*I received a free copy of this book with thanks to the author, Faye Rogers at Authoright and Clink Street Publishing. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Blurb: Follow the adventures of Utan as he goes on his first family holiday and encounters the magic of a world under the sea.
The pictures and illustrations in Uthan are a joy! They alternate between background-wallpaper style doodles behind the text and large, realistically detailed pictures on facing pages, and both the children and I loved all of them.
In the story we follow Uthan as he has a day out snorkelling in the ocean and meets turtles in their natural habitat. There is just the right amount of writing per page to hold the attention of Minishine and Babybows (at 6 and 3 years old respectively) and the plot and language were simple and easy for them to follow.
Our only slight criticism we had of the book, bearing in mind that we are a terribly pedantic family, is that the pictures did not always totally match up with the corresponding text. For example, Uthan describes donning a life vest to snorkel, but the picture shows him without one, or he mentions the colourful fish but they aren’t visible in the picture alongside. This is a really small quibble, but as my children are inveterate pointers-out of small details this was something they both noticed!
Babybows (quickly before his sister can get a word in): ILIKETHETURTLEBEST!
Pardon?!
Babybows: The turtle. At the end. I love its pretty colours.
Minishine (slightly miffed): I was going to say that! But I like the whole story because I love going to the beach and in the sea. I would really have liked more story though, like did he play on the sand too and eat ice cream, and stay in a hotel?
You’re obsessed with staying in hotels! But I agree that I could definitely read more about Uthan’s holiday here.
Minishine: It looks like lots of fun! I would love to swim underwater with all the animals and fish like that. Do you think he will go somewhere different in the next book, or to the beach again? And stay in a hotel?
We’ll have to wait and see!
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Uthan is available on Amazon right now!
Bookshine And Readbows 