Review and Book of the fortnight: What the Ladybird Heard Next by Julia Donaldson & Lydia Monks

This week G and I have been lucky enough to be sent a copy of the latest title from Julia Donaldson & Lydia Monks; 'What the Ladybird Heard Next'.

Along side the review, this book is my young children's book of the fortnight and here is what we thought of it!

What the Ladybird Heard

Following on from 'What the Ladybird Heard', Lanky Len and Hefty Hue are back and this time they are after the fat red hed.
For those not familiar with the first book, don't worry you can still enjoy this book without having read the first.







Using her successful story telling formula, Julia takes us back to the farm where the ladybird and friends reside. With guidance from the little ladybird, the animals work together to once again foil the plans of the two theives.

I have to be honest, at first I was not sold with this book. I felt that it might be just too familiar to the first, with the verses of fun and repetitive farmyard noises found in the first, reappearing in this second story.

Fun farmyard verses

 Obviously though this book was not aimed at someone in their late 20's and the above were a part of a magic of the first book, where I enjoyed them and a are a great way for children to interact with the story. We all know young children love repetition.

What makes the story original was the introduction of a new character, the 'snuggly snerd' and it was this that my 4 year old noted as her favourite thing about the book. She particularly loves the picture and how it lays huge eggs.

Julia has once again teamed up with illustrator Lydia Monks for the these stories, whose pictures really bring the story to life. I particularly love the bright, eyecatching front cover of this book. It's something that would stand out to me from the shelves of the bookstore.

Along side What the Ladybird Heard and her other collaberations with Lydia (The princess and the wizard, The singing mermaid, Sugarlump and the Unicorn to name a few) this book also has the lovely glitter effect which is a another great way for little one's to interact with the story.

We enjoyed this story and the new way in which the animals mislead Hugh and Len and we have read it three times already.

Lovely detailing

Colourful, appealing illustrations

I'm sure that most households across the country with young children will have atleast one title from Julia Donaldson in their bookcase and this is a great one to add to the collection.

For those who want a closer look, you can see the trailer below

The book is not out until September the 10th but you can preorder your little one's a hardback copy of it here with a preorder special price of £5.99, when normally it retails at £11.99. You can also get free delivery if you are ordering over £10 of books.

Coinciding with the launch of the book, Macmillan children's books have posted a fun Q&A session with Julia and Lydia for you to get to know them a bit better.

So what do you think? Will you be buying a copy?

*This is not a sponsered post but for the purpose of this review we recieved a copy of the book. All views are our own.