Best Test by Pippa Goodhart illustrated by Anna Doherty

Bird finds a delicious huge strawberry. Frog would like to eat it and so would shrew so they decide to hold a competition and the winner will win the strawberry.  The competition is constructed around the talents of each competitor. Frog can jump and make silly faces; rat is a great runner; bird can reach high; mouse is skilled with colouring in and squirrel enjoys guessing the contents of bags (especially if they contain acorns). Shew decides to be the referee and she designs the race course. Are you ready? Are you steady? Go! It is wonderful to see how the animal friends actually help each other through the race. Squirrel helps bird guess what's in the bag by offering a hint; rat helps squirrel with the colouring test.

"I declare you to ALL be the best!' laughed Shrew." Now they can all enjoy that strawberry - or can they? The final twist will give you and your young reading companion a huge smile. I highly recommend this book as a perfect addition to a Primary school or Preschool library. The end papers are terrific showing all the animal friends making funny faces. You will see they are filled with photo selfies.

You can find some activities and a poster on the Tiny Owl web page. The trailer is fun too.

Of course this book will remind you of The Little Mouse, the Ripe red Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear.

This is the second book in a series by Pippa Goodhart and Anna Doherty on the theme of celebrating our talents.

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood

I have loved this book The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear for a long time so you can imagine my delight when I discovered a copy with a CD - this adds another dimension to this deceptively simply story.

Someone is talking to the little mouse - warning him about the big hungry bear and the desperate need to protect a yummy ripe red strawberry that the mouse is just about to pick.  I think the charm of this off stage narrator works in a similar way to the extra voices we hear in Spot.  See below for my favourite page where we see the mouse trying to disguise the strawberry.  This is a book I never tire of reading and I know my kindergarten students have really enjoyed reading it with their teachers this term too.

In addition to the book and CD I also have the mouse, the strawberry and even the knife in my toy collection.

This book is a timeless classic for our youngest children.  Look for it in your library today.

Here is a video of the book.  Here is a detailed lesson plan.