Oxford University Press ISBN 9780192758866 £6.99
Another book aimed at the EYFS market from Oxford Owls. Lenny the rabbit is out picking spring flowers for his mother when he meets a ‘fish’ swimming all alone in a pond. Being the kindly chap he is, he offers friendship, but of course there is a problem: they cannot live in each other’s environment and rabbits cannot swim (cue a lesson in water safety). With great sadness, Lenny donates his scarf as a memento of their brief friendship. Later in the summer, when Lenny and his mum are out enjoying a picnic, a frog, identifiable from the scarf it is wearing, appears. And yes, guess what, the ‘fish’ turns out to have been a tadpole. The whole is told in rhyme with all the benefits of patterned and predictable language for young children, and the illustrations are full of movement and detail to support the text. I was initially put off by the inside front cover telling me why l am expected to love this book (can I decide for myself please?) but it does provide ideas to springboard discussion which might be helpful.
Elizabeth Broad
