Which One's Ross? (Mrs Floss and Mrs Fleece - Vivian French)

Member Name: arleek

Product:	Mrs Floss and Mrs Fleece - Vivian French
Date:	12/06/09 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice Pictures

Disadvantages: Rubbish

I've recently realised there is a pattern to my reviews and I only seem to review things I really like, which is handy but people also need to know when something is rubbish...which (I think anyway) this book is.

It's not often that I stumble upon a children's book that I don't like but...

On a recent trip to the library with my two young daughters, who were both getting fed up and we hadn't even chosen any books yet, I picked up this one on a whim because I liked the front cover but didn't have time to look inside. It's written by Vivian French and illustrated by Natalie Russell. I like the illustrations (my reason behind getting it!), but the story is not so good, in my opinion.

The front cover is very attractive, it has two sheep on the front, one pink and one yellow. It also has novelty trees in the background, a rainbow, a stream...you know, a generally attractive looking book, colourful sketchy type drawings, appealing more to girls than boys, so I thought it would be perfect for my daughter.

When we get home from the library, the first thing my daughter usually wants to do is read all the books we have taken out, we usually get about ten (yes we read a lot in this house!). So when we came to this one I was quite keen to read it and look at the pictures; I thought we were both going to really enjoy it. However, the story, although the idea is good, is very confusing and just quite annoying.

Here goes:

It's the story of two sheep...Mrs Floss and Mrs Fleece...Mrs Floss lives high up on the hill and is afraid of everything, while Mrs Fleece lives down in the valley and is afraid of nothing. One day they each have a lamb, Mrs Floss calls hers Ross and Mrs Fleece calls hers Reece...yes this is where I started to get confused.

Ross was big and bold while Reece was small and scared. Ross wants to play with Reece, but Reece is too scared, which then upsets Mrs Fleece who goes to lay down in the middle of the road in disgust, which Ross thinks is fun so goes to lay down with her...Can you see why I get confused?

Meanwhile, Mrs Floss is panicking because she can't find Ross (and who knows where Reece is); she hunts and high and low, and in her panic she awakens the Big Bad Wolf who chases Mrs Floss down the hill and across the road. Ross and Mrs Fleece run away as fast as they can, but while they are running, Reece (who is apparently hiding behind a buttercup) jumps out and shouts 'wait for me!' and the Wolf accidently trips over him and falls into the river. This is where I have to flick backwards and forwards (much to my daughter's disgust who just wants to get to the end) to figure out who Ross is and if he is the bold one or if Reece is the bold one...etc etc.

Anyway, Reece ends up being the hero and Ross is now hiding behind a daisy. I think it's meant to be ironic.

The End.

It took me perhaps 3 or 4 attempts to actually 'get' this story. I realised when I read it to myself (without my daughter turning pages) that in the end it's the feeble little lamb Reece who scares off the Big Bad Wolf (accidently of course), and the big bold lamb Ross is the one left hiding behind a flower.

My main problem with this book is that although the idea behind naming the sheep and lambs with similar names is good, it all just gets confusing and while you are reading to a child saying the names Mrs Floss, Reece, Ross, Mrs Fleece etc you can't quite keep track of who is who and who is meant to be a scaredy cat and who isn't. I really did find it confusing, and the ending just didn't make any sense to me until I had read it in a quiet corner by myself. Surely if I cannot grasp the storyline then my 2 year old daughter has no chance! It just doesn't work.

To make things worse, the illustrations really don't help at all. They are really nice, attractive pictures, and they are actually really nice to look at with lovely pastel shades of green and yellows; but the sheep all look the same, so how are you meant to distinguish between Ross and Reece?? Mrs Fleece is pink so I suppose that helps a little bit, but no not really!

Just avoid it, you'll only get confused, and most likely annoyed. Don't let the illustrations on the front cover fool you!!

Oh yes and the target audience (my daughter) is not bothered by this book in the slightest, she wants to read it because when she has a pile of library books she 'has' to read each one in turn (I don't know why, it's just one of her rituals. But when we get to this one, the pages are turned pretty quickly and she just wants to get to the end so we can move onto one of her preferred books. She doesn't ask any questions or repeat anything from the book, as she so often does with her other ones - a sure sign that this is one to miss in the future.

Summary: It's too hard to understand