I was very excited to attend the book launch – or as the wonderful host said to the children – the book birthday of I Just Ate My Friend. I love being able to support Australian authors, whether it by purchasing their books or in this case attending my first book launch. The first thing I did was purchase myself the book and the staff asked if I would like it signed…Yes Please! I was delighted to have a quick chat with the author Heidi McKinnon, who is incredibly humble, lovely to speak to and will delight us with another book in the future…although she is not sure what it will be about yet.
One of the owners of The Little Bookroom, Leesa, was so engaging as host – I was truly inspired by her as a storyteller and I hope to make contact with her and the store to share more about them in the future.
So now I share with you the book that I cannot wait to read at my next storytelling session…
I Just Ate My Friend Text & Illustrations by Heidi McKinnon
Published by Allen & Unwin
Date: August 2017
R.R.P: $24.99
“I just ate my friend”.
“He was a good friend, but now he’s gone”.
…And so begins the little guys journey in finding a new friend. This book about friendship sees the yellow monster walking along asking different creatures whether they will be his friend, all saying no for various reasons. He becomes worried that he ate his only friend. Much to his delight, he does find a friend until…it is not what you are expecting and I cannot share what happens because it is one of the funniest parts of the book and I do not want to spoil it for you.
I love this book because it is great for toddlers and up, in fact this book would amuse your school age child too. Lots of giggles were had at the book launch where there were various ages, including children up to about the age of 10.
The pictures are so beautifully simple and engaging, there isn’t anything in the background to distract you from the essence of the story and pictures. I Just Ate My Friend is also a good book for your early reader as there are only a small amount of words on each page, and most of the words are familiar and not too difficult to learn.
The other great reason why I love this book and I often talk about this when it comes to picture books, is that it is interactive. The children will soon be joining in with the NO’s and the big ROAR and guessing what is coming next. That all makes for a very fun story session, whether it be in a group or one on one.
I cannot wait to see what Heidi has in store next. I am hoping it is another with as few words as this, because I often find it hard to find engaging books with few words for reading to toddlers and this has got all the right elements for keeping a group of toddlers interested.
I highly recommend this book and hope that many of your get the same joy out of it as myself and many others that now have a copy of this book are.
Little Big Reads 
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