Shhhh!
written by Jeanne Willis and illustrated by Tony Ross
(Anderson, 10.99)
This is the ump-teenth picture book I've seen this year on the theme of war. As a reader you become ready to defend yourself against the obvious pull on the heartstrings with storylines proposing sentimental fixes. How can a picture book adequately convey the complexity of awful events, in a way that is suitable for the target age range? Looking at the endpapers of this book, it's an ambitious promise.
We are to be moved from chaotic squiggly lines at the front of the book to the same colours rendered in ruler-straight lines on the back. So what exactly happens in between? A shrew thinks of lots of different ways to tell 'the secret of Peace on Earth', but none is sufficiently powerful to allow him to be heard above the noises made by animals, workers, and battling insects, all of which have large 'noises' labels for children to mimic.
And what answer is being suggested? For children who are old enough to ask what they can do to help in this kind of situation, the shrew's answer is to wear billboards declaring: 'Pleese' and 'Lissen'. This involves counting to three and being quiet. Then follows a spread of bluey-purple washed sky.
You do feel like having a try.
The last picture is of the shrew acting as storyteller to a group of gathered insects: 'That is the secret. Or so I've heard.' This book is cleverly manoeuvred and worth a look.
I Love You, Grandpa
written by Vivian French and illustrated by Dana Kubrick
(Walker, 8.99)
This is an obvious attempt to attract the grandparent gift market, using an appealing title. Unfortunately, al-though the pictures are sweet and would frame beautifully for a wall, the story is unexciting.
Grandpa cat is looking after some kittens for the weekend, who fall asleep simultaneously on the grass after playing. Everyone who has worked in a nursery or has more than one child will say this is far-fetched. And the story misses a few tricks in the 'ahh' moment where young Stanley sings a song to Grandpa about how much he loves him.
On the one hand, I like the fact that the lyrics don't obviously reflect the things that have gone before. On the other hand, the song lyrics presented are just not lilting enough to impress, so the idea falls flat.
Had Stanley made up a naive song on the hoof, this might have been a good opportunity for humour.
The careful endpapers display black and white photos about the kittens' and Grandpa's lives, and are different front and back.
Teddybear Blue
written by Malachy Doyle and illustrated by Christina Bretschneider
(Frances Lincoln, 10.99)
This picturebook not only has song lyrics in abundance, but the rhythmical text, with its pun on blue (as in blues music), is strong.
The words fall into the familiar patterns of a blues song, with a focus here on a blue teddybear. The interest for children is to spot where Teddybear Blue is hidden on each page. This includes being left behind in the park and lost under a clutter of toys. There's even a middle eight to spot in the song format, which focuses on the owner of Teddybear Blue's sister.
The story offers a touching and believable insight into an intense relationship between girl and teddybear. Amusing toy expressions and a family snail trail are favourites to look out for in pictures that make the reader feel very comfortable.
Dog Blue
by Polly Dunbar
(Walker, 9.99)
Continuing the theme of blue, this book has high production values, with its soft thrush-egg speckled border on the front cover and a constrained 1950s colour palette inside (here the pictures are just cream, salmon and pale blue).
A boy called Bertie's longing for a pet manifests itself in these ways: taking a dog collar for a walk, Bertie chasing round trying to catch his 'tail' and scratching and sniffing himself.
The other thing Bertie is really keen on is the colour blue, so the yearning for a blue dog is top of his wish-list. There's a pretty good punchline - Bertie loves it when it's his turn to fetch the stick. This image takes the reader back to an earlier one in the book, where Bertie had to throw and catch the stick himself, watched by no one. Here he's shown throwing and catching the stick just as before, but this time there's a VIP in the audience: his dog called Blue. By the way, Blue is a black and white Dalmatian - not all wishes can come true.
