My Review
A lovely illustrated children’s story aimed at children 4 years and up. In this story we meet Poppy the Porcupine and Rory the Tiger who both live in the Sumatran rainforest which is one of the last places that tigers, elephants, rhinos and orangutans still roam together in the wild. I learnt whilst reading this story about both the rainforest and porcupines and their ability to hear being much stronger than their eye sight.
This story has a strong theme of friendship running throughout as initially Poppy is upset as she is lonely and doesn’t have any friends due to her spikey exterior and when she has the opportunity to make a friend she accidentally scares him away. I think it is really important for children to understand feelings and emotions from a young age and this story carefully crafts in fear and courage.
I loved the language used and the combination of words and illustration that will help younger readers to understand the words they aren’t sure on whilst offering a bit more of a challenge to the readers who are slightly older. The words are in a nice clear font with great spacing and I loved the descriptions and colours used throughout. I can’t wait to read the next one in this trilogy and see if we get to meet new animals in the rainforest or revisit Poppy & Rory.
Book Blurb
Poppy the porcupine has always wanted to make a friend, but her defensive nature prevents her. When a young tiger cub stumbles upon her one day in the rainforest, she reacts badly and scares him away.
Determined to change her ways, she sets out to find him, but little does she know that the tiger cub is about to have a problem of his own. In the face of danger, will Poppy find a way to save the day?
Available to purchase here
Meet the Author
Emma Sandford is a Liverpool-born author and businesswoman based in Cheshire. For many years, she has wanted to write a children’s book that draws on her own experiences and helps young children overcome personal issues. One day, inspiration hit her: she realised that a porcupine has a very obvious defence mechanism where it shows its quills, stamps its feet and chatters with its teeth when feeling threatened.
Unfortunately, due to traumatic events in her life, Emma has also been defensive in situations where she didn’t need to be, and was frightened to let people get close to her. The Problem With Poppy is a fun way of teaching kids that while everybody has a natural defence mechanism, there is a time and a place to use it. By the end of the story, Poppy has learnt this valuable lesson and she makes a lifelong friend in the process.
Emma is planning on writing more books in the future that have similar important messages for youngsters. Watch this space!
Social Media Links
https://www.facebook.com/FullMediaLtd
https://twitter.com/FullMediaLtd
https://twitter.com/ESandfordAuthor
Many Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation to join the blog tour. Please remember to like and share to help spread the book love
Thanks for visiting Love the Smell of a Book today and I hope you have a great day!
Daisy & Kel x
Love the Smell of a Book 