Unplugged by Steve Antony

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Hachette, 2018. ISBN 9781444934168
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Themes: Indoors, Outdoors, Electronic devices. Blip loves her computer. Plugged in she can play games, learn new things, dance to some music and visit exotic places, all day long. But one day, the power is turned off and Blip is so surprised that she trips over the cord and falls all the way downstairs to the outside. She topples down a grassy slope, down beside a bubbling stream and into a forest. Here she learns new things, plays games, visits new places and listens to music. At the end of her day she returns home where the power has returned, and when Blip plugs back into her computer, all she can think about is the wonderful day she had outside and the new friends she made.
The black and white illustrations are perfect for the images of Blip and her computer, contrasting with the welcome colour of outside, contrasting the times spent in each place, one shut off in a darkened room, all by herself, the other surrounded by fresh air and the outside and colour.
This is a great story for kids to read, they will appreciate the humour of the difference presented between outside and inside, and perhaps talk about the properties of each place, limiting their inside fun and expanding their outside fun.
Fran Knight

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