Customer Reviews

Doodle Bites: A Tilly and Friends Book

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book immediately upon receiving it and LOVED it! When I read it to my granddaughter, she said, "now that's a funny book!" It has become one of her favorites, and "bitey, bitey" has become a part of our family lexicon.

Tilly, Tumpty, Hector, Tiptue, Pru and Doodle all lived together in a cozy little yellow house that had all kinds of little bitey bites taken out of it. Tilly, a little girl with dazzling curls, rosy cheeks and a perfect little smile, didn't look very happy when she stuck her head out the window. She already had three striped bandages plastered on the house and it looked like there were a few more patches that needed to be made. Chomp! Chomp! , "Bitey! Bitey! " It sure did look like Doodle had been at it again. He was all snuggled up in his bed and he "woke up feeling BITEY. " Tilly and Tiptue bunny watched him take a bitey bite out of the cereal bowl, the box and then he got right to work chomping down on the mail. Yum! Yum !

Hector piggy was sitting on the sofa reading while Pru birdie was primping and preening on the other end when you know who came along and bitey bit the sofa. Yum Yum That little lamp was very tasty, but all of a sudden Doodle "spied something very good to bite." BITEY! BITEY! Tumpty the blue elephant started to cry and said, "That's my bottom " Tilly did a bit of scolding, but Doodle just grinned as he chewed on a car. All of a sudden . . . STOMP! Tumpty stomped on Doodle's tail and he began to cry. Tilly scolded him but Tumpty, Doodle and Hector all began to cry. The red and white striped bandages came out again. Everyone was terribly sorry, but was anything going to stop Doodle from being such a naughty bitey bite alligator?

I thought this was an adorable, funny little story that made me laugh out loud, especially when Doodle's eye's lit up when he saw Tumpty's very chompable and tempting blue bottom across the room. Of course any preschooler or kindergartner who sees that blue bottom will get a case of the giggles because he or she will know exactly what Doodle is going to bitey bitey next. All young children manage to bite at least once or twice and this would make an excellent read and discuss book at home or in the classroom setting. Have you got a chomp, chomp, bitey biter in your house? If so, this book is just the book for you!

My three year old daughter loves this book, in fact we gave her all of the books about Tilly's friends for Christmas.

What a fun book! Again this is an adorable book in the Tilly and Friends series. I am happy with this book, just as I have been with all of the Tilly books. The book arrived in excellent condition. My daughter and my students love it!

This is another one of those children's picture books where the author has come up with a really clever double meaning title to grab adult's (or even kids) attention, and get them to pick it up off the shelf rather than one of the thousands of other less clever or boring titles in the book store. Kids will want to take it home, just for the laughs that taboo title brings alone. Like with picture books such as Mines Bigger Than Yours and Mum and Dad Glue, as you would probably have guessed, this is not a sequel to I Really Want to Eat a Child and has nothing to do with a crocodile taking bites out of a meal that it has made of a male animal's reproductive organs.

So what is Doodle Bites actually about? Well Doodle, as you may have guessed from the book cover, is actually a crocodile. The tale starts off with Doodle waking up one morning, sitting up erect in her bed and feeling bitey! (Yes the title's inside joke for adults does continue within the story). Anyway Doodle lives in a house with a few other animals including a human girl. Many of these animals such as a pig and chicken are animals you would think wouldn't last long living with their natural predator, but for some reason, Doodle's feeling bitey, doesn't mean she wants to eat them. Instead Doodle starts taking big chunks out of the furniture, the mail and other household items, until that is, she is tempted by the naked buttocks of Tumpty her roommate and can't resist. Tumpty happens to be an elephant, and a particularly wussy one at that and bursts into tears, even though there is no blood, chunk of flesh missing, or anything (remember this is a kids book). Tilly the human girl is obviously the bossy kid of the group, and tries to imitate what she thinks a parent/teacher would do and tells Doodle off, including that it's not nice to bite your friends. Doodle couldn't care less about her crying flatmate and mocks him with Mmmm Bitey! Bitey! as she starts to chew on a toy car that Tumpty was previously playing with. As many kids reading the book will be able to relate to from their own real world experience, once the parent/teacher/dominant alpha child figure has joined them, the victim knows they are there to stop any reprisals (forgetting of course that they won't always be there later on). Tumpty decides to lash out at Doodle by stomping on her tail (again it is not broken or crushed like would in the real world). Tilly then of course has to tell off Tumpty. Both Tumpty and Doodle burst into tears and so does, for no apparent reason a pig called Hector. Meanwhile, while this had all been going on a chicken called Pru had discovered the first aid kit and was carrying it around like a plaything. She now decides to waste the plasters as does Tilly the bandages comforting the three wussy animals. The chicken then starts kissing everyone, even Doodle in from what can be seen by Doodle's reactions in the pictures is clearly unwanted sexual harassment. However with her buttock biting actions moments before, she's obviously reluctant to raise that issue. In the aftermath Doodle still feels bitey, and eyes of the ears of a rabbit roommate, however the chicken has a plan to stop another Tumpty verse Doodle incident.

It is a simple tale, with very basic coloured drawn illustrations. It does have characters performing scenes and taking on characters that children will come across with real life other kids in kindergarten, school, or other situations where kids are forced to mix and play together, such as the wussy kid who breaks into tears when there's a bit of tension in the air, the kid who wants to be the leader and boss everyone other child around and dish out right and wrong advice. Parents/teachers/library staff would probably have to point out that the first aid kit isn't a toy and the consequences of using up all the first aid items if there is someone who actually needs them, but other than that overall, Doodle bites is not a bad book and pretty much wraps up everything on its own.

This is an adorable book for little ones. The story is engaging and simply told so it keeps the child's attention. The illustrations are just as cute. We will most likely purchase more of the books from this author. The book was purchased for our grand daughter. It also teaches a lesson about biting

Tilly and her friends are up to the usual; playing, dressing up, painting, hiding, reading, sleeping and much much more. Doing what kids do best and sometimes...what they don't do so well; biting, yelling, pushing and other not to nice things. What Tilly does for her friends though is show them how to behave their very best and enjoy being together.

This series, though not flashy with glitter and neon colors, is a stand out in my opinion. Without a doubt, over the last couple of months that we've been reading it both Littlebug and Turkeybird have wanted to read each book over and over again, more than any other books on the shelf. To be honest, I was a bit surprised. When they arrived (unjacketd, of course, which is fantastic!) the seemingly plain book spine and pencil type illustrations didn't seem to me to be something the kiddos would gravitate towards. I did of course, I devoured each book that evening on my own, loving the very simple yet beautiful illustrations of Tilly, Tumpty, Doodle and the others. Not to mention the stories were adorable, teaching kids to be polite, not grumpy or selfish, not to bite, when to go to bed and more but in a very funny way. They were also some of the first that my dear sweet Baker (hubby) has really enjoyed reading as well (he's extremely picky about picture books).

Well, I once had a doctor jokingly tell me, "Kids live to prove you wrong" and that is absolutely the case with these books. Immediately they loved them. Not only that, but as Littlebug mentioned, her recent elephant gift for her birthday has been named Tumpty (pronounced "Tumppy" by her) and it must go with her everywhere. They've absolutely fallen in love with the series, as have I.

Tilly and Friends may seem a quiet and inconspicuous, but once you open the pages you'll quickly see precisely how delightful these characters are. Helping children to see there is a better way to treat our friends isn't always the easiest thing either, but with Tilly and her troop of animal friends children will be able to gain a better understanding of some of the most basic concepts that can often be taken for granted by adults. Polly Dunbar has made a beautiful set of books that not only children will love, but parent will love as well. Our family being one that is entirely captivated with this series of books and I know many other families will be as well. Do not pass this series of books up for a much more `shinny' picture book, you would be missing out on some of your best reading time ever with your kiddos.

Originally reviewed & copyrighted on my site, There's A Book.