AYA and PAPAYA Meet the Big Little Creatures

Hi, we are Jules and Jenni. (Julia and Jennifer) We were born in Germany, we are twins and we are 11yrs. old. We love to read and we love to tell other kids about our favourite books. Today we are looking, (together with our dad), at a book for children age 3 and up. The book is: AYA and PAPAYA Meet the Big Little Creatures by MQ (which we felt is a cool name for an author) The story: Little Aya is excited, her best friend will visit her today and they can play together. Samy is a cute little boy and he lives in the house next door. The two want to play at the end of the garden, where Aya's parents have put up a castle. (Not a real one, but one for small kids.) To get there, they have to cross the big garden and walk past many insects (bees and caterpillars (eek!) and big birds are sitting on trees and garden toys. They feel scared, walking without adults on their own, and because of it, all the creepy crawlies and feathered friends look huge and very dangerous. But they are strong together and make it to the castle. Still, Aya's brother heard all the anxious yelling and comes along to see what is happening. Aya explains and wants the insects and the birds to go away and to leave them alone, but her brother tells her, they have a right to be there. It's their garden, too. Aya is very clever and she understands, to live together, we need to treat each other with respect and to be kind and careful. Jules says: The pictures are huge fun. Very cheerful and bright and our little brother did giggle a lot and he really liked Samy. But he wasn't scared of the huge insects, he found them super-cool, especially the bee and the ants. When Samy arrives he brings his doll Bamboo along, which actually looks totally like the boy and Aya's doll Papaya looks totally like her. We think that's a super-fun idea. We felt the pictures help children to understand how the two kids feel. I like to give the illustrations five stars. Jenni says: This is a clever little story. We all loved Aya and Samy and it's so much fun to watch those two trying to be brave and to get across the "very dangerous" garden. Our little brother hates spiders and he did really get how the two felt. He said, he always thinks the spiders have two very big red eyes, with which they stare at him very angry, but after reading the book with us he thought, maybe spiders should be allowed to live in the garden, too and he will try to make friends with them. I think, this shows how well the story works and I like to give the story five stars. The Dad says: I don't have much to add, my kids said it all. Story and illustrations work here very well together and the whole family had fun reading the picture book. The messages come very well across and will help children to see, facing and addressing their fears is important, suddenly those scares will look much smaller and hopefully vanish comletely when tackled together with friends and family. To teach children to remember to be kind and careful to others is another super-plus of this lovely little book. A total of 5 stars from all of us.

Hi, we are Jules and Jenny. (Julia and Jennifer) We were born in Germany, we are twins and we are 11yrs. old. We love to read and we love to tell other kids about our favourite books. Today we are looking, (together with our dad), at a book for children age 3 and up. The book is: AYA and PAPAYA Meet the Big Little Creatures by MQ (which we felt is a cool name for an author) The story: Little Aya is excited, her best friend will visit her today and they can play together. Samy is a cute little boy and he lives in the house next door. The two want to play at the end of the garden, where Aya's parents have put up a castle. (Not a real one, but one for small kids.) To get there, they have to cross the big garden and walk past many insects (bees and caterpillars (eek!) and big birds are sitting on trees and garden toys. They feel scared, walking without adults on their own, and because of it, all the creepy crawlies and feathered friends look huge and very dangerous. But they are strong together and make it to the castle. Still, Aya's brother heard all the anxious yelling and comes along to see what is happening. Aya explains and wants the insects and the birds to go away and to leave them alone, but her brother tells her, they have a right to be there. It's their garden, too. Aya is very clever and she understands, to live together, we need to treat each other with respect and to be kind and careful. Jules says: The pictures are huge fun. Very cheerful and bright and our little brother did giggle a lot and he really liked Samy. But he wasn't scared of the huge insects, he found them super-cool, especially the bee and the ants. When Samy arrives he brings his doll Bamboo along, which actually looks totally like the boy and Aya's doll Papaya looks totally like her. We think that's a super-fun idea. We felt the pictures help children to understand how the two kids feel. I like to give the illustrations five stars. Jenni says: This is a clever little story. We all loved Aya and Samy and it's so much fun to watch those two trying to be brave and to get across the "very dangerous" garden. Our little brother hates spiders and he did really get how the two felt. He said, he always thinks the spiders have two very big red eyes, with which they stare at him very angry, but after reading the book with us he thought, maybe spiders should be allowed to live in the garden, too and he will try to make friends with them. I think, this shows how well the story works and I like to give the story five stars. The Dad says: I don't have much to add, my kids said it all. Story and illustrations work here very well together and the whole family had fun reading the picture book. The messages come very well across and will help children to see, facing and addressing their fears is important, suddenly those scares will look much smaller and hopefully vanish comletely when tackled together with friends and family. To teach children to remember to be kind and careful to others is another super-plus of this lovely little book. A total of 5 stars from all of us.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reading copy. Aya and Papaya Meet the Big Little creatures is a cute way of showing perspective from younger children. Aya and Papaya have a play date with Samy and Bamboo in Aya's backyard. Once they leave the house for outside, they start to think that this might be more of a fright trail to their toys than a leisurely stroll after noticing all of the big little creatures that inhabit the grass and air around them. After some explaining from their older siblings, they learn the importance of being able to share their surroundings with others. There isn't much need to be afraid when the bugs are more afraid of us than we are of them. I enjoyed reading this book to my son and was pleased when he picked up on the moral of the story in the end. The illustrations are arranged in a way unlike most books. While it was enjoyable as an ebook, having a hard copy would be that much more enjoyable with this story.

This is the first book I have read from the Aya and Papaya series, of which there are currently two stories, and it was a lovely first glance into the world of a little girl and her favourite doll. The story would be a nice way to open a discussion with children about the little insects we might find in the garden. Because Aya and her friend Samy are uncertain and have vivid imaginations, they see the insects as big little creatures, through the eyes of a child who doesn't know what they have to fear. With the help of an older sibling they soon see that little bugs are nothing to fear and they should share the garden with them. I liked this because I think it is important from a young age to show children not to be scared of bugs, so that as they grow up they don't kill them or fear them, because it is clear that so many adults cannot calmly catch a spider in a glass and put it outside, but this example is so often taken from our parents. Hopefully books like this will help children, parents and teachers together, develop a healthy relationship with other living creatures, great and small, or 'big little' as they may be!! The story was well written and visually appealing with beautiful illustrations throughout.

Aya and her little doll, Papaya are back, along with her neighbor, Sammy and his doll, Bamboo. It is warming up and outside and they want to explore in the play-castle at the far end of the garden. However, in order to get there, they have go all the way through the garden! That means they have to be brave enough to go past all of the wiggly, creeping, crawly things that live there! Of course, soon the kids learn that all of these creatures are necessary to make the garden healthy and to grow and soon they are on their way to play along with all of their new flying, crawling, creeping friends. I adore Aya and her insatiable curiosity about the world. More importantly, I love the illustrators who design for this series!! The colors are vivid and bold and absolutely perfect for children for whom this book is targeted. I cannot get enough of this duo and I'm quite sure that your pre-school aged kids will feel the same way! I highly recommend #AyaandPapayaandtheBiglittleCreatures