Maverick Early Readers review

If you look through my picture book reviews, you'll see lots of enthusiastic praise for the numerous quirky, fun titles from Maverick Books that we've read. You may remember that last year, I explained that they had recreated some of their popular stories as Early Readers, which have been carefully edited with the help of educational specialist Catherine Baker to provide a simpler version while retaining the fun plot. You can see my review of the initial batch of Early Readers here. They recently added some more titles to their Early Readers collection and we've been enjoying rediscovering the stories.

In The Four Little Pigs by Kimara Nye, illustrated by Marcin Bruchnalski, Tom is magicked into his bedtime story by his mischievous witchy Gran when he complains that it's boring ! (Click through to read my review of the original The Four Little Pigs book.) (Turquoise band)

Grumpy King Colin by Phil Allcock, illustrated by Steve Stone, is a hilarious story about an obnoxious (and dirty, smelly, crazy, rude, grumpy and silly) king who does whatever he wants all day long, "because he can, because he is king", until his mum arrives and sends him to bed for being naughty. When he tells her she can't, she points out that she can, because she's his mum ! (Click through to read my review of the original Cantankerous King Colin book.) This one still makes us laugh every time we read it ! (Turquoise band)

A Gold Star For George by Alice Hemming, illustrated by Kimberley Scott, follows the adventures of George the giraffe who helps all his friends at the zoo to win a gold star, then feels a bit sad when he doesn't get one himself. When his friends all award him their own stars, he realises that his kindness pays dividends and their gratitude is worth much more than an official gold star. It's a lovely tale about not always having to be the best at everything. (Click through to read my review of the original A Gold Star For George book.) (Orange band)

I Wish I'd Been Born A Unicorn by Rachel Lyon, with illustrations by Andrea Ringli, is the cute story of Mucky the horse, whose friends try their hardest to make his dream of becoming a unicorn come true. (Click through to read my review of the original I Wish I'd Been Born A Unicorn book.) (Green band)

Parents Don't Drive Diggers by Alex English, illustrated by Duncan Beedie, follows the adventures of Brad, who is forced to follow the family tradition of being a pirate when all he wants to do is drive a digger ... until he manages to find a compromise that gives him the best of both worlds. (Click through to  read my review of the original Pirates Don't Drive Diggers book.) (Orange band)

Pierre loves being able to inverse the roles and read the simplified version to me at bedtime, reassured by the fact that he already knows the gist of the story from when I read the original version to him. Each book has a quick comprehension quiz at the end and there are also free resources to accompany each title availalable for parents or teachers on the Maverick website. 

Disclosure : We received the books in order to write an honest review.