Here's a golden oldie that teaches children a little science while entertaining them with a fun and original story. Eureka!

Mr Archimedes is a bit of an eccentric old soul. Every bath time, he rounds up all his animals and they all climb into the tub together. They slosh water everywhere, make a huge mess and it's horribly uncomfortable.

After flooding his bathroom for the umpteenth time, Mr Archimedes has had enough and tries to figure out which animal is causing the bath to overflow. Each time, he runs a little water into the tub, leaves out an animal - but the results are still the same. The water level rises, and it's time to reach for the mop.

Pamela Allen's gentle storytelling skills underpin a great opportunity to play "Mr Archimedes" as a children's activity (though you might want to do this in better weather, when you can use a washing up bowl in the garden and some plastic farm animals rather than rounding up the family pets and ruining your own bathroom!)

Great fun, and lovely to rediscover this one in our library.

Charlotte's best bit: "It's all goat's fault!" - or is it?

Daddy's Favourite bit: "Eureka!" Shouted Mr Archimedes!

 Mr McGee and the Big Bag of Bread

Written and illustrated by Pamela Allen

Amazon Link: £12.99 (import)










A cautionary (and sometimes quite gory) tale of a happy go lucky man and an eventful trip to the zoo. Mr McGee takes a big bag of bread with him to visit the animals - and pays no heed to the notice boards. What bounces this book along is the fantastic flow of the verses, and the clear and superbly illustrated panels that seem to stretch from one end of the book to the other in one continuous image.