Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book to 3 of my grandchildren. I am sorry that I don't have much good to say about it,
If I had come across this book in a shop I would not have picked it up, though the quality and the price are good. I dislike the cartoon style of illustration and I don't like the parody of the iconic phrase "Give Peace a Chance". I would have wondered why the names of the authors are apparently more important than the title; at the top, embossed and gilded, they dominate the front of the book.
The message to children to use 'please' is of course welcome but not in the way portrayed. My children and grandchildren were taught to use please early on in the sentence, not as a wheedling afterthought. Many of the illustrations reinforce the feeling I got from the book, which was that if you add "Please" in an appealing voice you will get what you want.
I read the book separately to a rising 3, a rising 4 and a 7 year old. We discussed what we read and what the children portrayed were doing, and wanting, and the 7 year old commented that it didn't make sense, 'I've got a little problem .... Please?" "Help! I'm stuck! Please?". Why the question mark? None of the children wanted to read it again although it has sat around on the sofa for many weeks and we read at least 6 books every day.
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