A bear with insomnia (Peace At Last - Jill Murphy)

Member Name: Claribella

Product:	Peace At Last - Jill Murphy
Date:	23/06/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Familiar to most adults and great read for children

Disadvantages: Might be a bit long for some kids

This wonderful story was written by the famous children's author, Jill Murphy and I have fond memories of reading it when I was a little girl. I just had to bring it home and relive these memories when I found it at the local library.

The story tells of three bears who are very tired so decide to go to bed as it's late. Mrs Bear falls asleep very quickly but Mr bear can't seem to drift off. He is disturbed by various different things throughout the night including Mrs Bear snoring, baby bear playing and the tap dripping. He finally goes back to bed and just as he shuts his eyes, the alarm bell starts ringing.

The illustrations in the book are rather cute and poor Mr ear is a very cuddly and endearing old bear who I wouldn't mind cuddling up to. Each page has a framed, coloured picture to the right and on the left there is a small black and white one above the text.

There is quite a lot of text in the book but it's rather bold and easy to read. I don't think it would be a good story to read to a toddler that is quite highly strung because they may not sit through the whole thing.

I really enjoyed this story even more so than I remember and I couldn't help but smile at certain parts of the book. Noah also shared my enjoyment and he had a good old laugh at poor bear's misfortune. He enjoyed studying the pictures and repeating the sounds that kept Mr Bear awake throughout the story.

This book is a simply told story that I think most people can familiarize with and that's what makes it so wonderful. You can feel Mr Bear's frustration at not being able to get back sleep and when the morning comes you can understand how annoying it would be for him. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has a toddler and at £4.99 for a brand new copy, I think it's a steal!

Summary: A great story!