Children’s Book Review: Tongue Twisters for Girls by Honeysuckle Hale

So as you know if you visit me here regularly, I have a three year old daughter (aka, Toddler Daughter). We LOVE to read together – The Husband often jokes that the only reason I wanted a child was to have someone to read to, teehee… That’s not *entirely* true, but it is certainly true that I love love love to read to and with her. And yes – with. Already at three, she knows certain of her stories almost by heart and often “reads” them to me – she misses a few words here and there, but is surprisingly good at hitting all the high points. She also likes to read me books we’ve never read before – and you’ll just have to trust me when I say that there are few things that bring a bigger smile to my face than listening to her lilting toddler voice as she derives a story from the pictures in a book! Needless to say books are a big part of our daily life, which means you may occasionally see a kids’ book review on here, featuring both of our reactions. 

[Pretend there’s a segue here; I just wanted to offer up the beginning as a bit of background, but don’t really have a direct tie-in to this particular book, sorry…]

Awhile ago, we were listening to a CD in the car – a fantastically fun collection of nursery rhymes sung by Lisa Loeb, who is someone I always liked and now like even more because of this tremendously fun children’s CD… Lisa Loeb does a mean “Peter Piper” on there, and Toddler Daughter thinks it is HYSTERICAL to listen to me recite along, faster and faster, until my tongue ties and we both laugh like fools at the nonsense that comes out of my mouth. So imagine my delighted surprise when I was contacted by the author of a collection of tongue twisters for little girls (literally called, Tongue Twisters for Girls), and asked for a review… I received a complimentary .pdf copy in exchange for an honest review, and it was one of the easiest I’ve written, because – simply put – we loved it! This is a FANTASTIC addition to our small but ever-growing collection of tongue twisters. The rhythm of the language is lovely – there is a lyricism that sticks with you in an endearing (not at ALL an “It’s a Small World” irritating, brain-clogging) way… The twisters are tricky but not impossible for a child (or a frazzled mother, teehee). The illustrations are absolutely darling – the artist, Aline Jorge, is located in the woods of Brazil; her work has a whimsical quality that is absolutely spot-on for the text. It’s fun to have a little girls’ book that isn’t just about fairy princesses – there is a marvelous variety of fun here: from handstands to geese to the ubiquitous tongue-twister seashells.  There’s magic in this one, definitely worth checking out if your child is at all interested in words and language… The book is so fun – we are definitely looking forward to more from these talented women!