Meerkat Mail; Emily Gravett

Emily Gravett is one of my favourite authors of children’s picture books. Her books are packed with creativity and imagination and always make for enjoyable reading.

Sunny lives in the Kalahari desert along with his family. They do everything together; work, play, eat and sleep. But life on the busy sand under the big blue sky has all become a bit much for Sunny and he decides he needs to find somewhere more perfect. So he sets off to visit his mongoose relatives to find somewhere else to call home.

But finding the perfect home is impossible. It either rains, or it’s dark, or he gets lonely, or there are insects or he doesn’t fit in. Slowly Sunny begins to see that eating scorpions, lazing about in the sun and being surrounded by all his family and meerkat friends wasn’t so bad after all. What if he already had perfect…

Sunny’s thoughts and feelings are presented on beautiful fold out postcards as he writes home to his mum and dad telling them about his adventures and experiences. The story explores emotions, the need to belong and will help readers understand the importance of being thankful for the friends, family and home they have. In addition to the story, there is the added bonus of information on the different breeds of mongoose that Sunny visits included on the postcards.

A must read for meerkat lovers.

Recommended for 5+.