Milly, Molly is a series of early reader books suitable for Key Stage 1 aged 5 to 7. It is broken down into 6 levels with 10 books in each set, to slowly build up children’s confidence and teach them to think about what they are reading. It was first published in 2000 and has been translated into 40 languages. They are a series of New Zealand children’s books written by Gill Pittar and beautifully illustrated by Cris Morrell. It was published by Sweet Cherry Publishing on 15 April 2014.
Milly and Molly are both good friends from different ethnic backgrounds, and they promote the acceptance of diversity and the learning of life skills. Milly is a 7 year old girl of dark skin and hair who love cats and the colour yellow. Molly is a 7 year old girl of light skin and bright blonde-orange hair. She likes princesses, cats and yellow too. Each book promotes learning of life skills.
This is the level 6 series with:
- Stowaways: learning sense of worth
- W. Webby: wisdom
- Betelegeuse: learning building self-esteem in others
- Grandpa’s Oak Tree: protect the environment
- Ferryman: acceptance of difference
- Pumpkin Seeds: social responsibility
- Meg: respect for each other’s bodies
- Alf: celebration of difference
- One Lucky Turkey: respect for other people and their property
- Jimmy’s Seeds: concern for others and coping with grief
This comes in a sleeve box to fit all 10 books. Each book comes with glossy covers, full colour illustrations along the top of each page and the words are along the bottom, each with 24 pages. The books are priced at RRP £4.99 each and the whole set RRP £49.90. They are available to buy online or Amazon.
Each story is easy to read by young children, carries its own message and encourages the child to think about it. My children enjoy listening to the story and it is easy to read for my 7 year old son although he still needs help on some of the words. The message in the story is clear but deep discussion after the book is necessary as it also help them to learn by their own experience.
The Milly, Molly books are simple to read and stories don’t immerse the child into a faraway world with magic or wonders. They are down to earth well written life stories for children to learn and reflect on the message themselves.
I love this series of books as they educate and provide the right moral codes which sometimes we as adults have forgotten how to behave. It is truly very useful for us as “we may look different but we feel the same”. It helps my children understand the difference in diversity and life skills. I would recommend them to any other parents. Visit http://www.millymolly.com/ for more information about Milly, Molly.
Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher for free. However, they have not paid me for this review, and they do not exercise any editorial control over my review or anything else on this site. We have included an Amazon affiliate link to the product. If you click on this and buy, we may earn a small commission but at no additional cost to you. Images from the publisher website.