Published by Hodder Children’s Books, 2020.

I’m always super excited when another book publishes in the brilliant Oi Frog! series. Oi Aardvark! is a corker. It’s full of the trademark wit and hilarious illustrations that we’ve come to expect. All our favourite characters are in it too: clever Frog, nice-but-dim Dog, and supercilious Cat. This time, Frog has written a book – his Alphabetty Botty Book! It’s an alphabet book for animals he hasn’t told where to sit yet.

As Frog works his way through the alphabet, there’s an impressive range of obscure animals which he always manages to find a rhyme for, including uakaris, pangolins and quolls. My son Sam’s favourites were the kudu on some doo-doo (toilet humour is always going make a four-year-old laugh!) and the aardvarks on cardsharks. I love Frog’s solution for ‘X’, the X-ray tetra, but I won’t give away the rhyme.

The book has surprise fold-out pages – extras like this are always a hit with me and Sam. The bold colour blocked backgrounds to each page are really striking and we can’t get enough of Jim Field’s illustrations. The animals are full of personality, their faces so expressive and their sense of style frequently fabulous – we loved the punkish quetzels, the snappily-dressed zebra, and the donkey with a Farrah Fawcett fringe!

Oi Aardvark! is a wonderfully fun way to learn the alphabet. The rhymes are also a great source of amusement and inspire Sam to think of his own silly combinations.

Rating: 💙💙💙💙💙

Suitable for children aged 3+

Thank you to Hodder Children’s Books for sending me this book to review.