Review - Little Lou and the Woolly Mammoth

Little Lou and the Woolly Mammoth
by Paula Bowles
Date: 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

When Little Lou finds a wriggly, squiggly piece of wool amongst a pile of toys, she curiously gives it a tug. But - what's this? The wool tugs back - there's something at the other end! And as Little Lou follows the wool, she realises that it's attached to... A giant woolly mammoth! Quick, RUN!

But soon the woolly mammoth gets snagged, and he starts to get smaller... And smaller... And smaller. In fact, he is so small that he doesn't really seem so scary anymore - he's just the right size for a cuddle!

A charming tale of fear, friendship and not judging a book by it's cover, beautifully illustrated by Paula Bowles.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is an odd picture book. The illustrations are cute, but the story is strange and I kind of failed to see the point. Little Lou finds a loose thread and follows it, only to discover a woolly mammoth on the other end. She gets scared and runs away, and the mammoth chases her (which isn't as scary as it sounds, because it's blue and fluffy). But then it gets snagged on something and starts to unravel, becoming smaller and smaller until it's the size of a toy... at which point, it's afraid of Little Lou and runs away, leading to a chase in the opposite direction. She finally catches it, gives it a hug, and everything's good. So... yeah.

Maybe this would work better read aloud at storytime, but I felt the plot was pretty weak. It also can't decide whether it wants to be a rhyming picture book or not, so there are pages where the text rhymes, pages where it sort of does, and pages where it doesn't at all. It wasn't really consistent, and I think it might've worked better if it was one way or the other.

Most of the stars here come from the illustrations, which are colourful and cute. Based on the apparent age of Little Lou, this book is likely aimed at toddlers... and the story is probably a little too sparse to appeal to anyone older.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.57 out of 5