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The Ugly FiveJulia Donaldson
The Ugly Five
by Julia Donaldson
The five least handsome animals on the African plains meet up and list their faults, until their children arrive and disagree.
A story about animals, funny and rhyming 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
The five 'ugliest' animals of the African savannah — the warthog, the wildebeest, the vulture, the hyena and the marabou stork — parade their supposedly unappealing features in bouncing rhyme, until their own delighted babies come running to show that to someone, each of them is the most beautiful thing in the world. Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, the Gruffalo team, turn a set of genuinely odd-looking real creatures into a warm, funny celebration of being loved exactly as you are. The rhyme is irresistible read aloud, Scheffler's animals are characterful and charming, and the gentle message about beauty and love lands softly through the story. There is nothing to trouble a young reader. For a three- to six-year-old it is a joyful, reassuring read-aloud with a lovely twist, and a nice way to introduce some unusual African wildlife too — proof that the Gruffalo partnership can make even a vulture and a warthog thoroughly lovable.
If they like this, try these
Chosen by matching age, reading age, tone and subject — not by what is selling.
SuperwormJulia Donaldson
The GruffaloJulia Donaldson
The Gruffalo's ChildJulia Donaldson
TiddlerJulia Donaldson
What the Ladybird HeardJulia Donaldson
The Highway RatJulia Donaldson
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
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