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Oscar and Arabella
Oscar and Arabella and Ormsby
Oscar and Ormsby are woolly mammoths who don't always see tusk to tusk, and while two is company, with their friend Arabella, three most definitely makes a crowd. But when Arabella needs their help, Ormsby and Oscar must learn to work together.
- GenresPicture Books
32 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2008
7 people want to read
About the author
Neal Layton
130 books16 followersNeal Layton is the illustrator of POOP, EXTREME ANIMALS, WHAT's EATING YOU, and JUST THE RIGHT SIZE, all written by Nicola Davies. Neal Layton lives in Portsmouth, England.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 16, 2025
‘Oscar and Arabella and Ormsby’ by author and illustrator Neal Layton was a perfect read for me during a very tough time on the college front. It is the perfect read for any PYP or any Primary Years school student and is an excellent tool for a great PYP storyteller teacher to use effectively in their classroom especially during the Reading Period.
The book was first published in the hardback form in 2007 and then later in the paperback version in 2008. I read it in the paperback form, and it is simply done so well and beautifully that I don’t have the heart to return it to my local lending library. But I have to so that more younger readers as well as some PYP teachers or librarians can enjoy this read during their respective school terms. I congratulate Neal Layton for creating a really beautiful book focussing on the value of acceptance in friendship and I hope to read more books penned and illustrated by him in the near future if I am given the chance to do so.
The book is about two Wolly Mammoths named Oscar and Arabella who love to go on nature treks and spend time with each other as the best of friends till the day a Wolly Rhinoceros named Ormsby tries to be part of their friend circle. Oscar cannot tolerate the presence of Ormsby in his circle while Arabella finds Ormsby to be quite entertaining as a friend. What happens to this trio of would-be friends is for you to read and find out in Neal Layton’s 2007 story titled ‘Oscar and Arabella and Orsmby’. Grab your copy of this book at your nearest PYP lending library today or better yet purchase your own paperback copy of this Ice Age themed book for the younger readers in your home or school. You will certainly not regret it, and neither will any younger PYP reader!
I loved the way the History theme of the Ice Age or Pre-Historic Man during the Ice Age was handled in this book which can really educate any PYP student in this regard. It can be very useful in a IB or IGCSE wellbeing class to dwell on the topic of accepting new friends or people for who they are, and it can be equally useful in an IB or IGCSE UOI class to talk about where human beings come from and where they used to live in the past. I loved the extra information about Wolly Mammoths and Wolly Rhinos given by the author at the end of the book in a creative manner and that will certainly interest PYP or other younger readers to delve into the topic of Pre-Historic Animals and the Ice Age.
The story was refreshing, entertaining and lively. The illustrations were done beautifully and yet in a casual and fun manner which will interest any child in this topic easily. I just adore the scribbles of Neal Layton to indicate the wool or fur of the mammoths or the rhinos in this book and I’m going to use this style for sure in my PYP art classes whenever I get the time to do so. The characters were larger than life and realistically depicted. I loved the subtle humour contained in the plot especially when Arabella went missing and that really made me want to laugh out loud and I’m sure every PYP reader will find that portion of the text to be really humorous and funny.
All in all, it is a lovely PYP book that should be on every junior reader’s personal library shelf. It seriously teaches the reader that sometimes ‘three is not really a crowd’ in all cases. In fact, some of the best friendships are made in groups of three and more!
‘Oscar and Arabella and Ormsby’ easily get 5 stars from me.
I wanted to present this book in particular to my PGCITE (Post Graduate Certificate in International Teacher Education) college class during the first Micro-Teaching Session, but a colleague beat me to it because the book’s cover just looked so attractive that she had to have it first, I’m sure!
Nevertheless, I’ll analyze the book on my website fizapathansteachingportfolioforpgcite.com ASAP! I cannot get enough of these three Pre-Historic Ice Age animal friends!
Kudos to Neal Layton on a job well done! And his scribbles are to die for! Delicious to the eye!
The book was first published in the hardback form in 2007 and then later in the paperback version in 2008. I read it in the paperback form, and it is simply done so well and beautifully that I don’t have the heart to return it to my local lending library. But I have to so that more younger readers as well as some PYP teachers or librarians can enjoy this read during their respective school terms. I congratulate Neal Layton for creating a really beautiful book focussing on the value of acceptance in friendship and I hope to read more books penned and illustrated by him in the near future if I am given the chance to do so.
The book is about two Wolly Mammoths named Oscar and Arabella who love to go on nature treks and spend time with each other as the best of friends till the day a Wolly Rhinoceros named Ormsby tries to be part of their friend circle. Oscar cannot tolerate the presence of Ormsby in his circle while Arabella finds Ormsby to be quite entertaining as a friend. What happens to this trio of would-be friends is for you to read and find out in Neal Layton’s 2007 story titled ‘Oscar and Arabella and Orsmby’. Grab your copy of this book at your nearest PYP lending library today or better yet purchase your own paperback copy of this Ice Age themed book for the younger readers in your home or school. You will certainly not regret it, and neither will any younger PYP reader!
I loved the way the History theme of the Ice Age or Pre-Historic Man during the Ice Age was handled in this book which can really educate any PYP student in this regard. It can be very useful in a IB or IGCSE wellbeing class to dwell on the topic of accepting new friends or people for who they are, and it can be equally useful in an IB or IGCSE UOI class to talk about where human beings come from and where they used to live in the past. I loved the extra information about Wolly Mammoths and Wolly Rhinos given by the author at the end of the book in a creative manner and that will certainly interest PYP or other younger readers to delve into the topic of Pre-Historic Animals and the Ice Age.
The story was refreshing, entertaining and lively. The illustrations were done beautifully and yet in a casual and fun manner which will interest any child in this topic easily. I just adore the scribbles of Neal Layton to indicate the wool or fur of the mammoths or the rhinos in this book and I’m going to use this style for sure in my PYP art classes whenever I get the time to do so. The characters were larger than life and realistically depicted. I loved the subtle humour contained in the plot especially when Arabella went missing and that really made me want to laugh out loud and I’m sure every PYP reader will find that portion of the text to be really humorous and funny.
All in all, it is a lovely PYP book that should be on every junior reader’s personal library shelf. It seriously teaches the reader that sometimes ‘three is not really a crowd’ in all cases. In fact, some of the best friendships are made in groups of three and more!
‘Oscar and Arabella and Ormsby’ easily get 5 stars from me.
I wanted to present this book in particular to my PGCITE (Post Graduate Certificate in International Teacher Education) college class during the first Micro-Teaching Session, but a colleague beat me to it because the book’s cover just looked so attractive that she had to have it first, I’m sure!
Nevertheless, I’ll analyze the book on my website fizapathansteachingportfolioforpgcite.com ASAP! I cannot get enough of these three Pre-Historic Ice Age animal friends!
Kudos to Neal Layton on a job well done! And his scribbles are to die for! Delicious to the eye!
November 20, 2017
This book was a cute story about two mammoth friends and what happens when a third, and slightly more reckless mammoth joins them. I liked how the moral of the story was that you can still be kind to someone even if you don't always get along with them, a lesson that sadly not many people know. I would definitely use this in my classroom in order to teach that lesson - and this book would help achieve that in a silly way!
July 16, 2014
I had no idea there were woolly rhinoceroses! Cool. Part of our Wednesday-evening-post-library Read and Snuggle(TM) lineup. We were all rather amused.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews