Oof Makes an Ouch! By Duncan Beedie

A prehistoric tale of friendship between two young cave dwellers, Oof and Pib, is at the heart of this story which explores language and emotion in a novel way. At first, the pair only know their names so language is very limited until one day Oof says a new word to express how she feels – ouch! This is the first of several new words she invents as she starts to convey her feelings through speech. Pib becomes jealous and angry but he can’t find the words to express himself and so he acts out instead. This is a brilliant story for teaching young children how to verbalise their emotions, and the importance of communication between friends.