Still, children will enjoy seeing some of the characters they know from other stories all together, and will have fun picking them out in the illustrations. They are familiar characters; the three bears, Cinderella, Robin Hood, etc, so it ties in nicely with traditional bedtime stories. The whole book is a daisy chain of names familiar from fairy tales and nursery rhymes, creating a story that includes Robin Hood, Baby Bunting, the Three Bears, a Wicked Witch, and Cinderella. This rhyming pattern makes it easy enough for even three-year-olds to predict, but will engage readers probably to about age five.

It can be read to the whole class and followed by setting smaller group tasks and/or individual activities, using words, text and recognisable characters that feature in the book. Many of his books were collaborations with his wife, Janet, an illustrator, and they quickly became one of Britain’s leading author/illustrator teams. The combination of simple and easy rhymes alongside the I-spy element helped leave a lasting impression on me. Born as Janet Hall in Yorkshire in 1944, she studied at Sunderland Technical College, where she met Ahlberg.

As with all their collaborative work, this is a book that invites repeated readings whether it’s to enjoy the rhythm of the rhyme again or to find hidden details in Janet’s pictures. In a clear reference to the Cold War, the Bears – a metaphor for the Soviet Union – are always there in the background, and Janet Ahlberg’s illustration of the Wicked Witch could not resemble Margaret Thatcher more clearly if it were a photograph.

I loved "I Spy" type things back then and now I can appreciate the smooth flow of the rhyme scheme and the clever illustrations and I just really enjoyed the variety of Mother Goose characters and how their little stories are related. Innovative, funny and moving, his work encompasses storybooks, picture books, easy readers, joke books and novels as well as poems. Janet Ahlberg (Author, Illustrator) Janet Ahlberg, along with Allan Ahlberg, created some of the world's most popular picture books, including EACH PEACH PEAR PLUM and THE JOLLY CHRISTMAS POSTMAN, both winners of Greenaway Medals, and THE BABY'S CATALOGUE, inspired by their daughter Jessica.Each Peach Pear Plum / I spy Tom Thumb," the text begins, inviting the reader to find Tom Thumb in the artwork. Then I would read, but stop before saying the last words on each page, allowing my child to jump in with the next name. Wonderful little story, a true classic but I do find that the quality of the cardboard has somehow gone down hill and don’t really see it surviving too many reads. Every child must own this book, it has a great rhyming story, a chance to play eye spy on every page and beautiful illustrations with so much to look at.