Title: Rita Wants a Genie
Author: Márie Zepf
Illustrator: Mr Ando (Andrew Whitson)
Publisher: Graffeg
Genre: Children’s picture book
Book format: Paperback
Sweet Strawberries: 
Description: Meet Rita. She’s a little girl with very big ideas. Rita wants a genie who will obey her every command and give her all that she dreams of. Alakazam! Alakazee! Zim Zam Alakazoo! But what if someone else gets their hands on the genie?
*Free copy provided by publisher for review…
Review: This is such a brilliant book teaching children to not be selfish, especially with their siblings. Rita doesn’t like it when her brother doesn’t do what she tells him, so she decides she wants a genie, because a genie does you everything you want, unless someone else gets hold of their lamp. This paperback book is filled with thick matt pages of some amazing illustrations and text.
This is the sixth Rita wants book and I have to say that it’s possibly my favourite. This time Rita gets upset when her brother doesn’t do what she tells him when they are playing. Rita digs out a genie’s lamp from a cupboard, rubs it and a genie appears bringing a magical carpet with it. Rita makes lots of wishes to have all the things she wants, while her brother gets left behind, until an interesting twist occurs and Rita ends up realising that getting everything you want isn’t always good. The story is simple but I love how it teaches children about sharing and getting along with others especially siblings. The story is written really well and I like all the fun words like Alakazam, Alakazoo, etc that appear with every wish that’s made. The illustrations are also so amazing!
Each page is filled with such beautiful, colourful and detailed illustrations. I love how bright and colourful all the pictures are and the detail in the images where you can spot her brother looking annoyed in many of the pictures. A lot of the story in this book is very visual and the illustrations tell the story so well and are so vivid and wonderful. I really like the way all the characters look and all the details you can spot in each page.
The ending is good and has a great message about sharing and getting along with others. I like the way this is done and how Rita’s brother who has annoyed her in a few of the previous books is seen in a different way at the end. I don’t know if this is the end for the series of Rita books but if it is, then it’s a brilliant book to end with as Rita learns an important lesson in this one and things end well for all. I would recommend this book as well as the whole Rita wants series overall. This is one of the best books in the series in my opinion, as the message is clear and I just love books with lots of colourful and detailed images to look at. Overall it’s a great book and one I think lots of children, and adults, will enjoy reading and looking at again and again. 🙂
-The Welsh edition Mae Rita eisiau Jîni is also available.
What do you think of this book? Have you read any books in the Rita wants series? Let me know what you think in the comments below 🙂
The Strawberry Post 