The Magician Comes to Town (Mr. Cosmo the Conjuror - Allan Ahlberg)

Member Name: sewbizzie

Product:	Mr. Cosmo the Conjuror - Allan Ahlberg
Date:	04/12/08 (140 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fun and short story

Disadvantages: None

Mr Cosmo the Conjuror is a fun short story which is from the Happy Families collection of books. The cover of the book is purple and has a picture of Mr Cosmo and the title above this in yellow lettering. Above the title at the top of the book is the Happy Families logo in brightly coloured rectangles. The back cover of the book is also purple and has small pictures showing a few of the other titles available in the collection.

The story starts by telling us it was early morning and the town was excited because as if by magic posters had appeared which said that Mr Cosmo is coming. Everyone was saying that Mr Cosmo was coming but who was he. A caravan appeared on the hill outside the town which was being pulled by a horse, a dog was chasing it, 6 pigeons were flying over it and 6 rabbits were peeping out of it but no one was driving it.

The caravan came into the town and everyone followed it. As they gathered around it the caravan stopped and the doors opened. Out came a man a woman and a boy and girl. Good Morning said the man, then the boy and girl. The man introduced himself and the children as Mr Cosmo and said that the lady was his wife and the boy and girl were his children. Mr Cosmo then announced that tonight there would be a show in the open air and that everyone was welcome. The caravan door then closed and the towns people went away.

Mr Cosmo and his family sat down for breakfast and they all agreed that this was a nice town with very nice people.

Would the Cosmo family be able to put on their show and would the towns people enjoy it?

This book has been written and designed especially for new readers and it has been written in nice simple and basic words which makes it easy for children to read. The text is written in black ink and is a good size and is always on plain white sections of the pages so it is clearly visible. My 6 year old quite confidently reads this book on his own.

It is only a short story and takes myself about 5 minutes to read but when he reads it on his own it takes him longer as he stops and talks about all the illustrations so he only reads a few pages in bed every night.

The story is accompanies by nice bright pictures which does help in the telling of the story as the children are able to see what is happening. The pictures also help to keep my 4 year old interested in the book.

As I have previously said this book is from the Happy Families collection and a few other titles which are available include:-

Ms Cliff the Climber
Master Bun the Baker's Boy
Miss Dose the Doctor's Daughter
Mr Biff the Boxer

The book was written by Allan Ahlberg and illustrated by Joe Wright. The book was published by Puffin Books Limited and has a retail price on the back cover of £3.99. I did not pay this full price and managed to pick up a brand new copy from EBay for just over £1. This and the other titles are available from Amazon and Amazon Market place with a starting price at just 1p.

I do recommend this book as a very fun read for children and all parents who wish to encourage independent reading.

Summary: A fun book about a magician and his family