From children's author and illustrator, Paula Metcalf, comes a witty and fun-filled story of friendship. Walter is really a very neat and tidy dog. His house is his pride and joy and he gets quite nervous when guests come round... When his best friend Pansy asks to stay, though, Walter is so excited! She's just a teeny weeny squirrel after all, how much trouble can she possibly be?! But when Pansy tries her very best to be helpful things just seem to keep going wrong! Nothing - from Walter's trousers to his curtains to his beloved brand-new teapot - is safe from accident-prone Pansy! Is she turning out to be the worst guest there ever was?
Paula Metcalf has written and illustrated many children’s books, and she’s been doing so for a very long time. (Her parents still own an early original illustrated poem, the short but pithy "Pin in Tin," penned at age four.) She went on to study illustration at the Cambridge School of Art in England, where she is currently a visiting lecturer in the master’s program in children’s book illustration. Paula Metcalf lives in Cambridge, England.
Walter, the dog, is very house proud. He loves his home and likes to keep it spick and span. He also loves his new sparkly teapot.
One day his friend Pansy, the squirrel, comes to stay. She arrives early before Walter has finished tidying his house, so Pansy offers to help.
Pansy though is a bit clumsy, and makes a mess of the jobs she is given, and breaks his new teapot. Needing to get her out of the house, Walter asks her to do a job outside, but Pansy can’t even do that right.
What is Walter going to do? He loves his house and he’s not impressed with how Pansy has treated it, but he loves Pansy too.
The Perfect Guest is a lovely, short children’s book about friendship. The story is about how not all friends are perfect, but they are your friends, and you need to see past their faults and learn to accept them.
The illustrations are bold, colourful and eye-catching. I love that they were drawn in a crayon effect.
The book would make a wonderful bedtime story, or for a class read. One that children will enjoy over, and over again.
I was sent a free copy of this book by the publisher.
Walter loves to keep his home neat and tidy. When his friend Pansy comes and stays for a visit, Walter can't wait to show her his new teapot. But Pansy isn't as neat and tidy as Walter is and she can be a little accident prone.
This is a picture book with a fun story. A paperback a little shorter and wider than A4 size it has some lovely illustrations on a thick matt paper. The story is a simple and funny one. Walter, a dog, is a bit of a neat freak and loves going about his day cleaning his house and looking after his garden. One day he gets a call from Pansy, his squirrel friend, and invites her over to spend some time with him. Pansy is nothing like Walter and although the two are friends, Pansy's accident-prone and messy nature lead to some funny antics.
The book has some lovely illustrations and I especially like how cute Pansy looks in her pink skirt. The whole story finishes with an unexpected twist which is a definite surprise but at the same time makes for a lovely ending showing how great friendship is.
Even though I like the twist ending, I did think the story might go on a little more than just abruptly finish the way it did (it just felt a little too short), but the book is growing on me and the more I re-read it, the more I enjoy it, it certainly made me smile. I think some adults would enjoy this story as much as the kids.
A funny, charming little book about a house-proud dog named Walter and his little friend Pansy, a clumsy squirrel who has come to visit. Walter is so in love with his beautiful home, especially his shiny new teapot, so he doesn't worry about Pansy coming to visit. How bad of a mess can one tiny squirrel really make right?
You're about to find out! As Pansy makes a mockery of the crockery, curtains into trousers and eats him out of house and home! Pansy is better off in the garden probably...until she floods it.
An absolutely hilarious book, perfect for children who love animal stories and a touch of humour. The best part for me wasn't actually the cute characters for once though - it was all the things going on in the pictures; they really did paint a thousand words in this case. Such a lot was happening on each page that wasn't even mentioned in the text, or maybe not until the next page, so you could see what kind of mischief Pansy was really getting up to whilst poor old Walter was oblivious. A really clever addition to the story, allowing readers imaginations to fill in the blanks as well for fun, instead of just relying on the story told in the narrative. A really great book.
This product was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Walter the dog is one house proud hound. He loves his polka-dotty table cloth, his pretty garden, and his sparkly new tea-pot.
When his squirrel friend Pansy phones to say she's coming to visit, Walter is excited, but soon discovers she’s a bit of a liability!
Pansy is a busy little guest: she bakes lemon-cake, but eats most of it herself, tucking into Walter's chocolates as well. She helps with the sewing & accidentally stitches Walter's trouser legs together. While the cake crumbs get vacuumed up, the tableware goes flying. The precious teapot gets a good scrubbing, but ends up in smithereens. When Pansy offers to dust the ornaments, Walter decides that her energy would be better spent with watering the garden vegetables. What harm could she do out there? Read more on my blog post here: https://missusbspicturebookreviews.bl...