Peace at Last - Jill Murphy

Jill Murphy's 'Peace at Last' is the story of Mr Bear's quest for a quiet night's sleep. The book appears to feature the three bears of Goldilocks fame: Mr Bear, Mrs Bear and Baby Bear, who are first seen at the end of the day, very sleepy, then making their way up the stairs to bed.

Mrs Bear falls asleep straight away, but she begins to snore heavily and sleep therefore eludes Mr Bear. He decides to go and spend the night in his son's room, but finds Baby Bear still wide awake, playing aeroplanes and making 'NYAAOW' noises. So it's back downstairs for Mr Bear, where he goes from the living-room to the kitchen to the garden, but each place has its annoying noises that foil his attempts to go to sleep. He eventually tries the car, finds it cold and uncomfortable but begins to drift off. Almost immediately, the sound of the birds and the strong sunshine disturb him. He goes back to his own bed where he does find 'Peace at Last' as Mrs Bear has stopped snoring. But how much time is left before the alarm clock rings?

Mrs Bear brings her husband a 'nice cup of tea', unaware of his sleepless night. Baby Bear is of course full of beans first thing in the morning, and jumps on his parents' bed, brandishing the post. Poor Mr Bear is not amused.

Although sleepless nights are perhaps a problem that affects adults more than children, this is a good book to enjoy reading aloud together, and young children find the idea of trying to sleep in the garden or the kitchen amusing enough. I've recently read this story to a small group of four-year-olds and asked them afterwards to try to remember all the different places where Mr Bear tried to go to sleep and what noise disturbed him in each of those places. I was impressed that they remembered the snoring, the aeroplane noises, the cuckoo clock, the drip of a leaky tap, the hum of the fridge, the sound of the animals and birds in the garden, everything in fact except for the alarm clock.

Jill Murphy's illustrations for her picture books are always of the highest standard and have obviously had a great deal of time, thought and care devoted to them. My only comment on the illustrations in 'Peace at Last' is that they are of necessity all in rather gloomy colours because the story takes place during the night. They do not lack in quality in any way, but they may not appeal to young children quite as much as more brightly coloured pictures would.

The full-page illustrations are in each case on the right-hand-side of a double page, with a small amount of text and one or two miniature black-and-white drawings adding information on the facing left-hand page. One or two of the left-hand pages actually feature white text on a black background to emphasise the idea that the story takes place at night.

'Peace at Last' is primarily a story to be read aloud to children aged from around two-and-a-half to five-years-old. As the amount of text on each page is not too daunting and the facing illustrations give obvious clues as to what is happening, this might make a suitable book for a young reader aged five to seven who is gaining in confidence. I have recently said that it is hard to go wrong with David Melling, and I would certainly say the same about Jill Murphy.

Peace at Last

by Jill Murphy

Macmillan Children's Books, 2007

Paperback, 36 pages

ISBN 0230015484

Price £5.99 (Amazon £3.59)

Five Minutes' Peace

Jill Murphy's 'Five Minutes' Peace' is a charming picture book for very young children. The story centres around a family of elephants (Mum and three children) and begins as they are having breakfast. This is not a pleasant sight. The baby elephant has a cereal bowl upturned on his head, and there is a mess all over the floor. Mum, who charmingly has curlers in the few wisps of hair on her head, sets a tray and puts the newspaper in her pocket. She tells her offspring that she is going to the bathroom to get five minutes' peace from 'you lot'. The children immediately ask to come along, but she firmly tells them to stay downstairs.

Mum runs herself a bath and pours a cup of tea. She is in heaven, soaking in the suds, but it doesn't last for long. Her son Lester barges in and asks if he can play her a tune on his recorder. Mum is not amused, but of course she gives in and Lester plays 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' more than just the once. He has established a precedent, and the daughter Laura is upset when Mum initially says she may not read aloud to her. Mum realises she is being unfair, so she allows Laura to read from 'Little Red Riding Hood', and naturally Laura takes advantage of the situation and reads more than just the one page.

Baby is not to be outdone, so he comes up and throws all his toys in the bath. The three children bombard Mum with questions: Laura wants to see the cartoons in the paper, Lester wants Mum's cake, and baby wants to get in the bath with Mum. That seems like a signal for all three to jump in, and poor Mum groans. She decides to get out of the bath, and announces that she is going back down to the kitchen for her five minutes' peace. Do you think she gets it? You'll have to read the book to find out.

This is a picture book for very young children who are highly unlikely to understand that Mum needs a few minutes to herself now and again, and it might just do the trick of helping them to realise this. Although she is thinking of herself, the mother elephant here does encourage her children, allowing one to play a musical instrument and another to read to her. We feel that these are things that they often do together. Mum doesn't shout at her children and lose her temper with them. She leaves them to get on with what they are doing and takes herself off somewhere else. She is a great Mum with children who obviously are very attached to her, and she understands that if she is good to herself every now and then she will be better geared towards giving her children her best when they need it.

The illustrations accompanying the story are delightful, including those of the family parading one behind the other for the frontispiece and again after the story finishes. We can appreciate Mum's feelings when we see the mayhem at (and under) the breakfast table, and identify with her when we see her briefly relaxing in the bath, reading her paper and enjoying a cuppa.

Although first written more than twenty years ago, 'Five Minutes' Peace' is still tremendously popular today. It is one of those stories that can appeal to adults just as much as to children, and as such makes itself a perfect book for reading aloud. Dad does not appear in the story; he may of course be at work, but it may be that this is a single mum struggling to cope with the demands on her time. I would suggest that it is suitable for children aged between three- and six-years-old. It might also be suitable for confident young readers to have a bash at themselves. It's definitely the perfect book for demonstrating that Mums give their children their all, but there comes a time when they need to pamper themselves just a little.

Five Minutes' Peace

by Jill Murphy

Walker Books Ltd, 2006

Paperback, 32 pages

ISBN 1844285391

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.99)