The Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat by Coral Rumble and Charlotte Cooke

The Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat by Coral Rumble, illustrated by Charlotte Cooke and published by Wacky Bee Books is a creative adaptation of the well known poem.

In this version however, the owl and the pussycat are two children in fancy dress and their beautiful pea green boat is actually a box on the living room floor.

The owl and the pussycat sail the seas and share with us all the fantastical things they spot. From dancing sea creatures to treasure maps and secret caves, this is an imaginative wonderland. Written in rhyme, the story flows beautifully with text that twists and turns as it swims across the pages.

We love looking at all the funny things the different sea creatures are up to, like the clown fish playing a flute whilst wearing a bow tie and the shark swimming around with the cat on his fin. The pirate ship page is a particular favourite and we always stop here to spot all the pirates hidden in the shadows.

Full page illustrations immerse you into the story, bright, colourful and full of detail. Every page offers you something else to look at and talk about; the treasure map, the hidden cave, the wanted poster for the naughty seagull.

There are some nods to the original poem we spotted with the cardboard boat called Petit Pois.

At the end of the story these two tired adventurers fall asleep on the living room floor, by the light of the moon of course.

A wonderful reinvention of a classic poem with an infectious adventurous spirit that is sure to get little ones imaginations running wild.

Inspired by this tale, we decided to make our own boats to float in our paddling bool. We went for two different kinds, sail boats and origami paper boats.

We used empty plastic tubs, paper, craft foam, lolly sticks and plasticine

To make our sail boats we squished a ball of plasticine into the bottom of the tub (blue tack would work just as well) then we stuck a lolly stick into the plasticine to use as a mast.

We used craft foam for a sail but card or paper would probably work fine. We made a hole at either end and then pushed the lolly stick mast through it.

For the origami boats we followed a YouTube video tutorial they’re so simple once you know how to do it. My children are a bit too young to be able to master all the folding but they were suitably impressed with me as I magicked a piece of paper into a boat. This would be a good challenge for older children who could make a whole fleet and experiment with different types and sizes of paper.

It was time to set sail and even take some passengers along for the ride. We were really interested in watching how the wind blew them around the water and what happened when the weight of the passengers was added.

This would be a great activity for older children too who could design their own boats and investigate the best materials to use. It’s also a perfect springboard to encourage storytelling about adventures at sea. We made up our own, mostly involving pirates, treasure chests and walking the plank.

Many thanks to Wacky Bee Books for sending a copy of this book for review. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35051621-the-adventures-of-the-owl-and-the-pussycat

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