This book became a favourite around the same time as Eee-orrh. We had already had Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy, also by Dodd, out from the library for several weeks and that was definitely one of my favourites. Need to get it out again and see if George enjoys it as much as me. I think he probably would as Hairy Maclary makes a little cameo appearance at the end of his beloved Slinky Malinki. This one became an immediate favourite because it features a black cat and we have our own black cat, Luka, although George calls both her and her sister (Lea) – Ela. Slinky Malinki is about a mischievous duo, Slinky Malinki the cat and Stickybeak Sid a parrot, and all the trouble they can get into when left at home alone.

“Slinky Malinki
and Stickybeak Sid
were a troublesome pair;
do you know what they did?
Alone in the house
one mischievous day,
they opened a door
and they started
to play.”

The rhyming rhythm is lots of fun in this book and every other page repeats the same phrase as Slinky Malinki opens another door which makes it really familiar after just a couple of readings. The illustrations are great and George seems to spot something new each time we read it. Last time he noticed that Slinky Malinki had a pillow on his head in one of the pictures so George then needed a pillow on his head. Then Daddy did! Then Mummy too! I’m just hoping he doesn’t notice Slinky rolled up in a carpet rolling down the stairs…

There are other books in the Hairy Maclary and Slinky Malinki series and if the two we’ve read are anything to go by, then they’re all worth a read.