Book Review: Po-Tolo - Plan Bee From Outer Space

This week we are reviewing Po-Tolo: Plan Bee From Outer Space. It's a gorgeous book by Olly Oliver and is published by Top That Publishing.  


I'm sure you will be instantly bowled over by the colourful illustrations of the book as we were, but the question is should you judge a book by it's cover?  Does the contents of the book live up to the bright, cheery and welcoming cover?  Read on...


With Po-Tolo: Plan Bee From Outer Space I knew as soon as I lay my eyes on the book that this was going to be a very original storyline, everything about the illustrations were unique and unlike some children's books I have read before, at no point did I get the feeling that I had read the plot somewhere before.


And I must commend the author of the book as I really think he hit the nail on the head quite a few times with regards to what children want in a book; loveable characters (the bigger eyes the better), plenty of onomoatopeia with words like "Wob, Wob, Wob" to emphasise the sound of the helicopter and also a bit of humour.  My son absolutely loved the picture of Po-Tolo getting covered in snot below.

 Anyway, the plot is rather quirky and educational; it's about a spaceman named Po-Tolo who comes to Earth one day in a spaceship called Nommo.  (I'd love to know where these names came from?)  He comes to Earth because his world is in trouble because all of the bees have disappeared, which has had disasterous results.  The results are explained in easy to understand pictures which Po-Tolo has drawn.   Which goes something like:

No bees=

Dead Trees=

Dead Plants=

Poorly Animals

Lots of bees=

Trees

Plants

Pollen

Seeds

Flowers

Simplifying these things in the story makes it a lot easier for children to realise the importance of bees.

And again an easy to follow illustration of Po-Tolo's plan of taking the Earth bees back to his planet reiterates the storyline in an easy to understand format which makes the book suitable for younger children as well.

I think it's a great idea to have a book on such an educational subject; and as a parent it gives you that feeling of pride to be explaining such an important topic through such a lovely book. I think the book covers some important points too, such as the bee thinking that she is too little to help, and of course no one is ever too little to help....

The book is recommended by the International Bee Research Association and the back page of the book is very informative with lots of bee facts that I expect will even be of interest to adults.

For more information please visit http://www.topthatpublishing.com/