These are new stories about favourite characters – thanks to Graffeg and Simon & Schuster for sending them for review.
Albert and the Pond
Ian Brown and Eoin Clarke
Graffeg
There’s a new pond in the garden where Albert tortoise lives, quite a deep one, so he knows not to venture in. Suddenly as he stares into the water, he notices a pair of eyes staring straight at him, but they blink and disappear. Albert tells all his friends, who take a look too, but the creature merely blinks and swims away.
No matter the weather, Albert visits the pond to check on his new pal every day but one day there’s no sign of the little creature and even though his garden friends try to cheer him up, Albert still misses his newest friend.
Autumn arrives and Albert makes a final visit to the pond before hibernating but of his friend there is no sign, not even a bubble.
The following spring you can guess where Albert heads when he emerges from his sleep and he gets the surprise of his life. Not one pair of eyes but many, many similar pairs are now staring straight up through the water at the tortoise.
Suddenly Albert hears a voice and is astonished to learn that he already knows its owner. How could that possibly be? Appearances can be deceptive …
Young children will love being in the know before Albert and be highly amused to see the efforts of the garden creatures as they attempt to play a game altogether with their amphibian friend.
With Eoin’s wonderful stand out, almost realistic illustrations, so brilliantly expressive and beautifully textured and Ian’s gently humorous and educative text, Albert’s numerous fans will delight in this latest tale. (Those new to this particular character can find out about the real Albert in the back matter after the story.
Supertato: Mean Green Time Machine
Sue Hendra and Paul Linnett
Simon & Schuster
One night in the supermarket Supertato and the veggies are holding in their giggles as they look at Supertato’s baby photos. Carrot’s comment that Supertato looks ‘super cute’ in one picture prompts the spud to say that he hasn’t always been super. Guess who is listening in: of course it’s Evil Pea, who wishes he’d eliminated Supertato before he’d acquired those super powers.
A pineapple’s remark about a Time Machine prompts Evil Pea to start building exactly that. Having collected all the ingredients from various shelves plus some snippings from Supertato’s slippers, he stirs the mixture and hey presto! Three time crystals: one for the backward journey, one to come back and a spare – just in case.
Then with the clock set, wheee!
Baby Carrot is somewhat confused when the pea demands to be taken to see Supertato but she does know a potato and before long right there in front of the pea are all the veggie babies eager to play his game. Having dealt, so he thinks, with all except Baby Potato, Evil Pea approaches him threateningly. The little spud retreats
and you’ll never believe what happened next, although it really, really did.
Super silly and super fun, but that’s what readers have come to expect when they’re in the company of Supertato et al. This one is super exciting too, especially when the revelation about Evil Pea is shared with all the veggies.