A DEE SCRIBE REVIEW – Pippa’s Perfect Ponytail

Pippa’s Perfect Ponytail  (Aussie Nibble) by Julie Nickerson      

Illustrated by Janine Dawson

(Published by Puffin Books – Penguin Group Australia)

PB RRP: $12.95

Anyone who has tried to organise the ‘perfect party’ will know that it’s full of anxious moments.

But Pippa has arranged everything perfectly. She has the perfect party dress, the perfect birthday cake and eight perfect ponies lined up for rides. Now all she needs is the perfect ponytail.

When Pippa’s hairdresser falls sick, she must use all her ingenuity and resilience to come up with the ‘perfect’ solution.

Author Julie Nickerson’s great humour and talent for simplicity are complimented by Janine Dawson’s lively, hilarious illustrations.

This new Aussie Nibble is sure to resound with young readers because of the way it talks to them in such an engaging way about things they can relate to like parties, hair and popularity.

Julie Nickerson uses great dialogue and action to build the tension, and readers will admire the determined, creative way Pippa goes about solving her dilemma.

Pippa’s Perfect Ponytail will resonate with any young reader who enjoys action, likeable heroines – and a story that makes them laugh out loud.

 

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MEET AUTHOR JULIE NICKERSON

Today, Julie Nickerson, author of Aussie Nibble, Pippa’s Perfect Ponytail  is visiting my blog.

It’s great to have you here, Julie.

ABOUT JULIE NICKERSON

Julie liked to make her own books when she was young, but didn’t consider a career in writing and became a medical scientist instead. She later spent many years living overseas and has worked as an English teacher, a tour guide, a secretary and a waitress. When she moved back to Australia and started writing stories for her own children, she finally realised that working with words was what she really wanted to do.

Julie has had several stories published in children’s magazines and her first book, Pippa’s Perfect Ponytail (reviewed on this blog), has been released in Penguin’s Aussie Nibbles series. 

A WRITING EXERCISE BASED ON JULIE’S BOOK, PIPPA’S PERFECT PONYTAIL

1.    Take the main character , Pippa, and write a story about what happens to her after the book finishes.

2.    In the book, Pippa asks the cook, the stable boy and the dressmaker for help with her perfect ponytail, all with disastrous results. When Julie first started writing Pippa’s story, there was also a gardener who Pippa went to for help, but his character was removed in the editing process. Imagine that the gardener is still in the story and come up with a paragraph about what he might have done with Pippa’s ponytail. Remember that Pippa is a little girl and while your ideas can be funny, try not to include anything that might hurt her!

3.    If time permits, you can also have a go at drawing what Pippa’s ponytail might have looked like if the gardener had done her hair.

Thanks for visiting us, Julie. Hope you enjoyed Julie’s writing activities.

Dee:-)

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