Yes you are! (I'm Not Cute! - Jonathan Allen)

Member Name: abbadabbado

Product:	I'm Not Cute! - Jonathan Allen
Date:	30/08/09 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great story as well as educational

Disadvantages: do squirrels really hang upside down?

My daughter is a big fan of "I'm not scared" by Jonathon Allen, so I knew we had to read "I'm not cute" as well, especially after reading such lovely reviews about the book on here.

Picture a really cute and cuddly owl who walks around carrying a little teddy owl under his wing, and I defy you not to fall in love with him. My daughter and I did the first time we saw him, and my first instinct was to go "aww he's cute".
Exactly the impression Allen would have wanted from his reading audience, as we learn quickly through the book.

Baby owl is out for a walk with little owly when he comes across fox, rabbit and squirrel. Each of the animals tell Baby owl how cute they think he is and give him a hug.
Baby owl doesn't take too kindly to this as he thinks he is a scary owl who hunts animals and can see in the dark, just like his Dad.
With each animal insisting baby owl is cute, he get crosser and crosser as he tells them, eventually shouting at them that he isn't cute.

Mum comes along soon after and baby owl explains to her what all the animals have said. Mum agrees with bay owl and tells him that he is indeed very scary.
Baby owl isn't sure what to think of what his mum has said and has a little tantrum about it. It turns out he does actually want to be cute after all.
Of course he is cute, and as a mother she will agree with anything her baby is saying to make him happy. After tucking him up in bed she insists he is both the mean scary animal he wants to be but cute at the same time.

My daughter took to this book the first time we read it. We read it on a daily basis now and she has almost gotten all the words down to a fine art before I read them.
The one page that makes me chuckle is when squirrel comes along as he is hanging upside down from a tree. My daughter always turns the book upside down and then wonders why baby owl is now hanging upside down.
Despite explaining to her she does it every time.
I think the pictures in this book are done brilliantly. They are simple yet effective, with basic background scenery included, but there is enough description in the pictures to add to the minimal amount of words that is the story.
Put together it works well and the story is a firm favourite.

Making children understand that something can be cute as well as scary is a great concept. The reader learns what an owl does by reading about hunting animals and seeing in the dark, yet having nice fluffy feathers and carrying around a toy teddy bear makes the scary animal seem a little friendlier.
ISBN: 978-1905417889. RRP: £4.99. Published: 2008

Summary: a great book from a great series.