5. The High Street by Alice Melvin

The High Street by Alice Melvin
Published November 2011, Thames and Hudson

From the publisher

Sally is on the High Street. She has a list of 10 items she needs to buy including a Persian rug and a stripy jug. Following Sally from the sweet shop to the florist, readers can open the flaps of the book to see what’s going on inside each of the shops she visits.

 Should those wild animals be upstairs in the pet shop? Will the plates fall off the wall in Mr Kumar’s China Shop? Can Sally find everything on her list?

This is a book I picked up at the library based on nothing but the cover!  No matter how the saying goes, many people are drawn to a book beacuse of its cover. I was very fortunate to find that the inside did not dissapoint. There is a lovely rhythmic text and each page with the shop front illustration, opens out so we can see inside. My favourite shop is Ms Yoshiko's antuque shop, as she lives upatiars.  I wouldn't call this a 'lift the flap' book because the whole page opens up.  I know many libraries steer clear of lift the flap books because they will get damaged too easily, but I think this one should be ok.

The shops are numbered 1-10, and each item Sally has to collect is done in the same order (from bottom to top) as it appears on her list. So as much as it is a charming rhyming picture book, it would also be a good book to use for memory, prediction and even counting.  Ever time I read this book I notice something I had missed earlier.

Here are some images from the inside, so you can see how the pages open up:

Who will like this book: Boys and Girls Age 5+
Read it if you like: Interesting picture books with rhythmic text