Tag Archives: The Hueys

#BookADayUK Should Have Sold More Copies

Posted on 26 June, 2014 | Leave a comment

Another theme that stumped me, I don’t know a lot about book sales. So I’ve chosen a picture book about numbers instead…

The Hueys in None the Number: Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Children's Books, 2014)The Hueys in None the Number: Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2014)

This is the third in the Hueys series, which seem to follow a philosophical theme. All Hueys books would be good to kickstart discussions in a classroom or home setting.

None the Number could be seen as a counting book for young children, that also introduces the concept of zero; it could be seen as something surreal (3 is a collection of chairs, 7 is oranges balanced on some things…); or it could be seen as a fun but silly story with a bunch of loveable characters.

This is my personal favourite of the three Huey books so far, but sadly none of them have caught the imaginationĀ of MG or DG. Although they’re not for us, I recommend them for their uniqueness and power to make you think.

Disclosure: The Hueys in None the Number received for review from HarperCollins Children’s Books.

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The Hueys in It Wasn’t Me by Oliver Jeffers

Posted on 26 May, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Hueys in It Wasn't Me: Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Children's Books, 2013)

The Hueys in It Wasn’t Me: Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2013)

It Wasn’t Me is the sequel to The New Jumper. Both books could be used as a basis for philosophy for children, and I think would be good discussed by older primary aged children. They don’t work as well as stories, but this is not a bad thing (unless that’s what you’re looking for!)

In It Wasn’t Me, a group of Hueys are arguing. Although when Gillespie asks why, none of them can remember. The visual descriptions of the arguments work very well, so the book could be used to discuss emotions and arguments. I really do see the Hueys as books to use for discussion more than story books.

I asked MG and DG what they thought of both books. They both prefered “the orange one” but I may have biased them by speaking first. Asking about “the blue one”, MG told me the story was about a fly and DG told me the story was about fighting. MG did not like the “scribbles” – I think the negative emotion contained makes her feel uncomfortable. DG liked the speech bubbles changing colours, and the flying elephant.

I’m not entirely sure what the story was really about to be honest. Who killed the fly?! A book that makes you think, but might tie your brain in knots šŸ˜‰

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of It Wasn’t Me by HarperCollins Children’s Books for review. No other financial reward was given and the opinions are my own. I was not asked to write this post.

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The New Jumper by Oliver Jeffers

Posted on 27 May, 2012 | 1 comment

As I said in my Fiction Fridays post for Stuck, we’re fairly new to Oliver Jeffers in the Chaos household. But his work is very easy to fall in love with so we’re already fans!

The New Jumper is the first in a planned four book series about The Hueys, egg-shaped characters who are ‘all the same’. This story follows Rupert, a Huey who does something different. It’s a story about individuality, and a good book to approach philosophy for children, posing interesting questions about what’s different or the same:

The pencil sketch style encourages children to have a go, and the use of occasional colour pages highlights the Hueys nicely. There is a surprisingly large amount of character and detail in the minimalist art and the book really is a joy to read over again. MG and DG think it’s good fun, MG calls it “the egg book” and loves that she can make her own Huey online too.

Because The Hueys is having a big launch, there are fun things online to play with. You can make your own Huey, here’s MG’s:

… and here’s mine:

Yesterday there was a PDF of Huey’s activity sheets to download from here, but I can’t get it work today so finger’s crossed it will because there was a Huey to colour in, to cut out, spot the difference and a maze.

The trailer for the book:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BdInM3jUxs]

You can also download sample pages from Oliver’s books from LoveReading4Kids (registration needed).

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of The New Jumper by HarperCollins for review. No other financial reward was given and the opinions are my own. I was not asked to write this post.

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