A Mighty Bitey Creature

Silliness, fun and lots of laughter are to be had with this lovely children's story. Armitage (author) has really grasped the interests of young children and focused on what makes them laugh the most - bottoms! 'A Mighty Bitey Creature' is a wonderful adventure story. It opens with Frog, having a lovely snooze, when all of a sudden he is bitten on the bottom by a mysterious creature. He heads off to find Lion - the King of the Jungle - to ask him to sort this creature out. Along the way, Frog bumps into Monkey and Zebra who are also swiftly bitten on the bottom and join Frog in finding Lion. This story will have your children laughing hysterically as each creature jumps up after being bitten. The illustrations by Nikki Dyson are vibrant, beautiful and engrossing as she perfectly depicts the faces of the animals as one by one they are bitten on the bottom. The illustrations are big and bold as they take up a whole page and are brightly coloured. I particularly liked this pairing of the author and the illustrator. The narrative suggests the creature will be terrifying, 'Something MIGHTY and super-sharp BITEY'. But by the end of the story you find out it is just a hungry bush baby 'teeny, oogly-eyed creature is a baby'. And the illustrator reflects these words with an image of a creature with huge, cute yellow eyes, nothing to be afraid of at all. This is a lovely light-hearted read that children of all ages will love; this is already a firm favourite at bedtime in our house. Picture book / Ages 3+ / Reviewed by Joanna Hewish, teacher.

Suggested Reading Age 3+