Tag over eating

I Saw Anaconda

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I Saw Anaconda
Jane Clarke and Emma Dodd
Nosy Crow
Most of us are familiar with the nursery favourite, ‘There was an old woman who swallowed a fly’. What Jane Clarke provides herein is a riotous reworking of the rhyme featuring a little boy – the narrator – and a gigantic, guzzling anaconda intent on devouring everything from the tiniest tick …

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to an alligator.

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And even that’s not enough; she goes on to consume the boy – binoculars and all – too. Story over then? Not quite.
We all know the outcome of over indulgence and here it is …

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Young children relish the build-up as they wait for Anaconda’s comeuppance and if my experience is anything to go by, will demand an immediate regurgitation of the whole yucky tale. The description on the cover pretty much sums up the snakey shenanigans herein: it’s great fun to share. Clever use of foldout pages,

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multi-flaps …

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and pop-ups give extra room for Emma Dodd’s deliciously gigglesome artistry, and to display the hapless victims within their devourer.

The Famishing Vanishing Mahoosive Mammoth

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The Famishing Vanishing Mahoosive Mammoth
Hollie Hughes and Leigh Hodgkinson
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
What a wonderful word mahoosive is and how perfectly it sums up the star of this show and his gargantuan, nay insatiable, appetite. And his side-kick, best friend bug is his perfect ally in seeking to sort out the ‘famishing vanishing’ problem upon which this story rests.
Now I for one find it hard to believe what this creature says on the very first spread …

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and he’s fortunate that said Bug is near at hand – or rather trunk – to step, nay fly in, to save the sorry situation. First comes a MAHOOSIVE breakfast, followed swiftly by a snack, neither of which appear to improve Mammoth’s mood, nor sate his appetite (ungrateful beast); he merely keeps up his complaints of feeling funny inside and statements about vanishing. Bug mentions brunch; that idea is scuppered though by Mammoth’s consumption of this …

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and so the two agree to ‘do lunch’.
Even that – and it’s a five star affair, leaves Mammoth unsatisfied and Bug right out of ideas. Well maybe not quite because they just happen to be at the seaside where there’s a plethora of treats to be had, both small and large …

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Will that long-suffering, resourceful Bug ever find a way to satisfy his dear friend’s all-consuming need?
The distractions appear to be a good thing …

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but are they enough to fend off the otherwise inevitable stomach explosion Mammoth is rapidly heading for? Or maybe, just maybe, there’s something else even better …
Delivered through a deliciously funny rhyming text that’s a pleasure to read aloud and wonderfully patterned, brightly coloured illustrations depicting two immediately endearing characters, this whole MAHOOSIVE enterprise is a delight. I shared it on a day of Brexit doom and gloom so far I was concerned and it certainly did bring on some cheer. My listeners loved it, demanded a re-read and several of them were later heard repeating a certain word over and over. If only this final gorgeous picture –

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could have been symbolic of what a whole lot of us were hoping for …

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