If you have young children, you should spend at least 10 minutes every night reading to them, with them, or have them read to you. Reading is an important life skill and if you find the right book, so very enjoyable.
There are an abundance of children’s authors and picture books available to buy and a good starting point is Maverick Books, an independent publisher of children’s picture books, early readers, junior and middle readers fiction books.
I have read plenty of bedtime stories and one of the Maverick picture books we particularly enjoyed was Wishker, written by Heather Pindar and illustrated by Sarah Jennings.
Wishker is about a cat with magical whiskers, a story of magic and wishes and how you should be very careful of what you wish for, because you might just get it!
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!
Mirabel is a child that is extremely hard done by, well not really, she just feels that way. Whenever she asks for something the answer is always a resounding NO! It does not matter if it is a never-ending sleepover with her friends, zoo animals for pets or just to play in her brother’s room, her requests are always refused, much to her extreme disappointment.
One day whilst playing in the garden and complaining about the injustice of her life, she meets a cat. This rufty-tufty cat is magical, he not only talks but has magical whiskers. His name is Wishker and has the answer to all Mirabel’s perceived problems and grants her three wishes with his magical whiskers. Well, Mirabel is overjoyed, as any young child would be, and without thinking things through wishes for everyone to say yes to her. Wishker grants her wishes and Mirabel is ecstatic and starts requesting a class sleepover, animals from the zoo, clowns from the circus, lots and lots of ice cream and her requests are not refused.
That all sounds great doesn’t it? Mirabel starts to realise that having a never-ending sleepover, only eating meals of ice cream and a house full of smelly, stinking and disgusting animals is not as brilliant as she thought it would be. Having everybody say yes to her demands is not much fun, she just wants everything back to normal.
Overall, Wishker is a fun but cautionary tale about the dangers of having everything you want without thinking through the consequences.
Wishker is a fun and engaging story. It is a fantastic picture book filled with humour and a great message; be careful what you wish for, it may just come true! When we read it, it kept the attention of my young reading partners very well (I think they probably liked the idea of having a magical cat and all their wishes coming true). They love the beautiful illustrations by Sarah Jennings as they explain what is happening very well. At 32 pages it is a great length for a bedtime story.
Whilst this book has been written with a lot of humour it does also give an excellent message and it has been perfectly illustrated with eye-catching, colourful pictures that really enhance the story.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £6.99 (paperback)
For more information, visit maverickbooks.co.uk. Available to buy from Amazon here.
