Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Nora the Girl who Ate and Ate by Andrew Weale and Ben Cort (Andersen Children's Books)
Nora (or should that be gnaw-er) is a hungry little lass who scoffs every meal in seconds flat. But she's also very naughty, so when her tummy is still rumbling after dinner and after sneakily wolfing down mummy's freshly baked chocolate cake, Nora is sent to her room. Does this quell her rapacious appetite? Not a bit, because Nora will guzzle practically anything. Her toys, her bedding, her secret stash of midnight snacks tucked into a drawer. Nothing is safe - not even her clothes.
But children who eat too fast or guzzle the wrong things can suffer from a bout of (burp) indigestion, so watch out when Nora lets out the biggest belch in history. The consequences are dire!
Andrew Weale's fun rhyming text coupled with Ben Cort's brilliant illustrations mean lots of treats for the tongue to trip along, and lots of lovely things to see. We love a good foodie-based book, and this is a good guffaw.
Perhaps it might even show Charlotte that shoving a whole half a pizza into her chops so that she can speed through teatime and get back to playing isn't always the best thing to do. There's a rather neat ending with a twist, which we won't spoil for you of course. Just don't invite Nora round for dinner!
Charlotte's best bit: Nora's secret snack drawer (we really hope this doesn't give her any funny ideas about storing olives and babybels in her sock drawer at home)
Daddy's favourite bit: Beautifully rhyming, always funny with lots of tummy-rumblingly-great illustrations. See you at tea time!