The Terrakeet

What a beautiful front cover this book has. It immediately made me smile along with the family in the illustration, and ask myself "What is a terrakeet? It sounds like some type of bird."

Then I flicked over to the back cover and the blurb made me wonder "what's the meaning of lomf and frimbulitic and what are gobi trees?" There's no point reaching for a dictionary, for these have been made up by the author, along with 'morgish' and 'delectations'. I was concerned that I wouldn't understand the text without knowing the meaning of these words, and was therefore relieved when the author explained in the text what she meant by 'lomfing'. However, definitions were not given for other fictional words and did not need to be. The reader easily understands what the author is portraying, and having unique words in the story makes it all the more interesting.

Even young readers will approve of the unexpected friendship that evolves from a scary situation and applaud the bravery of the youngest family member.

The blend of captivating illustrations, unique words, and an entertaining storyline will ensure the reader enjoys this book as much as those it's being shared with.

This book would work well as a read-aloud.