SYNOPSIS:
Freddie and Fifi are two fashionista flamingos who decide to open a fashion boutique and style other animals on the African savanna in fluffy pink feathers. The outfits they create have silly results and calamitous outcomes, teaching the valuable lesson that we are perfect, just the way we are!
A fun and creative caper of a story!
A story with a poignant message for children and adults alike, that we are all perfect the way that we are!
A story designed to inspire children to fearlessly express their creative ambitions and learn from their mistakes.
MY THOUGHTS:
Flamingo Fashion is a gorgeous story aimed for children aged between 3 and 6 years old. What is really unique is the author wanted to release it first as an audio book, which I think is delightful. The art of storytelling holds so much importance to a child's cognitive and affective development during their early childhood (Engel 2005) and I love the idea of Flamingo Fashion being released as an audio book first. By listening to the audio version it allows the child time to concentrate and absorb the story whilst picturing the characters in their own mind. This can help stimulate their imagination and can be used as a great learning tool to develop their comprehension skills as well.
The music at the start of audio book is upbeat and immediately gets you excited for the start of the story. The story is read by Michael Maloney who creates a multitude of voices for each of the characters and he tells the story in a fast and exciting way. His voice just oozes fun and adventure and you can't help getting fully immersed in the story.
I love the use of the rich vocabulary with words like 'plumage' and 'awning' to broaden the children's own vocabulary and understanding of the world. This also creates opportunities to discuss and explore the meaning of these new words. The rhyming structure used throughout allows predictions to be made and adds that extra element of fun to the story. This audio book is just under five minutes long which I think is the perfect length of time to keep the children engaged and fully entertained.
The story has a really fun plot whereby two flamingos decide to add a bit of colour to the African Savanna and open a fashion boutique. Here they get visits from other animals in need of a transformation. As you can imagine some of the outfits are quite funny and I know this will provide many giggles from the children listening to the story. The premise of the story is that the animals are perfect just the way they are and don't need to change their appearance in order to be something that they are not. A really poignant and important message.
On the authors' website https://flamingofashionbook.squarespace.com/ there are some lovely activity ideas to try out with your children and some illustrations of the characters. Many thanks to Helen Lewis at Literally Public Relations Ltd for inviting me to join the blog tour.
AUTHOR:
Sam Hunter is a full-time mum, podcast host and entrepreneur. She started writing after the birth of her son in 2017 and self-published her first book-Flamingo Fashion-at the end of 2020.
Sam wrote creatively as a young girl on her weekends and during visits to her mum's office in the summer holidays. All of her writing was about animals and it is no wonder that her first book is a children's story set in an animal's world!
Her first book, a middle grade novel called Freddie's Fantastic Adventures,was inspired by a children's t-shirt with a flamingo on the front and while out walking a few years later, the idea for Flamingo Fashion popped into her head!
Sam is passionate about developing both children's and adult's creativity and her writing is designed to inspire imaginations in a fun and playful way.
Proceeds from the book are going to the LitWorld charity, who work to develop children's creative confidence and literacy skills, through the power of storytelling.
Sam lives with her son, daughter and husband in Hertfordshire, England.