BfK The Night Gardener


In Grimloch Lane themselves to


been magically shaped onto outside the


5 – 8 Infant/Junior continued My Valley


HHHHH


Terry Fan and Eric Fan, Frances Lincoln, 36pp, 978 1 84780 939, £12.99,hbk


morning everything changes, the tree


themselves. One orphanage


orphanage is mesmerised. Each day there is something new to discover, a contented cat, a rabbit, elephant and parrot. Changes


Grimloch Lane, people gather to look in wonder at the amazing creations, photos are taken, and music is played. When a spectacular dragon appears, children play among the branches and everyone celebrates under the moonlight and lanterns suspended in the trees. But who is responsible? The reader has seen the quiet figure who visits when the town sleeps to work his magic although William has not - until eventually, on his way home from the celebrations, William spots him too. Following the man into the park William realises he has found the mysterious night gardener who then invites William to help him in his work. Throughout the night, William has a wonderful time as the gardener’s apprentice, creating a park full of topiaries. The whole town comes out to admire the results the next day. Although as the seasons pass leaves fall and the creations disappear, the town is changed forever; a strong sense of community is established. William is changed too, the Night Gardener has left him not only with his own set of shears but also a new skill; he is now a budding topiarist, able to experience the joy of creation. The Night Gardener is a stunning


picturebook which creates a sense of wonder and tells a story of transformation, hope, creativity and the importance of community and engagement with the environment. Text is minimal and the story presented leaves much unsaid. But there is great detail to observe in the illustrations including the impact of change through the use of colour and the increasing animation of the characters. The end papers at the beginning of the book set the scene in Grimloch Lane before the gardener appears, monochrome and morose. The photo in William’s room indicates the parents he has lost. The inspiration for one or two of the topiaries is suggested too, the owl sculpture reflecting William’s drawing in the dirt, cats spotted by the night gardener on his way to work inspiring the second creation. An impressive debut picturebook by a highly talented team. SMc


are happening in from the people keep


enormous owl. People stop to look, amazed at the sight. A young boy called William, watching


has an


HHH


Claude Ponti (trans. by Alyson Waters) Elsewhere Editions, 40pp, 978-0-9146-7162-6, £20.00


This is an unusual, large format book from an award winning French author/ illustrator, Claude Ponti who in 2006 was awarded France’s Prix Sorcières Spécial for lifetime achievement. The story is set in an enchanted


world populated by Twims – they resemble a kind of cross between chubby monkeys and small bears - and narrated by one particularly lovable Twims named Poochie-Blue who lives with his large family in a House Tree overlooking a beautiful seaside


readers to his family, Poochie-Blue takes us first on a conducted tour of his arboreal abode. This is followed by a trip to the Forest of Lost Children with its Well of Stars and Sleeping Monster. From there it’s on to The Cemetery with its various gardens, my favourites being ‘The garden of the


garden of the notebooks to write in’, The Islands and finally, The Theatre of Hissy Fits, a great place to go if you’re feeling angry. In between


Poochie fantastical


Very Sad Giant (sad because he ‘s too big to enter a house tree); and happenings like his visits to the mute Tree of Secrets; and the three ‘Children Who Fell From the Sky’. Other facts we learn of are related to the weather and the seasons, notably winter, when it snows, and the summer with its Festival-of-the- Shortest-Night, when nobody sleeps. There is no real story, rather the


whole thing is a series of chapter- like episodes that could well also act as starting points for children’s own flights of fancy, fueled too, by the map, the cutaway longitudinal section of the House Tree, and comic strip-style,


spreads of close-up images, or broad vista land- or sea-scapes. There is a luminosity about all the illustrations adding to the other-worldly quality of the whole. It’s


individuals who enjoy comic style presentation and all things whimsical, who will want to linger long over the magical and eccentric details both verbal and visual. I certainly found myself drawn into this strange and fabulous world of Ponti”s imaginings: the more I explored, the more I liked it, but then as a child I loved to immerse myself in the worlds of the Moomins and BB’s Little Grey Men. JB


most likely to appeal to vignettes and full-page


talks about weird things, creatures such as The


these destinations, never-ending story’ and ‘The valley. Having introduced


Swashbuckle Lil The Secret Pirate


HHHH


Elli Woollard, illustrated by Laura Ellen Anderson, Macmillan, 978 1 5098 0882 3, £5.99 pbk


Lil is a dreamer with an extraordinary imagination. She has no interest in playground games, schoolwork or even watching TV for she’s too busy being a ‘good’ pirate, putting the world to rights with her trusty red parrot, Carrot. She’s always on the lookout for danger – and it looms large in the guise of the most wicked of pirates, Stinkbeard. The book contains two stories that


reveal her fantasy world. In the first, she


kidnapping her teacher and then, in the second, she’s pitted against his pet crocodile, who’s intent on gobbling up her fellow pupils on sports’ day. Set in verse and in rhyming the


patterns,


energy, humour and cheerfulness. Their content is gripping enough to hold young readers’


rhythm and rhyme helping to make the text accessible while revealing the richness of language, especially when read aloud. Free-flowing large black and white drawings infused with movement and mayhem capture the stories’ exuberance. AF


Mr Bunny’s Chocolate Factory HHHH


Elys Dolan, Oxford, 32pp, 978-0-1927-4620-7, £6.99 pbk


There are many important messages in this brilliant new outing from picture book genius Elys Dolan, but as with all the best books they’re conveyed so seamlessly they don’t disturb the fun. Mr Bunny runs the chocolate factory where


eggs. Everything is running smoothly and Mr Bunny is very rich, but he wants his chickens to work harder and longer! The workers are unhappy and unhealthy under his new regime but he doesn’t care and soon they’ve left him in the lurch. Mr Bunny needs to learn an important lesson about valuing every member of his team, and becoming a fair employer. Each page is brimming with comic action, the spreads read more like giant cartoon cells with are full of funny dialogue between the stressed out worker chickens. Children and parents will both find lots to enjoy here and the colours are so bright and gorgeous – it’s a feast for the eyes as delicious as the chocolatey subject! KC


The Lost Kitten HHHH


Lee, illustrated by Kotako Sakai, Gecko Press, 32pp, 978-1-7765-7126-0, £11.99 hbk


Hina and her mother open the front door to discover a tiny kitten whose own mother seemingly deems they are suitable humans to be trusted to care for one of her offspring. The kitten is a sad-looking, sickly creature and Hina is none too eager to take on the task. However, once they’ve tended to her gooey eyes and washed the kitten, the girl notices the beauty in its eyes and begins to fall under its spell. They give it milk and make it a bed and then Hina’s mother goes out


24 Books for Keeps No.223 March 2017 his chickens lay chocolate attention, the stories abound with thwarts Stinkbeard’s plan of


to buy some cat food. After a while Hina searches for the kitten but is unable to find it, convincing herself it’s got lost. She starts remembering how she felt when she’d been lost while out shopping with her mother, and


hunting inside and then out. Eventually she finds the little thing:


becomes more desperate,


the kitten has found its own special place to have a nap and by this time the child has thought up the perfect name for her new friend; it’s Sleepy. I’m anything but a cat lover – the


creatures make me wheezy – but this tiny creature really won my heart. So too did young Hina, whose changing feelings are so beautifully portrayed in both Lee’s straightforward text “Sleepy, let’s be friends forever, okay? Hey, stop sleeping so much. Are you listening, Sleepy?”; and


gently tinted illustrations that deserve to be lingered over. With its themes of helplessness and love, this is a lovely, warm-hearted book to share. JB


Animal Journeys HHHH


Patricia Hegarty and Jessica Courtney-Tickle (ill.), 360 Degrees, 64pp., 978-1-8485-7526-4, £9.99 hbk.


This compact little book, presented in a nature diary format, explains how creatures adapt to their environments and make incredible journeys ‘some stretching thousands of miles, others covering only a matter of inches’. It is organised in four sections: Miraculous Migrations; Water World; Blowing Hot and Cold; Animal Antics. Each spread is attractively designed avoiding clutter but providing interesting information in text and illustrations. The writing is clear and inviting: the creators of this book know that young readers respond to the dramatic and fascinating rather than the


Children might be surprised to find out that the way in which these epic journeys are managed


mystery to scientists’ although such things as landmarks and the Sun and stars seem to help. Children like records and learn here that the Arctic tern is the ‘super-commuter’ flying the huge distance from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again each year – the longest migration of all. Children also love to encounter new terms and here they will come across ‘smoltification’ – a process which enables salmon to adapt to sea water after their early years in rivers and ‘ murmuration’ which describes a group of starlings diving and rushing through the air in their tens of thousands. The illustrations, brightly coloured


and using a strong line, do justice to each creature- the detailed patterns and markings on the animals are a strong feature. There is a beautiful image of a flock of monarch butterflies showing the black patterning


warm orange wings as they cling together for warmth on a tree. And there are subtle markings on the shells of female baby green turtles as they make a moonlight journey to lay their eggs. Text and pictures combine to fire young imaginations and I feel sure this book will inspire children’s discussion, writing, drawing and lead to further reading. MM


on ‘is still a bland and predictable. Sakai’s evocative,


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