Written by Margaret Wild and Ann James, Little Humpty is a lovely picture book a mother camel and her child. Little Humpty wants to play all day long but Big Humpty eventually tires. She realises that Little Humpty is growing up and decides to take him to the Great Waterhole. They journey there together and Little Humpty is very pleased to see lots of 'little humpties' just like himself.I think the authors try to relate the camels to a common parent child relationship where the child wants to play endlessly and the parent eventually runs out of energy. The mother realises that her child is growing up and needs some more social interaction and leads him to where the other children play.
The illustrations are lovely and the soft pictures capture the nurturing relationship between Big Humpty and Little Humpty. The background colour scheme represents the hot sandy desert where they live. The authors use many adjectives and verbs to give the text more depth,
'He liked scampering under her tummy'. This makes it more engaging for the reader as the storyline is actually very simple. This text shows that a narrative does not need to be outrageous, complex or detailed to be considered valuable for children. Little Humpty was a short-listed book for The Children's Book Council of Australia and also an Honour Book.
As part of a creative writing lesson this text would be perfect to read and ask students to continue the storyline themselves.
This sounds like a great story Sophie and the illustrations look beautiful. This could also be a fantastic teacher resource to introduce students to native animals and their habitats, such as a camel and the desert. Students could then create their own stories using other animals and their habitats.
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