Tag humour

Hector and Hummingbird

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Hector and Hummingbird
Nicholas John Frith
Alison Green Books
In this smashing picture book debut, set in the mountains of Peru we meet unlikely best pals, bear, Hector and a hummingbird called, err, Hummingbird. The latter is a garrulous creature who appears to intrude in Hector’s activities at the most inopportune moments …

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so much so that Hector, desperate for some peace and quiet finally loses it with his friend

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and storms off deep into the jungle.
But it turns out that the peace and tranquility he sought isn’t quite so fulfilling as he’d imagined.

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And when darkness falls there’s nobody there to share a bedtime story

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… or is there?
There’s so much to love about this one: the fantastical colour palette with its contrasting sludgy greens and browns and contrasting flashes of brilliance, the fusion of flat, retro (almost Dahlov Ipcar style) design and the contemporary –rhomboid, coloured speech bubbles, those sprinklings of off beat, up-to the minute dialogue and the inherent dissonance in a relationship between the two characters. One really wants to spend ages perusing each and every spread, lingering over the details of the deliciously droll manner in which this friendship of the tiny frenetic bird and the large, languorous bear is portrayed. Not forgetting the opportunity to spot the fifteen other creatures who act as observers of the action. Observant young audiences will particularly relish the fact that Hummingbird too is a silent onlooker in many of the scenes.
A humdinger of a book in every way and one not to be missed.

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You Can’t Take an Elephant on the Bus

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You Can’t Take an Elephant on the Bus
Patricia Cleveland Peck and David Tazzyman
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
In this fun-filled extravaganza, Patricia Cleveland Peck (now that’s a voice from the past) and David Tazzyman entertain the possible consequences of allowing all manner of unlikely passengers on, or into, a variety of vehicles. The pachyderm of the title would squash the seats quite flat on account of its fat, heavy posterior, a mischievous monkey would ‘snatch your shopping and chuck it about’

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were it to be allowed to sit in a shopping trolley and a camel in a sailing boat …

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– a disaster waiting to happen for sure. The same is true of a whale riding a bike or the favourites of my 5/6year old audiences – ‘a pig on a skateboard

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“’Cos he’s so big and fat and looks so funny in his pads and goggles.” ‘
and ‘… never let a bear near an ice-cream van…’ – ’He’s really funny breaking that van door and making all those splats of ice-cream everywhere.”

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Tazzyman’s slighltly scribbly scenes really tickled the fancy of those children.
Re-readings immediately were demanded by another group, some of whom were inspired by the author’s mad musings to create their own scenarios:

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And if by chance you need to find a book to introduce a science topic on pushes and pulls, then this one’s an absolute boon; but that’s just a minor reason to get hold of this madcap musing, the most important being its effect on the imaginations of children.

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Hungry Roscoe

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David J. Plant
Flying Eye Books
Roscoe the raccoon has a very empty tum; he’s pretty desperate for something tasty to eat so, he does as his pal Benjy suggests and tries his luck at the zoo, where the animals, so he is told, get their daily share of fresh food. Hmm!
What’s that bucket brim full of bananas and other delectable fruits doing? If Roscoe had any doubts, then the zookeeper clears them up in double quick time …

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Clearly a disguise is needed if Roscoe is to look like a deserving zoo inmate so with the help of few props, he is transformed into …

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Blending in however, doesn’t go too well, so another disguise is donned and he tries his luck as …

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Those squawks are fooling nobody however: time to beat a hasty retreat thinks our hungry hero. Then his luck turns, a deal is struck with some wily monkeys and after some deft key snatching and unlocking

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of various doors, pandemonium strikes the zoo. And then, after a hard day’s labour rounding up all the escapees, it’s definitely NOT Roscoe in need of a feed.DSCN4100 (800x600)

This tale of mischief and mayhem elicited a cheer from those I shared it with, some of whom were eager to suggest other disguises for Roscoe so amused were they by David Plant’s droll visual humour – “sort-of slapstick”, one boy commented.

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Crazy Captain Coconut

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Captain Coconut and the Case of the Missing Bananas
Anushka Ravishankar and Priya Sundram
Tara Books
This one’s a real laugh out loud pastiche – a kind of graphic novel – and features an Indian detective, who seems to be a kind of amalgam of the brainy Sherlock Holmes, Feluda and Inspector Ghote, and inept Inspector Clouseau type police detectives the world over. We find Captain Coconut faced with a baffling mystery concerning Mrs Y, her sister and her nephew, Gilli, and fourteen bananas, some of which have gone missing. Four can be accounted for – eaten by family members – but only six are left. Hmm – tricky: but our detective has a truly amazing logical and mathematical brain –

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albeit shaped somewhat like a coconut – and a trusty calculator that can be relied upon when computational problems crop up. DSCN4229 (800x600)
With his unflappable powers of deduction, not to mention the odd brainwave, and with the help of his trusty notebook,

 

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Captain Coconut slowly but surely, unravels the crime and unmasks the culprit. QED so to speak; thanks not entirely to his super brain, but also to a bad case of the trots: Somnambulist eat your heart out.
A spicy concoction of cheeky eccentricity, tricky clues and mind-numbing number posers from Anushka Ravishankar, quirkily clever, retro, collage-style illustrations courtesy of Priya Sundram, (that paisley patterned nose of the Captain’s is genius), Bollywood-style vocal interludes courtesy of our great singing detective, C.C.. In fact everything about Captain Coconut is divinely daft and entirely lovable. Add to the mix, great design (a Tara hallmark) and what you have is, in my book anyway, totally and brilliantly bonkers, and utterly hilarious.

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The Queen’s Orang-Utan – one for Comic Relief

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The Queen’s Orang-Utan
David Walliams and Tony Ross
Harper Collins Children’s Books
This is a real laugh out loud book and in buying it readers will be contributing to Comic Relief, for both the author and publisher will donate all their profits to the charity.
Herein a supremely bored monarch makes what everyone else deems an outrageous birthday present request – or should that be, demand: ‘ “For one’s birthday one would very much like … announced the Queen … “One’s own orang-utan!” ‘. And of course, what her majesty demands her majesty receives – with riotous consequences: consequences that not only relieve HRH of the tedium of entertaining even the most boring of guests to Buck. Palace

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but also enable her to escape her monotonous existence forever.

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Wonderfully anarchic – wickedly expressed both verbally and visually.

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The Book With No Pictures

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The Book With No Pictures
B.J.Novak
Puffin Books
Giggles and guffaws galore are guaranteed when you read this wonderfully subversive book aloud to one or preferably lots of children; it really depends on how big an audience you are willing to make a fool of yourself for. Its author, TV writer and actor, is certainly accustomed to large audiences and knows just how to exploit willing players to the full.
Back to the book itself. There isn’t a plot (not in the accepted sense anyway). There’s not a single illustration in sight though there’s plenty of colour. How is this? I hear you asking. Apart from the highly colourful nature of the text itself, the whole thing is a typographic orchestration, the changing tenor of which is cleverly conveyed through alterations in font size, type and colour.
“It probably seems boring and serious. Except … Here is how books work“ Then comes the all-important proviso… “everything the words say, the person reading the book has to say. No matter what.” … “BLORK. (audience titter) … I am a monkey who taught myself to read.” (children now starting to giggle) …

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… Is this whole book a trick? Can I stop reading please? No?!!
There follows a song,

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some very mild toilet humour…

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crazy noises and much more before the final plea: “Next time, please please please please please choose a book with pictures.” Can’t see many children taking notice of that however.
What they will take notice of is the sheer silliness of the whole thing and the tacit way in which it gently leads beyond picture books to that all important next step in reading where pictures no longer play the major role in a book and text is loved for its own sake.
As someone who loves to perform with book in hand and more important to share the best of them with children, I’m off to find some more audiences.
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Incredible Journeys

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Nina engrossed in the story

Pigsticks and Harold and The Incredible Journey
Alex Milway
Walker Books pbk
Pigsticks, last of a noble line of explorers is certain he too is an explorer and what’s more he’s decided that The Ends of the Earth is his destination. However, he cannot travel alone: an assistant is required so out goes an advertisement. By happy accident, he comes upon Harold hamster,

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a kindly but not altogether willing travelling companion until that is, a promise of Battenburg cake seals the deal. Off the two go on their eventful trek, a trek that includes encounters with a snake, crocodiles

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and many other hazards.

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The relationship between the contrasting characters  is highly humorous: Pigsticks totally confident and Harold the complete opposite, constantly asking questions of his fearless friend but it is he whose final question ultimately makes the whole enterprise happen.

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This highly entertaining story – saga almost – is just the kind of thing to keep readers turning the pages to see what is coming next. The illustrations too are splendid: ranging from some taking almost an entire double spread to others that are vignettes;most show so much more than we are told in the words.
It’s a wonderful mix of subtle humour and near slapstick; pretty near perfect for that in-between stage of reading. More please.
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Another book that is ideal for the same stage is just out in paperback:

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James loved this story when it first came out in hardback

Dixie O’Day in the Fast Lane
Shirley Hughes & Clara Vulliamy
Red Fox pbk
You can find a full review of this wonderful book about a very eventful car race for duo Dixie and Percy, also ideal for that in-between stage of reading under Car Capers.
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Find and buy from your local bookshop:http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch

The Queen’s Hat

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Nina and Rosa hot on the trail of that royal hat

The Queen’s Hat
Steve Antony
Hodder Children’s Books
A strong wind whisks the Queen’s hat – her favourite – from her head and tosses it up into the sky as she leaves Buckingham Palace to visit a very special someone.

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So begins a madcap chase led by Her Majesty, hotly followed by the Queen’s men right across London from her residence, traversing Trafalgar Square, through London Zoo, down onto the London Underground,

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around the London Eye, over Tower Bridge and Big Ben until swoosh! …
Where did those brollies come from? …

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right down to the gardens of Kensington Palace and onto a certain infant …

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There is visual humour in abundance here and the energetic text (printed in regal red) with its matter of fact manner of telling is a nice contrast.
Steve Antony’s choice of a limited colour palette (red, white, and blue plus grey and black) is particularly apt for the subject matter herein. And, that bit part royal corgi almost steals the whole show.
In a word: Brilliant! In another: Priceless!
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Find and buy from your local bookshop:http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch