'Spells' by Emily Gravett

What WE Say...

We are a big fan of Emily Gravett and this latest book is probably my absolute favourite. A bored little frog with a book wants it to be exciting, but it's just an old book of spells. He spots a spell to transform himself into a handsome prince, but has to find all the bits of the pages, and has a little trouble getting it right.

As you would expect with Emily Gravett, the illustrations are just as important as the text. Joe (6) and I have poured over this book so many times and still we discover new details. The humour is wonderful and the gentle illustrations perfectly echo the fun, wistful text - the entire book is dark and magical.

Once frog starts 'spell-ing' there is also a split page effect akin to Nick Sharrats 'Cheese & Tomato Spider', which is where the real fun begins. Every child I have read this too laughs out loud at the spell combinations - and Joe simply adores reading the spells aloud himself... Carrotozabbit, Snabbit? Slimykazoot, Rewt?

The image of the finally-successful spell is hilarious - the naked prince in his muscle man pose, complete with 'Mother' tattoo on his bottom just has everyone in fits of laughter.

The kiss has my sons wincing and girls ooh-ing and the twist at the end has them shouting in dismay or delight (depending on their reaction to the kiss of course).

I LOVE this book and attempt to read it at as many bedtimes as possible. Any book which makes my children exclaim out loud, giggle gleefully and spontaneously stop the story to say 'look!' is about as good as it gets for me. It's also a perfect gift choice, with so much detail from front to back it feels really very special indeed.

Website: Buy from Amazon here