Home > Categories > Books > Kids - General > Grandpa's Slippers review
They are ratty and tatty, a little bit mouldy and a little bit smelly! There are holes in the soles and... look, is that Grandpa's toe? It is time for a new pair of slippers, but Grandpa can't let his old ones go.
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Grandpa's Slippers, like all of the Grandpa series is a classic, favourite of mine from childhood. It is a feel good story which to this day still brings a smile to my face. I like that this book is part of a series and can be explored over time as a time, whilst simultaneously being one off, individual stories. The pictures in this book and lovely and make children giggle. The front cover of grandpa with his hairy legs and very holey slippers gives the reader a good look into what the story will be about.
As a teacher of primary aged children, I can honestly say this book is well and truly enjoyed as a shared picture book story amongst all children. Having first enjoyed this series 20 odd years ago, when my Grandma and Grandpa first read this to me, it is lovely to be able to share this classic story with my students now. This story talks about the new to replace worn and tatty items whilst exploring the theme of our materialistic world. For older students, this would be a great book to encourage conversation about how we throw away items so readily in modern day society in comparison to years ago when everything was mended by hand and given away as "Hand me downs".
This story is one I cherish and have fond memories of. It is a lovely story for Grandparents to share with their mokopuna to create new, and cherish-able memories like mine.
For Christmas my 2 year old received a collection of books from the 'Grandpa's' series. I was quite excited to read her these books as I remembered loving them as a child myself but had forgotten all about this collection from when I was younger until she received them. Being such a book lover herself she was most excited by her new books and quickly flicked through each one before deciding on a book that she wanted to be read.
Grandpa's Slippers was her first choice, as she has a shoe fetish and saw that he had shoe's on (his slippers). As we read through the book Miss 2 really liked looking for the cat on each of the pages and also looking for where Grandpa's slippers had gone to, it didn't take long for her to catch on to what was happening in the story and realising that Grandma was trying to throw away Grandpa's slippers, each time she saw that the slippers were going to be chucked away she would say "naughty Grandma, don't throw them away Grandpa likes them, your not being a nice friend". She also liked relating to her own experiences such as when a pair of her shoes broke and had to go in the bin which at the time she wasn't happy about, until she was able to choose a new pair and kept telling Grandpa "don't worry you can get a new pair from Kmart" LOL.
The book did a really good job at telling the story by going through the days of the week, starting on Monday and working through to Sunday with Grandma each day trying to get rid of Grandpas slippers in a different way. The book was also written in such a way that after reading the story right through several times over Miss 2 was able to start joining in with the repetition of the sentences on each page, which had an extra sentence added page by page.
The illustrations are really well done and eye-catching, and the facial expressions that Grandpa has throughout the book are brilliant, Miss 2 and I spent lots of time talking about the different expressions and trying to mimic these ourselves.
This is a great book which provides lots of laughs and giggles, I'd totally recommend it!
"Grandpa's Slippers" is a delightful story about what people do when other people want to throw their precious stuff away. Every child can identify with having a special toy or garment which is torn or grubby or plain worn out, but is still his or her most precious possession and not to be taken away under any circumstances!
It interested me how my grand-children empathised with Grandpa and thought Grandma was so mean to him. We talked about respecting other people's things even if we don't think they are what we would choose ourselves, and about not trying to make people do things they are reluctant to do. It was a fun way for teaching those values, and the children could certainly relate to the situation in spite of their youth.
The illustrations were interesting. Three-year-old commented that Grandpa looked really grumpy in some of the pictures and five-year-old answered wisely that she would be grumpy too if someone tried to make her give away her favourite toy. Then they both agreed that they would let Grandpa keep the slippers but they might ask him to wash them so they did not smell quite so bad!
I love the way books like this inspire discussion and make children really think about the issues raised. It is fascinating to see how very young children can grasp really important concepts. You can almost see the thought processes churning round inside their heads as they work it all out! And what a fun way to do it.
I loved this book to bits as a child and still enjoy it as I read it to my children now. You can definitely tell its a favourite at our place with it's dog ears and curled edges, I like to think it gives a book character. All the kids love it from Mr 3 right up to Mr 15 who reads it to the younger ones! Definitely a great book for families, kindergartens and schools. We also have other books from the series including Grandpa's Cardigan.
The illustrations are bright, eye catching and child friendly. They are fun and well detailed. They are sketch type images. I think the style and detail represents the book and the story line very well. My three year old especially enjoys the repetition included in the story allowing him to join in. "Leave my slippers alone" is a well used phrase that is in his vocabulary. The story line is easy for younger children to follow and still fun for the older kids in the family, including Mum and Dad! It keeps Mr 3 interested and included in the story telling!
I think "Grandpa's Slippers" is a must have for any child's library as it is fun and easy to read!
An old time favourite - Grandpa's Slippers is a book that everyone I know has heard of and loved in some way or another. Seeing that this had been re-produced I was really excited to get to review it. Especially seeing as the group of 40 children I teach (aged 2-5years) have been enjoying Grandpa's Cardigan and Grandpa's Shorts but have been on the waiting list (for a minimum of 30days) to get to read this book from our local library. 30 days for anyone is a long time to wait - so its an eternity for a 2 year old!! This book arrived just in the knack of time and the children were SO excited, and hadn't lost their interest and enthusiasm in the series.
Turning the pages of this beautiful book my colleagues and I were not at all disappointed - the same good old grandpa's slippers story that we all love! But with a difference - new funky and bright pictures. The children were most relieved that Grandpa still looks the same hehe and they simply loved this story. A decent story line matched with simple phrases that repeat throughout the book, it wasn't long before the children were joining in with the words "leave my slippers alone"!! While the words of the story haven't changed at all, some of the layout of the pictures have but the actual pictures are still exactly the same. Something I think that is really important and has meant that the original story has been retained.
We did notice that some of the words are now in a speech bubble, for instance when grandpa says "that's how I like them" - this provided a talking point of some of our children as they wanted to know why the words were in a shape (the speech bubble). We also had a great discussion about what "stitching" is - this prompted a bit of a hunt amongst everyone's clothing as they figured out if their shoes and clothes had stitching or not. Great literature and a great story. Fully, totally and whole heartedly recommend this book to everyone!
The hairy legs on the front of this book grabbed my eyes as I glanced at it for the first time. I love the way the old slippers are drawn on the front cover and the visible big toe coming out of the front of one of them. I have read Grandpa's Cardigan before, so I knew I was in for a treat reading this book to my children.
I shared the book with my four year old son and 2 year old daughter and they enjoyed it. Mr 4 noticed that it was similar to Grandpa's Cardigan - that shows that that book had an influence on him as he remembers it. I think we can all think of an item of clothing or something in our houses that we really like that other people may find way past its use by date. When we read this story, we feel for Grandpa as he really doesn't want to part with his slippers.
I spent some time talking to my Mr 4 about the facial expressions in the book. We were able to talk about the feelings that Grandpa was going through each time his slippers were taken away and when he found them again. It is good for children to learn how to read faces so they know about their own emotions that those of others.
The illustrations are sketch-like but still quite detailed. There is a nice range of colours used. Brown is the dominant colour in the illustrations and this makes me think of older people in their homes. The clothing on Grandpa and Grandma are similar to the sorts of clothes that my parents would wear and very much in keeping with the age group that they represent.
There is repetition throughout the book and this allowed Mr 4 to join in with the bits he was familiar with. This means that the child becomes part of the experience rather than just an passive participant. Miss 2 even started to repeat the odd word or sound. The storyline is simple and easy for children to follow and listen to. The book managed to keep the attention of Miss 2 - she spent some of the time pointing to pictures and the rest of the time listening to the story.
This version is a redesigned version of a previously published book.
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