Tag Claire Powell

Marty Moose: First Class Mischief

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Marty Moose: First Class Mischief
Claire Powell
Walker Books

This is the first instalment in an exceedingly funny new series presented in two colours by Claire Powell. First of all don’t be misled, Marty is a mouse, not a moose – that was an ink blot on his birth certificate. We meet Marty on his very first day in the his first ever job – the very important role of Postmouse of Little Ditch. He’s particularly excited as his now retired Great Aunt Ada was reputed to be one of the best at the job.

Determined to be a first-class deliverer too, off he sets to the Post Office where his first encounter is with Cyril Snorter, employee of the month twenty seven times in a row. He also meets other members of the team who appear somewhat sneery. Then with post bag duly slung over his shoulder and instructions to leave no parcel undelivered and to watch out for rotten blueberries – no idea why – he’s on his route.
With several letters duly delivered, Marty is feeling upbeat but then he gets rather lost in a rabbit warren.

Fortunately however, he finds himself unexpectedly embraced by Nibbles Frizzly who is a trifle loopy but she does explain how the confusing number system works

and helps deliver the post. Before long they get stuck in what proves to be a booby-trapped garden where they’re caught between feuding toad siblings, Velma Carbuncle and her young brother. From booby trap to toady trap go Marty and Nibbles. Suddenly Marty recalls reading in an encyclopaedia of his, that toads are known to eat mice. Yikes! Surely his first day at the post office isn’t to be his last.
Light bulb moment! Is star employee Cyril behind all the problems and if so what should he, Marty, do?

Really fun, this zany adventure is told brilliantly both verbally and through Claire’s red and black illustrations. Younger readers (and many adults) will love this and eagerly anticipate The Great Stamp-ede, Marty’s next adventure.

The Rainbow Flamingo

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The Rainbow Flamingo
Catherine Emmett and Claire Powell
Simon & Schuster

Adele the flamingo is desperate to be like her pink contemporaries, indeed she appears pink from the outside but within are colours she has great difficulty hiding – rainbow colours. With the annual Flamboyance fast approaching, having without success upped her diet of shrimps, Adele is sick with worry. This year her class is to give a dance display and poor Adele is sure she won’t be able to hide all her colours inside. Making excuses to leave the practice, she goes home feeling totally alone. There she summons her courage and goes to find her mum; but mum flamingo is too busy with her culinary activities to pay heed to her daughter’s approach.

Off goes Adele in search of something to consume that might make those feathers turn pink. The outcome of her hunt is a colour change but now to Adele’s extreme concern, she is green all over.

Then she spies her mum and tries explaining but her tears speak louder than any words. However, once home again, she’s finally able to confide in her mum. No more hiding for Adele, especially the following day at the Flamboyance. With her eyes on mum’s proud face, the little flamingo joins the other dancers, breathes deeply and opens wide her wings, dancing and prancing in her full glory.

Who do you think is the winner of the crown? It turns out that some of Adele’s friends have hues of their own too.

With its empowering, motivating message, ‘don’t be afraid, wear your colours with pride.’ Catherine’s rhyming text and Claire’s suitably elegant illustrations convey Adele’s mounting anxiety splendidly. It takes lots of courage to be yourself, as the young flamingo finally did, but trying to be somebody you aren’t will never make you happy.

Definitely a book to share and discuss in KS1 classrooms as well as at home.

Alice Eclair Spy Extraordinaire: A Sprinkling of Danger / Montgomery Bonbon: Death at the Lighthouse

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Alice Eclair Spy Extraordinaire: A Sprinkling of Danger
Sarah Todd Taylor
Nosy Crow


Gifted young baker and spy, Alice is back for a third adventure, set in and around the grand Palace of Versailles which is being used as a film set for a team of American movie makers.


Arriving at Claude’s flat, she learns that he thinks the film director, Glen Carmine, could be a spy and wants Alice to get herself onto the film set and discover what is going on. In addition she is to take on a new agent recruit, Pierre, whom she soon finds out, resents her ‘nannying’ as he calls it. He gets himself a role on the set as hairdresser to star, Catrine Bell, but thanks to her patisserie skills, Alice gets herself hired on set too, to the chagrin of Pierre, who appears to have his own agenda. She does though make an ally of Milton, nephew of the director.


The weather becomes increasingly worse and so too does Alice’s feeling that somebody is trying to get rid of her, perhaps even kill her. Then due to heavy snow, the cast, crew and staff are forced to stay overnight in the palace, giving Alice opportunities to snoop around for clues. In addition she is beginning to suspect that Pierre isn’t to be trusted.


As more alarming things happen to Alice, she starts to think that maybe she’s not up to this case; does she even want to continue being a spy? But then things happen to make her change her mind; she just has to get to the bottom of this, her hardest mission yet.


Sarah Taylor-Todd’s crafting of the setting for this tale is superb, as are the details of the splendid sweet treats that Alice herself crafts. Readers will find their mouths alternately watering over the descriptions of Alice’s confections, and going dry at the life-threatening events that happen to her.
Definitely as tasty as the previous books in the series, though also, I think, the most perilous.

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Montgomery Bonbon: Death at the Lighthouse
Alasdair Beckett-King, illustrated by Claire Powell
Walker Books

Ten year old Bonnie and Grandpa Banks head to Odde Island for a much needed holiday, but when you’re a private detective, it’s unlikely that a quiet rest without mystery, intrigue or murder is what will transpire even if you have deliberately left your sleuthing gear safely at home in your bedroom.
They’ve barely set foot in the place when they learn of the death of lighthouse keeper, Maude Cragge who had supposedly been blown by the storm and fallen from the top of the lighthouse.
Fortuitously, so it would seem, Grandpa just happens to have packed Bonnie’s yellow bag of equipment after all. It’s time to investigate. And it looks as though the two holiday hopefuls have a murder mystery to solve.


It’s not long before Bonnie decides it isn’t just the one mystery relating to this strange island that she needs to get to the bottom of.

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She can however call on the assistance of friend Dana, who is also staying on the island.


Wit and humour abound, there’s a plethora of puns, and at the same time, intrigue and high drama, and I love the Poirot speak. All this accompanied by Claire Powell’s delightful illustrations which help elucidate some of the clues. A terrific sequel with more to come.

Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum

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Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum
Alasdair Beckett-King, illustrated by Claire Powell
Walker Books

With a moustache and beret at the ready, there’s a new sleuth on the block; it’s ten-year-old Bonnie Montgomery aka Montgomery Bonbon, Widdlington’s best detective. He is always at the crime scene on the look out for likely suspects and searching for clues, usually accompanied by erstwhile ice-cream seller, Grampa Banks whose van comes in very useful for stake outs. Clever, easily ignored by adults and with excellent powers of observation, this unlikely crime-fighting duo are the stars of this first in a mystery series.

As the story starts, Bonnie and Grampa Banks are visiting the Hornville Museum – Widdlington’s oldest building. Suddenly there’s a frightful scream and they are plunged into darkness. A security guard has been murdered and a carved stone eagle has been stolen. On goes her disguise and transformation! There is Montgomery Bonbon, on the case in an instant. Quickly on the scene too is Inspector Sands; she is definitely not a fan of Montgomery Bobbon and in return Bonnie has a very low opinion of the detective.

A few clues are soon found and Bonbon is immediately on the trail of suspects, the thief and the appropriately named Blowpipe Killer. Could any of the museum staff have played any part in the murder or theft? I love the clever way illustrator Claire Powell provides readers with a look at Bonbon’s case notes throughout and her depictions of the characters are superb.

With some tricky red herrings, an interfering scarlet macaw, seagulls, crisps and scones along the way, can our determined young detective maintain her cover and solve the case before disaster strikes again?

Beckett-King has created some superb characters in his gently humorous, thought-provoking debut novel, not only team Bonnie and Grampa whose fondness for one another and their age difference are a big asset, but several others too including Bonnie’s new friend Dana Hornville. Youngsters will love meeting them and like this reviewer, eagerly anticipate more of Bonnie. Has she been perhaps taking lessons from a certain Belgian detective whose voice (or rather David Suchet’s) I caught echoes of as I read.

Who Will Kiss The Crocodile?

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Who Will Kiss The Crocodile?
Suzy Senior and Claire Powell
Little Tiger

Suzy Senior puts a hilarious spin on a favourite fairytale in her snappy rhyming take on Sleeping Beauty. It starts on Princess Liss’s first birthday when her family hold a big fancy ball for all the town’s residents, or rather, all but one. With the party in full swing there’s a sudden chill as in sweeps a furious fairy who proceeds to shout, “… In fifteen years, she’ll bump her knee.And then the princess DIES!” and with a wave of her wand she turns the infant into a baby crocodile. All is not quite lost though thanks to a life-saving pixie who informs the princess’s distraught parents that instead of dying, their daughter will sleep `til woken with a kiss. But who would be willing to kiss a crocodile, especially one with increasingly long claws?

On her sixteenth birthday the princess injures her knee while swimming in the lake and takes to her bed for what turns out to be a snooze lasting around a century, during which numerous princes have shown up at the castle only to flee when they realise what slumbers within the increasingly crumbling castle.

Eventually the neighbours decide to call upon the services of the Handy-Grans to carry out some urgent work on the thorny hedge surrounding the castle. This they do and after a day’s slog they discover the slumbering crocodile within.

Rather than running for their lives, they run back to their van for some knee soothing salve…
Surely there couldn’t be a happily ever after to this story – or could there?

Claire Powell’s comical scenes are simply bursting with bright colour, her cast of characters is inclusive and Suzy’s text is a delight to read aloud. If you like fractured fairy tales, don’t miss this one.

The Royal Leap-Frog

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The Royal Leap-Frog
Peter Bently and Claire Powell
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Written in perfect rhyme is Peter Bently’s very funny version of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Leaping Match fable. It tells, and shows through Claire Powell’s splendid, vibrantly coloured illustrations, what happens when a flea and a grasshopper (both convinced they’re the best) compete before the king whom they want to decide which one of them can jump the higher. Along with them to the palace goes a little green frog.
Utter chaos ensues as first flea

and then grasshopper leaps – captured with panache in Claire’s detailed scenes for which she uses a variety of layouts.

Both insects then depart the royal dining room leaving the king flat out on his sofa. However his respite is brief for up steps the frog claiming an ability to out-leap both previous contestants. What will be the outcome of his attempt?

A laugh-out-loud book that’s great to share in the classroom or at home with individuals, whether or not they’re familiar with the original fairy tale.

The King’s Birthday Suit

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The King’s Birthday Suit
Peter Bently and Claire Powell
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

This is a priceless telling of Hans Andersen’s classic The Emperor’s New Clothes revamped for the 21st century.
Peter’s gleeful rhyming narrative is faultless and absolutely brilliant to read aloud (if you can overcome your giggles), and Claire’s detailed illustrations are a veritable feast for the eyes.

So without further ado, let me introduce King Albert-Horatio-Otto the Third with his special attire for every activity you can imagine and likely more that you can’t. I hate to think what his laundry bill cost. 

With his birthday fast approaching said king simply MUST have a new outfit to impress the visitors he’ll receive but none of the creations of the fashion designers win his approval. So when two apparently well-intentioned fabric merchants – McTavish and Mitch – show up promising to fashion THE perfect cloth, the king can’t resist their offer.
Now this pair look the real deal but what is that clickety-clackety loom actually producing? 

Time for the King’s ministers to take a look and report back. Their descriptions “That cloth, sir – oh my!’ … We just can’t describe it!” have the King rushing to see for himself. A fitting ensues, followed by the final try-on the following day. 

Then come the evening when all the guests have gathered it’s time for the great reveal …

and everything that ensues thereafter. Which all goes to show youngsters the importance of having the confidence to speak out and say what they believe is the truth.

Gloriously and gleefully silly, this is an unmissable book for family and primary classroom collections.

The Night After Christmas

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The Night After Christmas
Kes Gray and Claire Powell
Hodder Children’s Books

For many, Boxing Day is something of a come down after the big day itself. Not so for Santa and his wife, especially come evening time. That’s when things really start to hot up for them, as well as for his faithful band of elves who are eagerly awaiting that rallying cry to the eight giant owls aptly named Snowy, Ghost, Blizzard, Snowball, Milkshake, Whitefly, Misty and Noble. Their task on this special occasion is to safely deliver a ginormous cracker – XXL-plus size no less, filled to near bursting point and ready for the big bang.

Once the elves have pulled the thing and spilled out its super-tasty contents, it’s time for Mrs Claus to step up for the big switch-on. And what a magnificent sight she triggers: first the colours cascade forth and then the stars shift to create spectacular ‘Yule constellations’.

Thereafter comes the dancing with both elves and reindeer performing their ‘Strictly’ moves with panache – all except Vixen who has four left hooves, so we’re told.

But all good things must come to an end and as the northern lights begin to fade, Santa starts to feel the need for some shut-eye. Off go the revellers and you can guess what Mr and Mrs Claus do (after a quick stop under the mistletoe) – zzzzz.

Brilliantly told in Kes Grey’s unfaultable rhyming text that bounces joyfully along to that final throwaway finale, and equally exuberantly illustrated in Claire Powell’s fantastically funky scenes of festivity. How she managed to portray all those elves as the party erupts, is an astonishing feat in itself.

A Christmas cracker with a superabundance of ‘rooty-toot-toot’ magic that will surely become a seasonal classic.

The Wizard in My Shed

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The Wizard in My Shed
Simon Farnaby, illustrated by Claire Powell
Hodder Children’s Books

Having narrowly avoided spluttering my coffee over the opening pages of Horrid Histories star Simon Farnaby’s new adventure tale, I envisaged that I’d continue spluttering throughout (not coffee – I hastily consumed that before resuming reading), and so it was. (Though I did have to stop after every chapter to take a few ‘mellow moments’ – like Evanhart, wizard Merdyn’s bestie until he decided to follow the ‘path of darkness’ and become a warlock aka a bad wizard x1000.)

The story follows both madcap Merdyn (from the Dark Ages) and would-be star singer,/dancer

twelve year old Rose, from now, residing in the normal town of Bashingford with her mum and brother. Each has a desire: Merdyn wants to avenge his banishment to the Rivers of Purgatory (actually it was The Rivers of Time) and at the same time get out of the 21st century in which he’s mysteriously arrived and return to the Dark Ages; Rose is anxious to sort out her broken family,

after her father’s death, which happened before this story begins.

There’s also Rose’s guinea pig, Bubbles, a frequent poo-er, that seemingly doesn’t do much else and certainly doesn’t enjoy sharing Rose’s fairy story books.

When Rose happens upon a ‘cloth creature’ wearing peculiar shoes, gesturing weirdly and thinking he’s in the land of Purgatory – you can work out his name – she decides he might actually be of some help to her.

A deal is struck. A family-sorting-out spell (and perhaps one to make her the world’s best singer) in exchange for Rose’s assistance in coping with so many strange 21st century ways and means.

That necessitates keeping the visitor in the garden shed away from Mum – to protect her smartphone – though that might be the least of her worries about the curious stranger. They will need to locate Merdyn’s treasured magic staff and find a way to return him whence he came. Surely nothing could possibly go a-miss – could it … ?

There’s masses of madness, magic, crazy characters,

not to mention high drama, and that enormously endearingly bonkers Merdyn, to enthrall readers throughout what proves to be a heart-warming tale.

And, with the addition of Claire Powell’s terrific illustrations, the enchantment just got even stronger, while ‘the world watched in silence.’

Read alone or, read aloud it’s an absolute winner.

Daddy Hairdo

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Daddy Hairdo
Francis Martin and Claire Powell
Simon & Schuster

Like many newborn babes, Amy had started life with very little hair: in contrast her Dad was the proud owner of a prolific mop.

As time passes she catches her dad up in the hair stakes and then, as his starts to disappear, she overtakes him.
She decides to join her Dad in a search for his hair but unsurprisingly it has vanished for good.
Eager to discover what happens to hair that’s been shed they search through books and ponder over its disappearance.: both to no avail.
Meanwhile Amy’s hair has grown apace and just keeps on so doing. It definitely needs a great deal of TLC and eventually becomes so long she requires a carry from a kind adult. Even so she’s reluctant to visit the hairdressers.

Dad studies and works on honing his tonsorial skills until he is ready to unleash them on his daughter.
The results are sensational …

There’s a snag however: such funky hair-dos make life pretty problematic: indeed all kinds of Amy’s favourite activities become impossible.

There’s only one solution …

Readers will delight in the splendid creations Claire Powell has depicted and laugh long and loud over Francis Martin’s zany father/daughter tale of tonsure-related trials and tribulations. She and he have created a winner there.

Octopants

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Octopants
Suzy Senior and Claire Powell
Little Tiger

This crazy rhyming tale is narrated by an octopus, an underpantless octopus no less.

His lack of a bottom covering makes him the butt of jokes and derision on the part of the other undersea creatures, most especially when he goes to town to try and buy himself some suitable octopants.

On-line shopping proves equally fruitless or rather, pantless.

One day however, our pant-hunter comes upon a hitherto unknown establishment, going by the name of Under-Sea Emporium and run by a rather smart seahorse sporting a spotty bow tie.

The place seems to sell pretty much any garment you might imagine and many you can’t, from evening wear for eels to jewellery for jellyfish and water wings for whales, in various spotty, stripy, sparkly and decidedly funky fabrics.
But as for underpants for an octopus customer, that is quite another matter altogether.

So exactly what can an eight-legged, or could it be eight armed, marine animal wear instead?

The big reveal (not a big bum reveal) comes on the final spread …

Bubbling and bursting with playful alliteration, Suzy Senior’s suitably silly story is likely to have young listeners pinging their knicker elastic with wriggling giggles, while Claire Powell’s funky undersea scenes of pant-wearing, and would-be same, seawater creatures should make sure that mirth is multiplied.

Almost any story with pants seems to induce a similarly snickering response but this one has a terrific twisting finale.

Have You Seen My Giraffe?

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Have You Seen My Giraffe?
Michelle Robinson and Claire Powell
Simon & Schuster
Did you know that large animals have replaced goldfish as fairground prizes? No? Me neither, but it’s so according to the purveyor of this tall tale, so it’s definitely worth being forewarned– just in case you too happen to win a giraffe.
The crux of the matter is keeping one’s parents on board; but if you can’t manage that, you’ll just have to hide the thing – somehow or other.
So, let’s consider the possibilities: a forest would be ideal but since that’s not going to grow up overnight, a temporary expedient will be needed; or camouflage perhaps.

If you are to keep this giraffe, then a name is desirable – even if it is one that’s acquired in less than favourable circumstances …

Could it be however that there might be a solution that would make everyone happy, after all forests can prove pretty hospitable environments for both humans and a certain species of African even-toed ungulates to reside in and they’re great places for the occasional game of hide and seek too.

Gloriously silly scenes of consternation, chaos, catastrophe and clever thinking show just how preposterous the whole idea is: but then, that’s what makes it such a rib-tickler.

I’ve signed the charter