Topic: Branching Out: Julia Donaldson

We’ll never grow tired of this creative tongue-twister series of stories that make for perfect read-it-together books for families and classroom settings – it’s ridiculously good fun that takes ‘the cat sat on a mat’ to a whole new level of hilarity.

The award-winning series includes Oi Frog!, Oi Dog!, Oi Cat!, Oi Duck-billed Platypus! and Oi Puppies!, and each book is based on the premise of instructing a menagerie of animals where to sit, using rhyme (for example, hares sit on chairs and lions sit on irons). The funny interplay between the unconvinced frog (who does not want to sit on a log, by the way), and the experienced mat-sitting cat, is what makes this book such a hoot.

Children in EYFS love this book, which always gets little ones joining in with the wonderfully silly rhymes. It is a good book for Reception phonics learning and also just to read for fun. The illustrations are bright and colourful and it is exactly the kind of go-to story time treat that teachers rely on for guaranteed giggles for classroom story sessions.