Gretel the Wonder Mammoth
Publisher: Ladybird Books
Gretel – who has been hibernating inside an iceberg for quite some time - is the last mammoth left on earth, and everyone loves her. She’s kind, understanding and strong and has plenty of new friends. Still, the world that Gretel wakes up to is rather different to the one she remembers, and although she tries her hardest to fit in, Gretel starts to feel sad.
Rather than bother her new friends, Gretel goes off to be on her own, but she soon finds that makes her feel worse. How can she get the hang of living in this new world, where she feels she doesn’t belong? Fortunately, her friends are there to help Gretel find herself – and stroke her woolly feet to make her feel better.
This utterly delightful picture book by Kim Hillyard, author of the empowering and sweet Mabel and the Mountain, is all about finding the confidence to be ourselves in what sometimes seems like a scary world; sometimes, we can feel that we don’t fit in, and that everyone else is different to us.
Gretel’s anxiety is aided by her friends being there for her and reassuring her that she has a place in the world, despite being one of a kind, and Gretel herself is a very cute and appealing (and rather Moomin-like) animal character that children will love.
