Stick Man

Julia Donaldson's books became popular when my children were past the picture book stage but I'm discovering them as a grandmother. I bought Stick Man as an alternative Christmas book for my grandson and he loves it. The story is essentially simple- Stick Man has a series of mishaps and ends up far from home and all he wants is to return to his Stick Family. Told beautifully in rhyme with complementary illustrations that make the story accessible to a wider age range and encourage children to look and see. There is detail without clutter and opportunity for language development through both the text and pictures. Most of all, this is a lovely story with a happy ending for Stick Man.

This is another brilliant story from Julia Donaldson and has quickly become a firm favourite with our daughter. She loves it so much she can now read along with us and even joins in with the words. It’s especially lovely to see her follow along while listening to the Tonie version. The story is engaging, the rhymes are catchy (as always!), and the illustrations are beautiful. The book itself is a good size, and the text is clear and easy to read, even when the lights are a bit dim at bedtime. All in all, a lovely story that’s great for reading together and one that keeps getting picked off the shelf night after night.

My daughter loves this so I’ve read it more times than I’d care to remember

Book arrived in perfect condition and within time stated at time of order submission. Really good price for a top quality children's book. Thank you.

Both my son and I love this book. For a period he would get me to play it on TV over and over again and having the book to read over and over again cured him of it a bit so he was slightly less obsessed which was nice. To be honest, of all the things he's got hung up on I haven't minded so much with Stick man. Its a nice story and this is a nice book. Much less annoying than some of the other rubbish he's been into.

Excellent item. Delivered on time. Good seller.

Good stocking filler for a 3 year old.

I got this book for two-and-a-half year old twins and it has become one of their favourites. It has also really encouraged their language development and they I'll now both sit down and "read" it to themselves in their own words, remembering a lot of the rhymes and repeating them to themselves out loud when we are out and about. So it's a very useful and instructive book in that way. They've also learnt many new words and concepts such as jogging, chuckling, a fire with a grate, freezing and melting. The bit about Stickman lying on the snow has contributed to our winter topic, where we are exploring freezing and melting by making our own ice cream and stamping on icy puddles etc. The pictures are beautifully drawn and just right to appeal to a child's mind. They are full of little details which the kids are enjoying exploring. This book is also lots of fun to read out loud, and I enjoy doing Stickman's squeaky indignant voice, saying "I'm not a stick!!! Why can't they see?? I'm Stickman, I'm Stickman, I'm Stickman that's me!!! And I want to go back to my family tree!!" This repeated refrain is also wonderful for encouraging language and rhyming ability and has led to us creating our own rhymes. There are usually one or two clues in every book that Julia Donaldson is one of the first of Gen X. There is often a very traditional core to them (which is not at all a bad thing) and in this one it's the bit about the children playing Pooh sticks. Children don't really grow up reading Winnie-the-Pooh anymore (sadly in my opinion) so I just call it it a "stick" instead of a "pooh stick" or they wouldn't understand.

Das Buch Stick Man hat sich bei uns schnell zu einem Favoriten entwickelt. Meine Töchter wachsen zweisprachig auf (Deutsch & Englisch), und besonders meine 4-jährige Tochter liebt die Geschichte rund um den sympathischen Stockmann. Die Reime sind eingängig, der Wortschatz abwechslungsreich, und die Bilder unterstützen das Verständnis wunderbar – perfekt für Kinder, die spielerisch an die englische Sprache herangeführt werden sollen. Die Geschichte ist mitreißend, manchmal spannend, aber immer kindgerecht – und mit einer schönen Botschaft über Familie und Zusammenhalt. Die Illustrationen sind farbenfroh und detailliert, genau das Richtige, um Kinder beim Vorlesen zu fesseln. Ein kleiner Wermutstropfen: In der von mir erhaltenen Version fehlen an einigen Stellen die Anführungszeichen (“), was das Vorlesen leicht irritieren kann. Der Lesefluss leidet dadurch zwar nur minimal, aber gerade bei einem Kinderbuch, das so stark vom Vorlesen lebt, fällt das leider auf. Dennoch ein wunderschönes Buch, das in keinem Kinderzimmer fehlen sollte. Wir lesen es regelmäßig – und immer wieder mit Freude.

Stuoendo

Parfait

Beautiful illustrations! Like one of the other reviewers, I agree the message of this book is about perserverance. It ends with his adventure with santa, so this could be considered a hoiday book. There is repetition with the phrase, "I'm stick man, I'm stick man, that's me." Youngsters like repetition such as this. Most words are one or two syllables, but there are three-syllable words such as "family" and "deserted" and "delivered." If reading independently, due to some three-syllable words, I'd recommend up to third grade. If reading to kids, I'd recommend from age 4 to 2nd grade.

Beautiful rhyme with great story. We love this book.