Tag Olaf Falafel

Blobfish

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Blobfish
Olaf Falafel
Walker Books

Way, way, way down at the bottom of the sea lives sad, lonely Blobfish. Without any friends, he tells jokes to himself and when he’s not doing that he searches for somebody to play with.

One day. while humans are busy enjoying themselves on land, and Blobfish is in the depths of despair, a carelessly discarded plastic bag comes sailing through the air, splashes down on the sea’s surface and starts to sink. It catches the eye of Blobfish. Oh Joy! Finally a friend for Blobfish.

Things starts well, albeit sans conversation but then – disaster.

Could this lead to the tragic demise of our blobby pal? Happily not thanks to the human rubbish collectors: and what about a friend for Blobfish? Well, it’s a ‘blobbily ever after’ ending, so you decide.

With plenty of fun dialogue in the form of speech and thinks bubbles, this highly amusing, occasionally ridiculous, strikingly illustrated story about looking for friendship has at its heart a vitally important message about plastic pollution and its impact on ocean life.

Share with little humans at home and in school. They will love it; so will you.

Parps and Splats

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Old MacDonald Heard a Parp
Olaf Falafel
Harper Collins Children’s Books
I foresee a whole lot of tittering and mouth yoga from your audience when you share this noisy book.
Up bright and early, Old Macdonald is out and about on his farm: his aim, to identify the perpetrator of a loud parp. First he thinks it emanated from a cow – ‘With a Plrrb Plrrb here and a Plrrb Plrrb there … ‘ (instructions supplied to make the cow parp). But seemingly it wasn’t she. Perhaps instead it came from a duck …

Or could it have been a goat, a unicorn – surely not! – in your dreams Old MacDonald. No? Maybe then, a pig; or possibly a horse.
Apparently none of these lively creatures is the parper. Who could it possibly be?
That would be telling …

Suitably droll illustrations accompany the vocal gymnastics supplied by surreal comedian/illustrator Olaf Falafel. I see this becoming a resounding hit with early years listeners.
More crazy shenanigans – this time with the emphasis on the visual – in:

SPLAT!
Jon Burgerman
Oxford University Press
Many years ago, as an advisory teacher for language I used on occasion, to go on school visits with the advisory teacher for primary science; and we’d do a double act. One of the things we explored was “The Splat Factor” I recall.
This crazy book took me right back to those days when we had the children investigating all manner of splats.
Here, Burgerman confines his splatting to a slightly less messy amorphous green blobby thing, which undergoes various splat experiences when the reader turns the page. First it receives a pair of googly eyes and a mouth, followed by a pie, a pair of specs, a nose and lips; and a slice of bread spread with what looks like liberal coatings of sauces.
Thereafter comes a SQUISH SQUASH, an attack by some peckish birds, and worse … This though is followed by a truce.

Surely nothing can threaten those scrummy-looking ice-creams, can it?
Best shared with an individual; my testers to date have all deemed it a tasty, albeit rather squishy, treat, and thoroughly enjoyed being the splat perpetrators.

I’ve signed the charter