I Really, Really Don’t Like Parties
Angie Morgan
Otter-Barry Books

When Dora discovers an envelope containing an invitation to Rashid’s birthday party at the bottom of her book bag, her heart sinks: she does not like parties at all. Mum insists it will be fun but Dora is creative thinking up all kinds of reasons why she can’t possibly go, even if her friends will all be there.

Mum is having no nonsense though and packs her off to the party.

Dora is right about it being a very noisy affair but does her best to participate in some of the games. Then comes the teatime announcement. Dora dives under the table and there to her surprise finds she’s not alone. Tom is already there and he’s tucking in to a plate of food which he shares with Dora: that’s two party haters and two new friends having a great time together.

Some time later Dora receives another party invitation. I wonder what her reaction will be to this one.
As a young child I would have been a Dora, though I probably wouldn’t have invented such wonderful excuses nor gone under the table and I know a number of children who feel the same about hectic noisy parties now.

Angie Morgan’s illustrations of Dora’s excuse sequence are both hilarious and heartfelt. She cleverly uses humour – visual and verbal – to convey a very important message: we are all different in our response to loud, busy situations and Dora’s feelings about them are perfectly valid.