As Parragon Book Buddies, we regularly review some of their new picture book releases. Last month we were sent Hold That Thought Milton written by Linda Ravin Lodding and illustrated by Ross Collins.
Hold That Thought Milton is the story of a little boy called Milton who is not able to make his point heard. Every time he has something to say, his family ask him to “hold that thought”, especially as they are all busy getting ready for Aunt Lulu’s wedding.
One day, something really bad happens – Milton loses his pet frog Burp! But still he is not able to get someone to listen to him, so he is really worried trying to ask everywhere where his frog could be while they all keep telling him to just “hold that thought” and not listening.
As a result, Milton starts to get ill and he develops green ears and warts and becomes more and more like his pet frog! Finally he just can’t take it any more and his thought explodes out in the middle of the wedding, with some disastrous consequences – green slime exploding all over the place!
I read Hold That Thought Milton with Mr T and Mr R who are 4 and 2 years old. They were happy enough to listen to the story and kept pointing out all sorts of things that they noticed in the pictures, but I wouldn’t say it is one of our favourites or one that will be read over and over again.
If you have a child who likes a lot of “gross humour” then I think they will find it hilarious, for example the frog is called Burp, and there are lots of wart, slime and silly jokes which I know some kids really enjoy. Mr T and Mr R are not so much in that stage at the moment so it doesn’t have so much effect on them although they did enjoy listening to the story.
It is quite a unique and different book, not too similar to anything else we have read. I would recommend Hold That Thought Milton if you have a child who you know is into slime and frogs and all things yuck then they will really enjoy it. Around 3-5 would be the right age group for it. There are plenty of colourful and detailed pictures on each page and has 32 pages of text.
The message of not keeping your worries to yourself, and to make sure that adults listen to children is definitely a positive one and a useful lesson for children to take away from this story.
Hold That Thought Milton is available from Amazon and other good book stores.
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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 think it’s a really good message, very valid and something children have to have drummed into them 🙂
Sounds too gross!
A great idea for a book, and a nice story of not keeping worry’s to yourself. I think most kids like a bit of silly humour, I know my son does!
Sounds like a book we will need to look out for.
My little one love silliness at the moment and especially burps so this would probably appeal to him! Sounds like it is a story with a good message. Lovely to see you at #BCUK and thank you very much for joining in with #kidsbookaweek
It was lovely to see you too! 🙂