Home > Categories > Books > Kids - General > Keep an eye on this Kiwi review
Kiwi is on the hunt for some tasty huhu grubs. But clever poo-hoo grubs can outsmart an unassuming kiwi any day. Poor Kiwi is determined to prove he is a crafty creeper, a kiwi of considerable cunning... and to catch his next feed. He's off to hunt for worms. You have to be brainy to hunt those.
With deadpan narration and a hilariously lovable lead character, Scott Tulloch has brought to life an incongruous array of forest friends for the 5-8 year age group, in his first illustrated chapter book. Not for the easily offended.
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As soon as I opened my KR box my youngest grabbed this book and proclaimed it as her own, she also told me with some authority that this was going to be her bed time book that she was going to read alone and when she realised there were chapters she told me that she would read one chapter a night and then went off to find a bookmark. Her older sister has been reading at night for the past couple of years, where as Miss Six and I read together after school as part of her homework. Come 6pm and she was dressed in her pjs and asking me if it was bedtime. I told her she had well over an hour and she just said 'I am just so excited to be reading the book by myself'. Now this is huge if I knew I could have her in bed before her bedtime I would of given her a pile of books before now.
The next morning she was telling us all about the first chapter and how excited she was to read the rest. There are five chapters in the book and the whole thing can be read in less that ten minutes but I was so happy for her I could not burst her bubble and no one was allowed to touch the book until she had finished it. We did get updates all the time and I have to admit it left me dying to read it.
Now I am not usually one for toilet humor - I usually hate it but this book is done in such a way I was laughing out loud. It is beautifully written and so entertaining. It has done the whole family rounds and even gone to nanas for a sleep over and everyone has had a big smile on there face when finishing it. The Kiwi is rather gullable and I do feel sorry for him. It is told in a way that there is a conversation happening between the kiwi and possibly the writer and then the kiwi and the Huhu Grubs and then the Worms so it keeps it very interesting.
It is very simple to read and is perfect for children who have been reading for a while and is looking for some sort of independence, or if not quite up to that stage great for reading with a parent. It would be great for boys and girls and I assure you there will be a lot of laughs. The pictures are not complex at all, just roughly sketched and although not my style of drawing they work with the theme of the story. A book that has been read a lot already and I am sure will be read a lot in the future.
Miss 5 has only recently started school and reading books herself, most of the time these are generally the books which she brings home from school each night as part of her home learning, although at times she has been enjoying reading other first reader type books which we have at home. When she saw me arrive home with 'Keep an eye on this Kiwi' as a possibility to review she was very very keen to do so, even though I reminded her that it may be a bit trickier to read than her usual books, however she insisted after all it was about a Kiwi and she has spent the last school term learning all about these lovely animals.
The book is 64 pages long and is classed as a illustrated chapter book suited for the ages of 5 to 8 years. The front cover is bright yellow with green writing which really stands out and of course there is an image of a Kiwi. The book is broken down into 5 chapters or different small stories with each one seemingly similar to a comic in my personal opinion at times, many of the pages also seem to be written in context as 2 different people talking which does add to the humorous content of the book. Miss 5 and I have read a chapter a night over the past week and I have to say I am pleased with just how easily Miss 5 has grasped the concept of the book and picked up on many new words from sounding them out, the book does have a lot of 'toilet talk' with words such as Poo-Hoo Grubs, Bum, and Farty-Kaboom and the likes but Miss 5 calls it the "funniest book ever".
This book would definitely appeal to a large audience of children especially boys, and I feel this would be a perfect book for getting them to enjoy reading as it does contain a lot of humour, very well suited to the specified age group. I shared this with my friends 8 year old twin sons who loved it and were in hysterics as they read it with no issues at all, it seems like the perfect book for having a good laugh with a friend. The images on each page are cute and funny and really illustrate well what the book is saying.
I wouldn't normally let my child read about toilet words and the likes as working in a daycare I have seen so much silly behavior from such books, however on this occasion the book is very well written and comical and i'd recommend if your wanting to get your child into reading.
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