Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Reading Time
    • Home
    • Reviews
      • Highly Recommended
      • CBCA Short Listed
      • Early Childhood Books
      • Younger Readers
      • Intermediate Readers
      • Older Readers
      • Great Read Alouds
      • Information Books
      • Picture Books
      • Professional Development
    • Interviews
    • Suggestions
    • News
    • Meet The Review Team
    • Contact Us
    Reading Time
    You are at:Home»Reviews»Early Childhood Books»Once I Munched a Mango

    Once I Munched a Mango

    0
    By Admin on January 5, 2021 Early Childhood Books, Picture Books, Reviews

    Samantha Wheeler (text) and Shannon Horsfall (illustrator), Once I Munched a Mango, State Library Queensland, December 2020, 32pp., RRP $24.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781922467249

    Once, I Munched a Mango is a great bedtime book for very young children. It is mostly soft and quiet (except for the page with the snake) providing families with a space to wind down as covers get tucked in. The frequent depictions of fireflies and butterflies give the book a dreamlike feeling. 

    The story is told by a young fruit bat who, along with the fruit it eats and the creatures it meets, become the focal points of each page. Readers will see strawberries and lychees, turtles, and dugongs to highlight a few. The author, Samantha Wheeler, is introducing children to some common and less common fruits and fauna in rhyming prose that is simple enough for young ones but with some slightly more sophisticated vocabulary to stretch their minds. 

    Shannon Horsfall has created illustrations that deliver a very ‘baby-like’ vibe for the book: the creatures have oversized eyes and innocent expressions. Plus, the overall colours and tones of the book are very much the blues, greens and browns of nature. One aspect that is particularly good for very young children is that the illustrations are not busy or complicated. There is no real need for little ones to be able to ‘read’ the images to follow a plotline. 

    Every couple of pages the questions is posed to the reader: “Can you guess the place I live, the land I love to roam?” Spoiler alert: it’s Queensland. Which shouldn’t be a surprise given this book was created for the First 5 Forever series for little Queenslanders. So, for families with a Queensland background or connection, this is a lovely one to consider for pre-schoolers.

    Reviewed by Cherie Bell

    Australian animals Australian flora First 5 Forever

    Related Posts

    Battlefield

    The Calling of Jackdaw Hollow

    The Bush Birds

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    • Themes
    • Curriculum
    Action adventure Airplanes Alphabet Anxiety autism Bullying CBCA Awards Coming of age Dystopian emotions family fantasy friendship grief Historical humour magic Mystery Post apocalyptic Readers Cup reluctant readers school Sci-Fi series of books siblings Sport Starting school Teacher Notes
    ANZAC Australian animals Australian history Biography Culture & Diversity Disabilities First Nations Geography health Humanities mental health Poetry Reconciliation resilience Science STEM Stolen Generation sustainability Wordless books



    Recent Comments
    • Barbara on The Secret of Sapling Green
    • Cherie on Elephant Island
    • Patricia Tilton on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Jilanne Hoffmann on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Penelope Pratley on The Secret of Sapling Green
    Recent Posts
    • Battlefield
    • The Calling of Jackdaw Hollow
    • The Bush Birds
    • Star of Anise
    • Spotlight Please…It’s Stevie Louise
    Recent Comments
    • Barbara on The Secret of Sapling Green
    • Cherie on Elephant Island
    • Patricia Tilton on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Jilanne Hoffmann on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Penelope Pratley on The Secret of Sapling Green
    © Copyright 2021 The Children’s Book Council of Australia - All rights reserved

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.