Tag Magali Le Huche

Colourful Considerations

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What’s Your Favourite Colour, Pascal?
Magali Le Huche
Twirl Books
Spring has arrived and Pascal Platypus wants to bring some seasonal cheer to his nautical themed room with a fresh coat of paint and when he enlists the help of his friends in choosing a colour, every one of them is ready to help.
Cardigan suggests orange: “Trust me, it will be delicious!” he states but once the colour has been applied, Fancy the Turtle announces that the room looks like a giant carrot.

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He thinks green would be a whole lot better and off they go again but once more, on completion, there’s a dissenter. It’s Zelda Frog and pink is her suggestion but now Ringo Dog isn’t happy. “All the colours!” is his idea and there follows a SPLOOSH! SPLAT! colour-splatter battle …

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and now Pascal has had enough. It’s not new paint he needs but a whole new home and off he goes to create one. No prizes for guessing what colour predominates …

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Deliciously detailed and full of droll humour. Children will enjoy opening the multitude of flaps to peep inside the various cupboards, drawers, the bathtub and even the pictures adorning Pascal’s walls. They’ll also have fun watching the antics of those other residents of Pascal’s home – the tiny mice.

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The Colour Monster
Anna Llenas
Templar Publishing
Meet the monster of the title and the little girl who helps him sort himself out, or his mixed up feelings at least …

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Her means of so doing is separation – into glass jars: each emotion being linked to a colour. Happiness is yellow ‘You feel bright and light. You laugh, you jump, you dance. You want to share that feeling with everyone.’

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Blue represents sadness ‘gentle like a blue rainy day.’ Anger is red – no surprises there- it’s ablaze like fire, making you want to stomp and …

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Fear is black, lurking among shadows: you feel alone, diminished.
In stark contrast, calm is green ‘quiet like the trees and soft like their leaves.’ It’s slow, deep breaths … I love this near yogic saravasana …

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And that’s pretty much it – fait accompli.
Hold on though, there’s been a change of hue in Colour Monster himself: he now looks like this …

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maybe this particular emotion just cannot be contained.
What a monstrously good way to introduce ideas about feelings and emotions to young children: the whole thing is a delight.
The child-like collage illustrations built up from cut out card and paper, painted, scribbled or daubed are immediately engaging and the characters instantly endearing.

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Two Crazy Tales

jillrbennett 1 Comment

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Kitchen Disco
Clare Foges and Al Murphy
Faber & Faber Children’s Books
Did you know that the contents of your fruit bowl comes to life and parties while you’re fast asleep? No?

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Me neither; but that’s what happens in this totally zany, rhyming disco dancing story.
Off the wall it may be, but this book totally rocks it socks off as lemons tap dance on the tap and break dance on the chopping board (what fun the author had writing this),

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the super cool pineapple high fives to show his approval of other fruit; and grapes – a silly bunch – boogie in a conga and their ‘conga line gets longer!’

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Told in rhyming couplets, the story starts gently as the family begins to slumber and then bursts into life moving and shaking until sunrise when the fruit take to their bowl for some well-earned shut eye. Suitably crazy illustrations by Al Murphy document the whole event and I love the way the artist uses small vignette style pictures in the middle of the page at the start and then latterly, the pages begin to explode as those citrus guys take to the floor. And there’s a further pre-dawn explosion courtesy of some human intrusion and– yes – a glitter ball;: now I wonder where they got that from?

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So, as the chorus says, ‘SHAKE IT LIKE A MANGO/ PARTY LIKE A PEAR? WIGGLE LIKE AN APPLE, / HEY!/ AND DANCE LIKE YOU DON’T CARE.’
Simply FRUITASTIC!

Nearly as bonkers in its own way is:

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What are you going to wear, Pascal?
Magali Le Huche
Twirl Books
Pascal platypus has a problem: he’s got nothing to wear. Does that sound familiar? It’s certainly something I feel at times. Pascal seeks help from his friends and each is ready with a suggestion or two.

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But each item of clothing is problematic to Pascal: it’s too tight,

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too itchy, or too special , until he asks Ringo that is. Could he be lucky this time? Ringo has made something especially for Pascal but oops!

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You need to put it on the right way round, Pascal. Never mind, that outlet might have just the thing …
It does, but on opening his wardrobe, we see that his perfect pants seem to bear more than a little resemblance to everything the endearing platypus already has.

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Nothing to read? Perhaps like Pascal, you might try borrowing in the first instance unless of course, you know somebody just like him: then, this extended joke would make the perfect present.

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