The Man Who Wore All His Clothes
Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Katharine McEwen
Walker Books

The Gaskitts are a pretty normal family. Mr Gaskitt gets up in the morning, dons three pairs of socks, three vests, three pairs of pants, three shirts and two pairs of trousers and four jumpers plus a tie. After breakfast he adds four coats, After that, this very bulky person heads outside, squeezes into his car and as the snow starts falling, off he goes.

At school Gus and Gloria’s usual teacher has had a fall and is replaced by a rather out of practice curmudgeonly supply teacher who has it in for the siblings.

By this time, Mrs Gaskitt, who drives a taxi, has picked up a suspicious-looking character who left the bank in a hurry carrying a large bag. And so it goes on with all manner of craziness until eventually the robber is apprehended, in no small way thanks to Mr G. who eventually drives off to be Santa in a department store. Oh and I forgot to mention Horace, the Gaskitt’s cat who’s fond of comfy chairs from where to watch movies and cat food ads.

All this unfolds in eleven short chapters after which there are a further three action-packed stories about the family to laugh over: The Woman Who Won Things, The Cat Who Got Carried Away and The Children Who Smelled A Rat.

Perfect for new solo readers and equally great for reading aloud but adult readers aloud, make sure you let listeners see Katharine McEwen’s liberal scattering of black and white illustrations that add even more humour.