Tag self-reflection

The Couch Potato

jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Couch Potato
Jory John and Pete Oswald
Harper360

Here’s a spudalicious tale from popular duo Jory John and Pete Oswald who add a new veggie character to their entourage in the form of a potato, one wedded or should that be, welded to his sofa – almost – and by his own admission, the ap-peel of this comfy spot is irresistible. Especially when everything a spud needs is within easy reach.

Our dumpy narrator, like many humans during the on-going pandemic one suspects, has become well, a couch potato. Moreover this veggie has a huge number of screens for the purposes of watching favourite shows, playing video games, face to face conversations and more. He surely has everything under control, this spuddy guy.
But one day, disaster strikes; plugging in his latest device (mail order of course), causes the electricity to PEW-WWWWWWW resulting in darkness and, can you imagine, our potato leaving his favourite spot to look out the window. yes he can manage that!

With nothing else to do, he decides to go for a walk in the great outdoors, accompanied by his pooch Tater. This foray in the open air causes something of a cathartic release: there’s peace, nature and reality out there, liberating and sometimes exhilaratingly beautiful.

Time to make some permanent changes, thinks our starchy spud pal and yes, having found a happy medium, life is great …

Nature and the outdoors are things Covid hasn’t taken from us all; I certainly feel that in addition to books and reading, my well-being depends on getting outdoors and walking in the beautiful countryside around me, no matter the weather.

Love the humour inherent in both the punny writing and the illustrations of this book. There are intertextual winks, an abundance of genial spuds and the final spread with the hero enjoying a cuppa and reading The Catcher in the Fry is a delicious way to end a story that will appeal to both children and adults.

Can I Build Another Me?

jillrbennett Leave a comment

%0A

Can I Build Another Me?
Shinsuke Yoshitake
Thames & Hudson
The boy narrator of this powerful, brilliantly inventive book, shares with readers what happens when he comes up with the ingenious idea of building a Kevin replica in order to avoid doing boring things such as homework, tidying his room and generally helping around the house. Off he goes to the electronics shop where he spends all his pocket money on a robot. “From now on, you’re going to be the new me!” he informs the thing, “But don’t let anyone know. You must behave exactly like me.”
The ordinary basic facts are easily dealt with …

%0A

but in order to be fool-proof, the robot needs to know everything about Kevin and that entails getting right up close and personal …

%0A

Even that is not enough though; Kevin has to do a complete self-evaluation and consider the things that REALLY make him, him. No easy undertaking, as talking about himself is not something Kevin likes to do, especially when it comes to tricky considerations such as ‘What do other people think about me?’

DSCN7481

Eventually, it becomes evident that Kevin is anything but ordinary

%0A

or as his Grandma has pointed out he’s ‘NO ONE BUT ME … everyone is like a tree … you can choose how to grow … and it’s whether you like your tree, that’s what counts!’
In other words, he’s utterly unique: it’s the Kevinness of Kevin that matters.

%0A

Is that something the robot can ever really take on, no matter how precise a picture he has amassed: will the master plan work or will Mum see through the whole charade right away? Err …
Philosophy for children this certainly is: I lost count of how many times it opens up space for reflection and discussion. It’s also totally empowering, funny, bound to induce self-reflection – who can resist creating some quirky Kevin-style self-portraits like these …

%0A

and the minimal colour palette and superbly detailed illustrations, both large and small, all build up to one thing when it comes to the latest Yoshitake and that one thing is, genius.

Use your local bookshop   localbookshops_NameImage-2