Talking Tales: Catch that Chinchilla – Erica Graham

★★★★

“No!” Rachel yelled. “Dad said not to open the cage until he gets back.”
“Don’t worry, Rachel. I am only going to touch him on the chin.:

Rachel and her brother, Fletch, just got a new chinchilla.

He’s adorable, he’s fluffy and he looks all cooped up in that cage…so Fletch decides to give the little fella a little scratch on the chin.

Surely, nothing could go wrong...right?

…it was too late.
The chinchilla jumped through an open window.

And thus begins one of the most harrowing adventures of Fletch and Rachel’s lives.

They chase, and chase, and chase after the chinchilla – running inside and outside of many stores and the little chinchilla causing chaos throughout!

The chinchilla jumped off the shelves and scampered across the store, launching peaches, cheese, chicken nuggets, and ketchup everywhere.

All in all, this was a fun short book with bright illustrations and a charming story.

The author , who has a Masters in Speech Language Pathology, designed this book to be used as a tool to increase sound awareness (though, it functions equally well as a great bedtime book!).

Before the book begins, there’s a little note to caregivers about how to use Catch that Chinchilla – namely reading it slowly, clearly and emphasizing the words with the “ch” sound in them.

The author encourages children to take a turn at reading the phrases though the author does mention that kids can be frustrated if they are forced to repeat sounds over and over (hence this book uses a variety of “ch” words to sneak that repetition in).

The actual storyline really held my attention – I loved the fluffy little chinchilla running all over and wreaking havoc on the poor shop owners. He was mischievous and delightful!

There were a few times where the perspective of the images seemed a bit off but other than that, I really enjoyed the illustrations.

The Chinchilla – particularly when the little fella was munching and crunching on food – was super cute!

Overall, I would categorize this book as a huge success!

with thanks to the author for a free copy in exchange for an honest review

Interested in this one from Erica Graham? Buy it here:  Amazon