Find out what Mumsnetters thought of picture book Sunk! by Rob Biddulph

[SorchaMumsnet]

Introducing: children's author Rob Biddulph and his latest picture book, Sunk!. Find out more about the book and author.

A pirate hat.
A sunny day.
For Penguin Blue
A game to play.

Penguin Blue, star of the bestselling picture book, Blown Away, is back with his friends for a new adventure.This time they've swapped the perils of kite-flying for sunken wrecks and brave buccaneers. So hoist the colours and set sail - it's time to hit the treasure trail!

We ask all winners to share their child's thoughts about the book on this discussion thread. Everyone who gives detailed feedback on the book by midday Monday 1 May will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 Love2shop voucher:

This giveaway is sponsored by Harper Collins Kids

Book giveaways T&Cs apply

We received our copy on Saturday, ds is really into anything boat or pirate related so when he opened the envelope he was immediately flicking through the pictures and pointing out all the boats and characters.
We read it at bedtime on Saturday and have been reading it every night since! Its beautifully illustrated, even if I struggle to read some of the pages with black writing on dark backgrounds with the bedside lamp, though this could be more to do with my eyesight! The page with writing sideways is particularly difficult!

The story is nice, its great that it rhymes and ds loves it, I find it a tad confusing as we haven't read the first in the series, is it meant to be taking place in pretend play way? Though its not aimed at 34 year olds so if ds likes it then its attracting the right age group (he's 3.5 years).

All in all its a hit in this household, might try and get the first book so we can read it.

Thanks for sending us a copy.

Also, how am I the first to write on this thread?!

We have received our copy and my dd has requested it twice as her bedtime story now. She is 3 and she has lots of books to choose from at bedtime so to have requested it twice already is pretty high praise!

She really enjoys the book and when I asked her what her favourite thing was she said she likes the fish and pirate ship. She thinks it is funny when the swordfish pops the boat and has asked me a few times what the fish is called. She has also learnt the word "kelp" thanks to the book! She really loves the pirate ship adventure playground at the end and has said she wishes she could go on a playground just like that one.

From a parent's point of view the book is lovely, flows well and the illustrations are really beautiful actually. It's a good story and my daughter has laughed out loud to it so 10/10 from us! Thank you for my copy!

We've just read it for the first time. The toddler was too busy trying to climb off the back of the sofa to pay much attention (it would have to have a tractor in it to get him interested at the moment) but the five year old enjoyed trying to read it herself (mostly successfully with a good smattering of words that took some working out so a good level for her right now) and then listening when she got tired of that.

I asked what her favourite thing was and she said the pirate ship playground at the end - she happily worked out how you could climb up to each slide, and which ones she thought she'd come down but which others were too scary.

I enjoyed reading it and loved the illustrations - there is so much to spot and make you smile. It's definitely been added to the 'Mummy likes reading these ones' pile. Thank you for the opportunity to add it to our collection.

We've read it this evening. It's really pretty decent. The idea is original and it's a nice adventurous theme. My 3 year old enjoyed spotting the animals and we all liked it. I would certainly look out for the prequel. Thank you for this - I can see we'll be reading it regularly :)

We received this book on Saturday and we've read it 3 times since then as a bedtime story. DD is 5 and chooses her bedtime books.

She loves pirates and especially treasure and her favourite thing was the very last illustration - the parrot with the treasure. She noticed throughout the story that the parrot found the treasure map.

The book is a lovely book, the illustrations are lovely, and the story is not too complicated but not too simple either so perfect for my 5yr old.

I would recommend it to any child, not just the children who love pirates or treasure.

I received this on my birthday so was a lovely surprise. My 3 yr old girl loves sharks so this book was perfect for her. We read it straightaway and she loved it. I particularly loved the illustrations and the prose was also beautifully written. Would really recommend this book.

This is so gorgeous. Loving Rob Biddulph's work and this is so great for Reception classes doing Pirates this term. My daughter loves it already and I have recommended it to someone else as a gift to buy.

The illustrations in this book are just beautiful.

My 4 year old DD adores pirates, and loved the treasure map - though she wanted to know why there were so many more boys than girls (she is very critical of anything that isn't gender balanced!).

Some of the pages were a little dark to read, and as so many children's books use very bright colours to hold attention, I felt that it was a task sometimes to get DD interested in a page, although the rhyme definitely helped that.

I think as she gets older, this will definitely be a book she will enjoy reading by herself - particularly getting to turn the book on its side to read the text etc.

Thank you so much: We received our book, appropriately, on Saturday 26th, after ds's 6th birthday party, so was very excited to read that night. When ds saw the cover was a Penguin excitement grew further, as his class is named Penguins! When the cover came off the book and we saw the pirate badge and the penguin on the back we could not wait to open the adventure... the illustrations were great. The rhyming was fun to read (with mum's pirate accent), we even liked Clive (as his older sister 8 who was listening in loves Polar bears!). Treasure and counting with a looping figure trail took us across the pages. With all the sea creature to help Capt. Walker Plank - up came the ship - with canons blowing bubbles and all shape and sizes of slides, (ds loves slides & bubbles) friendship was made! Each penguin was given a name from the class!
Would definitely recommend to anyone who loves a book!

Thankyou so much for this book. Our3 year old adores it and so do I! The rhythm of words and illustrations are spot on and so enjoyable for both the reader and child. Well done Rob, a masterpiece that you should be proud of. You can instantly tell that he is a parent of a little one.

I gave it to my nephew and he has wanted to read it every night so far at bedtime. He loves anything pirate

Lovely book. My daughter loves the images and the imaginative fun story. It is one of the best stories we have ever red. I had to read it 5 nights in a row!!! Also nice message.

What a wonderful book, it is beautifully illustrated and has a lovely feel to the pages too. My daughter is pirate mad and has asked to be read it several times. The poem is catchy and fun, I'd recommend it to any pirate fans, and am planning to buy his first book.

What a great book! Love the incredibly detailed illustrations and the text changes/ flows/drops with the story - such a fun way of bringing words and the story to life.

The poem is fun, catchy and clever. The pirate theme is always a hit with kids.

A treat to have a hardback book too, gorgeous cover.

Clive and the penguins are my faves. I'm glad they all escaped the Island. Great book Rob. Thanks to you and Mumsnet.

We received the book, thank you very much. Ds(5) has requested it twice and enjoys flicking through and looking at the picture on his own. We really enjoyed the story. I enjoy reading rhyming books, and ds enjoyed the adventure and we had a wonderful time discussing the pirate ship playground at the end, talking about our favourite things and spotting all the little penguins. Would certainly recommend

Thanks very much for the book!

Initially DS (just 3) wasn't sure about the book. We've never really read much about pirates so the "pirate speak" was a bit baffling to him an some of the vocabulary went over his head a little. However, the illustrations are gorgeous, he loves the ocean theme and really enjoyed "Blown Away" which featured the same characters so he kept requesting it at bedtime. Now, after a few weeks with the book, he enjoys being a pirate in his role playing games and can even recite some of the book from memory! Its a new favourite.

Thanks Mumsnet, Harper Collins and Rob Biddulph!

My DD is 14 mths and we have been reading to her every night since she was a couple of months old. We already own Rob Biddulph's other books (Blown Away, Grrrrr and Odd Dog Out), which she loves, so were delighted to receive Sunk.
The illustrations are beautiful and the rhyming story is a good pace and length. It is nice to see some familiar characters from Blown Away. My DD is captivated by the book and enjoys pointing at different characters. I like the use of different text directions on some pages, but like some other readers, would say that on a couple of pages it is hard to read the text due to the very dark underwater illustrations.
Thank you for the book, which will be enjoyed in our household for a long time to come.

Thank you for sending us this book by Rob Biddulph. Sunk! is a lovely hardback large print book with beautiful pictures. The story is easy to follow and the length is just perfect. Having said that, we read it four times before my 3.5 year old was really able to follow the story fully, asking several questions along the way about the language and scenes. I think it would have been easier for him age 4+, though each child is different of course. Now he can following the story line and loves joining in the 'pirate' language. His cousin also sat a looked through it recently, so obviously attention-catching for kids!

Thank you for the book love that it's a big hardback perfect for my 4 year old who can be quite rough with books. He is really into priates at the moment so this a perfect book for him. The big colourful pictures hold his attention. I think the priate speak is a little hard for him to understand but I'm sure as he gets older he will pick it up. He really enjoys the look and the story is just right for his attention span. We haven't read the first one but will look out for it as he enjoyed the book. I like the fact the the words at different directions as it keeps my child engaged. Overall a lovely kids book which I'm sure we will be reading a lot.

This book was delightful and such fun. Dgs loves pirates so for him it was the ideal book. The pictures were so zany and clever. A book to keep.

This is a beautifully illustrated book with captivating images that appeal greatly to young children and make parents smile. The poem flowed well and was fun and even the layout added another dimension to the reading of it. I bought this as a new book to keep at my house for my nephew but even my older children enjoyed reading it themselves and amusingly, asking for it to be read as a bedtime story themselves! A very, very good book which I'm sure will go on to be a recommended title for young children.

My 3-year old daughter loves the book (although we haven't read the others fromthe same author). The language is easily accessible for her and the pictures are eye-catching. She particularly enjoys the 'twist' of finding the shipwreck as the boat is sinking :)
Nice story and is now part of the shortlist of favourite books for bedtime reading.

We were already fans of Rob Biddulph, our bookshelf contains some of our favourites like Blown Away and Odd Dog Out so I knew the children would love Sunk!. Daisy (5) & Jake (2) loved the colourful quirky characters and the fun story. Daisy said her favourite thing about Sunk! was that Daddy used a pirate voice to read it. Both children enjoyed the rhyming story and Daddy and I found it so enjoyable to read out loud to the children.

I looked at this book with my 3yr old and 7yr old. They both enjoyed the book, and thought it was funny. They liked that it was a rhyming text, and my youngest enjoyed the illustrations. The characters were likeable, and it was a fun story to read

Thank you very much for my copy.

It arrived after my son's recent project on pirates at school so anything pirate related is a big hit with him (and me!)

It is a beautifully illustrated book, with charming characters, interesting page layouts and a joyful rhyming text.

It's fast becoming a favourite in our house. Thanks again, Mumsnet.