This book is perfection. Perfect children's literature. Polly Dunbar is the kind of amazing author that makes storytelling look simple. She finds the right words and makes them work.There are six books in the Tilly and Friends series with each book featuring one of the characters.
Tilly and her friends all live together in a little yellow house ... in that house we have Tilly, of course, Hector the pig, Pru the chicken, Tumpty the elephant, Doodle the crocodile and Tiptoe the rabbit.
Polly Dunbar's illustrations bring these characters to life. There is something magical about the characters and the way they are drawn that makes you instantly fall in love. Like her words, it is again the beautiful simplicity that makes these illustrations sing.
Tumpty is trying his best to hide. His eyes are tightly closed. When Tilly asks Tumpty what he is doing, he tells her. "I'm hiding. You can't see me." But Tilly COULD see him.
Tumpty tries and tries but Tumpty is so big he has trouble finding a good spot. The more he tries (under a pot plant or under a cardboard box) always with eyes tightly closed, the more the others laugh at how silly he is being.
"Tumpty is so funny!"
But after the laughing dies down, they notice Tumpty is gone.
"Where's Tumpty?"
They looked EVERYWHERE! "Perhaps he's in the biscuit tin," says Tiptoe. Tumpty definitely wasn't there, but there were some biscuits. <-------- I love that line!
Where do you think Tumpty is hiding? The language, the humour, the simplicity of this book is WHY I love kids books. I am a 29 year old woman and reading this made me happy. It made me smile. I don't say this very often but this is one of the books I have sitting and waiting patiently to share when I have children one day.
I recently gave some books to friends who have just had a baby and there was one book they fell in love with. This one.
Title: Where's Tumpty?
Author: Polly Dunbar
Publisher: Walker Books, $16.95 RRP
Publication Date: July 2010
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781406326130
For ages: 2+
Type: Picture Book