Flower power (In the Night Garden: Ooh, Pretty Flower!)

Member Name: karalouk

Product:	In the Night Garden: Ooh, Pretty Flower!
Date:	25/07/09 (75 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great story, fab pictures, lovely colours, durable, part of a set

Disadvantages: It will be lost on those who don't watch 'In The Night Garden'

Unless you have been living in a shell for the last few years you'll know that 'In The Night Garden' is one of the countrys biggest childrens (mainly pre-schoolers) programmes right now. The shows main characters consist of Upsy Daisy, Igglepiggle, Makka Pakka and The Tombliboos.

Upsy Daisy is a very girlie character. She wears a pretty flowery dress and has colourful (and really quite crazy) hair. Her favourite things appear to be flowers, singing and her bed. I guess many little girls can relate to her in a way.

My daughter owns a book called 'Ooh, pretty flower!' which is a book all about Upsy Daisy.

Most people don't realise but the book is actually part of a 4 book set. The other 3 books are about the other 'In The Night Garden' characters and are called 'All aboard the Ninky Nonk!', 'Time to wash faces!' and 'The happy waving game!'. The Upsy Daisy book is the second in the set and the reason I know this is because there is a number two on the edge of the book.

The book is a good size (not too big, not too small) and is about half an inch thick. It is a hardback which means it's very durable - our copy is over a year old and looks brand new. It is also easily wiped clean. The cover is very bright, glossy and eyecatching. There is a picture of Upsy Daisy in the Night Garden with a huge flower type object behind her, which covers the whole front cover.

The book has 16 pages and starts on the very first page. The pages are quite thick and are easy for little fingers to turn, aswell as being quite durable.

Each page has a different colour (orange, purple, pink, yellow, blue and green) which is not only very nice to look at but can aid children in learning their colours. On one page is writing (with silhoettes of characters in the background) and on the other page are big, glossy scenes and characters from 'In The Night Garden'. The pictures are exactly as they appear on tv and are great to look at.

The book contains lots of quotes from the programme, such as 'Oh no! It's the Ninky Nonk!' which 'In The Night Garden' fans will love as it will be familar to them and they can even join in with it even if they can't read the words.

The book has a short, sweet and simple story to it - Upsy Daisy and Igglepiggle are hanging out together when Igglepiggle decides he wants to ride the Ninky Nonk. Upsy Daisy doesn't want to ride the Ninky Nonk and wants to look at pretty flowers instead, so Igglepiggle boards the Ninky Nonk and Upsy Daisy goes to look for flowers. Very soon (and I'm talking the very next page!) Upsy Daisy realises she can't find any pretty flowers. The Ninky Nonk passes by and Igglepiggle tells her to jump in - he wants to take her somewhere. Upsy Daisy rides the Ninky Nonk which leads her to.. wait for it.. a very pretty flower! The prettiest flower in the garden infact! Isn't that a pip!? pip-pip, onk-onk! (that's what is says at the end of the programme and book.. I'm not just going mad).

Overall I think this is a lovely little book with a cute story about friendship. The pictures and colours are great, aswell as the length of the book - long enough to have a story but short enough to hold a young childs attention until the end.

It can also work out handy for grandparents that have no idea about 'In The Night Garden' too! Is there anything worse than an uneducated 'In The Night Garden' grandparent? pffftt!

The only downsides to this book is that it wont really appeal to children who don't watch 'In The Night Garden' because the characters and references will seem abit confusing. It goes without saying that this book probably won't appeal to older children either.

The RRP of this book is £3.99 but you might be able to get it cheaper if you shop around or buy the book with the rest of the set.

Summary: Book number 2 in the set (of 4).