We’re HUGE fans of reading, here in the Mum’s the Word house and although Sausage loves all of the usual classics, we also try to expose her to stuff which isn’t so mainstream. That’s why, when we were asked to review The Weasel Puffin Unicorn Baboon Pig Lobster Race
Luckily, my initial assessment was absolutely spot-on!
The story revolves around a race between the various animals in the title and the book actually had us all in stitches. We’re huge fans of the slightly surreal and it reminded us of the original Octonauts books (which were pretty different to the current line of books and merchandise) or some of the kids books written by Monty Python’s Terry Jones. One thing we’re pretty hot on in our house is finding stuff which isn’t patronising to kids – we’d rather explain words to Sausage than have her shielded from them, and The Weasel Puffin Unicorn Baboon Pig Lobster Race seemed to talk to kids in a totally non-condescending tone, which is something we love.
The illustrations are absolutely stunning in a modern art kind of way – the blocky colours and quirky characters really sparked Sausage’s imagination, as did the verse used to tell the story. She’s really into poetry at the moment, particularly books by Dr. Seuss, and this fits perfectly with the types of stories she loves.
This is one of those books which is requested to be read at least every other night, sometimes more, but I don’t even mind reading it so often as it’s just a delight. James Thorp and Angus Mackinnon have done an amazing job of creating a truly magical kids book which I can see becoming an abiding classic. I hope Sausage keeps her copy and reads it to her kids and grandkids in the future.
