Age Range: 3 to 7
George and his friends from the Heavenly Hippos Wildlife Park are back with a new craze! They’re collecting people cards!
The Story: The penguins have a full collection of people cards but George only has three and his friend Seymour just has one very rare one. There’s not a lot that you can do with three people cards so George looks for some more. When he meets a friend who is also looking for people cards he comes up with a great idea and by the end of the story the animals have a whole collection. But what will the penguins think?
Our first meeting with George was in A Gold Star for George in which his friends rewarded him for his kindness. In this story George advocates working together as a team so that he and his friends can enjoy the new craze together. Most children have participated in some kind of card collecting craze and my daughter thought it was hilarious that the animals were collecting people cards. We found the people cards very entertaining – both author Alice and illustrator Kimberley are included in the set along with Wesley the fire fighter, Mirembe the toddler, Babette the security guard and Starr the astrophysicist to name but a few.
George’s story has an easy to read text which is supported by Kimberley Scott’s amusing illustrations. We love the expressions on the animals’ faces and we also look for the little pink bird who is on several of the pages but not mentioned in the text, his body language is brilliant, especially the way he positions his wings in a thinking pose! I have a very soft spot for Seymour who hugs his very rare card to his chest throughout the story and the penguins’ ‘attitude’ on the first page makes us laugh!
George and the New Craze inspired my daughter to make her own people cards. This would be a fantastic activity for a literacy classroom. Children could create people cards for family members which could lead to discussions about different kinds of families or they could create people cards for their class. Each child could pick a classmate’s name out of a hat and draw a card for that child. It would make a wonderful display for a classroom door.
Just in case you can’t read our cards!
- Catherine is a writer. She likes reading.
- Jessica goes to school. She likes writing.
- This is Michael. He works at IBM.
We even got a rare people card – The Queen!
George and the New Craze is a very amusing story that teaches the value and enjoyment of sharing in a fun but subtle way. We love the way that the animals in the Heavenly Hippos Wildlife Park always respect and take care of each other.
Author: Alice Hemming / Illustrator: Kimberley Scott
George and the New Craze (George the Giraffe and Friends)
by Alice Hemming [Maverick Arts Publishing]
£6.99
· 
EUR 8,50
· 
EUR 8,39
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EUR 8,46
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$6.82
Thank you to Maverick Books for sending us a copy of George and the New Craze. It’s a really fun story and it’s great to see the return of some familiar characters.
Sounds like a fun & interesting book that will appeal to 3 to 7 year olds. I love stories about penguins ever since Pingu. My granddaughter loves penguin stories, too, because her Daddy lived with penguins for 18 months in Antarctica. Before she was born!
It is a fun story. We have a whole blogpost with our favourite penguin stories including Cuddly Dudley and Lost and Found.
Love the sound of this, sounds like a very sweet story and always great when stories teach the kids something well worth learning. Thanks for sharing with #ReadWithMe
It’s a really fun and original idea for a story. My daughter had great fun making her people cards 🙂
This book sounds like an interesting fun read, I think my daughter would enjoy this book even though she’s a bit older – 8 years old, she enjoys a good picture book though (I should make the the most of it while it lasts!) I really like the people cards idea! The cards look fab and so sweet 🙂 #ReadWithMe
I have an eight year old and she loved the story, I think it’s because it is different to other stories that we have read. Collecting people cards appealed to both our senses of humour!
Thanks for the recommendation! #readwithme
You’re welcome Anita 🙂
I love the idea of animals collecting people cards, so funny! Your daughter’s cards are great too, what a lovely activity 🙂
#readwithme
We think it’s a hilarious idea 🙂 I love the ones my daughter did, it’s interesting to see how she defines us!
Another great review. Love finding new books to try. Thank you! #readwithme
Thank you for the compliment Kate!
What a fun idea for a story line. I can see it appealing to slightly older children too who are already into collecting cards and stickers in the playground #readwithme
It is fun! We have read lots of picture books and we have never come across an idea like this before 🙂
Aw, those cards are so cute! I love the whole concept, especially given how many trading cards we have lying about this house! x #triedtested
It’s a very clever idea to incorporate the cards into the story especially at a time when so many children were collecting football cards 🙂
Oh this looks a fun book with a lot of opportunities to extend the learning and play afterwards! Thanks for linking up with #TriedTested
I find that often the simplest stories provide the most learning opportunities 🙂
Oh my goodness! On so many levels! Our little girl (6) loves animals and i know shed love this idea. Shed also love to make those cards 🙂 great ideafor a book and even better that it inspired a fab activity 🙂 #readwithme
It is a wonderful book on so many levels and a very original story 🙂