Books like Kipper

'Kipper' by Mick Inkpen, is the tale one of our favourite dogs who in this story is uncomfortable in his basket and wants to find somewhere new to sleep. He throws out his soggy dog and blanket and goes in the search of somewhere new and exciting to sleep in the garden. Should he copy the ducks and sleep on one leg? Should sleep on a lily pad just like the contented frog? Or perhaps in a dark hole like the friendly mole? Kipper realises that none of these options are right for him and returns to hi goods old smelly basket and falls straight to sleep, contented and happy. I enjoyed reading this book as a child and equally enjoyed reading it to children. The different sizes of texts and fonts encourage emotive reading; making it more exciting to children. The children loved shouting 'DISGUSTING!' in response to the capitalised text. Another good part of the story, is the subtle introduction to number. For example, 'two ducks' and 'three sticks' means that the pleasurable process of reading can also incorporate numeracy, appropriate to the learning young children. A further benefit of this book is that there is a repitition of process, e.g. Kipper meets the animal, finds out where he/she sleeps, copies it and then realises that it does not work for him. We all know children love this repitition! With this in mind, it is a shame that there are not repeated phrases mentioned in the story and thus children would be able to join in with the story, even if they can not read. Despite this point, this is a good story for children around nursery school age and I would recommend introducing it to young children.