Children's Book Spotlight - Pete the Cheeky Parakeet by Cheryl Lee-White

Pete the Cheeky Parakeet by Cheryl Lee-White

Published 15th October 2018 by Blue Falcon Publishing 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis (from publishers website)

When Pete the Parakeet’s favourite person goes on holiday without him, he’s left behind with the rest of the family – and they’re not his biggest fans!

Will Pete realise that being the bird with the bad attitude won’t get him anywhere?

This amusing rhyming tale will bring lots of laughter and learning to story time!

My Thoughts

As a reception teacher (4-5 years) I'm always looking for new books to share with my class. I've also just had a baby so building a library for him is also important to me so when I saw Blue Falcon Publishing was looking for reviewers I offered my services. 

This is a delightful children's book with bright colourful illustrations that captured the attention of my 10 week old as I read it too him. The story is written in rhyme and this is one of my favourite things when it comes to children's books because I find it helps the story flow. It also gives some rhythm to the story which is really important for children to hear, in order to develop this skill themselves. There was a great rhythmic aspect to this story as I read however, there were a few rhyming couples that didn't quite fit and that made me have to back track a little but I think that would be rectified the more you read it.

The other thing I like when it comes to children's books is those that have a moral or a message within the story and this one had just that. This is the sort of book that I would use with my class when we are talking about friendship and being kind to one another. Pete the Parakeet is quite unkind to everyone apart from one person. When this person leaves he realises he hasn't got anyone to play with so he apologies. This is a really important life skill that needs teaching to children and this book would definitely offer a way of looking at this. 

Overall I thought this was a really fun book with an important message. It's one I'll be added to my repertoire of books that I use within my teaching.