Synopsis: The night the wind staretd to bump and to bash, was the night the rain started to thump and thrash. Oliver is small – he doesnt like it at all. He wishes he were tall and mighty enough to scare that storm away. This text is a beutifully written lyrical text about conquering four fears, with outstanding artwork from the award-winnning team behind Oliver Who Would Not Sleep and Snip Snap!

Review: Oliver is small but wishes he were tall and mighty. Bathtime begins in a thunderstorm; small and frightened, Oliver longs to be brave enough to face it without fear. As the storm rages, Oliver in the bath begins his imaginary journey across the sea. It starts calmly, as seahorses and seals gambol by the boat, but when he has to see off a ferocious pirate crew, it gets seriously frightening. Oliver isn’t quite sure about bathtime, and when there’s a storm going on as well, it’s a frightening prospect for a small boy. Nevertheless he steps into his bath and his toy boat transports him through towering waves and a multitude of terrors, all of which he faces and overcomes. Eventually his parents gather him up from the bath and, clean and warm, he falls asleep.

This is the the third story about Oliver. This reassuring text moves rhythmically and repetitively, engaging the youngest of readers who can quickly learn to join in with the rhymes. Mara Bergman has used some poetic devices, which the children might be encouraged to use as a stimulus for their own poetic writing.

Young children will enjoy joining in at some points during the text. Through the terrific rhyming text and bold illustrations, Oliver discovers that, though small, he is indeed mighty as he lives through his fears in this glorious, rollicking work of imagination. The illustrations (somewhat reminiscent of Ardizzone) are as wild as the bathtime weather, and as energetic as the wave-borne text, funny, simple but laden with additional information.

This is a gloriously detailed book that will be a joy to return to again and again. There is minimal text and big, busy pages. The book reads very well aloud, is suitable for  guided/group reading text and a great bedtime story!

2008-08-30