Mr Birdsnest and the House Next Door (Little Gems): (New Second Edition)

A lovely story that starts with a house move, gets a bit scary and then goes on to end happily ever after, as stories are supposed to. The best thing about this book is that it suits children who are ready to make the transition between fully illustrated books and 'real' books. There aren't many books that bridge the gap this well. The book has four chapters with enough grey-scale illustrations to satisfy children who are used to pictures on every page. It's ideal for reading chapter by chapter but can be read in a single sitting. While the story is an interesting one, the language is simple. I first bought a copy for a grandson who speaks Italian most of the time and he loved the book: it saved me having to simplify the language and explain or skip culture-specific references. The second copy was for a younger English-speaking grandchild. Based on my experience I'd say the book was suitable for four to six year olds, male and female.

This is about the "Little Gems" edition. These books are small in size, and short. This is a good thing - it will encourage reluctant readers. They don't see a huge challenge. They get a fun book that they can tackle. The text is printed in a nice clear font, with single-story letters. The text is in almost black on an off-white page. This means there's a good contrast. Not too much, not too little. The illustrations are lovely. Every page is illustrated. And the story itself is also really nice. My child enjoyed this book, and I'm going to buy a bunch of other books from this auther and from the Little Gems editions.

Suitable for a young reader, quite funny storyline, frequent and interesting illustrations- read it to my 6 year old son who enjoyed it, and I will be getting him to read it back to me soon. It was shorter than I expected- only 2 bedtimes worth, but then if you were wanting a young child to read it you don't want it to be over long and thus daunting.

I was disappointed receiving this little book, as i had not realised that the series’ ‘code name’ “Little gems” actually means a SMALL size (17cmx12cm) book, with only black and white illustrations. My grandson is only five, still needs large colours for illustration to enjoy a book, while I am reading it for him... I guess, by the time he will be 6 or 7, he will enjoy holding and reading it alone, but at the moment i am truly upset, that Amazon did not make the size of the book crystal clear. Also to be able to look inside and see the COLOURLESS, only black and white illustrations - for me to chose, then whether I wish to buy these or the nice, large size one, with colours in it! I am sure the text is as wonderful as every Julia Donaldson book, and there is absolutely room for these size books on the market, I just wish I was INFORMED clearly about the size, and nature of it, by the Amazon site clearly, in advance!

My daughter has loved reading this book but it had less pages/words than I hoped it would. She also loved that it has jokes on the inside of the front and back covers. A good little book that she can now read easily on her own again

I love love love this book - I've read it with so many children across my nannying, tutoring and primary teaching. A great short chapter book with an interesting story line! Super!

Brilliant little book! My little boy loves this! Julia Donaldson is our favourite author!

Great

I found this book initially from a British website that specializes in books for dyslexics. The text is a little larger and it is printed on nice paper - so very visually clean. It was listed on that website as reading age 6 with an interested level of 5-8 years. My 8 year old daughter who is struggling with reading found it to be just that - interesting, but a good level for her to read.

A very cute story.

Book was in terrible shape.