Freddie saves a fairy from being stuck in a tree, and in gratitude, the fairy promises to grant all his wishes, at the same time as saying she doesn't hear very well. Great, thinks Freddie, and begins by asking her for a pet. When it's a fishing net that appears, Freddie tries again. This time a dog becomes a frog, a cat, a bat, and a parrot, a carrot! This isn't going very well, and Freddie begins to lose patience with the poor fairy Bessie-Belle. With Bessie-Belle in tears, the Fairy Queen appears and tells Freddie the fault is his: he mumbles. She explains the three rules he must follow to be understood: Don't mumble; don't turn away; and don't cover up your mouth. All these things are important for Bessie-Belle's understanding. Freddie soon has a whole menagerie of pets, and both he and Bessie-Belle are happy until she is behind him and conjures up... Well, you'll just have to see. It's a brilliant rhyming text by the magical Julia Donaldson, and the friendly and relatable pictures match the rhymes gorgeously! Very funny and a great way to learn about how NOT to talk to someone with a hearing problem.