Bedtime in our house fills me with mixed emotions.
Some nights I’m just plain exhausted and keen for my two little tearaways to drift off to sleep without a fight. Other nights, usually after a fun-filled (fight free!) afternoon with them, I want to hug and cuddle them long after they should be resting their pretty little heads.
Whatever I’m feeling when I stand at the basin brushing their teeth, I’m always hugely relieved when they choose The Giant Jam Sandwich as their bedtime story. Lucky for me, they do this often.
The Giant Jam Sandwich is one of those rare books, fellow mamas and papas, that you won’t mind reading again and again (and again!).
It starts like this…
“One hot summer in Itching Down,
Four million wasps flew into town.
They drove the picnickers away,
They chased the farmers from their hay…”
The storyline?
Despite their best efforts, the townsfolk can’t shake the swarm of wasps from their rural Itching Down. Then Bap the baker (love his name!) comes up with an extraordinary plan to trick the naughty noo nooz and trap them in a giant jam sandwich.
It’s a completely unlikely, slightly kooky plot, but that’s what I love about it. The clever rhyming verse has listeners (young and old) hanging on to every word. And if the words don’t enthrall you, the beguiling illustrations certainly will.
My kids love it. The eldest for the story and the youngest (I suspect) for the quirky illustrations.
Written and illustrated by John Vernon Lord with verses by Janet Burroway, The Giant Jam Sandwich has been in print for over thirty years – testament to its popularity.
If you can’t bear the thought of facing the same books night after night at bedtime, hop on over to Kalahari and buy your kids a copy of The Giant Jam Sandwich – it’ll be their treat as well as yours!
