My four-year-old godson is not interested in looking at books but loves watching Peppa Pig again and again and again. Are there any books that might attract his attention in the same way?
Shelia, godmother of James
Your godson's repeated delight in Peppa Pig is replicated among pre-school children across the globe. As so often with brand leaders, it is difficult to unpick exactly what Peppa Pig has that its competitors do not although it is easy to recognise some of its most familiar and obviously successful ingredients. No books can replicate the multimedia experience of a Peppa Pig animation with its lively visuals and child-friendly soundtrack and dialogue. For children, these seem to be both captivating and calming although I know many parents will have heard it too often to feel quite so tolerant of it!
Instead of the alluring hook of animation, children moving from screen to print may come to value the role of the adult with whom they are sharing the book. Having one to one attention as well as enjoying how the adult they are sharing with interprets the different characters may become a welcome alternative – once they get used to it.
In terms of content, books can readily match the creation of easy-to-understand characters and the setting up of scenes of reassuring familiar experiences. The basic structure of Peppa Pig revolves around the simple family set up of Peppa, her younger brother George and her kindly Mummy and Daddy. Within the home, Peppa experiences all kinds of useful things; beyond the home, she plays with her friends from other families. It is a pattern that lies at the heart of many, if not most, pre-school books even as far back as AA Milne's classic Winnie-the-Pooh and its sequel The House at Pooh Corner although the family circumstances of the young animals and what they learn is rather different.
A closer match of experiences can be found in Jean and Gareth Adamson's 1960s creation Topy and Tim which, at its peak, was as central to pre-schoolers' lives as Peppa Pig is today and which continues to flourish in many forms. Over the years Topy and Tim have done everything any parent/child might expect - Topsy and Tim Learn to Swim, Topsy and Tim's Snowy Day, Topsy and Tim Ride their Bikes – and some that are less expected, such as Topsy and Tim go to Prison.
More individual and realistic and less formulaic is Shirley Hughes's delightful Lucy and Tom series in which two small children do many of the same things as Peppa and George and their friends. Familiar family moments include Lucy and Tom at the Seaside and Lucy and Tom's Christmas which have the same patterns and core values as Peppa Pig.
Alternatively, Shirley Hughes's stories of Alfie and his younger sister Annie Rose, including the classic Alfie Gets in First, contain moments of real drama while also being ultimately reassuring and reflective of familiar experiences.
