Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet Ahlberg, Allan Ahlberg (Paperback, 2008) Pocket-Sized

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Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s Each Peach Pear Plum was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1978 and has remained a beloved pattern book since that time. It’s wonderful to see that this treasure, first published in 1978, is not only still in print but has been issued as a board book as well as a soft cover, and I’ve just bought the board book for my son’s first child, due in two weeks. Absolutely adore this classic from my childhood, I purchased this for my little boy, fantastic pocket size for when you're travelling with your little one and seeking a form of entertainment, very practical!

I loved "I Spy" type things back then and now I can appreciate the smooth flow of the rhyme scheme and the clever illustrations and I just really enjoyed the variety of Mother Goose characters and how their little stories are related. Lovely for reading to very young children and getting them to spot the character, and I'm sure that in years to come it'll also be a good aid to learning to read. Janet Ahlberg (21 October 1944 – 13 November 1994), née Janet Hall, and Allan Ahlberg (born 5 June 1938) were a British married couple who created many children's books, including picture books that regularly appear at the top of "most popular" lists for public libraries. Each Peach Pear Plum is a timeless picture book classic from the bestselling illustrator/author team Janet and Allan Ahlberg, creators of Peepo!However, I must confess that when I read 'Tom Thumb in the cupboard/I spy Mother Hubbard', I didn't espy her at first! Last week, a friend I gave it to more than ten years ago, and who now lives in Australia, sent me a picture of her younger child with the book, saying her kids still love it. I think this would be interesting to share with children and see who they recognise and what they can spot in the pictures. You have to look carefully when looking for the characters, althought I have read the book endless times I always find it difficult to find The Three Bears!

Born as Janet Hall in Yorkshire in 1944, she studied at Sunderland Technical College, where she met Ahlberg. a warm, sunny, delectable picture book' Brian Alderson, The TimesAllan Ahlberg has published over 100 children's books and with his late wife Janet, created many award-winning children's picture books. Wonderful little story, a true classic but I do find that the quality of the cardboard has somehow gone down hill and don’t really see it surviving too many reads. Beautiful vignettes roll exquisitely across village, vale and wood through the Ahlberg’s perfect balance between image and verse.Underneath the drawing, readers are welcomed to “the text, and informed that “in this book”, they’ll be asked to “play ‘I spy’”. This is an absolute classic, and I'd be surprised if there's anyone in English-speaking countries, at least, who hasn't heard of it, read it and loved it. It's fun when they have an 'ah-ha' moment either because they recognize the character in this book, or, when they're hearing a verse or tale for the first time, remember that they saw it in this book. While this is an 'I Spy' book, it also reinforces the nursery rhymes and fairy tales that the kids are learning.

Many of his books were collaborations with his wife, Janet, an illustrator, and they quickly became one of Britain’s leading author/illustrator teams. with a more noticeable Mother Hubbard making a second appearance, and an arm with a feather duster gives away Cinders' hiding place; Three Bears with Cinderella still cleaning, this time on the stairs, and the bears are not in the room but can be seen so can you guess where they are? It has also been remarkable to see how much she has continued to enjoy the book, and how she gets different things from it as she progresses through different stages in her development - she is now almost two!Chosen as one of our February selections over in The Picture-Book Club to which I belong, where our theme was "Fractured Nursery Rhymes," Each Peach Pear Plum is only nominally related to the world of nursery rhymes, being more of a rhyming game-book than anything else. Of the literally hundreds of times I have read this book to a child it has never bored me but has been an utter delight over and over again. It really engages the children in the book, which I've seen when reading the book to children in a reception class.