Oliver's Milk Shake

by Vivian French, Alison Bartlett (Illustrations)

Genres: Food

32 pages, Hardcover

First published July 20, 2000

About the author

Vivian June Isoult French MBE was born in 1945 and educated at Exeter University.
Vivian French was best known in school for being extremely skinny and for talking a lot. At school she developed an attachment to words and later became an actor, then a storyteller, and finally a writer of children's books. She is the author of more than two hundred books. Ms. French lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has four grown daughters.

Reviews

[Kayla Motok · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a cute story about a little boy named Oliver. He is a picky eater and the story follows about him trying one of his aunts delicious milk shakes. The whole time he is unsure about them and doesn't seem too excited until he actually drinks it and loves it! It would be a fun story to actually bring to life and take the classroom to a farm them selves to see all the animals and maybe even try out their own milkshakes!

[Laura Cope · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day, Oliver is eating breakfast, when his Aunty arrives to take him out for the day. She is shocked to see that Oliver's breakfast consists of orange squash - no milk in sight! Oliver insists that he doesn't like milk, but his Aunty is determined to change his mind by giving him one of her delicious fruity milkshakes! They go to the farm to buy fresh milk and see lots of different animals along the way.

This is a lovely story and has a lot of scope to be used in the classroom. I used this in an SEN school and found it very versatile as a book to read as a whole class. It also contained cross-curricular links to the Geography topic at the time - countryside. The farm animals mentioned in the book meant that it was good for testing the children's recognition of the animals as well as linking this to the noises they make. Using small toy versions of the animals also helps them to cross apply this knowledge and using them as props during the story makes reading it throughout a week or fortnight much more fun for the children! The book and associated activities would also work well in an Early Years setting.

It would be nice for children to visit a farm if possible, to bring the story to life, and to even make their own milkshakes in DT. A very versatile book with lovely illustrations which children very much enjoy reading.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oliver's Milkshake was about a young boy who fooled his aunt into making a milkshake by telling her he didn't like milk. They went into town and came up with another way for him to drink milk. She made him a milk shake. He drank it and it came about that he used it all on his cereal and there was none left. This is a good book for when kids are picky to come up with other ways for them to take in nutritious foods.