend this fantastic book enough, and indeed any of Shirley Hughes stories because they are true classics for children and every child should have at least one of her books on their shelf! If you're not sure about Hughes old fashioned drawings and brilliant stories, then please try her books from the library, I am sure you will be as charmed as we have been and they will become a favourite of yours too. They are simply lovely stories about children, for children and have definitely stood the test of time. I'd also recommend this story to children who have a younger or older sibling they don't perhaps get on with, because this book highlights the good (and minor bad points!) of having a sibling, but is summed up perfectly by the last lines "she's my little sister, and I'm her big brother, and we'll go on being that forever . . . even until we're grown up". Beautiful and incredibly heart-warming.

ISBN: 978-0099408567. New edition published in Sep 2003 by Red Fox. 32 pages long. Amazon price: £4.99.

Thank you for reading.

Summary: Another superb children's book from Shirley Hughes