Customer Reviews

Charlie Cook's Favorite Book

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't think there's a better writer of children's books out there today than Julia Donaldson. Her books are perfect for reading aloud to a toddler: just the right length to keep the attention of reader and listener, great rhymes, and clever stories. This new book is no exception, and is worthy of a spot on your child's bookshelf alongside "The Gruffalo" and "The Snail & The Whale." This book is the literary equivalent of holding up a mirror while you're looking in a mirror: there are layers of stories within stories. Little Charlie Cook likes a particular book, the characters in his book like another book, the characters in that book like another book, etc., so that every page (whimsically numbered in a non-consecutive fashion) basically takes you into another book. The overall effect is like browsing through a whole children's library in a single book: you get a pirate story, an animal story, a knight/dragon story, an alien story, etc. I won't give away the ending, but suffice it to say it's clever like all of Julia Donaldson's endings. Bottom line: this book should appeal mightily to all the little budding bookworms out there, and to their big bookworm parents.

I'm a huge fan of this author/illustrator team, and this book is another great one. The concept is very clever and engaging. I enjoy reading it almost as much as my daughter loves hearing it.

I have 2 boys 4 and 6. They enjoyed this book. The liked The Gruffalo better and so did I but this book was also fun to read.

Highly recommend The Guffalo and Room on a Broom as stronger picks from this author. Snail on a Tail comes in second place. Low recommendation for The Gaffulo's Child. My child (4 yr old) found Charlies Cook's Favorite Book hard to follow, as did I. I ordered it because of our success with the above mentioned books. We read this one once and it has remained on the shelf since.

We LOVE the Gruffalo, Gruffalo's Child, Room on a broom, and Tiddler--but this one just did not hold our interest---including the parents. We love to read books and are always looking for new books to enjoy. I am not saying that this is not a good book but, we just didn't find it as entertaining as her other children's books.

I enjoy Julia Donaldson's books. They are always fun, catchy & have great illustrations. They would make a great addition to any child's library.

my 3 yr son loves this book, even a year later! it is somehow engaging and fun even though it is relatively short. You need to add this to your book collection. buying stick man now. hope it is an engaging.

Before you start reading, take a glance at the opening spread. You see a boy's bookshelf, with titles such as "Fairy Tales From a Forgotten Island" and "Joust Joking!".

You're about to read from each of these books. In order.

See, Charlie sat down to read his faaaaaavorite book, about a pirate. And the pirate in his story starts reading a book about the three bears... who notice that Goldilocks stole their favorite storybook... in which a knight reads from his favorite joke book... and on it goes until it comes full circle with the ghost in the scary stories book settling down to read HER favorite book about a boy called Charlie.

Every time you see a new book the font changes, you can see the dog-earred pages, there are little appropriate in-jokes - it's really very well done. It's a great concept, I think, and it's fun and fast to read.

This is a short story - it takes less than 5 minutes to read. Each page introduces you to another story so the book contains many fun and creative illustrations. My three year old son loves the book.

My daughter is 2.5 and she asks for this book all of the time. The pictures and the story are interesting. More interesting for me even than the usual board book.