Stick Man by Julia Donaldson

10/10

Julia Donaldson yet again produces a winning formula with The Stick Man. Taking an everyday object of a stick, the author gives it an identity and creates the Stick Man and his instantly loveable family of his ‘stick lady love and his stick children three’. The story follows the life of Stick Man as he is torn away from his family and depicted dealing with everyday situations for a ‘stick’ - he gets thrown to a dog, becomes a pooh stick and forms part of a birds nest to name but a few. Just as it looks as though Stick Man’s days are numbered, as he is placed on a fireplace, he is rescued by every childs hero, Santa, who helps him find his way back home.

This magical story captivates children’s imaginations from the outset as this is an object children play with in the park and all of a sudden it has a life of its own. On first read this book is an instant hit, and is shortly followed by demands to be read again. For younger readers some of the concepts require some explanation as they look to understand the origins of the character but this only acts to encourage imagination.

As they listen to the tale you can see them also transfixed by the illustrations which bring the story to life – Axel Scheffler’s pictures tell their own tale and the attention to detail means children like to go back through and study them.

The ingenious idea of The Stick Man makes it a humorous read for parents too, and read with such enthusiasm naturally gives it greater appeal to children.