‘Tis the season to be snotty! Tralalalala! It IS very cold and flu like out there right now though isn’t it? Everyone in my family has been coughing and spluttering, poor things. Good manners at such times are so important, and I’ve never actually ever seen a book teach this before. Catch That Cough written by Bonnie Bridgman , Illustrated by Louise Forshaw and published by Tiny Tree Books is just perfect for these virus filled months (and any time actually).
Maisy has a little cough, and while playing one day rather than putting her hand over her mouth to catch the cough, Maisy lets it out, and the mischievous cough escapes into her home and terrorises everyone!! Before long everyone catches Maisy’s pesky cough and are too ill to join in her fun. She quickly learns that catching her cough fixes the problem.
Bonnie’s idea here is just lovely, it helps put the escaping cough into context because trying to teach children something when they don’t really understand why they’re doing it can be so tough. This book gives reasoning, and there are surprisingly few books about hygiene and good manners for children so it’s really filling a needed gap. Bonnie’s writing. style here is. just lovely and playful, reflective of the naughty cough and his antics. It ensures the story remains entertaining while still achieving its purpose. There’s bucket loads of character in the writing too, like Maisy marching across the grass to confront her cough, such an adorable and expressive moment. It’s a substantial story, but not so long as to get boring, and flows so perfectly, ending with Maisy, brilliantly capturing her cough in a tissue. This is Bonnie’s debut picture book, and frankly, I’m really keen now to see more from her.
I’m familiar with the illustrations of Louise Foreshaw as we have lots of early readers and board books by her in our library, but this is my first experience of a picture book by Louise and I was so impressed. The front cover is bright and quite simple in style and I expected similar inside, but actually this story is a fantastic explosion of detail colour and character that brought a huge smile to my face and worked perfectly hand in hand with Bonnie’s fun words. Louise plays around with perspective resulting in varied and immensely entertaining visuals. Maisy and her cough have boundless energy and character, it’s just so lovely.
Catch That Cough has an important message to get across to young children and tells it clearly yet with bundles of fun, lovely clear writing and colourful illustrations that make this a pleasure to read.
Catch That Cough has been nominated for the People’s Book Prize and it’s certainly got my vote. If you read it and enjoy, do give them your vote here:
https://peoplesbookprize.com/winter-2019/catch-that-cough/
Catch That Cough is available from all good book shops and libraries now.
To find out more about Bonnie Bridgman why not give her a follow on Twitter:
– https://twitter.com/BonnieMrsbbh
Louise Forshaw can be found via her website:
– http://www.munkeypants.com
And Tiny Tree Books are here:
– https://tinytreebooks.com
Thank you to Bonnie for sending me a copy of your book and to you for reading this rather hygeinic Book Monster review
