Synopsis: Kipper is worried. Someone or something had been nibbling a hole in Kipper's toybox! What on earth can it be? And are his toys safe?

Review: This is another lovely story by Mick Inkpen that will delight young children and make grown-ups chuckle too! Kipper is an endearing dog, which appeals to most young children. Kipper has touched a chord with children and parents alike. 

 This is one of the longer Kipper stories, which makes it perfect for reading aloud to young children: it's a grat bedtime story. There are so many references to every day life, therefore its hard not to love this Kipper classic.

One day Kipper notices that there is a hole in the corner of his toybox and is instantly worried that some of his toys might be missing. He empties them from the toybox and starts to count them but he has a little bit of trouble. Finally he gets the right number but when he is putting them back in the box he counts eight noses instead of six and realises something isn't right. When he takes them out again he finds that Sock Thing is missing and is very upset, as this is one of his favourite toys.

 He soon finds that Sock Thing is crawling towards him in the middle of the night and is confused as none of his toys have come to life before. After a brave grab, he finds that there is a small mouse inside it and along with its friend; they have taken bits of the toybox to make as a nest. Kipper tells them that they can share the toybox and use it for a nest, which pleases them, as it is nice and cosy inside with all the toys.

This book, like every other Kipper book that I've seen, is a little gem with lots of things to look at in the delightful illustrations and a simple story to accompany them. The book consists of 24 high quality pages, in the popular double page spread format with clearly font and superb illustrations.

 Inkpen has a knack of giving his characters some great expressions and really makes them come to life in the eyes of children. The mice are very cute in the book and the funniest bit has to be right at the end when Kipper is left sitting in his basket, with an abundance of baby mice running around him, getting up to mischief and generally making a nuisance of themselves. This last picture is also a great opportunity for children to count all the mice, as there are heads and tails everywhere.

The book reads very well aloud  and is an excellent `read-to-me' story for the younger child, progressing to `read-with-me'.... and…. bound to be requested regularly!

2008-08-30