This week I have been sharing posts by some of my favourite bloggers about a book or books that are much loved by their children. We’ve had a wonderful range of kid-tested reads, and I’m concluding the series with a picture book that’s flying high with my 5 year old, at the moment.
Thank you once more for the bloggers who participated in the Book Week series!
Sian from Teach Investigate Play on The Bad Guys series
Ania from The Sane Mum on Somewhere in Australia
Bron from Mumlyfe on 5 Must-Read Adventure Books for Tween Girls
Rebecca from Seeing the Lighter Side on Oi Frog!
Kell from All Mum Said on May Gibbs’ Gumnut Babies
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A mopoke, it turns out, is the common name for a type of Australian owl, so named because of the sound it makes. And, there’s no question that we’re meeting one on the first page of Philip Bunting’s picture book, Mopoke. A lone owl sits on a branch against a black background, while the other page simply reads, “This is a mopoke.”
It’s a curious start, and one that hooked me in when I grabbed it off the library shelf a few weeks ago. It took just a couple more pages to sink its claws into my 5 year old. On the next page, the owl is near the top, and the text reads, “This is a highpoke.” Followed by a “lowpoke,” and then increasingly silly types of “‘pokes” – “slowpoke,” “glowpoke,” “snowpoke,” “poshpoke,” etc. – and (spoiler alert) one sneaky wombat.
She thought this was the funniest book she’d read since This is a Ball, and it’s been on repeat reading request for bedtime. I think the illustrations are particularly charming, with the stone-faced, big-eyed owl having its situation changed on each page. It looks a bit like it would just like to be left alone! The plays on words and rhymes are good fun, and don’t lose their charm through repeated readings (I can say with certainty).
We’re not alone in loving this book. Mopoke was named an Honour Book in this year’s CBCA Book of the Year Awards.
I thought it would be fun to pair Mopoke with some bookish play, so we set up an activity where I assembled quite a random selection of objects from around the house and challenged Miss 5 to make as many of her own “‘pokes” as she could think of. She loved it – just a few were “stinkypoke,” “cleanerpoke,” “hotpoke,” and “sickpoke.”
Feel free to use these for the sequel, Philip Bunting!
