Jack's Amazing Shadow by Tom Percival - a book review

A few weeks ago we were contacted by Anovabooks asking if Ethan and I would like to review a new book by Tom Percival.  Would we? Of course we would!

Ethan and I love to read.  I've read to him since he was tiny and he always has books at bedtime - about three long books these days followed by a "'tend story".  One of the things I've loved about being a blogger is the opportunity to review children's books.  I love being able to present Ethan with a new book, they are great as rewards I find and it's lovely for us parents to have a variety of books to read to him!

When I saw the title of this book, I knew it would be just up Ethan's street.  He's recently become very interested in shadows - for example our walk to preschool today was taken up with chat about shadows for the whole duration.  Why they exist  why they change position, whether they get hurt when they knock into other shadows (haha, 3 year olds!!).

Jack (the main character in the book) is a little boy with a magical shadow.  They are the best of friends, always doing everything together.  Jack's shadow has quite a cheeky character and one day he goes to far with his "cheeky" behaviour.  As a result, Jack and his shadow fall out.  It's a lovely story which engages the imagination of young children, exploring ideas about what our shadows can get up to when we're not looking and also what it's like to fall out with someone you are very fond of.  As you'd expect, Jack and his shadow make up towards the end of the book - it'd be a little sad and harsh for a children's book otherwise!

As soon as this book arrived in the post I showed it to Ethan and the illustrations caught his interest straight away!  I'd read it three times before we'd even got to bedtime that day! He sat and listened attentively  the story certainly kept him interested.

On a personal level, I love the illustrations in this book.  The characters are really interesting to look at with bright hair - sometime I love as a parent who often dyes her hair!  The story has a moral but it's not too in your face and the idea of a magic shadow captures the imagination of young children.  It's a hit as far as we're concerned!

Jack's Amazing Shadow by Tom Percival is available to buy now!

**We were provided with a copy of this book for review purposes but no payment was received and all views expressed are mine**