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Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book?
Herb never imagined the dangers when he decided to scribble on and cut up his book of fairy tales. Drawing mustaches on the characters, pasting telephones into the rooms, and cutting out Prince Charming and the royal thrones had seemed like good fun.
But then Herb never imagined he'd fall into the book one night.
After contending with a petulant Goldilocks, a very angry wicked stepmother, and a disappointed Cinderella, all Herb wants to do is find his way off the page. If only he can escape the book, he can make everything happily ever after again... sort of.
With exuberant collage illustrations and a hilarious text, award-winning author and illustrator Lauren Child has created a wild and irreverent romp through the land of fairy tales.
But then Herb never imagined he'd fall into the book one night.
After contending with a petulant Goldilocks, a very angry wicked stepmother, and a disappointed Cinderella, all Herb wants to do is find his way off the page. If only he can escape the book, he can make everything happily ever after again... sort of.
With exuberant collage illustrations and a hilarious text, award-winning author and illustrator Lauren Child has created a wild and irreverent romp through the land of fairy tales.
36 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
7 people are currently reading
563 people want to read
About the author
Lauren Child
452 books838 followersLauren Child MBE is an English author and illustrator. She was the UK Children's Laureate from 2017-19.
Child grew up in Wiltshire as the middle child of three sisters and the daughter of two teachers. She has always been interested in the many aspects of childhood, from gazing into toy shop windows to watching American children's shows from the 1960s. After attending two Art Schools, she travelled for six months, still unsure about which career to embark upon.
Before writing and illustrating children's books Child started her own company 'Chandeliers for the People' making lampshades. It was only when she came to write and illustrate the book Clarice Bean, That's Me that she decided to devote her time to writing and illustrating books for children, which combines her fascination for childhood and her talent for designing and creating. Child gets her inspiration from other people's conversations or from seeing something funny happen.
Her book I Will Not Ever Never Eat A Tomato won the 2000 Kate Greenaway Medal. For the 50th anniversary of the Medal (1955–2005), a panel named it one of the top ten winning works, which comprised the shortlist for a public vote for the nation's favourite. It finished third in the public vote from that shortlist.
Child lives in North London.
Child grew up in Wiltshire as the middle child of three sisters and the daughter of two teachers. She has always been interested in the many aspects of childhood, from gazing into toy shop windows to watching American children's shows from the 1960s. After attending two Art Schools, she travelled for six months, still unsure about which career to embark upon.
Before writing and illustrating children's books Child started her own company 'Chandeliers for the People' making lampshades. It was only when she came to write and illustrate the book Clarice Bean, That's Me that she decided to devote her time to writing and illustrating books for children, which combines her fascination for childhood and her talent for designing and creating. Child gets her inspiration from other people's conversations or from seeing something funny happen.
Her book I Will Not Ever Never Eat A Tomato won the 2000 Kate Greenaway Medal. For the 50th anniversary of the Medal (1955–2005), a panel named it one of the top ten winning works, which comprised the shortlist for a public vote for the nation's favourite. It finished third in the public vote from that shortlist.
Child lives in North London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 199 reviews
September 10, 2024
This book caught my eye while browsing the book bins at my local library. I was curious to see which picture books are available to children here in Bromyard. There are a lot of words for a picture book! Sometimes, I had to turn the book around to read them, which adds to the fun. Reading it as an adult, I was entertained by the wit and interested in discovering the fairytale characters interwoven through the text and enchanted by the colourful illustrations.
June 9, 2018
کتاب واقعا بامزهای بود :)) البته به شرطی که از اکثر قصههای قدیمی، مثل سیندرلا و سه بچه خرس و.. بیخبر نباشه بچه!
کی از کتاب بد گنده میترسد؟
کی از کتاب بد گنده میترسد؟
June 17, 2025
هم ایدهی کتاب خیلی باحال بود و هم تصویرسازیش رو دوست داشتم ولی بهنظرم نسخهی ترجمهی فارسیش به خاطر فونت بد باعث شده زیبایی کتاب کم شه و یه مقدار ناجور شده. البته ایدهای ندارم که فونت مناسبش چی میتونست باشه چون انگار اصلا فارسی به خاطر طولانی بودن جملات با این کتاب هماهنگ نیست و انگلیسی بیشتر بهش میاد. (نمیدونم درست منظورم رو رسوندم یا نه)
December 7, 2023
It's Lauren Child doing what Lauren Child does best.
As someone who adores fairytales I found this to be an absolutely entertaining and unique children's book. Even as an adult reader, I had a really fun time with this one.
As someone who adores fairytales I found this to be an absolutely entertaining and unique children's book. Even as an adult reader, I had a really fun time with this one.
August 2, 2017
A novel idea for a book in that not only does Herb get into the books that he reads, and cuts up, but he is then surrounded with collaged illustrations that mostly add to his woe and add to the readers' enjoyment.
It was a book of fairy tales that he was reading when he dozed off to sleep with his head on one of the pages. Next thing he knew he was awakened with Goldilocks screaming at him to tell him that he was not allowed in her story. But he was there ...
He runs away but passes puss in boot, who scares him so much he ran away again only to find himself at a party with Prince Charming present. Adventures with the ugly sisters follow before he confronts Cinderella in her kitchen.
'What shall I do next?' queried Herb and he was told to 'climb up the text' by his fairy godmother and having done so, despite the cries of Goldilocks that he was 'getting away' he lands with a bump on his bedroom floor!
He then spent the rest of the night putting back together the book that he had cut up and then everyone lived happily ever after!
August 2017 update: I didn't realise that I had read this book four years ago but I am pleased that I gave it a second reading for it is good fun with Herb nodding off and suddenly finding himself within the pages of a book, not just any old book, a Big, Bad Book!
Herb is an avid reader and he reads his books everywhere so much so that many of the pages were 'stickily stuck together, soggy round the edges and usually had bits of banana, biscuit and the odd pea squashed between the pages'. What a way to treat a book - it is no wonder that when he found himself within the pages of one of his books, it caused him a lot of woe.
The book was one of fairy tales so the people that he met proved to be some quite quirky characters. Goldilocks, who screeched at him that it was her book and he had no right to be on the same page(s) as her. Surprise, surprise he then met the three bears, followed by Hansel and Gretel nibbling a ginger bread house, puss in boots, a royal party, without Prince Charming for Herb had previously cut the book up and used the Prince elsewhere. Eventually he had to escape from the irate king and queen and he did so by cutting a hole in the page and nipping through it.
But in doing so he ran straight into the stepmother and the ugly sisters and then Cinderella and the fairy godmother. All he wanted from the fairy godmother was for her to cast a spell to get him out of the book but at first she was reluctant to do anything as he was not her fairy godchild and he had previously scribbled and snipped the book, which caused mayhem within it. 'But I can't find my way out,' pleads Herb.
While the fairy godmother was contemplating what to do, a chasing Goldilocks and the wicked stepmother come on the scene and want to trap Herb. So the fairy godmother piles up the text, Herb climbs up the letters, escapes and finds himself on the floor of his bedroom. Herb and his friend Ezzie then spend the rest of the night putting the storybook back together, at least as best they can for there was still some creasing on Prince Charming's leg so that he would never be able to dance properly again!
Once done, they all lived happily ever after and a sparkling story from Lauren Child sadly comes to an end.
It was a book of fairy tales that he was reading when he dozed off to sleep with his head on one of the pages. Next thing he knew he was awakened with Goldilocks screaming at him to tell him that he was not allowed in her story. But he was there ...
He runs away but passes puss in boot, who scares him so much he ran away again only to find himself at a party with Prince Charming present. Adventures with the ugly sisters follow before he confronts Cinderella in her kitchen.
'What shall I do next?' queried Herb and he was told to 'climb up the text' by his fairy godmother and having done so, despite the cries of Goldilocks that he was 'getting away' he lands with a bump on his bedroom floor!
He then spent the rest of the night putting back together the book that he had cut up and then everyone lived happily ever after!
August 2017 update: I didn't realise that I had read this book four years ago but I am pleased that I gave it a second reading for it is good fun with Herb nodding off and suddenly finding himself within the pages of a book, not just any old book, a Big, Bad Book!
Herb is an avid reader and he reads his books everywhere so much so that many of the pages were 'stickily stuck together, soggy round the edges and usually had bits of banana, biscuit and the odd pea squashed between the pages'. What a way to treat a book - it is no wonder that when he found himself within the pages of one of his books, it caused him a lot of woe.
The book was one of fairy tales so the people that he met proved to be some quite quirky characters. Goldilocks, who screeched at him that it was her book and he had no right to be on the same page(s) as her. Surprise, surprise he then met the three bears, followed by Hansel and Gretel nibbling a ginger bread house, puss in boots, a royal party, without Prince Charming for Herb had previously cut the book up and used the Prince elsewhere. Eventually he had to escape from the irate king and queen and he did so by cutting a hole in the page and nipping through it.
But in doing so he ran straight into the stepmother and the ugly sisters and then Cinderella and the fairy godmother. All he wanted from the fairy godmother was for her to cast a spell to get him out of the book but at first she was reluctant to do anything as he was not her fairy godchild and he had previously scribbled and snipped the book, which caused mayhem within it. 'But I can't find my way out,' pleads Herb.
While the fairy godmother was contemplating what to do, a chasing Goldilocks and the wicked stepmother come on the scene and want to trap Herb. So the fairy godmother piles up the text, Herb climbs up the letters, escapes and finds himself on the floor of his bedroom. Herb and his friend Ezzie then spend the rest of the night putting the storybook back together, at least as best they can for there was still some creasing on Prince Charming's leg so that he would never be able to dance properly again!
Once done, they all lived happily ever after and a sparkling story from Lauren Child sadly comes to an end.
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November 29, 2011I personally think this is one of the best children's books I have read!I love the illustrations as they cover the entire page, some pages fold out to show even more adventures going on, the writing are of different fonts, sizes and all over the pages! I think this book has really caught an amazing imagination of readers and I love the actual storyline of the book. It starts off with a character named Herb who is not such a great reader, but loves reading regardless. It immediately catches a readers attention as many people can relate to Herb. Herb takes his books everywhere with him and sometimes doodles on some of them. One day, he invites his friend Ezzie over for a sleepover. Herb starts reading a book and soon dozes off to sleep.. He wakes up to find himself in his actual books! He sees Goldilocks and the three bears. Goldilocks is quite angry as Herb is ruining her centre stage scene of the story. Herb is confused and runs out of the house. He passes by Hansel and Gretel who are eating a house made from ginger bread biscuits. He passes by Puss in Boots. The page of the book opens up and Herb finds himself in a ballroom party with the queen. The queen is angry as Herb had drawn a moustache on her and cut out her thrown. Herb is scared and finds a pencil to redraw the throne. He finds an eraser and starts to rub off the queens moustache from her face! The queen is fuming! Herb runs into another room and sees Cinderella's ugly sister and step mother! The pages are written upside down as Herb has ripped that part of the story out and cello-taped it the wrong way. Herb sees Cinderella and remembers he had cut our Prince Charming! By this time all the characters in the book are angry at Herb! Herb sees the fairy god mother and begs her to get him out of his book! Herb's wish comes true and he finds himself back in his room next to Ezzie! Herb and Ezzie spend the rest of the night putting the books back together again and rubbing out all the doodles Herb had made.
Moral of the story: respect books or beware!
Moral of the story: respect books or beware!
June 1, 2015
'Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book?' is a story about a little boy Herb, who didn't really take a good care of his books. It was always ok for him to eat while reading, making the pages dirty of food. He also liked drawing on the pages, and cutting off different characters just to play with them later.
Herb have never really thought about the consequences of his actions, until he had become a character of the story himself.
The book in a great way shows that the characters from different picture books have souls - every change, even the smallest one, can have an impact on their lot in the story. What I really like about this book is the combination of different well-known fairly tales, and the way the boy goes from one story to another. It is depicted by the changes of illustrations, but also the text - it has different fonts and sizes, depending on the story Herb visits. I also like the way the text changes the positions in the book, the letters flow, increase or decrease, appear upside down. For me, the text can be treated as one of the characters of 'Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book', because it gives a sense of motion, and dynamics.
The message of this book is also appealing to me, namely we as readers should take a good care of our books! It is definitely appropriate to teach this to children.
Herb have never really thought about the consequences of his actions, until he had become a character of the story himself.
The book in a great way shows that the characters from different picture books have souls - every change, even the smallest one, can have an impact on their lot in the story. What I really like about this book is the combination of different well-known fairly tales, and the way the boy goes from one story to another. It is depicted by the changes of illustrations, but also the text - it has different fonts and sizes, depending on the story Herb visits. I also like the way the text changes the positions in the book, the letters flow, increase or decrease, appear upside down. For me, the text can be treated as one of the characters of 'Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book', because it gives a sense of motion, and dynamics.
The message of this book is also appealing to me, namely we as readers should take a good care of our books! It is definitely appropriate to teach this to children.
May 17, 2015
Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Book? By Lauren Child is one of the best picture books that I have ever read. The author came up with a great idea to combine some of the well-known fairy tales for kids and create a humorous story with a small boy Herb who finds himself as a main protagonist. The picture book is in a big format which I consider as a very positive feature which certainly draws children attention. I really appreciate and enjoy her distinctive illustrations with a mixture of exuberant collage and simple pictures which, in most cases, cover the whole page. Lauren Child does a very creative work by using a variety of fonts in different shapes and sizes which turn upside down on several pages. The text is evocative and in some places challenging due to a sophisticated choice of vocabulary that a young reader might struggle with. However, I consider this as a positive element of the book and a factor that helps a child to improve and expand one's vocabulary. Indubitably, the picture book is worth reading to children and using it as a teaching tool in classes.
September 22, 2017
This book is about a little boy named Herb, who has a book full of fairy tales and he always mistreats them. One day, Herb falls asleep on this book while reading it and he ends up in the fairy tales themselves! As the main character goes through the story, he bumps into more and more characters from the fairy tales in his book. He learns that the characters are upset that he mistreats the book, draws on them, and leaves crumbs on the book.
I really enjoyed this book, it is hilarious, captivating, and entertaining all in one. It is the perfect book for children, the illustrations are funny, and they keep the reader engaged. They bleed on the full page and have more of a collage format that I believe makes them all the more fun and interesting. The story engages the reader as we recall the fairy tales told in the story and how the main character is connecting with them. The main thing I enjoyed about this book is the different sized fonts, color use, and illustrations in the book. It is amazing!
I really enjoyed this book, it is hilarious, captivating, and entertaining all in one. It is the perfect book for children, the illustrations are funny, and they keep the reader engaged. They bleed on the full page and have more of a collage format that I believe makes them all the more fun and interesting. The story engages the reader as we recall the fairy tales told in the story and how the main character is connecting with them. The main thing I enjoyed about this book is the different sized fonts, color use, and illustrations in the book. It is amazing!
November 18, 2007
Herb loves to read, but he's not very good about taking care of his books. In particular, his book of fairy tales has had prince charming cut out, is full of stains and crumbs, and all the characters have been doodled on. When Herb falls asleep while reading the fairy tales, he finds himself in the world of the book! The fairy tale characters are fed up with the crumbs and ball-point pen mustaches, and are determined to teach Herb a lesson. This picture book is unique and funny, and the collage-like illustrations are perfect for depicting Herb's abused book. The message to care for your books so you can keep reading them is there, but the story never gets too preachy and it's obvious that Lauren Child doesn't expect her readers to treat their books like gold. Her message seems to be "have fun with the wonderful stories in your books, but make sure the books are around to read again."
April 10, 2019
“Who’s Afraid of The Big Bad Book?” is a fun story about Herb, the boy who fell into a book of fairy tales. As he is trying to find his way out of the book he travels through various famous fairy tales. Herb interacts with the characters and realizes he has had an effect on the stories by previously drawing mustaches on the characters. It is an engaging story and it is fun to imagine yourself, like Herb, jumping into the book and having it come alive.
This would be a great book to use in 2nd-4th grade classrooms. I think younger ages might be confused by the dialogue and series of events, but slightly older kids would understand and appreciate the humor. This would be a fun starting point for students to write their own versions of fairy tales, or to write stories where they insert themselves into the fairy tale.
This would be a great book to use in 2nd-4th grade classrooms. I think younger ages might be confused by the dialogue and series of events, but slightly older kids would understand and appreciate the humor. This would be a fun starting point for students to write their own versions of fairy tales, or to write stories where they insert themselves into the fairy tale.
February 15, 2010
Author/Illustrator: Lauren Child; Age: 2nd/3rd
The story follows Herb, a young boy, who is not the best reader. Herb finds himself trapped inside a book, and he travels through various fairy tales; with Cinderella being one of them.
This is an excellent book. The illustrations are drawn with a mix of live-action photos; everything comes to life in this book, even the text, which sometimes resembles shape poetry. Students will be captivated from start to finish.
The story follows Herb, a young boy, who is not the best reader. Herb finds himself trapped inside a book, and he travels through various fairy tales; with Cinderella being one of them.
This is an excellent book. The illustrations are drawn with a mix of live-action photos; everything comes to life in this book, even the text, which sometimes resembles shape poetry. Students will be captivated from start to finish.
July 30, 2008
This is the best Lauren Child book ever. My daughter adores it.
February 10, 2015
I think this is a hilarious book! It's so clever. Lauren Child has a great imagination. She intertwines different fairy tales, esp. The Three Bears and Cinderella. Fun!
February 20, 2015
Pop-ups are always amazing, but when you fall into one... you fall in love with it! I loved reading this story!
April 20, 2020
Lovely idea of falling into a book! With a message to make sure you take care of books. Perfect for children in KS1 and LKS2.
September 7, 2019
Sequels often fail to exceed the original, but I found this, Lauren Child's sequel to 'Beware of the Storybook Wolves', even more entertaining and mind-bending than the original! This time, rather than characters escaping from their books, Herb falls into a bookful of fairy tales himself, rushing to escape, like Alice almost Lewis Carrollesquely, from Goldilocks to the Queen in Cinderella to her wicked Stepmother and the two Ugly Sisters. Even more amusingly, scribbles and adaptations Herb made to the book whilst reading it when younger come back to haunt him, as he finds food stuck to the pages he runs through, the Queen angry at a moustache he once appended onto her face, Prince Charming missing completely because he cut him out to stick on his mum's birthday card....and telephones he scribbled onto each page out of fun being used by the book's characters to track him down as he escapes! There are further Anthony Browne Bear-like events, where Herb discovers his old pencil case in the book, draws the Queen a new throne (much to her dis-satisfaction) and then cuts a hole in a page to avoid her wrath. There's enough text and fairy tale references here to challenge an LKS2 reader, and Child turns traditional text layout formats for fiction or picture books on their head by arranging sentences in extraordinary ways - quite literally in one case where the text is all upside-down after Herb ripped a page out whilst reading last year and re-inserted it the wrong way round! Shouted paragraphs take on the shape of megaphones; the story of Rapunzel is written in the shape of a tower; text appears in blocks on mirrors, walls and the sides of boxes; and (my favourite) one sentence is even arranged as a staircase so that Herb can climb it to escape. As in 'Storybook Wolves', font sizes and styles reflect volume and style of speech, as well as the nature of the action being described; Child's illustrations are collage-effect and in a few cases 3D in their design: readers must open the big doors to the Royal Ballroom themselves using a folded-page double-spread. The imagination behind the amalgamation of fairy stories is immense, and again the author leaves a final conundrum: once safely rescued outside the book, Herb and friend Ezzie take out their vengeance on the characters who were unkind to them, drawing a padlock (for example) on the Three Bears' house so that the rather presumptious and very shrieky Goldilocks can no longer get inside. There are so many ideas here that a KS1 or LKS2 class could spend a whole sequence of lessons analysing and experimenting with them; I particularly like the way Herb is described as not being 'a very good reader' yet still loving storybooks and their illustrations, taking them with him literally everywhere, hence the foodstains and pencil case residing inside the book. For children who find reading a challenge or otherwise demotivating, this is a wonderful message of self-belief and growth mindset: there's no need to be brilliant at something in order to enjoy it and persevere with it, no need for perfection in order to be so deeply engrossed in the story as Herb is that we actually become part of it. As well as a wonderful guide to children's fairy tales, this book could form the start of an inspiring classroom project where young readers tell their own stories of falling into a favourite book and interacting with the characters, providing their own illustrations or adjustments accordingly. Maybe they could even find a book they read in a previous year at school (just like Herb's old fairy tales) to use as a starting point. Reading for pleasure is all about identifying with characters, and entering into the spirit of excitement and endless possibility - and impossibility - with which books avail us. Reading Lauren Child's 'Big Bad Book' would surely instil such a catalyst and an impetus for young readers to seek this in their own reading and writing, both in the classroom and at home.
October 30, 2021
One of the features in a postmodern book is when they may "make fun of" or "mock" a previous story. In this book, Herb, falls asleep on a book of fairy tales only to wake up and find that he has fallen inside this book and encounters many fairy tales characters along his journey in the book. However, their scripts/words are not the traditional words. For example, when he meets Goldilocks, she is quickly frustrated that he is there. Thinking that she is the “center” of the book and the most important part and thinks that he will ruin it. Some characters even comment on how they are upset with him on how he has treated the book in the past; which is a bit of an eye opener for Herb.
This would be such a fun book to read to my third graders. It is at a higher level of reading and thinking, but still has a fun side to it. Plus I think they would enjoy the postmodern features to it from the intertextuality and metafiction
This would be such a fun book to read to my third graders. It is at a higher level of reading and thinking, but still has a fun side to it. Plus I think they would enjoy the postmodern features to it from the intertextuality and metafiction
October 21, 2023
This one was not one of Child’s better books. It takes a concept others had already done and made it explicitly a dream. The kid goes through several fairytales, none of which had particularly nice characters except for Cinderella who was also one of the more practical characters. Eventually Herb falls back into bed and wakes up and he and his friend restore all the ruined characters back to their correct places in the book. Lesson: don’t color in a book and cut out characters. Decent lesson but really, the anvil shouldn’t have been used to make the point! Glad I read it but doubt it will be around many more years.
January 30, 2022
This book was so much fun to read. Throughout the story, Herb is found to mistreat his books. After he falls asleep and is placed within the actual fairytales, he finds out that he actually has an impact on the different stories. This book is very engaging and filled with many imaginative aspects. The different sized fonts, colors, illustrations, and intriguing images are by far what makes the book most memorable.
October 16, 2022
(For one of my uni modules)
October 14, 2019
Really liked this book. It was a great example of a book that has been turned on it's head. There is no boundaries to the creativity, the theme, the language.
January 10, 2020
This is such a great book! I am glad I came across it. The story really plays into people’s imagination. The boy in the story, Herb, falls asleep and lands inside the story. As he tries to get himself back home he encounters many different fairytale characters. I constantly had a smile on my face while reading the story. I kept saying, this fairytale character is in the story too?!
This book would be great for students in grades 2 and up. Students below 2nd grade will also enjoy the book, but they would need support with reading. As the book is a bit complicated. In the classroom, this book could be used to support writing, since the story plays a lot with imagination. This can help students visualize that stories can be written thinking outside the box. Not all stories need to be the same, and have the same structure and ending.
This book would be great for students in grades 2 and up. Students below 2nd grade will also enjoy the book, but they would need support with reading. As the book is a bit complicated. In the classroom, this book could be used to support writing, since the story plays a lot with imagination. This can help students visualize that stories can be written thinking outside the box. Not all stories need to be the same, and have the same structure and ending.
August 23, 2013
Herb is a boy that loves story books, particularly those with loads of brightly coloured exciting pictures that tell you so much. Herb is always reading and on one particular night when his friend Ezzie had stayed over, Herb falls asleep reading a book of fairy tales. This is nothing unusual but when Herb wakes up he finds himself in a strange room, in a strange uncomfortable bed with a strange girl shrieking at him telling Herb to get out of this story. Herb was very confused, but then it dawned on him. He had fallen into the book and the angry girl is Goldilocks!
Herb makes a run for it, and can you guess who he bumps into next? That’s right, the three bears. Herb runs as quickly as he can out of the house. He runs past Hansel and Gretel, Puss in Boots and at last reaches an enormous door. Herb goes inside and discovers a ballroom full of angry looking people in posh clothes with drawn on moustaches and missing thrones! Herb learns that Prince Charming has gone missing and that all the oddities in the room are due to his ‘book decoration’. Herb escapes as the furious guests realise what he has done.
As the story goes on, Herb escapes from one disaster area and stumbles across another one, each time bumping into more fairy tale characters along the way.
I would highly recommend this hilarious visual story to all children, but particularly those in years 1-3 of primary school. Many younger children from the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) would also really enjoy this book; and even as an adult, I think it’s brilliant!
I can fully understand why Lauren Child is a three times Smarties Prize Winner and renowned for her distinguished writing and illustrations; this book has it all. It has a visual style narrative of brightly coloured pictures that tell you so much about the story and keeps you looking and guessing what will happen next. The text is even displayed using different fonts, sizes, and imaginative layouts to constantly reinforce the narrative. It is written with such imagination and fun that children will love everything about this book and keep wanting more.
I have shared this book with whole classes of children in years 1-3 and every time I have done this, every single child is excitedly absorbed into the story and images. There is so much that can be done with this book. Children love looking at the pictures, identifying the fairy tale characters and seeing them in a different light. They love listening to and sampling the range of voices that can be projected when reading aloud which encourages their own reading aloud and presentation skills.
The book makes it easy to generate so many differentiated questions per page that can really engage all children in discussion throughout the book; both as a whole class activity and in smaller groups for guided reading activities. Children will enjoy discussing and describing the different characters, settings alternative endings which makes it easy to develop several inspirational cross-curricular links.
For example, when covering fairy tales in year 2, this book enables children to make connections between fairy tale characters in the story and popular fairy tales facilitating children to be able to write, act out and design their own fractured fairy tales. The style of writing encourages creativity and development in children’s own writing. Children are also able to develop their own reading aloud skills in a fun way listening to adult and child models of reading aloud, engaging in role play and practicing doing different voices with this book.
Children could develop their skills in art by designing their own fairy tale characters to go with their stories and make use of Lauren Child's style of creative writing to go around their illustrations. They could also make hand puppets of their characters and act out the story to their peers and younger children.
In ICT, children could put together a storyboard of their own fairy tales. Cross-curricular links could even be found in numeracy by generating fairy tale based word problems as a fun and interactive quiz.
Therefore, in my opinion and experience, Lauren Child’s ‘Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book?’ is a fantastic cross-curricular inspirational resource that grips children’s attention right from the start. There are so many discussion points throughout this book which facilitates really inclusive teaching and inspires cross-curricular learning. This book is a must for every primary school!
Herb makes a run for it, and can you guess who he bumps into next? That’s right, the three bears. Herb runs as quickly as he can out of the house. He runs past Hansel and Gretel, Puss in Boots and at last reaches an enormous door. Herb goes inside and discovers a ballroom full of angry looking people in posh clothes with drawn on moustaches and missing thrones! Herb learns that Prince Charming has gone missing and that all the oddities in the room are due to his ‘book decoration’. Herb escapes as the furious guests realise what he has done.
As the story goes on, Herb escapes from one disaster area and stumbles across another one, each time bumping into more fairy tale characters along the way.
I would highly recommend this hilarious visual story to all children, but particularly those in years 1-3 of primary school. Many younger children from the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) would also really enjoy this book; and even as an adult, I think it’s brilliant!
I can fully understand why Lauren Child is a three times Smarties Prize Winner and renowned for her distinguished writing and illustrations; this book has it all. It has a visual style narrative of brightly coloured pictures that tell you so much about the story and keeps you looking and guessing what will happen next. The text is even displayed using different fonts, sizes, and imaginative layouts to constantly reinforce the narrative. It is written with such imagination and fun that children will love everything about this book and keep wanting more.
I have shared this book with whole classes of children in years 1-3 and every time I have done this, every single child is excitedly absorbed into the story and images. There is so much that can be done with this book. Children love looking at the pictures, identifying the fairy tale characters and seeing them in a different light. They love listening to and sampling the range of voices that can be projected when reading aloud which encourages their own reading aloud and presentation skills.
The book makes it easy to generate so many differentiated questions per page that can really engage all children in discussion throughout the book; both as a whole class activity and in smaller groups for guided reading activities. Children will enjoy discussing and describing the different characters, settings alternative endings which makes it easy to develop several inspirational cross-curricular links.
For example, when covering fairy tales in year 2, this book enables children to make connections between fairy tale characters in the story and popular fairy tales facilitating children to be able to write, act out and design their own fractured fairy tales. The style of writing encourages creativity and development in children’s own writing. Children are also able to develop their own reading aloud skills in a fun way listening to adult and child models of reading aloud, engaging in role play and practicing doing different voices with this book.
Children could develop their skills in art by designing their own fairy tale characters to go with their stories and make use of Lauren Child's style of creative writing to go around their illustrations. They could also make hand puppets of their characters and act out the story to their peers and younger children.
In ICT, children could put together a storyboard of their own fairy tales. Cross-curricular links could even be found in numeracy by generating fairy tale based word problems as a fun and interactive quiz.
Therefore, in my opinion and experience, Lauren Child’s ‘Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book?’ is a fantastic cross-curricular inspirational resource that grips children’s attention right from the start. There are so many discussion points throughout this book which facilitates really inclusive teaching and inspires cross-curricular learning. This book is a must for every primary school!
September 4, 2014
Lauren child’s picture book ‘Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Book?’ is a truly unique and imaginative story. The story follows a young boy called Herb who loves to read. One night Herb is reading ‘a book of Fairy tales’ when he falls asleep and falls into a dream where he is stuck inside the book! He wakes up to Goldilocks screaming at him. He then goes on to meet other loved characters such as the three bears and Hansel and Gretel. The majority of his dream however, involves complications with Cinderella and her evil stepmother. Prince Charming is missing because Herb has cut him out of his book and the stepmother is stuck upside down because the page had been ripped out and stuck back in wrong. Herb eventually escapes the storybook and wants to help out the characters he has met and so put right everything he has defaced, or cut out of the book.
The unique story line where a fictional character meets other characters from different stories is complimented by the unique way Child’s tells the story. Child uses a mixture of child-like graphics, illustrations and varied typefaces which all seem to be jumbled together, you even have to turn the page to read upside down text! This makes each page different and exciting and really brings to life the different characters. For example, when a character is shouting the text changes to bold writing, or when Herb falls asleep the text mimics this by slanting off the page, as if to be falling into the dream with him.
The book is fantastic because it is suitable for weak and strong readers. The vibrant pictures and funny story line is sure to engage new readers, however, the stronger reader will not be bored. A knowledge of the fairy tales explored in the book that a strong or older reader will have helps make the book more entertaining. Furthermore, a weaker reader would enjoy the book being read aloud to them but may struggle to read it as an individual. The complicated way the book is written with different fonts and upside down or slanted writing poses as a fantastic and fun way to challenge a young reader.
The imaginative storyline opens up a great opportunity for a teacher to use the book in a classroom. For example, children could write a story where they fall into a book and meet characters from their own favourite books. This would be a really fun activity for children and would allow them to have the freedom to express their individuality whilst doing a task that will help develop their writing skills. Another idea would be to use the story in an art lesson where children can draw or paint scenes from fairy tales with Herb or themselves involved in it.
In conclusion, this book is a really fun book that would be easy to introduce to a classroom as it would spark the interest of readers of all abilities. When read aloud to a group of children the book is a truly exciting and energetic read but when read as an individual the book poses as a positive challenge, perfect for a classroom environment.
The unique story line where a fictional character meets other characters from different stories is complimented by the unique way Child’s tells the story. Child uses a mixture of child-like graphics, illustrations and varied typefaces which all seem to be jumbled together, you even have to turn the page to read upside down text! This makes each page different and exciting and really brings to life the different characters. For example, when a character is shouting the text changes to bold writing, or when Herb falls asleep the text mimics this by slanting off the page, as if to be falling into the dream with him.
The book is fantastic because it is suitable for weak and strong readers. The vibrant pictures and funny story line is sure to engage new readers, however, the stronger reader will not be bored. A knowledge of the fairy tales explored in the book that a strong or older reader will have helps make the book more entertaining. Furthermore, a weaker reader would enjoy the book being read aloud to them but may struggle to read it as an individual. The complicated way the book is written with different fonts and upside down or slanted writing poses as a fantastic and fun way to challenge a young reader.
The imaginative storyline opens up a great opportunity for a teacher to use the book in a classroom. For example, children could write a story where they fall into a book and meet characters from their own favourite books. This would be a really fun activity for children and would allow them to have the freedom to express their individuality whilst doing a task that will help develop their writing skills. Another idea would be to use the story in an art lesson where children can draw or paint scenes from fairy tales with Herb or themselves involved in it.
In conclusion, this book is a really fun book that would be easy to introduce to a classroom as it would spark the interest of readers of all abilities. When read aloud to a group of children the book is a truly exciting and energetic read but when read as an individual the book poses as a positive challenge, perfect for a classroom environment.
February 19, 2018
I really loved this book and found it interesting start to finish. When I first picked it up I thought it was about a child not liking books, finding them scary, however once I read it I realised it was more about a child learning how to correctly treat books - a good moral for readers.
This book depicts a child who has fallen into the book he was reading, a book of fairytales. As the book progresses it depicts him going through the pages of the fairytale book and along the way seeing the differing things he has done to each page eg drawn moustaches on characters, cut bits out etc all adding to the moral of how to treat books correctly.
The illustrations bleed over every single page making the reader feel a participant in this adventure. The illustrator uses appropriate colours throughout - for example darker colours for the forest whereas bright colours for the palace. The text is written in differing fonts throughout which is really effective as suggests change in pace and makes the text more interesting.
Due to this book including aspects of fairytales, so linking to other fairytale stories, the reader will already need to know and understand the fairytale stories to be able to understand and enjoy the story more.
Analysing the first two pages depicts two boys in bed. The background is a very light yellow colour which makes the other objects stand out more. You as the reader are looking down at the two boys - one on the recto and one on the verso. This could suggest you as the reader have higher power or the boys are weakened or unstable. Spread about the room are spread objects such as a chair and a board game - this portrays to the reader, even without the text, that this is a bedroom. Stereotypically a boys bedroom due to the mess everywhere. Both boys are depicted as the same size suggesting equal power and status. The text is particularly interesting in this page, like the rest of the book written in third person, but is written in varying sizes as well as including addicts such as some letters are back to front or upside down which could portray the main characters character as well once again making the text more appealing and interactive to read. The reader will have to already have letter knowledge to understand and pick up the humour of the letters which are back to front.
This book depicts a child who has fallen into the book he was reading, a book of fairytales. As the book progresses it depicts him going through the pages of the fairytale book and along the way seeing the differing things he has done to each page eg drawn moustaches on characters, cut bits out etc all adding to the moral of how to treat books correctly.
The illustrations bleed over every single page making the reader feel a participant in this adventure. The illustrator uses appropriate colours throughout - for example darker colours for the forest whereas bright colours for the palace. The text is written in differing fonts throughout which is really effective as suggests change in pace and makes the text more interesting.
Due to this book including aspects of fairytales, so linking to other fairytale stories, the reader will already need to know and understand the fairytale stories to be able to understand and enjoy the story more.
Analysing the first two pages depicts two boys in bed. The background is a very light yellow colour which makes the other objects stand out more. You as the reader are looking down at the two boys - one on the recto and one on the verso. This could suggest you as the reader have higher power or the boys are weakened or unstable. Spread about the room are spread objects such as a chair and a board game - this portrays to the reader, even without the text, that this is a bedroom. Stereotypically a boys bedroom due to the mess everywhere. Both boys are depicted as the same size suggesting equal power and status. The text is particularly interesting in this page, like the rest of the book written in third person, but is written in varying sizes as well as including addicts such as some letters are back to front or upside down which could portray the main characters character as well once again making the text more appealing and interactive to read. The reader will have to already have letter knowledge to understand and pick up the humour of the letters which are back to front.
August 5, 2019
A boy falls asleep and enters a book.
Good idea, but a bit jumbled.
Reading time around thirty minutes.
Good idea, but a bit jumbled.
Reading time around thirty minutes.
March 19, 2019
5 out of 5
We meet a boy named Herb, who LOVES to read and emphasizes on how good of a reader he is. We learn the mistreatment he does to the books where he falls asleep on his book, doodles on them, and leaves crumbs in the pages. One day while he is sleeping on the book, he ends up getting sucked into a fairy tale stories where he meets multiple character who express their feelings to them about his mistreatment.
This books ability to keep the reader engaged based of all the multimodal devices is incredible. The font is highly significant in this book, for it is more engaging that other books, as well as the drawing for how much is going on in each page. I gave this book a 5 out of 5 for the attention given to each page from the drawing and the fonts, to also the story in general. It took a concept that isn’t discussed as much as it should be, to another level.
We meet a boy named Herb, who LOVES to read and emphasizes on how good of a reader he is. We learn the mistreatment he does to the books where he falls asleep on his book, doodles on them, and leaves crumbs in the pages. One day while he is sleeping on the book, he ends up getting sucked into a fairy tale stories where he meets multiple character who express their feelings to them about his mistreatment.
This books ability to keep the reader engaged based of all the multimodal devices is incredible. The font is highly significant in this book, for it is more engaging that other books, as well as the drawing for how much is going on in each page. I gave this book a 5 out of 5 for the attention given to each page from the drawing and the fonts, to also the story in general. It took a concept that isn’t discussed as much as it should be, to another level.
November 28, 2016
This was one of my favorite books as a child, and now being a sophomore in college, this book is still one of my favorites. Lauren Child does a good job at explaining the consequences Herb faced when he draws on and cuts his fairy tale books. This is a good book to read to children when you're teaching them about how to respect their books, that is how I learned.
The beautiful illustrations combined with the hilarious text makes this book a classic. There is a mixture of collages and full-page pictures make the story interesting and more fun to read. I would 100% recommend this book, it is a children's book classic for sure.
The beautiful illustrations combined with the hilarious text makes this book a classic. There is a mixture of collages and full-page pictures make the story interesting and more fun to read. I would 100% recommend this book, it is a children's book classic for sure.
April 25, 2018
Herb falls into one of his books one night and races through its pages trying to escape from a very bossy Goldilocks, Cinderella's stepmother, and some other fairytale characters who are super irritated with him. Apparently, he drew mustaches on a bunch of fancy dress ball attendees, cut out the Prince (who was supposed to attend the ball with Cinderella), added phones to all of the illustrations, as well as making other annoying (to the characters of the book) alterations. When he finally gets out, he has a better appreciation and respect for his books and tries to set things to right. Except for Goldilocks. Who gets an ugly wig. Funny, fractured fairytale!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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