The Blue Balloon features a familiar character - Rated 
Kipper, but not as the main character, this time!
The story is about a little boy who finds a balloon which behaves like any other balloon, most of the time......
From the back cover:-
`Mick Inkpen's warm and witty storybooks have been loved by children around the world for many years.
`The Blue Balloon' is now a celebrated classic which continues to delight millions of children, taking pride of place on their bookshelves.
It is a book to be treasured, loved, read time and time again - and passed down to a whole new generation of children.'
28 high quality pages, in the popular 2-page spread format, with the added interest of some fold out pages.... especially..... the very last page!
Super illustrations throughout.
Clearly laid out text, with enough words on each page - in a good-sized print - to be stimulating, but not over-powering.
Example of text:-
`The day after my birthday party Kipper found a soggy blue balloon in the garden.
It was odd because the balloons at my party were red and white.
I blew it up.
At first I thought it was an ordinary balloon.
But now I am not so sure.
It is shiny and squeaky and you can make rude noises with it. And if you give it a rub you can stick it on the ceiling.
Just like an ordinary balloon.
But there is something odd about my balloon.......'
And it is a very odd balloon, indeed - needing four times the size of the page, (and some dexterity), at one point, in this very different book from this author!
A lovely gentle story for a young child - Rated 
This is a beautifully illustrated story of a little boy and a balloon. The boy's dog is clearly recognisable as Kipper though he isn't key to the story and if your child doesn't yet know the Kipper character then this would be lovely gentle introduction. It's a simple tale of a boy playing with a rather magical balloon. Plus there's a pull-out page at the end with a surprise which never fails to amuse the children.
Kipper books vary widely in level from the very simple like `Splosh' which is a `first story book', for an 18-month old who just moving on from picture dictionary type books, to those with a story-line that is conceptually suited to a 4 year old (Kipper's birthday for example could be used to teach yesterday & tomorrow). This story falls towards the simpler end of this spectrum, perfect for a 2 year old, though my four and five year olds both still enjoy it.
Should have bought something else! - Rated 
Mick Inkpen books are great so I thought this would be a sure thing especially as it features Kipper. We've bought most of his Kipper books. Another book of his called 'Nothing' is brilliant. I thought this book was a little empty. Not much of a story but very visual and richly illustrated which would be greatly enjoyed by other young children i'm sure. My boy (age 3) likes a bit more of a story and was more interested in trying to open the huge fold out page which when unfolded wasn't worth the trouble. He also insists on helping me fold it back in which inevitably means it rips a bit more each time. For the fun he gets from opening the awkward giant flap I guess it was worth it but he's got lift-the-flap and fold out page books that are easier, more durable and fun than this book. If you get this book best buy some sellotape too.
As wonderful as ever ...... - Rated
My kids (one and two) love this book. It is a simple story about a magic balloon, and it has lots of colour and magic and (important as far as my kids are concerned) fold out bits. Not too long for limited attention spans, it really hits the spot. This is definitely one of their top five books.
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