Children's World

Recently, I have been asking myself, ‘What makes a good children’s story book?’ Quite simply, is it fun to read? Is the plot well constructed with a good beginning, middle and end? Are the characters engaging and realistic? My lecturer gave me a simple answer for it. He mentions that children’s story must be funny, engaging and slightly ‘naughty’ – which children love.

One of the good example of children story would be the story of “Edwina the Emu” by Sheena Knowles. This story is about a two emus – the female emu, Edwina and the male emu, Edward. In this story, the female emu went out of her nest for work to support her family and new ten emus that going to born from the eggs. Edwina went to find a suitable work for her, while her husband, Edward takes care of the eggs. First she become a ballerina, but was rejected due to her physical appearance as an emu. Then, she thought she can be chimney sweeper, but again she was rejected because she is an emu. Lastly, she tried to be waiter. There a customer said that he could eat ten eggs for his breakfast. At this time, Edwina realized that she best suits become a mother rather than work. She runs away to her nest and was relieved to see her ten eggs save and ready to hatch.

I think this story is suitable for young kids and adults as well. It contains the important elements such as hard work, independent, motivate and not forgetting, the love towards children. The illustration of the book is another attraction towards it. The colorful content will make the children to read the book more enthusiastically. The message from this story is beneficial as it reminding us the lesson that we gain in the past. Edwina is best suits as the mother and raise up her kids. The writer comes up with rhyming sentences to make it easier and simple to read.

Another story is The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldsonis. This story is about a smart mouse that uses his tricks to escape from other animals from eating him. The tiny mouse met a few animals such as fox, owl and snake when it was searching for food. He describe about Gruffalo to threaten the other animals from not eating him. But, at last he met with his imaginative creature at the end. To escape from the Gruffalo the mouse said everyone is the jungle afraid of him. Finally, the mouse escapes from the Gruffalo using its intelligence.

The story contains some attractive elements to gain children attention towards it. It shows how the mouse uses its imaginative skills to overcome the problems and survive in the jungle that full with many harmful animals. The mouse uses its intelligence to overcome the problems. Moreover, the illustrator has done a great job by giving colourful pictures for the children to refer.