Griselda Snook’s Spectacular Books – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Turning the ordinary into extraordinary!
Children’s book title: Griselda Snook’s Spectacular Books.
Children’s author: Barry Timms.
Children’s illustrator: Laura Borio.
Genre: Children’s picture book.
Published by: Little Tiger.
ISBN: 9781801045759.
Recommended for children aged: 3-6 year-olds.
This edition published: Paperback August 2024.
This children’s book is ideal for: Halloween and reluctant readers.
To see the latest price or order, click on the book cover image.
Our review:
Little Henry, a boy who isn’t interested in reading, stumbles across a lost key that, lo and behold… belongs to a bookshop’s front door! Griselda, the owner of the bookshop, invites Henry inside to change his perception of reading. Can she find the perfect book for him?
With Halloween-inspired characters and books along the way, Henry helps Griselda prepare for the grand opening of the bookshop. He watches Griselda recommend books to mythical customers and sees the joy that she gets when she sees them all reading.
“Our town is full of readers!” we hear her rejoice.
Henry sees that there is a book for everyone and wonders if he will eventually find his perfect read. We then meet Magenta Screech, the witch who has come to lead the storytime session later on that day. Henry sits and listens to all the wonderful, terrifying tales, the last one being his absolute favourite—maybe this is the book for him!
Our verdict:
Griselda Snook’s Spectacular Books is a great picture book full of friendly, Halloween-themed characters that will excite any reader of lower primary school age. Timms shows the reader that books can be for everyone and that the love of reading can be nurtured by just one book, the book that can start anybody’s reading journey.
Borio’s illustrations give the book a spooky yet magical feel, especially with the chosen colours of orange and purple throughout—again, tying nicely with the Halloween theme. This picture book also has some high-level vocabulary and plays on words that can be explored by the children who read it.
Teaching points and book club discussion ideas:
- What was the first book you fell in love with?
- Design your own front cover for a Halloween-themed book.
- Explore the vocabulary in the book by finding the meaning and using the word in a sentence.
- Can you identify the different mythical characters in the illustrations?
- Draw and describe the characters in the book.
Many thanks to Little Tiger for the review copy.
To order a class set of this book, please click below to order via uk.bookshop.org, an organisation that supports local bookshops, or Amazon.co.uk.
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If you like Griselda Snook’s Spectacular Books by Barry Timms, illustrated by Laura Borio you might also like: our reviews of The Moonlit Campout by Ruth Symons, The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers by Jen Campbell; Our picks of the best children’s books coming out in Autumn 2024, our Reception recommended reading list for children aged 4-5, and our Autumn topic books for children.
Browse our Halloween book list
