Beautifully Smelly (Whiff - Ian Whybrow)

Member Name: belfin

Product:	Whiff - Ian Whybrow
Date:	19/03/09 (166 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fun to read - fantastic illustrations

Disadvantages: None

***Background***

My son is a huge fan of the Harry and His Bucketful of Dinosaurs series of books but Ian Whybrow has also written many other picture books for children over the years and this one is illustrated by Russell Ayto.

***The Story***

The story starts with a picture of a baby warthog sitting on his own with a flock of flies above his head.

"By a bend in the river lived a beautiful big fat smelly baby warthog.

His mum and dad were very proud of him.
They called him Whiff.
They wanted him to make friends and be happy."

The warthogs have neighbours on either side of them and across the street so it's not really a surprise when Mrs Crocodile knocks on their door and asks if the baby warthog wants to play with her baby. The Crocodile asks if Whiff is rough and his mother replies that he is not.

Soon they are playing happily together until,

"But then down came some tickly quickly flies!
They tickled their ears and they tickled their eyes.
So the crocodile bit his teddy bears,
He bashed the table and he crashed the chairs,
His teeth went snap and his tail went wheee!
Down fell the pictures, one-two-three!"

Mrs Crocodile blames it all on Whiff and sends him away with his flies. Whiff is very upset.

The next animal who comes to call is Mrs Monkey and asks Whiff round for tea. Whiff behaves beautifully until the flies arrive and the monkeys all end up making a mess with the plates and jelly. Again Whiff is sent packing and is really sad.

Finally Mrs Littlebird comes over and asks Whiff over to play. When the flies arrive Whiff starts to leave but the baby bird starts to eat them all up and Mrs Littlebird tells Whiff to stay right where he is. Whiff is so happy to have found a friend at last.

***The Illustrations***

The pictures in this book are very funny and the animals' faces are full of expression as they jump about in shock as the flies tickle them. The text is bold and black and very easy to read. There are speech bubbles at certain points in the book so we can see who is saying the words.

***My Thoughts***

Every child loves stories about animals that are a little bit out of the ordinary and boys especially will love this story of this big fat smelly baby. The illustrations are done in such a way that my son and I always laugh as we read this one. The text compliments them beautifully with rhymes, speech bubbles and a general way of flowing through the story.

Friends can be difficult to make sometimes especially if a child is shy or a little bit different to all the other kids around them. This book helps to show those children that it's worth pursuing it until they find the perfect person for them. I love the way that although Whiff is described as being big, fat and smelly, the first word to describe him is beautiful.

What makes this book a real joy to read out loud is the way the words are put together. The lilting rhymes and tongue twisters ensure that whether it?s you or your child reading the book, mistakes will probably be made along the way that you can laugh at together. It's also a great book to share the reading with. My son likes it when I read the main parts of the story and he reads the text in the speech bubbles.

Books like this one are so important for helping children to understand the joy of reading and when something is this much fun, it encourages them to want to learn how to read it themselves. My son has really taken off with his reading this year and it is books like this that I think helps him. The repetition of the rhyme when the flies come down is one that children can remember and recite along with their parents.

I have to say this is the funniest book I have come across for a long time and every time I even look at the front cover I can't help but smile. This has to be a recommendation all the way.

***Whybrow Books***

Harry Books
Little Wolf Books
Say Hello To The Animals
All Change
The Bedtime Book
The Tickle Book
Tim, Ted & The Pirates

***Price & Availability***

This paperback book is available for the publishing price of £5.99 from Waterstones although it can be a little bit hard to get hold of so you might have to look on Ebay or Amazon Marketplace for it.

ISBN No. 0552546151

Summary: A book that every child is sure to love.