Billie's wild jungle adventure by Sally Rippin

Ill. by Alisa Coburn. Billie's Super Dooper Adventures series. Hardie Grant Egmont, 2015. ISBN 9781760124441
(Age: 4-6) Highly recommended. Themes: Friendship, Imagination, Kindergarten, Jungle Animals. Sally Rippin's new series takes her fun-loving character Billie B Brown and explores her younger years. In this picture book Billie can't wait to go to Kinder, find her friend Jack and engage in some imaginative play. Jack and Billie swing happily on the tyre hung in the mulberry tree. They soon pretend they are deep in the jungle with pink-and-purple pythons hiding in the jungle-juice trees. They are having so much fun, until Billie accidentally picks up a python. The young jungle explorer has a brilliant idea and she is freed from the python's grip. With a ride on the back of a friendly tiger, they return just in time for a fruit snack.
Alisa Coburn's illustrations are reminiscent of those from The Little Golden Books; there's so much activity and interest to engage the young reader and class. The softly coloured pages in pastel greens and pinks show the inquisitive children drawn with monkey bodies and little ears enjoying the jungle setting.
With PACA - Play as a Creative Activity and the Nature Play's focus in preschools and kindergartens, Billie's Wild Jungle Adventure encourages imagination, creativity, risk taking, discovery and exploration in a safe setting.
Rhyllis Bignell