Review: Apple Banana Cherry

Apple Banana Cherry

Written by Joy Cowley

Illustrated by Elizabeth Fuller

Publication date: 2000
Publisher: Scholastic New Zealand
ISBN: 1-86943-467-6

Summary/Back cover:
Joy Cowley's wonderful read-aloud rhymes make learning the alphabet so much fun for young readers.

Review:
I have to confess that if it was not for the name Joy Cowley on the cover, I would have completely overlooked this book. What immediately draws me to children's books are the illustrations and I'm sorry to say that I found this book lacking in this department. Some of the illustrations are even scary (Jack the jester, not jolly as the book says but more crazily eerie).

However Cowley doesn't disappoint with her words. Moving through the alphabet, we have wonderful rhymes for each letter and most are fantastic to read out loud, the humour being something both parent and child can appreciate. The favourite in our household is the following;
Oo Orange
An orange rolled into the nest, where the little chickens played.
"oh, look!" cried the chickens, "at the orange mama laid!"

Great fun, only let down by the less than mediocre illustrations.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5

Review written by QTCass

Review: Fly Pie

Fly Pie

Written by Joy Cowley

Illustrated by Philip Webb

Publication date: 2010
Publisher: Scholastic New Zealand Limited

ISBN: 978-1-86943-924-8

Summary:

Once there was a frog who had been a prince.  He knew he could become a prince again if he was kissed by a princess.  So off he went, slippity slop, hippity hop, flippity flop to the castle down the road...

But happiness can sometimes be found on the lily pad next door.  An entertaining twist on an old fairytale.

Another great story from beloved Kiwi children's author, Joy Cowley.  A frog who knows he was once a prince, likes living in his swamp and even has his eye on a cute girl from living on the next lily pad over, but thinks he has to fufil his destiny by kissing a princess and turning back into a prince.  But upon discovering the princess is selfish and mean, he realises he had it much better in the swamp and so flippity flops back to the cute girl frog and her yummy fly pie.

Cute and funny, full of great sounding words, this will become a family favourite.

4/5

Review written by QTCass