Legs. Sarah J. Dodd (Author), Giusi Capizzi (Illustrator)
Children's Christian Story Book. Sarah Dodd
Miki is a baby meerkat who lives with his Mama in a zoo. He's happy at home with Mama and the kind keeper who cares for them, but soon he becomes curious about the wider world. Then one day Miki ventures a bit too far out into the world, and he's not sure where he is anymore.
Who do all these legs belong to? Soon the legs turn from animal legs to people legs - Miki really has gone too far! But just when Miki feels completely lost, there are the keepers familiar booted legs, and here's the keeper to bring him home; and from his vantage point in the keepers arms all the legs that seemed so intimidating on the way out are revealed to have friendly, happy faces with them!
MasterReader
5.0 out of 5 starsWill cute litte meerkat Miki find his way home?
16 August 2015
Format: Hardcover
(ARC was provided to read and review.)
Miki is a little baby meerkat and lives happily with his mother in the zoo. They have a very kind and friendly keeper, who takes care of them every day.
For Miki there's so much to discover, so many new and exciting things and he wants to see more of the world. First he starts to explore the rest of the zoo, but being a tiny meerkat all he can see are legs, lots of different legs. Pink ones and stripy ones and also very fierce and furry ones. Miki gets scared and now he ventures futher and finds himself outside the zoo. There are more legs, this time human ones.
Miki feels lost. Where is his mother? Then he spots a pair of boots, with which he's well familiar. And hands lift him up to a kind face.
Now the surrounds don't look so frightening anymore. He can't wait to be back home after such an exciting adventure.
Will Miki's mother be angry?
Legs is a lovely picture book with a story to which small children will easily be able to relate. They know Miki's perspective quite well, one which adults sometimes tend to forget. What a small child will see, when we rush across a busy railway station or through a packed shopping street is different from our point of view and can be very scary indeed.
But perspective does not only depend from location, love and caring and feeling save and protected will also change the feelings towards our surrounds.
The cheerful and bright illustrations will be very appealing to young children and all the different legs make for a fun guessing game. After we read the story together, my preschoolers enjoyed to draw lots and lots of different animal legs.
The book offers also a good chance to discuss with the children if they ever felt lost and what did make them feel better or what to do to get safely back home.
Reviews.
Personally, I liked the book a lot, because its topic offers a chance for fun activities and interesting discussion to engage the kids further. Besides, my son (he is 4) is a passionate meekat fan and he immediately took to Miki.
Ismay1012
Lost and found – a charming story with a happy outcome
Baby meerkat Miki begins his life safely underground with his Mama in the zoo. When he is old enough his mother encourages him to come out of his nest to see the big world outside. At first Miki is hesitant but Mama is always there by his side, looking out for him and smiling her encouragement. Miki comes to love his life exploring and learning with his Mama, while all the time being looked after by the kindly zookeeper.
Then one day Miki strays too far and out of sight of his Mama. He is filled with curiosity on his adventures in the big outdoors but soon he becomes confused. There are legs everywhere, some big, some spotted, some wrinkly, some in pairs and some in fours; all different kinds of legs. It’s all too much for little Miki so he runs away in confusion and fright. Once outside the zoo he soon comes across even more legs stretching up tall like buildings. They are human legs of all shapes and sizes and they make Miki feel very small and afraid. He called for his Mama but she wasn’t there. Drawing closer were a pair of tall booted legs and soon he hears a familiar voice, a voice he recognises as his friendly zookeeper, offering Miki his help. Enveloped in the keeper’s warm hands, Miki looks up to see a smiling face and as he takes in his surroundings he no longer sees legs but a host of happy faces, both human and animal. Then at last he sees the dear face of his Mama, the face he loves best of all.
This is a very short story suitable for sharing with a small child and reading it together. The illustrations were outstanding, clearly displayed from the perspective of little Miki, and really drawing the reader into the story. This picture book would be very good for introducing children to different points of view and for discussing the concept of getting lost. My grandchildren would love this story and I would have been very happy using it when I taught young children prior to my retirement.
Nayu
This is one super cute tale all about perspective. Using Miki's experience of freedom the book teaches that doing something different (in this case getting off the ground) can change the way you look at the world. All Miki sees to begin with are legs, but after a certain incident he gets to look at heads and faces which changes his understanding of everything. There is no place like home, that's for sure!
Striking out on your can be initially exciting, but then gets scary when no-one seems to care for you – family do have your best interests at heart. The story is sweet, and the illustrations are endearing and I'm looking forward to rereading it!
