Sockflea
Laura Dockrill and Eva Byrne
Walker Books

The story’s young (five year old) elephant narrator is super excited: “We are going camping. I’ve never been before. I. CAN’T. WAIT. Marshmallows on sticks. Singing by the campfire! And sleeping under the stars!”

The little elephant’s parent suggests taking a teddybear along but the exuberant little pachyderm insists that no comfort toy is necessary; no Mr Conkie, Gladys the hedgehog, Sugarpie and most definitely not Bad Debbie. So off they go into the wilds.
To begin with all goes well and everything is a great adventure including making new friends.

“I’m like a happy bubble, playful and free” says our narrator. But then comes the night – the dark, dark night; moreover the sleeping bag is sludgy and sweaty, the ground hard beneath one’s back there are scratchy noises and eventually we hear, “WHY DIDN”T YOU MAKE ME BRING MY TEDDIES?”

Fortunately the grown-up is, despite being a tad annoyed, a resourceful carer that just happens to have brought along what looks very like a pair of socks. At first the offering is rejected as “just your normal bobbly, sticky socks!” However scepticism gives way to the unlikely charm of the teddies substitute,

all is well and the camping trip ends up a tremendous success.

I love the ending with a repositioning of the socks and the photo snapshot finale.
Delightfully droll humour from Laura Dockrill’s telling and equally delightful, playful scenes of the drama that unfolds though Eva Byrne’s art make for a book that one envisages becoming a firm favourite with both young children (however brave) and their grown-ups.