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StuckOliver Jeffers
Stuck
by Oliver Jeffers
Floyd's kite gets caught in a tree, so he throws his shoe at it. Then the other shoe, then a ladder, a boat and eventually a whale.
A story about children, funny and strange in tone. We would put it with children of 3–6, and at a reading age of about 5 for reading alone.
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Our take on this book
Floyd's kite gets stuck in a tree, so he throws his shoe up to knock it free, and the shoe gets stuck too, so he throws the other shoe, then the cat, then a ladder, a bucket of paint, a fire engine, an orang-utan and eventually a whale — everything except, of course, the obvious solution. Oliver Jeffers builds the whole book on one escalating joke, and its genius is the deadpan logic: each daft object is thrown up for a perfectly reasonable stated purpose, and the pile in the tree grows more gloriously absurd with every page. Children adore spotting what has gone up and shouting about what he should try instead. There is nothing to worry about here, only pure silliness delivered with a straight face. For a three- to six-year-old it is a read-aloud that gets funnier the more ridiculous it becomes, and the ending lands the joke perfectly.
If they like this, try these
Chosen by matching age, reading age, tone and subject — not by what is selling.
This Moose Belongs to MeOliver Jeffers
Avocado BabyJohn Burningham
Handa's SurpriseEileen Browne
Lost and FoundOliver Jeffers
On the Way HomeJill Murphy
Or let them write their own.
Nothing gets a child reading like a story they invented themselves. Your child plans the characters and the plot, and we write, illustrate and print it as a real book with their name on the cover as the author.
Find another book
Tell us the age, the reading age and what they like, and we will suggest a handful.