BfK 5 – 8 Infant/Junior continued


coaster to the carousel. The wisdom of including the ‘freak show’ element with a bearded lady is questionable. Readers can join in spotting the appealing and mischievous monster on every double page spread (this is quite tricky in the hall of mirrors) and guessing what he might get up to next.


The book also has a mathematical theme with a different 2D shape featuring in the design on every page. The block colour shape patterns add contrast to the otherwise monochrome pen and ink design. Familiar shapes such as squares and triangles are included alongside the rather less familiar nonagon, trapezoid and even curvilinear triangle. The end papers provide a map of the monster’s journey with the fairground attractions visited and shapes featured. Talking about the shapes and learning names of new ones will enable young readers to become 2D experts and might encourage them to look for shapes in the environment as well.


Age


unclear, the ‘spot the cute hairy monster’ theme would suggest the book’s suitability for under-fives but the mathematical content suggests an older reader. A follow up to Have You Seen My Dragon? which had a similar format and a mathematical (counting) theme.


SMc That Naughty Meerkat HHH


Ian Whybrow, illus Garry Parsons, Harper Collins, 32pp, 978-0-00-753668-9, pbk £6.99


A funny, fast story telling of the boastfully misguided meerkat, Uncle Fearless, who takes care of his mischievous charges and finds them too much of a handful, particularly the naughty ‘Trouble’. In language


suitability for this book is


witty and expressive, we see Trouble point his botty instead of his tummy at the sun, shoot sand over his siblings and narrowly escape a hungry eagle owl. Luckily Uncle’s older nieces and nephews are there to lend a hand and they are humble enough to accept their part as merely ‘teamwork’ (our proud chief who has ‘won fights with snakes and wild painted dogs’ has, after all kept guard, while the youngsters taught the little ones how to play).


Kids love to witness others playing up, so this is a winner right from the start. And bragging Uncle Fearless the chief, who has to be rescued by his more capable nieces and nephews, is a character who can tickle anyone’s funny-bone. This is a case of one- upmanship over grown-ups, so it’s fun, as well as an entertaining way to learn about meerkats.


Strong, happy colours, composed and creative scenes along with excellent characterisations make this book a cheery addition to any bookshelf. JNH


Families, Families, Families HHHH


Suzanne Lang, ill. Max Lang, Picture Corgi, 32pp, 978 1 4063 10375, £6.99 pbk


What a lot of different kinds of families! There are families with lots of children and those with only one; there are one-parent families and families with two dads or two mums; there are children who live with grandparents or with aunties or who ‘bunk with their cousins’. There are married parents and unmarried parents and parents who adopt children, not forgetting, of course, step-families. And so it goes! In this laugh-out-loud picture book we meet combinations of families we’ve never even thought about before,


and they can include anything and anyone just so long as they love each other. The illustrations are amazing, a combination of pictures in frames hung on very different walls, the pictures are of the different families and their components – all animals! In comic style, it adds much to the fun. One can see on the faces just how the members of each family are feeling. Great fun!


ES Don’t Forget Tiggs! HHHH


Michael Rosen, ill. Tony Ross, Anderson Press Ltd, 90pp, 978 1 78344 269 0, 5.99, PB


This short story book is a charming vehicle with which to introduce young readers to two masters of children’s fiction. Former Children’s Laureate, Michael Rosen, treats readers to typically rhythmic and


prose as he describes the all-too- familiar lives of Mr and Mrs Hurry (who are always in a terrible hurry) and their


Hurry. The Hurry family, and their rather extraordinary cat, are brought to life by Tony Ross’ familiarly frenetic illustrations, which dance every page.


across


Children will instantly relate to Harry, whose parents are so busy with their terribly important grown-up lives that, one day, they forget to take Harry to school! Fortunately, Tiggs the cat is not about to allow Harry to miss school or to waste his whole day evaluating the aesthetic qualities of the wallpaper in his bedroom. Tiggs sets upon a mission to alert Mr and Mrs Hurry to the problems that emerge when mums and dads spend too much of their time rushing around. It’s a lesson for which the Hurry family are long overdue!


Don’t Forget Tiggs is easily accessible for a young audience and will be greedily gobbled up by early readers. It is a perfect bedtime story for sharing. SD


longsuffering son, Harry repetitive Dinosaur Police HHH


Sarah McIntyre, Scholastic, 978 1 407143 28 6, £6-99,pbk


‘RED ALERT!’ hollers Stig O’Saurus. ‘There’s a rampaging T-Rex at the pizza factory!’ The police station at Dinoville erupts with activity, a charge headed by Inspector Sarah Tops. At the factory, pizzas are everywhere, half eaten, trampled, and only when the perpetrator, Trevor T-Rex, is full to bursting does he stop eating, …..and fall asleep. Every spread is packed with zany detail, characters tumbling across the pages in best comic strip action, the font constantly changing as each police


T-Rex is aborted. All dinosaur fans will know that T-Rex has tiny front arms…. so small he immediately escapes the handcuffs! There is lots of huffing and galumphing


quite deafening on the page, which young readers will love sounding out. When the air squad are called in…… now, what dinosaurs would they be?? …surely a capture is imminent. And it is. This book will noisily capture the attention of all small dinosaur fans, and the resolution gives a page full of dinosaur burps, surprise, surprise! This author/illustrator loves to write and draw in this boisterous, whacky style, and her readers will love it too.


GB and vroom vrooming, attempt to capture


24 Books for Keeps No.213 July 2015


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