The Orion Early Reader series is brilliant for early and emerging readers. We have reviewed some other titles from this series before, both the blue and red levels (listed at the end of the post), and I’m always very happy with them.
The Little Nut Tree is an early reader version of the picture book by Carnegie award winning author Sally Gardner, based on the well known traditional nursery rhyme. I remember the rhyme from my own childhood and it translated over into a reading book format very well here.
The Little Nut Tree is a blue level early reader, which is the easier of the two early reader bands from Orion.
The language used is quite manageable for most children of 4 or 5 years and there is not too much text on each page.
They are plenty of illustrations as well as text, to keep young children interested. Both the text and illustrations are done by Sally Gardner.
For those who are not familiar with the traditional rhyme, The Little Nut Tree tells the story of a little girl who was given a little nut tree on her birthday, which ends up bearing golden fruit. It become known far and wide. A princess came from Spain and demanded the tree – which the girl sadly gave away to her. She found a golden twig which had been left behind and it gave her the ability to fly! When it was bedtime she kept that twig in a pot, and woke up to find it had sprouted into a new little nut tree!
Although I knew the rhyme in my childhood, Mr Z was actually not familiar with it before. So for him, it was a new story that he had not come across before. Mr Z is 5 and was able to read the whole book easily without any help. I was really pleased to see this as he’s improved a lot since the first time he tried the Orion Early Reader books!
It’s a lovely book and it’s great to see these traditional rhymes still being enjoyed by children of this generation.
I had a little nut tree
Nothing would it bear
But a silver nutmeg
And a golden pear
The King of Spain’s daughter
Came to visit me
All for the sake
Of my little nut tree
I skipped over water
I danced over sea
All the birds in the air
Couldn’t catch me
See more of our Orion Early Reader book reviews here:
Miranda the Explorer and Mondays at Monster School.
Algy’s Amazing Adventures in the Arctic and Poppy the Pirate Dog’s Shipmate
Do you remember the rhyme of the Little Nut Tree? Do your children know it? Let me know in the comments!
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
I remember The Little Nut Tree and still sing it to my son. I love the idea of the rhyme turned into a book and the pictures look beautiful. I haven’t heard of Orion Early readers, these look perfect for children at the beginning of their reading journey. If you have time I would love you to pop over and link up your review with my #kidsbookaweek linky
We’ve read this book and my son didn’t know the rhyme either! I think it’s weird how the fads change and we move on to something new 🙂
The book looks lovely. I find these books which use whole word recognition and repeat familiar rhymes perfect for pre school readers. Later on children really need to learn phonics and to sound out words – but that’s far too involved for the younger children who are ready to read.
We’re big fans of the Orion Early Reader series – this one looks great.
That’s so sweet, I vaguely remember the poem and I love that line, “I danced over the sea”. Gorgeous!
Looks like another great Early Reader.
I really do love the early reader books!
F is too young for these but I think it’s good practise for him to start getting familiar with these books for when he starts school in 2015, the illustrations and wording look really easy to manage. x
We’ve read this book too, and I love the illustrations and story of the nut tree. My daughter (5) was really intrigued by the story and enjoyed reading it.
It is in a CD of nursery rhymes that we have.
Oooh – how lovely! I started singing the song as soon as a read the title, so was thrilled to see that the book was based on the traditional nursery rhyme. Great find!
Gorgeous illustrations. Made a note of these books for when Toby is ready for them. We are home educating him so these would be good.
I love the pictures in it (yes I still have a thing about some nice illustrations) and its lovely to hear a long forgotten till you mentioned it nursery rhyme.
Beautiful poem, beautiful book and gorgeous illustrations. Ahhh bless xx
Nice pictures really make a books at this stage… they are so important
Oh I havent heard this rhyme before! The book looks lovely
It’s one of my favourite nursery rhymes, we like this book too.
I remember this rhyme from school – lovely illustrations to go with the story as well.
I think the illustrations are great. Really make the book, for child AND adult!
I will have to look into these books, Meg is desperate for some of her own books to keep and read now she’s started bringing reading books home from school. It sounds like a lovely story too.
Thanks for linking up with #BookLove
sounds lovely, the illustrations are sweet
This sounds a lovely book – I think I will buy it for my girls! Thank you x
This does look like a sweet little book, and as I’ve a 4 year-old learning to read, is one I’ll look out for, thank you.
I know the rhyme and I love the illustrations in this book. It would be perfect for my daughter 🙂
great review i got some of these books for my nephew and he loved them