posted on 18 Mar 2024

Little Bunny and Little Chick by Petr Horáček

It is always a delight to receive review copies of books by this award winning author/ illustrator who only recently created Tiny Owl's Scary Day. His distinctive use of colour and design appeals to the youngest of children, so it is pleasing to see that these are a pair of board books which will be ideal for little hands to explore.

The cover of ‘Little Bunny’ shows him sitting on the vivid green grass against a strong orange background. He looks a bit tentative with his head slightly to one side but is surely all set to hop across the pages for an adventure. As with most successful picture books that are aimed at young children, those one has simple, repetitive text to encourage early language development and joining in. This is in the form of a rhythmic question ‘Little Bunny in the woods, what can you see?’ and the subsequent turn of the page shows how he is learning about the wider world.

Every double page spread is suffused with vibrant colour and the right hand page has a cut away which provides a tantalising glimpse of what is to follow. In this way, children will be able to make a good guess at what they are going to see next which encourages concentration and anticipation - both essential early literary skills.

As he explores the beautiful world he finds out that he might need to be wary of some creatures, no matter how friendly they might look. In this way he is advised by a wise owl to quickly run away from the splendid looking, smiling fox to return to the safety of home where he spies his mother leaping towards him.

The cover of ‘Little Chick’ shows a different kind of character whose body language seems more confident and curious as he stares out directly at the reader against a bold blue background. He lives on a farm which provides the setting for his adventure as he travels about investigating some of the other animals that live there. The format is the same as before as he meets the pig, the cat the cow and the mouse who all seem to coexist in perfect harmony. Perhaps he is a bit over confident because towards the end a friendly horse enquires if he is lost, although he doesn’t look that bothered. She encourages him to look behind the fence where we can spot some tell tail feathers peeping out from behind a bush. Another happy ending as he is reunited with his mother.

I strongly recommend these deceptively simple board books which are jam packed with colour, characters and mild jeopardy. They will be a treat to share with very young children who will be demanding plenty of rereads.

Available now from Walker Books, you’ll be able to get copies from your local independent bookshop. They will, of course, be able to order them for you if they don’t have copies on the shelf.

 

Karen Argent

March 2024