How Tall Are You? (Tall - Jez Alborough)

Member Name: tb4ms

Product:	Tall - Jez Alborough
Date:	09/01/07 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great illustrations.

Disadvantages: Some may not like the way that most of the story is told through illustrations.

This book is a follow up to the very popular book 'Hug' but it has to be pointed out that it's not vital that you read Hug prior to Tall. It's just the same little chimp, Bobo in it.

- The Story -

As stated, the story is predominantly told through illustrations. Bobo the little chimp is very small and meets other animals in the jungle that are all taller than him.

The stream of animals that he meets are taller than him but each one of them is taller than the other in turn, e.g. the baby elephant is taller than the lion cub etc so begins the repetition and format of the story.

Each of the animals kindly lets Bobo get on their shoulders where he is now taller than the previous animal that he met but when he meets the next 'taller' animal Bobo is disappointed and says "small".

Having got lifted up by a lot of animals, Bobo is finally lifted by the giraffe. Delighted with this, he stands up nice and tall and shouts "tall" but suddenly loses his balance and falls.

Close at hand Bobo's Mum runs to his rescue and catches him just as he is about to land with a heavy thud on the ground.

By the end of the story, Bobo is carried away in the arms of his Mummy, quite happy that he is small enough to be carried and saved by her.

- Format and Illustrations -

There is limited text in this book. Most of it comes from Bobo in the form of speech bubbles: small, tall, fall & Mummy. Bobo's Mum is the only other talker by shouting "BOBO" when she sees her baby falling!

Children quite quickly pick up the story through the clever illustrations, Bobo says tall as he points to the other taller animals and is then picked up by them.

Jez Alborough's illustrations are excellent, picking up on the emotions felt by Bobo in particular through facial expressions.

The drawings are large and bold and the animals are very life-like!

- Price -

My hardcover, ISBN: 1-84428-040-3 was £9.99 but amazon are selling used and new copies from only £2.74.
Board books are £3.57 and particularly good for little hands as the pages aren't paper and easy to tear!
Paperbacks start from £1.98

- Educational Value -
* It encourages children to tell the story in their own words.
* Draw comparisons between size, introducing early mathematical vocabulary relating to size, e.g. small & tall, which can be extended to taller, shorter, tallest, shortest etc.
* Introduces the concept of speech bubbles.

- My Verdict -

This book is ideal for very young children from 2 years upwards. It certainly encourages a lot of discussion and to some extent shows that it's not always bad to be small or the smallest!

This is a lovely book but not for adults who are slightly averse to telling the story in their own words. Great illustrations and a firm favourite with very young children due to it's simplicity.

- Other books by Jez Alborough -
* Duck in the Truck
* It's the Bear
* Duck to the rescue
* Where's my teddy?
* Duck's day out
* My friend Bear

Summary: A good book for pre-school children