Review: Pigsticks and Harold and the Incredible Journey by Alex Milway

Pigsticks is the last in a noble line of explorers, and he’s decided it’s time for him to follow in his forepigs’ footsteps — with an assistant to do the heavy lifting, of course. When his help-wanted ad draws a motley crew of candidates, he chooses a hapless delivery hamster named Harold. As the unlikely duo set off from Tuptown with plenty of tea cakes in tow, Pigsticks is breathless with excitement (and Harold is struggling for breath under all the gear). But after a long trek through jungles, over deserts, and up a giant ice-topped mountain, the last crumb of cake is stolen by a herd of thieving goats, and their goal is nowhere in sight. Will they ever discover the Ends of the Earth? Could it be in the last place they’d ever think to look?

These days I very rarely review picture books. As a secondary school teacher my experience of them is very limited, and so I prefer to focus my efforts on books for older readers. However, I have long been a fan of Alex Milway's brilliant Mythical 9th Division books and so I just couldn't resist his latest offering.

This first book in what I hope will be a series sees Pigsticks (a pig) longing to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors by doing something great. He decides that he will travel to the Ends of of Earth, but being a rather upper class pig he decides that things like cooking and bag carrying are below him, and therefore he advertises for an assistant. Harold (a hamster) somehow manages to stumble into the role without ever applying, and soon the pair are off on their adventure through jungle, desert and mountains on their quest for the Ends of the Earth.

Yet again, Alex Milway has produced a story that is exciting, charming and, very importantly, very funny. Children will have no problem in spotting Pigsticks' flaws, and some may question the way he treats poor Harold, who is possibly the most tolerant and forbearing hamster in the world... ever! It is a relationship that brought to my mind that of Sherlock Holmes and Watson as his long-suffering companion. Pigsticks is the confident one with a 'who dares wins' outlook on their adventure, whilst Harold is the quiet, worrying type. 

Alex Milway's artwork is the perfect accompaniment to his story. The characters are all portrayed with fairly broad line work, making them stand out clearly from their backgrounds, and it is amazing just how much expression Milway manages to give the faces of his two main characters with this fairly simple style. The layout of the illustrations will also keep young readers on their toes: some pages have a traditional picture book layout with full spread images and little text, other pages are more like early readers, with far more text and smaller images, and some pages have layouts more commonly in the graphic novel format. This all adds to the overall reading experience, and I'm sure young readers will go back to this book again and again, even if just to pore over the illustrations.

Illustration by Alex Milway (http://www.alexmilway.com)

Pigsticks and Harold is not quite a picture book, nor is it strictly an early reader. It sort of falls between the two, and thus it is great as a book to be read by a parent to a young child and also great for an older child who is more confident with their reading but still craves lots of colour illustrations of their pages. There is enough in the book to challenge these more confident readers, as there are a handful of more difficult words (e.g. evasive manoeuvres), and these may also lead to questioning and dialogue between the reader and their parent.

Illustration by Alex Milway (http://www.alexmilway.com)

Pigsticks and Harold and the Incredible Journey is already available to buy, and my thanks go to the lovely people at Walker Books for sending me a copy. 

Review: The Pirate Cruncher by Jonny Duddle

One dark and stormy night, a salty old sea dog tells the tale of a mysterious island, bursting with pirate booty! Captain Purplebeard and his crew have already set sail by the time the cove mentions the hideous Pirate Cruncher who guards the gold…

I first came across Jonny Duddle's work through the incredible illustrations he has done for Barry Hutchison's Invisible Fiends books. His drawings of each of the Fiends sets the reader up with a perfect mental image before they even start reading the book. I have followed Jonny's blog for some time, but never had the chance to read any of his books until now. Thanks to the generous people at Templar I am now the grateful owner of this book, The Pirate Cruncher, and Jonny's latest offering, The Pirates Next Door (review to follow some time soon).

Jonny has already demonstrated to the world that he has a talent for drawing detailed characters through that Invisible Fiends work, but my first question was whether he would be able to bring these skills as effectively to a whole picture book. The answer is a resounding yes! In The Pirate Cruncher Jonny Duddle introduces us to a motley crew of fully detailed and beautifully rendered pirates, each with their very own character traits, making it the kind of picture book that young boys will love. This band of pirates is led by the avaricious Captain Purplebeard, a man who will becomes obsessed with the promise of a great treasure, and will not be swayed from his quest even when warned that a horrible sea monster may be waiting for him at the journey's end (a big old beast, who likes nothing more than a pirate feast).

This book is worth buying purely for the artwork (just wait until you get to the huge double fold-out page near the end!), but there is also a nice little tale accompanying these stunning illustrations. We first meet our pirate crew supping their ale in the Thirsty Parrot. Their carousing is interrupted by the song sung by a passing fiddler, who tells the tale of "an island of gold in the scurvy sea". As the sun rises the next morning the pirates have already embarked on their quest for the treasure, unaware that their greed as already set them on the path to their ultimate doom. Within this tale is also a subtle moral message regarding greed and how it can affect your judgement, and also blind you from the fact that you may be being manipulated (look very carefully at the mysterious fiddler).

The text of the story is largely written in rhyme, although this is not Mr Duddle's strongest attribute. Sometimes these rhymes scan very well, at other times the pattern of the rhyming changes and so some children may find this a little difficult to read for themselves. There are also some sections of text, notably that which appears in the thought bubbles of the various pirates, that do not fit with the rhyming sections and although they add to the various pirates' characters they can also tend to interrupt the flow of the story.  

Kids will probably get the most from this book when it is read by a parent. However, some parents may feel a little daunted at the thought of doing the different pirate voices in character. Have no fear, for the edition I received came complete with an audio CD featuring Jonny Duddle reading the story and himself changing voice for each different character, accompanied by various sound effects and some suitably piratical music. This is one picture book that is so stunning that it is going to remain in my own collection and not get passed on to my little nephew.... sorry James!

Review: The Boy Who Cried Ninja by Alex Latimer

Once there was a boy named Tim whom no one believed, even when he was telling the truth. No one believed that it was a ninja who snaffled the last slice of cake; or that a giant squid ate his homework; or that it really was a time-travelling monkey who was throwing pencils at Grampa. How can Tim get his parents to believe him - when the truth is too incredible to be true?

I remember an incident when I was a child where I accidentally broke a glass bowl that belonged to my mother. It was a hot day and both my parents were outside in the garden, so neither heard the crash of breaking glass, and I spent the next hour deliberating over whether I should own up, blame my little brother, or quickly sweep up the pieces, hide them and hope that no-one noticed for a while, by which time I could deny all knowledge. If memory serves me correctly I did actually own up (probably in floods of tears).

The Boy Who Cried Ninja takes a fresh look at a situation faced by most kids at some point when they are growing up: what is the least painful course of action when things go wrong..... own up or lie? In the case of Tim, the things he gets the blame for are all perpetrated by one of a cast of unusual characters: a ninja who ate the last slice of cake; a spaceman who borrowed Tim's dad's hammer without returning it; a giant squid who..... well that would ruin the story if I gave everything away. Of course, Tim's parents do not believe a word of it when he tells them the truth behind these incidents and punish him with chores, and so he decides that maybe telling lies would be better for him in the long run. Wrong! Poor little Tim... will he work out a way to make his parents believe him without telling lies?

I read a comment about this book written by someone somewhere sometime ago, stating that they thought the message the book gave across was not particularly appealing. From memory (as I can't remember where I read it) I think they were saying it encouraged kids to lie, and that it made parents out to be the bad guys for not believing their child. Poppycock and balderdash to that, I say. I think this would have kids giggling away with their parents about poor old Tim's predicament, and the underlying moral that telling the truth is always the best way forward will be clear in any child's mind by the time they come to the end of the story.

What a great title for a picture book. I read about it in the press sheets I receive from Random House once a month and just had to ask them for a copy. We all know that boys love ninjas right? And a boy is never to young to be told that ninjas are totally cool. The text of the story is funny, and repetitive in a way that will really engage children when read aloud to them (or by them), but for me the stand out feature of this lovely picture book are Alex Latimer's illustrations. It is amazing how much he conveys with his simple line drawings, quirky character images and pastel palette. If this is typical of the picture books being published these days then I need to feature more of them on The Book Zone.

You can find out more about Alex Latimer at his website http://www.alexlatimer.co.za/ or on his blog at http://alexlatimer.wordpress.com/

My Life That Books Built #2: The Giant Jam Sandwich

In part one of my new semi-regular feature about the books that I have loved as I have grown up (in no particular order) I wrote about the first book I can remember owning, Little Jacko and the Wolf People. Sadly this book is no longer in print, but today's book seems to have been rarely out of print since it was first published in 1972. This week I am again looking at a picture book, and I know there will be many adult readers of the Book Zone who will share my love of The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord and Janet Burroway. Thanks to the generosity of the people at Random House, who have just republished the book under their Red Fox imprint, I now have a sparkling new copy to fill me with nostalgic feelings.

Some books age poorly, but I am happy to say that The Giant Jam Sandwich is not one of those. In my opinion it is still as funny and as fresh today as it was when it was first published, and it is certainly worthy of a place in any small child's book collection. If you don't know about this book (and it astounded me recently when my wife and my sister both claimed never to have heard of it) then you are in for as big a treat as any child you read it to for the first time. How's this for a premise:

One hot summer in Itching Down,

Four million wasps flew into town.

What are the villagers going to do about this noisy, nasty nuisance of a swarm? Make a giant jam sandwich - that's what!

Sometimes the simplest ideas really are the best, and this story is wonderfully simple: an English country village is invaded by wasps (four million of the beggars) and so the residents come up with a plan to solve this problem that even the A-Team would have been impressed with - they will create a giant jam sandwich to lure the wasps, because:

"Then Bap the Baker leaped to his feet

And cried,, "What do wasps like best to eat?

Strawberry jam! Now wait a minute!

If we made a giant jam sandwich we could trap them in it!"

The word classic is often overused, but in this case I feel that it is thoroughly deserved. John Vernon Lord's illustrations are of a style that was very popular when the book was written, but in this sparkling new edition they don't seem old fashioned at all, even if the fashions depicted are not exactly the latest trends. Although as the images depict a the people of a stereotypical Midsomer style country village (without the Murders of course) maybe the styles of clothing weren't particularly typical of the time back then either. Janet Burroway's simple and humorous rhymes are the perfect complement to Lord's images, and I am sure that there will be many children who, once they have progressed onto reading for themselves, will continue to enjoy this book. With this new edition Red Fox have ensured that the quality of the story is matched by quality packaging - the images are bright and clear, and all printed on a good quality paper, ensuring that this story will continue to be loved by many more children.

My Life That Books Built #1: Little Jacko and the Wolf People

Since I started writing this blog I have interviewed quite a few authors, many of whom I have asked the question: "What books did you enjoy as a child?". This is a question I have been asked many times as a teacher, and it has occasionally led to lengthy discussions about the difference between kids books then and now. I have now decided to run a semi-regular feature on The Book Zone where I go back over some of the books that I loved as a child or teenager. I say semi-regular as I am not sure I will be able to find the time to make it a weekly feature, but I do intend all of the posts to go live on a Monday morning. I hope you will get some small enjoyment from reading about the books that have made me the reader I am today - I am sure you will find at least one that will strike a similar chord in your heart.

To kick start this feature I thought I would begin with the first picture book that I can remember owning: Little Jacko and the Wolf People, with words by Margaret Greaves and pictures by Jill McDonald. As you can see by the photos I still have the very same copy that I was given as a small child - it was published by Methuen in 1973 so I am guessing that I really was very young when I received it.

The book tells the story of Jacko, a young settler in the Wild West, who has always dreamt of driving a train. However, the only train in Silver Springs is the one that brought the settlers there long ago, and is now old and rusty and no longer usable. Early in the story Jacko saves the life of Watahuni, a Native American boy and as a reward he is made a brother of the boy's tribe, the Wolf People. One night he stumbles across a group of bandits who are plotting to attack the settlers and then the tribe, in search of "Indian gold". It os down to jacko and his new friends to save the day.

As a child (and now as an adult) I loved the beautifully coloured illustrations of Jill McDonald, as well as the story of friendship and adventure. Just look at these pictures - they are surely up there with some of the best in picture books today. This book has been long out of print but a couple of years ago I managed to find a cheap secondhand copy that I gave to my godson's little brother as a Christmas present - it has now become a favourite read in that household as well.

Review: The Santa Trap by Jonathan Emmett, with illustrations by Poly Bernatene

Bradley Bartleby is bad - VERY BAD - and Santa Claus knows it . So when Bradley empties his stocking to find nothing but a pair of socks, he hatches a devious plan. If Santa won't give him the gifts he wants, Bradley will just have to steal them ...

With dynamite, trapdoors and a tiger or two, Santa doesn't stand a chance. Or does he?

Upon finishing this book the first thing I did was a quick internet search for the author's names, just to see whether he really existed or was in fact a pseudonym for Tim Burton for in my opinion The Santa Trap is up there with The Nightmare Before Christmas as a perfect alternative (and dark) Christmas story. It is certainly the perfect antidote to those saccharine sweet Christmas stories and fairy tales that get wheeled out every year, and it would be a crime if this does not one day find itself on the screen, whether big or small.

The Santa Trap is the story of Bradley Bartleby, a truly despicable child who, in the words of the story, was "born bad". Bradley is every spoiled and demanding child you have ever come across, all rolled into one nasty package that his parents are terrified of. As such he gets everything he wants (including an elephant as a house pet), when he wants it...... except for that one special time of the year. For Father Christmas knows about Bradley, and doesn't even bother to read the extensive list of presents Bradley demands every year. However, being a kindly old soul Santa does not want Bradley to go completely empty-handed and so each year he leaves him the same, simple gift..... a pair of socks.

Following another disappointing Christmas morning Bradley decides that enough is enough, and that he is going to set a trap for Santa, a trap that will take all year to create. And so, through Poly Bernatene's wonderfully dark illustrations we see him construct the ultimate scenario, including tigers, guillotines, explosives and trap doors. Come the following Christmas Eve Bradley then sits alone, waiting for his prey to arrive (his parents, by the way, have taken themselves off to a hotel, as their home is now far too dangerous to be living in). He sits and waits, and waits and sits, until......... 

What? You think I'm going to give away the rest of the story and ruin it for you? No way!

This book is a fantastic picture story, although some younger (more delicate and fragile) children may find the concept of blowing up Father Christmas and/or feeding him to ravenous tigers a little too upsetting. Jonathan Emmett's words are funny and well paced, but for me the real strong point of the book is the illustrations. Poly Bernatene has done an incredible job in creating the image of this truly nasty boy - imagine the young Damien from The Omen, but looking fifty times as evil and devious and you will be pretty close to having a good mental picture of this young devil.

The Santa Trap is published by Macmillan, to whom my thanks go for sending me a copy to review.

Review: Father Christmas Needs A Wee by Nicholas Allan

"Father Christmas needs a wee.

He's been drinking drinks since half past three . . ."

At each different house that he visits Father Christmas drinks and eats all the goodies left out for him. Before long he really, really, really needs a wee.

I started off December intending to focus on books targeted at younger boys than many of the books that I tend to review are. Things haven't quite worked out as planned due to work and other blogging commitments, but now that school is nearly done I hope to review a few more picture books over the coming week.

Father Christmas Needs A Wee will have three and four year olds giggling away. Let's face it, most boys love toilet humour, whatever their age, and this book really hits the spot for the youngest end of the spectrum. Many children have wondered just how Santa manages to visit so many homes in one night, but how many have asked how he copes with all the fizzy drinks, tea, brandy, and other sundry beverages that are left out for him? Well now we have the answer.

Not only is it funny but it also has an educational element to it in the form of the counting rhymes that makes up the story. First of all we count up with an increasing number of drinks in each house that Santa visits, and then later we count back down again from ten as he goes back to the houses where he forgot to leave presents due to his concentration being distracted by the uncomfortable strain upon his bladder.

I was lucky to receive a special edition of the book which also includes an audio CD, with which we can listen to the story being read by the legend that is Bernard Cribbins. Hearing BC reading a story brought back many fond memories of watching Jackanory when I was a child - this man really knows how to read a story.

I have one small moan from a design point of view - although the illustrations are generally fun and brightly coloured, there are a couple of pages where black text has been used on a dark blue background, making it a little difficult to read easily. This may not be a problem in the home but if this was being bought to read out loud to a class of children, whilst pointing to the words, then they would not be able to make the words out from a distance.

However, I am positive that boys in the 3-4 age group will want to hear this read to them over and over again, and will probably want to join in as they become able to follow words more confidently. Is it very wrong of me to be hoping that there will one day be a sequel called Father Christmas Needs A Poo? :-)

Father Christmas Needs A Wee is published by Red Fox, to whom I am very grateful for the copy of the book that I was sent to review. 

Review: Secret Santa - Agent of X.M.A.S. by Guy Bass

One night a year, Santa J. Claus delivers presents to the children of the world...but for the rest of the time, he's protecting the world as the top secret agent of the Xtremely Mysterious Agency of Secrets (X.M.A.S.), dishing out his own brand of justice to the world's most dastardly criminals. Santa and his Little Helper, newly qualified X.M.A.S. agent Jingle Bells, are on the trail of Dr Cumulus Nimbus, who's hell-bent on creating a new ice age...and Santa hates snow! Can they stop the evil plot before the world is snowed under?

Santa is for life, not just for Christmas with this fab new book from author Guy Bass and illustrator David Lopez. Continuing my focus on picture books I turned to this little beauty, kindly donated to my cause by the generous Lauren Ace at Stripes Publishing. Many people assume that picture books are for younger readers but illustrations in books are just as important in books for many children in the 8-10 age group, especially if they are struggling or reluctant readers. Images relating to the story help these readers engage more readily with the plot, and also help break up that big blocks of text that can scare off some children. Secret Santa: Agent of X.M.A.S. is the perfect book for all children in this age range, struggling reader or more confident they will love the crazy and hilarious adventures of this new superhero and his eleven sidekick.

I am sure many children over the years have asked the incredibly important question: What does Santa do for the other 364 days of the year? And I am sure most of them have been fobbed off with standard answers such as "sleeping" or "making toys" or such like. Now, however, the truth has finally been revealed - the man in red is actually the top agent for the Xtremely Mysterious Agency of Secrets (X.M.A.S.) and spends those 364 days saving the planet from the dastardly actions of the world's most dangerous criminals. A team of highly-trained Elf Agents work tirelessly to monitor all kinds of criminal activity and add the most deadly perpetrators to The Naughty List. No reindeer pulled sleigh for this Santa though, he needs something far more practical - in this case it is a Mark 499 Sleigh, a high speed vehicle that can travel on land, water and, of course, through air.... but that's not all: by activating its quantum core good old SC can also travel "at the speed of time" (well how else could he deliver so many presents to so many children all over the world on that one day a year when he takes a break from crime-fighting?).

This book (which I hope will be the first of many) sees Santa being given a new Little Helper, an elf aptly named Jingle Bells who has supposedly come "top of the tree" at X.M.A.S. Academy. I say supposedly as Jingle Bells has a secret he wants to hide from everyone, but in doing so he finds himself thrown head first into a life threatening mission on his first day on the job, and quickly discovers that working for X.M.A.S. is not all about making presents to be delivered at that festive time of the year. As a reluctant sidekick to the heroic secret agent Santa Jingle Bells provides many of the hilarious moments that will have kids and parents laughing out loud together. We are also treated to a maniacal master villain who wants to dominate the world through extreme climate change - starting with a new Ice Age for the USA.

Guy Bass obviously has an off the wall sense of humour, and uses this to give new meaning to the many well known and loved legends and stories that surround Santa Claus. He is aided and abetted by the fantastic illustrations of David Lopez, used to both add humour and detail to the story (although I so wish they were in colour). There are some pretty complicated words at times in this story, but I don't think this should put off readers of 7 or 8 - with a little help they should cope fine, although they would enjoy it even more if read to them by a parent as a bedtime book.

Review: Morris the Mankiest Monster by Giles Andreae and Sarah McIntyre

Giles Andreae and Sarah McIntyre would like you to meet Morris, the world’s stinkiest picture book hero… It’s years since he last changed his t-shirt It’s crusty and crawling with ants His shoes are all slurpy and squelchy inside And potatoes grow out of his pants.

Over the last few months I have had several emails from parents asking why I don't review many books for younger boys, and more specifically picture books. I guess the main reason is that as a secondary school teacher my main focus has always been the 11+ age range, and we don't really have many picture books in our house, although I still have fond and vivid memories of some of the picture books that I read (or had read to me) as a child. And so I have decided to rectify this on the run up to Christmas, and what a book to start with.

Morris the Mankiest Monster is possibly the most disgusting children's picture book ever and a very worthy successor to the filthy crown that for many years has been worn by Raymond Briggs and his Fungus the Bogeyman. How's this for a great set of opening lines:

"Morris the Mankiest Monster

Lives in a house made of dung

It only smells stinky enough when it's damp

So he keeps the walls wet with his tongue".

And that's one of the more pleasant quatrains in this gloriously revolting book, a more disgusting example being:
 

"His cheeks are encrusted with pustules

Which dribble like hot melted cheese

Warm yellow wax oozes out of his ears

And his eyebrows are riddled with fleas".

Revolting, yes? Well now imagine the illustrations that go with it and you will have a very good idea of what this book is like - Sarah McIntyre certainly does not hold back with her illustrations of Giles Andreae's hilarious rhyming words. Just look at the cover image above - I'm not sure I will ever be able to eat stringy cheese again! Sarah's illustrations are all beautifully drawn, with an incredible attention to detail that will have children poring lovingly over the pages looking for all the nastiest little creatures that live in Morris's house, and more disgustingly on his body. If there was ever a book that should come with a guarantee that it will be loved by children it is this one, and their parents will love it as well.

Experts claim that one of the best ways to get children interested in books at an early age is for their parents to read to them. For boys, this is even more important, and especially if that parent or carer is male. However, to many parents reading to their kids can be seen as something of a chore, especially after a long day at work, but reading books like Morris the Mankiest Monster could never be classified as a chore - it is just so much fun.

Morris the Mankiest Monster is available to buy right now, and my thanks go to the generous people at Picture Corgi for sending me a copy.