Hello, welcome to Book Monsters. Deckle has donned his poshest specs for our stop on a fantastic blog tour. Take a seat, get comfortable, I have a great book to share with you today.

This is Douglas, You Need Glasses! Written and illustrated by Ged Adamson, published by Random House.

I wear glasses and I’m quite happy with that fact. Yes, it’s a pain trying to hold them onto my face on a roller coaster, and the other day I did, embarrassingly, release a clump of hair into the wild thinking it was a spider!! But, glasses allow me to pretend I’m smart, and also fit in very nicely in my job as a librarian. I do like to peer over them at customers about to ask me a booky type question.

However, I got my glasses when I was 19. Not a bad age with regards to adapting. but, if I had needed glasses as a child, would accepting them have been quite so easy? I suspect not. Children can find little things that make them seem different, or stand out from the crowd, tricky to get used to. This where books come in. Books like this in particular.

So, what is Douglas, You Need Glasses! all about? Well, the title says it all really. Poor Douglas has a problem, he is rather near sighted, meaning that he bumbles through life, missing important signs, chasing the wrong things, even going into the wrong house! But when a game of fetch ends disastrously, his best friend Nancy decides action is needed, and carts him off to the opticians. Finally Douglas sees what he’s been missing out on all this time!

This is fabulous little picture book. It is just funny and entertaining. Douglas gets into lots of trouble due to his poor eyesight, so regardless of whether the wearing of glasses is an issue for your child, or not, it’s just a lovely fun read.

But, in terms of explaining the process of getting glasses to a young child, this is absolutely spot on. We see the consequences of ignoring sight problems. Then it takes us through the process of going to the opticians, from meeting the “eye doctor”, to reading the sight chart and then choosing glasses to wear. It’s incredibly sweet and nicely done. I think it would make a brilliant support for children who are needing to wear glasses and not really understanding the process, or maybe who are concerned about looking different. There is a fantastic addition at the back of the book of multiple photos of children proudly sporting their glasses. It’s great, and another way of reassuring children that it’s quite a normal thing.

Aside from the helpful and educational aspect of this book, it’s bags of fun. Ged Adamson’s illustrations are just gorgeous. Nancy, oh, how I love Nancy, she has a fantastic tom-boy look about her, full of character and pluck, but with the kindest sweetest face. The illustrations are bright, colourful and full of dynamism and life. I particularly adored the forest with it’s multi coloured trees, showing that we don’t have to stick to the standard colours for pictures. They put a huge smile on my face so do look out for those when you get this book! Although Ged Adamson’s images are bright and fun, they are incredibly clear, so when explaining aspects of the book to a child, you can easily identify what’s happening in each scene. Even down to the very clever spread, showing what Douglas is seeing through his brand new glasses. All very clever and perfectly executed.

There is most certainly a gap for a book like this supporting all those lovely glasses wearing children out there, but it is also just a brilliantly entertaining, funny and sweet read. You can’t fail to smile at this lovely story.

Douglas, You Need Glasses! is now available from all good bookshops and libraries. Or you can purchase at one of the following online sites:
– Book Depository – http://www.bookdepository.com
– Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk
– Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com
– Barnes and Noble – http://www.barnesandnoble.com
– IndieBound – http://www.indiebound.org

Do follow the rest of the blog tour as there is lots of exciting happenings still to happen!!

The talented Ged Adamson can be found lurking in his specs all over the internet. So please do check him out:

– Twitter https://twitter.com/ged_adamson
– Instagram https://www.instagram.com/gedadamson/
– Website http://www.gedadamson.com

GIVEAWAY!

You can also be in with the chance of winning various wonderful Douglas goodies and the book by having a go at the below. The more you do the better your chance of winning!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for reading this bespectacled Book Monster review!