Age 0-4

Reading to young children is always interactive; it's a conversation in which even toddlers who can't yet speak can point and turn pages. If a book encourages a child to participate by making noises or copying actions it is especially rewarding. Wriggle and Roar! is a particularly successful example of how this can work, with its collection of counting rhymes and rhymes to tickle by, rhymes about being different animals, and about gardening, growing or using your hands. Donaldson borrows the rhythms of nursery rhymes, and makes good use of internal echoes; "trousers and blouses" hang on a washing line, for instance. Sharratt's bright, crisply defined pictures teach children the symbols with which we represent the world: they are not literal observations but everything in them has meaning, with objects and facial expressions depicted succinctly and undestandably. Small children respond to the way that Sharratt's world makes sense. This book will animate, engage and stimulate babies and have nursery classes jumping about with noisy enthusiasm.

WRIGGLE AND ROAR! Rhymes to Join in with by Julia Donaldson and Nick Sharratt

(Macmillan £9.99)

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