Mr Birdsnest and the House Next Door product reviews

My Miss Six is a little bookworm and loves her bookcase to be full of chapter books so I thought this looked like a good addition and a variant to the "girly" type books she is presently reading.

We read this together in one sitting and both really enjoyed it. The story itself is lovely with a brother and sister (this book will appeal to both boys and girls) exploring the overrun garden and house next door. Their fun comes to an abrupt end when Mr Birdsnest moves in however they quickly discover that having Mr Birdsnest next door is actually going to up their fun value and neighbours are fun! This story took me back to the huge garden next to my grandparents and the fun we would have sneaking around thinking no one knew! A fantastic adventure inspired and inspirational story.

The set out of the book I would have done a little differently. Although each page had a black and white picture and a short amount of text the text itself was in a smaller font than I would have expected. There was enough space on the page to have had the font larger and I think that would make it easier for Miss Six to read this herself. As it is she struggles a bit by herself.

I would definitely recommend this book and it is great for both boys and girls.

I have always really enjoyed Julia Donaldson books having read some of the great books like the Gruffalo and Room on the Broom so was really keen to read this book with my children. I wasn't aware that is was a longer chapter format book but this was not a problem as my son who is only 1 still sat and listened to the story. He loves books and if they have a nice story he will sit and listen to even long stories and the book did have some great pictures although they would of been more interesting to him if they were in colour.

The story was really cool focusing on a family getting a new house even if it wasn't the one they wanted and then they get an interesting new neighbour. The house next door was more fun and interesting to the children than their own house and they thought that the new neighbour that they had called Mr Birdsnest because of his long beard that they imagined could hold a lot of birdsnests was going to ruin the new house and that he was mean.

The children learn that Mr Birdsnest is not mean and that he does have a lot of birds (just not in his beard) and he allows them to keep coming over to his garden to play!! A really nice little tale of friendship I really enjoyed this book and think it is another great book from Julia Donaldson, as my son is still only little it won't be an every day read like some of his books but one that he will get lots of enjoyment out of over the years.