Tom in a Teacup

Tom in a Teacup
by Milinda Suraweera
Tom found a teacup lying on the shore...

This is where our touching and somewhat confounding tale of 'pass the message' between a tiny lion cub cast away in a teacup, a whale, a shark, and a frog, begins!

My son and I enjoyed this simple yet imaginative book about a lion cub who plays in a teacup and gets lost at sea. As he is floating, he runs into a whale and he tries asking if she has seen a pride of lions. This is where the story really reminds me of the game of telephone that I used to play in elementary school. In the game, one person would say something to the person next to them, then they would try to repeat it to someone next to them. Once it got around the entire class, the last person would say what they heard and usually it was not what was said at the beginning. That is how this story plays out. As the lion asks if the whale has seen the pride of lions, the whale thinks the cub says, “one eyed giants scrounging for peas.” Then the whale goes on to ask a shark if they have seen the giant. Then the shark thinks they heard the whale say a witch. As the story goes on, different characters hear different things and the message goes on to the end. I really liked the illustrations and the unique things each character hears. My son really loved the cyclops illustration. This is a great book and not too long either which I know a lot of parents enjoy. ​

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