Read of the Week

These children’s books have all been reviewed by Lauren O’Connor-May

Perfectly Different

Sarah Tavola

Penguin Random House

This rhyming book, styled as a conversation between a mother and child, comes with a message: it’s okay to be different.

My children liked this book, especially my early readers because the text was simple enough for them to read unassisted. I didn’t disagree with the book’s message but I did find some of the rhymes a bit clumsy – not nearly on Dr Seuss level.

The Boy and the Tree

Marleen Lammers

Penguin Random House

Another rhyming book styled as a conversation but this time the conversation is between a boy and a tree.

The magical tree takes the boy on a series of adventures where he meets a lot of quirky animal characters. The book comes with a paper mat embedded with a mystery seed and has an enviromental theme.My second eldest daughter liked this book a little more than her sisters and when I asked why, all she said was: “ Because it is about trees.”

I don’t want to be a hyena

Avril van der Merwe

Penguin Random House

I don’t like hyenas so this book would never have been my first choice if I had been buying it.

When I took it home to my children, my third eldest daughter took an immediate liking to it but my dislike grew somewhat because the story is longer than I like for a bedtime story. It has 32 very wordy pages. The book is about a hyena who is unhappy with who she is.

So she approaches other animals to ask them to teach her to be more like them. The results are not promising.

Die Nagbeer

Ana De Moraes

Human and Rousseau

My eldest daughter found this rhyming translated version of a popular British book very charming and instantly claimed it.

The book tells the quirky story about a nocturnal travelling bear who enjoys chomping nightmares.

One night he befriends a boy who leaves him a peculiar dream to eat, the kind of dream he had never tasted before.