Books for Kids: Tickle My Ears

Tickle My Ears – Jörg Mühle
Published by Gecko Press

When Tickle My Ears arrived in the post, I thought I’d save it for my littlest one’s bedtime story. I unwrapped it, set it on the coffee table and set about doing some housework…until the littlest one found the book and basically launched himself at me, yelling, “I neeeeeeed you to read me this book!!!”

I turned off the vacuum cleaner (willingly. Oh, so willingly) and we sat down together for a look…and half an hour later, we were still sitting on the couch, turning back to the start for the umpteenth time.

Tickle My Ears is one of the sweetest, most delightful books I’ve seen in a long time. The illustrations are divine; Little Rabbit is adorable and charming, and each page is simple yet so very appealing. It’s a clever concept, which will appeal to a child’s sense of willfulness and determination; there is something very exciting about a book that encourages reader participation.

There are many interactive books available for kids (Help! The Wolf is Coming! springs to mind), but Tickle My Ears is different: even the smallest children will get a huge amount of enjoyment out of “playing grown ups”, being the one to put Little Rabbit to bed. This is the ultimate joke for a kid: role reversal at its finest.

Pickle, nearly four, has asked for this book every night since it arrived. He takes his role as Putterer to Bed verrrrry seriously; he has stroked Little Rabbit’s ears gently and kissed his cheek countless times, and takes great joy in turning out the light and then snuggling down in to his own bed – Herr Mühle, you are a genius, making bedtime just that little bit more pleasant for parents (and children!) everywhere.

Even Tiny, aged six, couldn’t resist putting Little Rabbit to bed, and while he merely air-kissed our cotton-tailed friend, he did so with a cheeky smile and asked if he could read the book to himself.

Eight times.

Thank you, Gecko Press, for another already-much-loved gem of a children’s book! When Pickle saw I was writing about this book, he said, “Tell them it’s a really funny story.”

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