The Scariest Thing In The Garden product reviews

I am a huge Craig Smith fan and own all of his books as well as his Not Just for Kids album on both CD and downloaded. Earlier this year I went with my children to see him perform at the local library. There he sang many of the songs I knew and introduced us to his latest book The Scariest Thing in the Garden. As he sang it (without showing us the illustrations) he had all the children joining in and they loved it.

The story starts off with a Brussel sprout and how it is afraid of an aphid. Then continues with the aphid's fear of ladybirds and on and on until it comes full circle with a child afraid of Brussel sprouts. This is a fun story which if read is best done with a lot of expression. When listening to the CD Craig Smith and the youngsters helping him will have your child screaming too.

Scott Tulloch has done a great job with the illustrations making the eyes of the animals and even the Brussel sprout look scared. An observant child will also notice that the characters of the book are all hidden on the first page. This page could make a good picture discussion prior to reading and help young children identify the different animals. Adults can also use this book to talk children about fear and even the food chain.

This book is targeted at pre-schoolers but it is one that older children and even adults will secretly enjoy. If as an adult you get sick of reading it over and over you can always give your child headphones so they can listen to it to their heart's content. It is another great book by Craig Smith. I can't wait to see what his next book will be.

There are so many good children's books available these days but every now and then you come across one that is an absolute favourite which can be read time and time again and it never get's old, and I'm happy to say that this is one of them, this book is an absolute hit with everyone who has read it or has listened to it! For me this book brought back so many memories from my own childhood, from searching in the gardens for ladybugs and spiders at my grandparents to being served up a small pile of scary and oh so horrid tasting brussel sprouts on my dinner plate... also at my grandparents!

The Wonky Donkey and Craig Smith's other stories have always been firm favourites with Miss 4 and also with the children I teach at a daycare centre, so I was pretty sure that this book would also be! Craig Smith just seems to have a absolute talent for when it comes to writing children's books, and also for singing them in song, while some CD storybooks drive us crazy as Early Childhood Teachers and we can't stand to endure listening to them too many times over Craig Smith's do not! The illustrations are beautiful and eye catching and I absolutely love the front page where you can see a green, scared little face although you can be left guessing as to exactly what this is if you weren't to know, the children thought it could possibly be a cabbage, a lettuce or a leaf, I loved hearing their ideas! The best thing about the images was that the main one on each page e.g the aphid and the cat were of a large size which made them easy for the children to see and identify which helped with the level of fun that the book brings.

While initially I thought that this book was going to be more suited for the Toddler/Preschool aged children (2 to 5 years), my Nursery children actually loved it and seemed to get even more joy from it, we have listened to this several times a day since receiving it and it has never got old, and is currently the most requested book on our book shelf. The tune and singing of the CD is fun to listen and the children love to join in, the Nursery children especially get excited and break into hysterics, often left rolling around on the floor in laughter each time they hear the children beginning to scream as they come across the most scariest thing in the garden! It makes me giggle every time as I can just see the children wanting to join in with the screaming themselves but as i've always taught them not to scream inside they never do hehe.

As far as children's books go this is an absolute favourite and one that any Craig Smith fan should add to their collection, we have already added this to our to buy list at the centre as Miss 4 loves it also and has insisted that I bring it back home for her, 10/10 from me I look forward to seeing Craig Smith's next book.