Use Your Imagination

Brilliant book. I bought this for work, a class of 25 5-6year olds. They absolutely loved this story. The text has hints of red riding hood and draws on childrens knowledge of traditional tales which are fantastic points to support there inference and prediction skills. The randomness of the Rabbits suggestions like bananas and space rockets balance out the predictability well and the title is a repeated refrain within the text. One one page the text mimics a trail made by the characters chasing each other through a forest. There is a lift up page where on the page before it the rabbit starts a count down, and the page lifts up to show the Wolf being blasted off into space by the rabbit who has realised he is the hero of the story. A well made book with simple yet beautifully thought through illustrations. The whole class, enen reluctant readers, loved this story and it was very easy to find puppets that resembled the two characters to turn this into a story sack. I highly recommend this book! Only warning I would say is that some children become confused by the lift up page and it may tear so one best to read with them to model how to lift the page up.

This one caught my interest recently but it is more suitable to older children than my 6 year old and the story-time sessions in the library. It's told in a conversation style with the rabbit 'choosing' the adventures/endings etc. Hard to follow at times, and hard to keep younger ones interested.Great idea that showcases how a story evolves and who gets the bigger parts etc. You could actually use this and get the kids to re-create the story themselves using the characters and the different outcomes. Thus getting them to use their imagination! I'd pitch it at 7+ and older. It's one I'll keep but will explore it again when they are a bit older.

Such a wonderful, exciting book with a delightful fold-out surprise near the end. Use Your Imagination is a story about a rabbit who is a little bit bored and gets preyed upon by a big bad wolf who wants to take advantage. Cleverly, by using its imagination, rabbit reverses roles and shows the wolf who's boss! It is easy to compare this to the story of Little Red Riding Hood but Nicola O'Byrne manages to make it appeal to a much wider audience through use of her endearing illustrations and humorous prose. ​

Now that is truly a funny book! This is my first-ever written review on Amazon but this book is worth it. I just had to write it after having read "Use Your Imagination" to my 8-year-old tonight. My daughter is bilingual and has lived in English-speaking countries for five years - and she really enjoys quirky picture books that make her laugh and ponder. Whilst reading "Use Your Imagination" my daughter and I started screaming with laughter on page 3 - where the theme of Little Red Riding Hood first crosses over the storyline and combines with Wolf's alleged librarian background - and we simply didn't stop laughing after that. As I write my stomach still hurts :) There are several quirky and subtle aspects of this story and the illustrations perfectly support the brilliant storyline. I asked my daughter a couple of times: "Is Rabbit using his imagination right now?" and she grasped the chance to reflect upon the strategies that Rabbit is being manipulated into choosing along the way. She also spontaneously spotted the various references to Little Red Riding Hood (incl. the red cape and Wolf standing behind a grandmother's nighty). A most interactive, fun and precious moment with my daughter. Thanks for that!

My daughter came home from school with a free book one day called open very carefully, also by the same author. She loved it and I loved how it broke the fourth wall. When this book arrived I read it to her and she loved it too. It plays on the little red riding hood story with a fun twist.