Ssssh! Don't wake the baby. (Ssssh! Duck Don't Wake the Baby - Jez Alborough)

Member Name: poppyash

Product:	Ssssh! Duck Don't Wake the Baby - Jez Alborough
Date:	17/08/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easily read with good illustrations.

Disadvantages: Obvious story line- pop-up could easily get ripped by young hands.

I recently purchased this book at a car boot sale for 50p and thought that it would appeal to my grandchildren as a story book to read to them.

First published in paperback in 2008
Publisher - Harper Collins Publishers Ltd
RRP - £5.99
ISBN - 978-0-00-724356-3

Jez Alborough was born and grew up in Kingston - upon Thames in 1959. As a child he loved drawing and painting and after leaving school he went to Art College in Norwich and graduated with a BA Honours degree in Graphic Design
He has written and illustrated over 30 children's picture books.

This story features Duck who visits Goat to go for a drive. Unfortunately, Goat is looking after the baby. At first Baby is playing with the toys so Duck joins in. Then the Baby has to have his milk, the Duck tries to take the milk but gets covered in it and finally the Baby is put in his cot to go to sleep. Duck is getting impatient and wants to go out but the Goat insists on washing the dishes and asks Duck to pick up the toys. Goat finally asks Duck to put the dishes away - this is a big mistake as you can probably guess what happened. This catastrophe is portrayed by a huge pop up page . Finally the Goat takes Baby for a ride in the car while Duck cleans up the mess.

I think the expression "Ssssh, don't wake the baby" must be very familiar to any family with small children and therefore the story has some appeal to early readers. I know my grandchildren have heard the expression quite often especially when one of them is asleep. The text is bold with a few words on each page and is illustrated with clear diagrams to help young children follow the text. There is a good use of different font sizes to stress certain events when reading the story out aloud using words like "HONK! SPLOSH! And CRASH!" Of course the big surprise is the pop up of Duck dropping all the crockery which is unexpected in a book like this. I think the story is quite humorous but obvious.

My grandchildren enjoyed me reading the story to them but unfortunately, it is not one of those books that they pick up to be read over and over again. This may be because they are too young or the fact that they like books with characters that have proper names.

I know the author has written a number of other books including :
Duck in the Truck
Fix-it Duck
Captain Duck
Hit the Ball Duck
Duck's Day out
Duck to the Rescue

However, I am not sure that I would purchase another one at this moment in time unless it was at another car boot sale!

Summary: A good story to read aloud to young children.