Somersault away (Little Miss Library: Little Miss Somersault - Roger Hargreaves)

Member Name: MI9to5

Product:	Little Miss Library: Little Miss Somersault - Roger Hargreaves
Date:	03/01/09 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun and friendly to read

Disadvantages: Not one of the most entertaining

Now I have absolutely adored the Little Miss books for as long as I can remember and Little Miss Neat has always been one of my favourites. The story was written by Roger Hargreaves and is number 30 in the series of 33 books.

Like all the other Little Miss stories the front cover of the book is plain white with a picture of Little Miss Somersault in the centre and her name in block, black capitals above it. Little Miss Somersault is herself a roundish blue character that has very long athletic legs and arms. She has bright yellow hair tied back with a pink bow. Her nose is a pinkish colour and her cheeks are covered in freckles.

The back of the book like all others in the series has smaller pictures of all the other characters on it with their names and respective numbers underneath them. I like this feature of the book as I think it enables you to easily keep track of which books you have read and which ones you have left to read.

The story itself is written in a very easy to follow fashion with bright and bold pictures on the right hand and easy to read text on the left. The text is not too simplistic that it will bore competent readers but not too difficult for young children to follow either. The text is also relatively large and in a typeface that is easy to read even for those parents and grandparents or even children who have sight problems. The accompaniment of the eye-catching pictures also enables everyone to clearly follow what is happening in the story.

The story begins by introducing us to Little Miss Somersault as the sort of person that can't simply walk somewhere. It tells us that she is too full of energy to simply walk and that she cartwheels everywhere. The other day cartwheeling past Mr Worry's house Mr Worry called out to her. He explained that he had been worried all day about a leaf on his roof and that he would be grateful if she could get it off - he had a long ladder. Well without hesitation and without the ladder Little Miss Somersault removed the leaf.

Soon the story of her antics had travelled and many people required her services. These people included Mr Uppity who had an umbrella stuck in his chimney. Little Miss Somersault was excited because climbing to the top of Mr Uppity's very large house would be a challenge. Would she however be able to do it?

This book is a charming story for children of all ages and can easily be read in 5-10 minutes making it perfect for reading at bedtime. It isn't though one of my favourite little stories and so Little Miss Somersault only earns 4/5 stars for me. I would however still not hesitate to recommend it to others.

This book has a RRP around the £2.50 mark but my shopping online and searching in stores such as Wilkinsons as well as supermarkets it is quite possible to find it for much less.

Summary: A nice addition to the collection