Regular watches of ABC television’s children’s line-up will know the tune for the Five Minutes More series, and have seen the soft toy characters acting out their stories in the play room. Now two of the stories from the series are available in print format, in small hard cover books using still images direct from the show.

In Little Gnome, Louisa tells the story of a Fairy King and Queen who argue constantly about which of them is the most important, until a visiting gnome proves that he is important – and teaches them a lesson that perhaps everyone is important.

In Neptune’s Visit it is Georgie’s turn to tell the story, and she tells about an impending visit from King Neptune. The sea creatures are all busy preparing, practising their special skills to show the King – but Morva the mermaid is worried that she has no special ability. When she realises she has a beautiful singing voice, she also realises that everybody is good at something – even if some gifts are harder to see than others.

These two books, and the television series they are based on, attempt to focus on storytelling rather than special effects. They use the same group of characters to narrate and enact the stories, so that the focus is mainly on the story and its message. Children will enjoy seeing the television series in a book format and adults will enjoy the positive messages each story portrays.

Five Minutes More: Neptune’s Visit and Little Gnome Upon the Wall, by Jan Page and Mellie Buse
ABC Books, 2007