I'll admit to being a touch sceptical about this before opening it – a picture book of the dyslexic experience, from a dyslexic, that would not be too worthy and/or full of false hope? Well I needn't have worried. This quite charmingly uses a huge supply of letters to show the jumble that a lot of text makes this young reader feel in his mind, and what he does with them to get bit by bit, step by step, through the story. The visuals are making the complex and simple meet, too – there is a lot of work on some pages and only two colours. But this is full of cleverness – artfully arranging the visuals made up only of letters, carefully displaying the poetic text, and showing a successful reader enjoying all that books can give. By rights, a book doing more than I expected and more successfully gets five stars, and I can't see why this doesn't deserve that.

When I first saw the front cover I instantly knew that it would be about a child struggling to read, which is the reason I was intrigued to read it.

My child really struggles with reading and has even said previously "when the words are all together, my brain goes crazy and the word get all mixed up."
So when I started reading this to him, he was instantly engaged. The colour palette was simple making it less distracted and the pages aren't bombarded with loads of sentences. And the fact that the font is in Open Dyslexic (or the likes) is absolutely needed!

It has an important message of not giving up when you are struggling to read. I especially liked how the little child decided to get creative with letters finding what works best.
I really struggle finding books which are available with short engaging stories in a dyslexic friendly font.

Thank you Kate for this book, we really need more like this! And an extra thank you for the little tip at the end of the book of what can help with reading something with lots of sentences and my son is inspired to create his own little letterbox!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Childrens Books for allowing me to read a copy of this brilliant book! And thank you Kate for creating this book!

The illustrations in this book are perfect. I love the limited colour palette and how the character uses the letters later on to create different pictures like the illustrator does. It made me want to get out the letter ink stamps and have a go. The text accompanying the illustrations is fine but it took me a few reads to get the rhythm and there were a couple of times when I was expecting a rhyme and it sort of worked but not quite. It really didn't matter though as the illustrations are the more interesting element. I love the message of creativity and making a story your own.

Books for dyslexic people by dyslexic storytellers, especially aimed at younger children, are rare.
Rolfe creates an engaging story with cute and relatable pictures to support, empower and enlighten the readers about dyslexia,

This beautiful and powerful book by Kate Rolfe is perfect for young learners who are dyslexic or neurodivergent

With Kate Rolfe’s wonderful imagery and careful selected vocabulary and phrasing, young readers and listeners will begin to understand that reading can be a challenge for many as the words and letters can tumble around the page .

Using powerful verbs to support understanding. This is a book to use in the classroom or at a home - with individuals or with a class to help all children recognise we all learn in different ways.

Kate’s words at the end of the book give advice as to how she deals with a page of words and sentences

A brilliant small book with a big message