A Parcel of Pigs and other Funny Tails

A Parcel of Pigs and other Funny Tails – review and giveaway

There are times when as an avid bookworm it’s hard having a child whose a reluctant independent reader.  Don’t get me wrong, Monkey loves books, he’ll happily let me read to him for hours, but getting him to read.  Oh boy, that’s a totally different story.  It’s not that he can’t read, he just chooses not to.  It’s a struggle at times, so in a bid to stimulate his self reading, I’m making a conscious effort to mix up the books we’re looking at, at home. A Parcel of Pigs and other Funny Tails is a book full of funny, rhyming poetry and it’s gone down rather well here.

A Parcel of Pigs and other Funny Tails

Written and illustrated by Andréa Prior, A Parcel of Pigs and other Funny Tails is a 36 page paperback book full of animal and food based poems with bright illustrations.  It’s aimed at children aged 5-8 years of age, and uses language that children will find easy to understand.

Being in Year 2 at school, Monkey faces the joy of SATS later this year.  Part of the testing process will focus on comprehension and really understanding what he’s reading.  Monkey struggles to break blocks of text down to then write about what he’s reading.  I’m hoping, by looking at these short poems and working through the questions that are asked on each page, it may help him a little with what lies ahead at school.

A Parcel of Pigs and other Funny Tails

I find that by looking at rhyming poems it gives Monkey a little bit more confidence with his reading, and if the text has some humour behind it, he’s more likely to stay engaged.  With a father in the fruit and veg business, anything that relates to food normally goes down well too.

A Parcel of Pigs and other Funny Tails

The poems are varied in length, but with a larger font, they don’t seem to be as daunting for a reluctant reader as some other poetry books we’ve got.  Monkey has tried to read a few of the poems himself, and we’ve read the book together a few times now.  I’d certainly recommend it.  Published through Matador Books, I’ve included my Amazon Affiliate link for you below.

disclosure:  we were sent the item mentioned in exchange for an honest review


I’ve happy to be able to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a copy of A Parcel of Pigs and other Funny Tails for themselves.  Complete the Gleam form below for your chance – good luck!

 

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(Please note that all entries will be checked against comments for validation).

Only the first step of this form is mandatory, all other steps are optional. Only one entry per person is allowed.

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Once a winner is randomly picked, I will check if the winner has done what was requested and I will contact them, if they do not reply within one week, the prize will be allocated to another person.

The giveaway will close on 5 March 2017 at midnight.

Don’t forget to visit my Giveaways page for more great prizes on offer!

A Parcel of Pigs and other Funny Tails book

66 thoughts on “A Parcel of Pigs and other Funny Tails – review and giveaway

  1. My sons are fairly young and like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star so they can make the hand movements!

  2. From A Railway Carriage Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson – my fav from childhood, it really describes a ride on a railway train, we love it.

  3. My grandchildren and I all love: On the Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan and we read it in funny voices and roll about laughing. I also encourage them to write their own poems which are so funny xx

  4. Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg, I loved it when I was a kid, it makes my children laugh when I put on the different voices. there’s a poetry book by the same name and it is fab

  5. I love all Allan Ahlberg’s poetry, have done since I was very young – especially Please Mrs Butler and Heard it in the Playground

  6. we dont have a favourite although my great aunt use to say one that starts when i was a lad.. was from the war a kids one but still a bit risque!!

  7. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star has been a favourite. Especially when he realised that many of his relatives also knew and loved it. He learnt how to access it via mobile phone and iPad, loves music etc.

    I tend to read book of Nursery rhymes etc. Do personally like :-
    There was a little girl
    With a little curl
    Right in the Middle of her forehead
    When she was Good,
    She was Very, Very Good
    And when she wad bad
    She was Horrid..

  8. We love a poem called ‘Spaghetti’ by Jack Prelutsky. It makes us all laugh. We also love listening to Michael Rosen poems on YouTube – so funny!

  9. We love halfway down the stairs by AA MILNE

    Halfway down the stairs
    Is a stair
    Where i sit.
    There isn’t any
    Other stair
    Quite like
    It.
    I’m not at the bottom,
    I’m not at the top;
    So this is the stair
    Where
    I always
    Stop.

    Halfway up the stairs
    Isn’t up
    And it isn’t down.
    It isn’t in the nursery,
    It isn’t in town.
    And all sorts of funny thoughts
    Run round my head.
    It isn’t really
    Anywhere!
    It’s somewhere else
    Instead!

  10. Thinking of it I haven’t read any poems to my son, apart from nursery rhymes of course. I will have to find some now 🙂 x

  11. My little ones too young to understand poems but reading this makes me think I need to start reading him some

  12. A poem called “A dug,, a dug” its about a boy begging his dad to get him a dog from the RSPCA at first his dad says no but the boys continues to badger him until his dad finally says yes,

  13. We have a nursery rhymes book. I used to read that to my son when he was little, now my daughter is 2 and we read a different one every night

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  15. Roald Dahls revolting rhymes – especially “the firelight flickers……….”, the boys find it hilarious

  16. We really like Heard it in the Playground by Allan Ahlberg 🙂 don’t have a particular favourite from the book though

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