Early Years Bookshelf: Maisy Goes to a Wedding / Bigger, Bigger!

Maisy Goes to a Wedding
Lucy Cousins
Walker Books

Oh my goodness! Ostrich and Penguin are getting married and we’re all invited to their wedding. Needless to say Maisy, decked out in her new outfit, is super-excited.

At the flower-bedecked venue, Maisy greets all her friends. Every one of them has brought something for the couple and soon it’s time for the celebration to start.

Music plays as Tallulah leads the way festooning the aisle with flowers and is closely followed by Penguin on the arm of Charley. They reach the waiting Ostrich.

Owl does the officiating, rings are exchanged, “I do” is said by both partners and then it’s the party. Hurrah!
Delicious food, toasting the couple, music and dancing and cutting the cake follow.

Then the bride throws her bouquet: who will catch it though?

After a wonderful party the happy couple leave for their honeymoon …

Maisy fans will love this latest episode in the ‘First Experiences series’, which now numbers over 15 titles.

Bigger! Bigger!
Leslie Patricelli
Walker Books

The story really starts before the title page with a little girl gleefully emptying out her box of coloured blocks onto the floor.
Build’ she says smiling, hard-hat balancing precariously on her head.

From then on her imagination appears to take over as the blue wall behind her is transformed into blue sky and her pets too have donned hard-hats and their buildings look real: first a dog kennel ‘Big’; then a wooden house ‘Bigger!’ and ‘Bigger! Bigger!’ is the cry …

as a block of flats, a large bridge, office blocks appear until we see the happy builders exuberantly celebrating the finish of their task.

They’re certainly an ambitious crew these three.

Suddenly there’s a ‘BOOM! BOOM!’ followed by at the turn of the page a huge nappy-clad baby (has it escaped from the author’s board books?) wreaking havoc.

Thereafter reality is restored with tears from big sis. and then a penitent babe attempting a silent apology.

Finally co-operation wins the day and ‘Stronger! Stronger!‘ comes the cry.

Share with a group of nursery children or an individual around the age of the girl builder – either way they’ll demand repeats. Equally, with its minimal text writ large, this is perfect for those just starting to read.

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