Genie Snail by Bethany Loveridge. Illus. by Chris Kennett

Many young children dream of finding a genie to make their wishes come true. In Genie Snail the young main character feels he has struck it lucky when he finds a dirty snail shell which he rubs clean and lo and behold with a PIFF! POOF! PUFF! out pops a very colourful Genie Snail.

But all is not what it seems. There are rules for this particular genie:

Rub a genie’s shell and
they’re in your debt.
But wishes must rhyme
with the genie you get.

Of course, the recipient of the wishes does not read the fine print and concocts some quite incredible wishes. However, Genie Snail offers lots of suggestions such as deep-fried fish tail, scrambled eggs a la quail, a lifetime’s supply of leafy kale, a mouldy toenail, a wedding veil, a rattail. All of these suggestions only frustrate the boy, who insists that nothing cool rhymes with snail. Until… the genie casually mentions a whale - and suddenly a very clever wish begins to entail!

The loud, bold and colourful illustrations - full of expressive faces and playful humour - are a visual treat that will delight and entertain readers. This is an enjoyable book to read aloud, offering a clever learning moment with words ending in 'ail' and 'ale', and a fun classroom opportunity at the end for even more rhyming discussion and another genie story.

Themes: Genie, Snail, Rhyming Sounds, 'ale/ail', Wishes, Friends, Humour.

Kathryn Beilby