Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Scruffy Bear and the Lost Ball
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Random House UK, 2014 ISBN: 978-1849415460
One day Scruffy the bear is going about his business when a red ball comes flying through the air towards him. Scruffy kicks the ball, which then flies high in the air and into the branches of a big oak tree. Scruffy waits for the ball to come back down, but it doesn’t. Then four rabbits come along. They are looking for their red ball and Scruffy, feeling a little guilty, offers to climb the tree to retrieve their toy.
Though Scruffy says that he is “an excellent tree climber,” he actually has never climbed a tree before. He soon finds up that climbing a tree is not hard, so long as you don’t look down at the ground below. The rabbits on the ground point out that they can see something red in amongst the leaves, and Scruffy very carefully edges his way along a branch to investigate. Unfortunately, the red thing isn’t a ball at all. In fact it is nothing like a ball and Scruffy gets into a rather sticky situation.
Chris Wormell has created many wonderful picture books over the years. This title combines a simple story with expressive artwork to give little children a story that will make them laugh. They will also wonder how Scruffy, who seems to have a gift for finding trouble, is going to safely return the ball to its rabbit owners.
