Wee Girl Reviews
We love summer reads and my daughter Emmeline, aka ‘Wee Girl (2)’ is 7 years old and a tiny book blogger. We read picture books together at bedtime, so Emmeline can give her opinion on them.
Emme has been up to A LOT this summer holiday, including going to her favourite place with her cousins – Padstow, Cornwall. She loves body boarding.
About The Book
Tommy Twigtree and his friends enjoy peace and harmony in their garden.
That is, until Robbie Rabbit and his Bandits decide that carrots are on the menu!
Tommy Twigtree And The Carrot Crunchers is the first book for children by Michael Firman.
Illustrations are by Nick Roberts.
Emmeline’s Review
Here’s what Emme said about Tommy Twigtree And The Carrot Crunchers:
‘This is a funny book.’
‘One of the rabbits has a scar on his cheek.’
‘Rabbits are supposed to be cute, not evil!’
‘Foxes driving cars??? Why doesn’t he eat the rabbits? He should EAT THEM!’
‘I like the ladybird policeman.’
‘It’s sad six carrots get eaten!’
My Review
I enjoyed this book. I like the idea of a tree ‘guardian’ watching over the vegetables, plus the idea of pole-vaulting rabbits is inspired. The pictures are fun and the colours natural-looking, which suits the illustrations really well despite the ‘out there’ story. There were some lapses in tenses from past to present, plus a couple of ‘adult’ words Emmeline didn’t understand (like ‘retracted’) that could have been substituted, but these did not seem to detract from her enjoyment. (I was also amazed that she knew the word ‘offender’, which Emme defined as ‘the worst person ever to fight’!).
I have fond memories of the Peter Rabbit books, so thought it would be a bit like Beatrix Potter – nope! This might start out in cutesville, but gets heavy quickly, with six of the vegetables effectively getting ‘killed’ by the baddie rabbits. This thrilled the bloodthirsty Emmeline, but if you have a child with a delicate disposition who would find this upsetting, you might want to give this story a wide berth.
Verdict
A fun tale that brings a fresh new spin to classic garden stories. BUY IT HERE.
Author Bio
Michael lives in rural Sussex with his wife. His story telling started when his eldest grandchild was old enough to appreciate a bedtime tale. Rather than read to her he began to craft stories about the trees, plants and animals that live in his garden. As time passed and a second grandchild also enjoyed these tales of adventure and daring, the stories began to create a whole world that lived and went about its business right in his garden. His grandkids, Poppy and Rudi continue to enjoy further developments in the lives of the characters that populate these stories and Tommy Twigtree and The Carrot Crunchers is the first in a series charming garden tales.
