Little Cherub is finally moving on from Farm Animals, having mastered baa, moo, quack, miaow, woof and a whole range of domestic animal noises (or approximations thereof ). We have been playing with Playmobil animals and discovering that "tiger goes ROARRRRR!!!!!" One of those little "ping" noises went off in my head, and I decided this would be a good time to produce an old family favourite, The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr. It was! She listened to the entire book the first time I showed it to her - usually she likes to familiarise herself with new books a few pages at a time and it takes a while to work up to a full reading.The Tiger Who Came to Tea is a simple story about a girl and her mother who invite a visiting tiger to tea. The tiger eats and drinks everything in the house, so when daddy comes home there is nothing left for supper. Clear pictures and text make the book appealing for toddlers as well as preschoolers. I remember two year old Angel knew the entire book by heart.
Judith Kerr also wrote a series of books about Mog the Forgetful Cat, who is much loved here. Another of Cherub's current book favourites is a Mog board book, Mog's Kittens. A few years ago the series was completed with Goodbye Mog, in which Mog dies and is replaced by a new kitten. I simply couldn't bring myself to read it, as I am a dreadful wimp about such things and knew I would sob from beginning to end ... so in this household Mog continues on, forever alive and maintaining the upper hand in her dealings with the various people, animals and inanimate objects that cross her path.
I'm with you on the Tiger but Mog, argh!! Bizarre phrasing, to me, to cope with those beginning readers. And as for the one where Mog is called She and the baby is called It. Well!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe Mog always went down well here because when the older two were little we had two cats, one of whom was grey and somewhat Moggish. She most definitely considered babies to be Its! Our cats never recognised children as human until they were around four. Until then they were an alarming strange species that rushed at cats making loud, high-pitched noises and grabbing at fur and tails!
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