Clown, by Quentin Blake

'Clown' is a picture book – that and only that, as it consists solely of pictures without text. It tells the story of a clown that is dumped in a dustbin along with other unwanted toys. Managing to escape, he is befriended by a little girl, but her mother is less than impressed when she takes him home. She throws him out of the window and he is chased by a dog. Things seem to be going from bad to worse when the dog's thug of an owner tosses him right up into the air. He is in luck, however, as he flies through the window of a poverty-stricken family. After helping the daughter with the chores, he takes her out with her baby brother in a pram to the dustbin where they retrieve the rest of the toys.

I first came to love the illustrations of Quentin Blake through the novels of Roald Dahl that my sons read when they were growing up. I have enjoyed some of his illustrated stories such as 'Mister Magnolia' and 'Mrs Armitage, Queen of the Road', but 'Clown' is the first book of his I have come across that is composed purely of illustrations. Blake has a sketchy, exaggerated style of drawing that may not be to everyone's cup of tea but usually conveys more than enough humour to make it appealing.

In 'Clown', the illustrations are all in full colour; sometimes they fill an entire page with a border, and sometimes they are smaller sketches showing a sequence of events across the page. Blake uses a wide variety of hues in his watercolours, yet they have a subtlety about them. There is, however, one gorgeous full-page picture where the clown, clutching flowers, follows the girl pushing the pram filled with toys and her baby brother. The sky is a shocking pink behind the grey silhouettes of tower blocks and a church spire. The baby, with a wide smile, leans forward in anticipation while the girl is turning back to make sure the clown is keeping up with her. Back home, Blake shows the toys all lined up on the bed; in the same room the table is laid and potatoes are being served in a pan. The iron bedstead, bare light bulb and peeling paint tell us this is a struggling family, yet mum is full of smiles and kisses when she comes home. It is a far cry from the home of the poor little rich girl who rescued the clown earlier; there the room was crammed with ornaments, mirrors and fancy furniture, but there was no appreciation of the clown. Neither did mum seem to care about her daughter's feelings.

'Clown' is a book that could be shared by an adult and a young child in much the same way as a picture book that includes text. If the child is very young, the adult could tell the story as they turn the pages, but a slightly older child could be encouraged to describe what is happening in the illustrations. This would be an excellent way of developing narrative skills, or even basic verbal expression. On the other hand, children that are not yet able to read could enjoy this book alone, following the story without feeling they are missing out on something because they cannot decipher a text.

My own experience of 'Clown' is with pre-school children, but I can see the book being used with children of primary-school age who could write their own text to accompany the pictures. I don't think they would find it too childish; in fact the humour would no doubt attract their interest. It could be an ideal resource for writing character descriptions and dialogue as well as narrative.

'Clown' won the International Bologna Ragazzi Award in 1996. It is not hard to see why. I would recommend it for children of three up to six or seven, older if is used as an inspiration for creative writing.

Clown

by Quentin Blake

Paperback, 32 pages

Red Fox, 1998

ISBN 9780099493617

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.02)

Mister Magnolia - Quentin Blake

Animals often seem to be the main focus of children's poetry, but Mister Magnolia by Quentin Blake is the story of a poor man who had only one boot:

'He has green parakeets

who pick holes in his suit -

And some very fat owls

who are learning to hoot -

But Mr Magnolia

has only one boot.'

Mister Magnolia may sound like a sorry character, but lacking a boot doesn't seem to stop him having fun. He dances while his two sisters play the flute, takes children for a ride on his scooter, and juggles with fruit at the market stall.

This is a light-hearted piece of narrative poetry that has a happy ending as a little girl presents Mister Magnolia with a parcel that contains another boot. It doesn't match the one he already has, but never mind, it's a boot, and Mister Magnolia is deliriously happy. It might seem like a strange story, but Quentin Blake is of course the genius behind the illustrations to Roald Dahl's books, and he has provided wonderful coloured drawings to his own story here. We are introduced to Mister Magnolia's purple dinosaur, and we see our hero splashing down a water chute and saluting to a parade of mice. There is plenty here to capture the imagination of young children.

There are never more than five lines of text per page, in fact often just one or two. The text is in a clear font that is always on a white background, so there are no problems in deciphering the words. This makes Mister Magnolia a book that could be suitable for young independent readers as well as one for reading aloud. There are one or two challenging words such as 'parakeets' and 'magnificent', but the use of rhyme often helps a reader along, as do illustrations.

The illustrations appear in colour on every page of the book, making it bright and appealing. Although the colours are vivid, they are certainly not lurid as in some contemporary picture books. Blake's use of watercolour gives them a delightful quality.

This is a book that will not take long to read to a child who has a short attention span. The drawings, however, are worth stopping to take a closer look at. In Mister Magnolia's pond, a frog and a newt are dancing together on a lily pad while a toad looks on; a mouse is tickling Mister Magnolia's bare foot with an ear of wheat as a snail creeps away. For any adult looking to make it a more educational experience, there are opportunities for counting or identifying different types of fruit.

Mister Magnolia is definitely worth borrowing from the library before you decide whether you want to buy a copy. As well as the full size book, there is a Mini Treasure version (also published by Red Fox) that measures 5.5 in. x 4 in. At £1.50, it will hardly break the bank. The book is likely to appeal to children aged from three up to perhaps six.

If only we were all so easily pleased as Mister Magnolia, with two odd boots...

Mister Magnolia

by Quentin Blake

Paperback, 32 pages

Red Fox; New Edition 1999

ISBN 0099400421

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.49)

Mrs Armitage Queen of the Road - Quentin Blake

I first became acquainted with Quentin Blake through his quirky illustrations for Roald Dahl's novels and books of verse when my children were growing up. Dahl's stories are often hilarious in themselves, but Blake always seemed to capture the essence of Dahl's characters in his drawings and add even more to the humour.

Quentin Blake has more recently illustrated stories he has written himself that are wonderful to read and enjoy. Most of them centre on a particular, sometimes eccentric, character. 'Mrs Armitage Queen of the Road', for example, is a bespectacled, grey-haired lady whom we first meet in striped pyjamas and a brown dressing-gown, sitting opposite her smiley dog at the breakfast table. Who would imagine that she later teams up with a Hell's-Angel-style group of motorcyclists who dress her up in a leather jacket and studded collar? This is the fantastical reality of Quentin Blake's world.

Mrs Armitage's outing begins when her Uncle Cosmo hands his old crock of a car to her as he now has a new motorcycle. She is not impressed with it but nevertheless sits Breakspear, her dog, in the back and sets off. Various mishaps occur that involve parts of the car falling off, but Mrs Armitage is not fazed; she throws them on the scrapheap each time and continues her journey, eventually arriving in the countryside. Things reach the point where the car has lost all its doors, as well as the bonnet and various smaller parts.

By coincidence she then encounters Uncle Cosmo and his friends coming the other way on their motorbikes. They are so impressed by Mrs Armitage's strange-looking 'machine' that they invite her to go with them to the Crazy Duck Cafe for billiards and banana fizz. This, then, is how Mrs Armitage becomes Queen of the Road.

The illustrations obviously count for a great deal in any book by Quentin Blake. We see poor Mrs Armitage with a succession of glum faces as she disposes of various car parts on the scrap heap, but the builders watching her throw the roof away seem pretty amused. She looks so much happier when she meets Uncle Cosmo and his gang, a motley crew of bearded, booted or in one case big-busted bikers. Breakspear looks delighted as he sits behind Mrs Armitage and they speed off down the country road, followed by the rest of the gang, all beaming amongst clouds of exhaust fumes.

There is a lot of fun with onomatopoiea in this book, with Blake inventing words such as beoing and kerrunch when the car comes to grief. There are generally about three or four lines of text per page in a large font on a white background, so reading is made easy. I have heard of this book appealing to children as young as three and as old as nine, by which age of course they should be able to read it themselves.

'Mrs Armitage Queen of the Road' is a wonderful read-aloud book, but may not appeal to children much younger than four-years-old. There are apparently at least two other books in Blake's series about Mrs Armitage, 'Mrs Armitage on Wheels' and 'Mrs Armitage and the Big Wave'. I shall definitely be looking out for these. Quentin Blake's books are a lot of fun to read, not least because his drawings add so much to the humour of the story.

Mrs Armitage Queen of the Road

by Quentin Blake

Paperback, 32 pages

Red Fox, 2004

ISBN 0099434245

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.49)

The Magic Finger - Roald Dahl

If I had to pick one single writer whose books a child should read, it would have to be Roald Dahl. I spent many fun-filled hours reading his books aloud to my children when they were very young, and they read them again for themselves as soon as they were able to. The perfect one to begin with, as it is not overly long, is 'The Magic Finger'. The heroine is a girl who can zap people with her finger with drastic results.

We are never actually told what the girl's name is, but that doesn't seem to matter. She discovers early on the special power that she has in one of her index fingers which comes into force when she gets particularly angry. She uses it at school one day, when her teacher, Mrs Winter, asks her to spell 'cat' and she spells it 'k-a-t'. Her teacher may have regretted calling her stupid and asking her to go and stand in the corner, as she grows whiskers and a tail after the girl turns the Magic Finger on her. The girl vows that she will never use her Magic Finger again after this episode, as Mrs Winter is never quite the same after her transformation.

It proves too difficult, however, for her to stand by her decision. Worse than Mrs Winter's is the fate of the Gregg family, who live in the farm adjoining that of the girl's family. There are two boys, Philip who is eight (the same age as the girl), and William who is eleven. The girl often goes to play with them, but she strongly disapproves of the fact that they go hunting with their father. At various times they are caught shooting deer and ducks by the girl. She is so incensed that she puts the Magic Finger on them, and this affects the whole family, even though Mrs Gregg was not out hunting. The ducks that Mr Gregg and his sons were aiming at turn round and fly towards them; they continue to circle around in a menacing way.

The following morning, the Greggs awake and find to their horror that they have dwindled in size and grown wings. William and Philip are delighted that they can fly, but they don't fancy the idea of eating worms of course. The Greggs have to spend the stormy night in a nest that they build themselves, as the ducks, who are now enormous, take over their house. The girl feels guilty when she realizes what has happened, as William and Philip are after all her friends. Only when the ducks threaten to shoot the Greggs do they have the chance to return to their normal human selves by promising never to shoot birds or deer again.

The Greggs are in fact transformed after this horrifying experience; they even change their name to Egg. Mr Egg destroys his guns, and William and Philip are seen feeding birds of all kinds. I will leave you to guess whether or not the girl ever uses her Magic Finger again.

This story is a wonderful blend of fantasy and the idea that people who are cruel might actually get their just desserts and change their ways. The thought of a little girl having power over those in authority or bigger and stronger than herself is a delightful one. Quentin Blake captures the essence of Dahl's characters in his line drawings and caricatures; children are always depicted with beaming smiles, other than when the girl tries to phone William and Philip and feels guilty when she is answered by a quack!

A child who enjoys 'The Magic Finger' will almost certainly delight in another of Dahl's novels, 'Matilda', once again centring on a girl with magic powers. These stories will keep children absorbed for hours on end. The font is quite small, but there are so many illustrations that reading the text will not seem like a chore to a young child who is an independent reader. 'The Magic Finger', not being too long a story, could also be suitable for reading aloud but perhaps not all at one sitting. I would definitely recommend this novel as an introduction to Roald Dahl, or as an extra one to read if you have already discovered his most famous stories through books or films.

The Magic Finger (Young Puffin Developing Reader)

by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake

Puffin Books, 2001

Paperback, 67 pages

ISBN 0141311290

Price £3.99 (discounted at Amazon)

I'm really ever so not well (Charlie and Lola)

Poor little Lola is tucked up in bed with a cold, but big brother Charlie brings her a tray of her favourite pink milk and some biscuits. Today, however, Lola says the milk tastes green and the biscuits are 'too prickly to swallow'. Charlie tries to cheer her up with flowers, but they simply make Lola sneeze. She can't join in a song with Charlie because her throat hurts, but she begs her brother to sing for her. Charlie is in a quandary because he has promised to play football with his friend Marv. He doesn't want to break his promise, but Lola tugs at his heartstrings so he tries 'If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.' Lola, however, doesn't clap because, as she says, 'I'm really ever so not well.'

Charlie takes Lola to the bathroom to see her cold germs in the mirror. She reckons there must be 54 billion, or even a trillion of them. Charlie gets a phone call from Marv and tells Lola that Mum will come and play with her as he is off to the football game. Once again, Lola pleads with Charlie to stay with her and do a jigsaw puzzle. The phone rings again – Marv is getting impatient.

There follows an imaginative episode where Charlie and Lola are cloud hopping to try to catch a butterfly that is missing from Lola's mobile. Marv, however, arrives at the door and puts an end to this. Charlie lets out a great big sneeze, and the next day he is in bed with a cold. Lola of course brings him pink milk and biscuits and revels in the idea that she will be there every minute for Charlie until he gets better. Poor Charlie is horrified, and the story ends as he shouts for Mum.

It took me a while to appreciate the originality of Lauren Child's illustrations; at first I felt they did not compare with the likes of those of Quentin Blake and John Burningham, but I have grown to love the pointy chins, tiny but expressive mouths and huge eyes. I have, however, always admired the bold and unusual colour combinations in Child's Charlie and Lola stories. The juxtaposition of orange with pink, lime green or bright blue may sound too garish, but Lauren Child knows how to make it work, even with a red floral quilt thrown into the mix. There is also a stunning double page spread of multi-coloured, alien-resembling germs on a black background: oranges, purples, greens, blues and pinks all vie for our attention. Almost as striking is the glass of pink milk with an exaggerated curly straw, again on a black background, with two little birds perching on it as Lola watches the milk rising up toward her lips.

The font used for the text of 'I'm really ever so not well' is quite large but not always the same size, even within one word. It is always superimposed on the illustrations, usually on a light background, but when the background is black the font is white. At times the text curls and swirls expressively around the page as though it is part of the illustration: it follows the curves of the drinking straw, or the flight of a bee. The only disadvantage here is that it might be a little confusing for a young independent reader. 'I'm really ever so not well' is probably more suited to reading aloud by an adult, but I can imagine a slightly older sibling who is a confident reader enjoying reading this to a brother or sister of three or four years of age. The vocabulary would prove challenging to a child that is just beginning to learn to read.

I have found that Lauren Child's Charlie and Lola books are always successful as read-aloud stories with a group of three- to four-year-olds. Most of the children will be familiar with the characters from the television series as well, but the delightful way that Lola speaks, the humour and situations presented all make the books great fun. 'I'm really ever so not well' is a story that every child can identify with, and older readers will chuckle at poor Charlie's predicament, confronted by a little sister who dotes on him and is in her element when she has the chance to look after him. This would be an ideal book to borrow from the library when a child is ill in bed, but you are likely to feel that it is worth buying a copy. I would definitely recommend it.

I'm really every so not well (Charlie and Lola)

Paperback

Puffin Books, 2008

ISBN 9780141500812

Price £5.99

Fantastic Mr Fox

Roald Dahl is the grand master of the children's story. First published in 1970, 'Fantastic Mr Fox' may not have the reknown of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', but it is a tale full of excitement and imagination. After almost forty years, it can still compete with the best of children's literature that is being published today.

Before we even meet Mr Fox, Roald Dahl introduces us to three obnoxious farmers who go by the names of Boggis, Bunce and Bean. Dahl really goes to town with his characterization here. Farmer Boggis keeps chickens and is a prime specimen of obesity because he eats three whole chickens along with dumplings for breakfast, lunch and supper every day. Farmer Bunce, on the other hand, has thousands of ducks and geese. He is a pot-bellied dwarf whose diet consists of doughnuts stuffed with goose liver paste. He seems to persist with this regime even though he has a stomach ache and a bad temper because of it. Lastly, there is Farmer Bean who keeps turkeys and has an apple orchard. No, he doesn't eat turkeys: he merely brews cider from his apples and drinks it by the gallon. He is extremely thin but very clever. These three farmers are so despicable that the local children chant a rhyme about their meanness when they see them. It is actually quite surprising that they manage to co-operate with each other, given their unpleasantness.

Co-operate they must, however, if they are to have any chance at all of outwitting Fantastic Mr Fox. Mr Fox has a wife and four little foxes to feed, and every evening he asks Mrs Fox whether she would like a chicken, a duck, a goose or a turkey. He then steals off to the appropriate farm and brings back the chosen bird. He is a wily creature who approaches the farm with the wind blowing towards him, so he will pick up the scent of a farmer lying in wait with a shotgun and quickly change direction.

Boggis, Bunce and Bean are furious and eventually decide they must hide outside Mr Fox's hole and shoot him as soon as he emerges. The story follows their frustrated attempts to do away with Mr Fox and his family, who always manage to dig further down and evade the farmers. The foxes are horrified when tractors are brought along to dig them out, but Mr Fox comes up with a plan to dig tunnels along to each of the farms and steal enough food and cider for a party. Help is enlisted from other animals, all of whom are invited to a great feast. Even the rabbits come along to enjoy great bunches of carrots.

Foxes are often portrayed as villains in children's stories, 'Chicken Licken' being a good example. In 'Fantastic Mr Fox', however, we find ourselves rooting for the family of foxes in the face of the drastic measures taken by the three loathsome farmers. The story moves along at a fast pace through chapters of about half a dozen pages each, and it's unlikely any child will have the chance to get bored.

Quentin Blake's wonderful illustrations contribute hugely to bringing the story alive. The animals are seen as life-size in comparison to the chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. Mr Fox sports a stylish jacket and neck tie while Badger wears a waistcoat. Snouts and eyes are exaggerated, and the animals more often than not have beaming, enthusiastic smiles. The farmers, on the other hand, are grumpy, miserable souls. The illustration of two tractors with their headlights beaming makes them look like two monsters with sets of fangs, ready to gobble up an creature that should get in their way.

'Fantastic Mr Fox' is intended as a read-aloud story for children aged three to seven, or as a read-alone book for those aged nine to twelve. Three might be a little young, especially to listen to the whole story at one sitting. A confident independent reader younger than nine might easily tackle the book, as the text is set in a large font, sentences are short, and of course there are delightful illustrations on almost every page.

This may not be Roald Dahl's most famous children's story, but it is certainly one worth introducing to a young child. They will delight in poking fun at the farmers and enjoy following the thread of the animals working together to outwit them. There is never a dull moment in 'Fantastic Mr Fox'.

Fantastic Mr Fox

by Roald Dahl

Paperback, 96 pages

Puffin, 2007

ISBN 0141322659

Price £4.99 Amazon £3.19

Dahl's Dirty Beasts

Some children may grow up thinking that poetry is an art form that is stodgy and boring, or has to revolve around lofty ideas. If that is the case, they cannot have been introduced to Roald Dahl's 'Dirty Beasts', a collection of nine verses each featuring a creature that is either particularly frightening, very clever or quite extraordinary in some way. The book is likely to delight anyone who has enjoyed Dahl's 'The BFG', 'George's Marvellous Medicine' or 'The Twits', amongst others.

'The Pig' opens this anthology: a pig with a massive brain, who wonders what the purpose of his life is. He is clever enough to work it out:

'“They want my bacon slice by slice

“To sell at a tremendous price!

“They want my tender juicy chops

“To put in all the butchers' shops!”'

You can probably guess what happens when Farmer Bland comes to feed him the following morning.

No less gruesome is the verse about 'The Crocodile'. Not the best choice for bedtime reading, as this beast smears boys with mustard before crunching them, and devours little girls with butterscotch and caramel:

'It's such a super marvellous treat

When boys are hot and girls are sweet.'

A single page is then accorded to 'The Lion', who doesn't beat about the bush when it comes to telling us his favourite food. We are then introduced to 'The Scorpion' and told to be thankful that we in England will never find one in our bed – or will we? 'There's something moving on my feet'...

'The Ant-Eater' looks quite cuddly in comparison but beware, looks are deceiving. 'The Porcupine' teaches us the all-important lesson of having a good look before we sit down anywhere. A poor little girl fails to do this before settling on a 'comfy-looking little mound' to eat her favourite raspberry-cream chocolates that she has just bought with her pocket-money:

'My backside seemed to catch on fire!

A hundred bits of red-hot bits of wire

A hundred prickles sticking in

And puncturing my precious skin!'

A very costly visit to the dentist ensues, as mum seems to think he is the best person to remove the prickles. He seems to take great delight in doing so, and well he might with fifty guineas to come as payment.

We might expect 'The Cow' to be a less threatening beast, although Miss Milky Daisy is no ordinary cow but one that grows a pair of gold and silver wings. The crowds come to see her dive, swoop and loop the loop, and all but one of the onlookers clap, cheer and behave well. Can you guess what punishment is inflicted on the 'horrid man' who insults Daisy? Now we know why this anthology is entitled 'Dirty Beasts'.

The final verse in the collection, 'The Tummy Beast', describes a young boy who is convinced that there is someone in his tummy:

' “It's true!” I cried. “I swear it, mummy!

There is a person in my tummy!

He talks to me at night in bed,

He's always asking to be fed.” '

The poor boy's mother doesn't believe a word of it. She thinks it's just a 'silly asinine excuse' to be greedy and eat sugar buns and biscuits all day long. To look at this specimen of childhood obesity, you might tend to agree with her. I'm afraid, however, that 'darling mother' nearly dies when she actually hears the beast in the tummy snort, grumble and then actually demand nuts, chocolates and sweets. It's all too much for her.

Quentin Blake's imaginative caricatures add even more to the feeling of fun in this book. He really goes to town on the creatures in 'Dirty Beasts', where The Ant-eater devours an eighty-three-year-old woman (mistaking 'aunt' for 'ant'), flinging her in the air by her pony-tail. In 'the Toad and the Snail' we see grinning Frenchmen brandishing knives as they chase a giant toad; this turns out to be a magic toad who turns first into a giant snail and then into the 'gorgeous, glamorous, absurd, enchanting Roly-poly bird', a beautiful shade of blue with a multi-coloured, stripy tail, on whose back a little boy rides.

The humour here will not, of course, be to everyone's taste, and some of the ideas will be frightening for very young children. Slightly older independent readers, however, who appreciate this kind of humour will have plenty of fun going through this collection and letting their imagination run wild. The illustrations will provide a delightful source of encouragement. The only drawback is that the poems are not split into stanzas, and in a few cases there are as many as thirty-six continuous lines to a page. This could prove a little confusing or off-putting to a young reader who is still gaining confidence.

To anyone who has enjoyed Roald Dahl's novels but has not yet experienced his poetry, I would definitely recommend this collection of verse. I would also suggest it for children who perhaps need encouragement to read poetry and who will not be frightened by the ideas here but will see the funny side to them. There is plenty of rhythm and rhyme, and plenty of entertainment to be had.

Dirty Beasts

by Roald Dahl

with illustrations by Quentin Blake

Picture Puffins 2001

Paperback, 32 pages

ISBN 0140568239

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.49)

Slobbages and wampfish roes, courtesy of Dahl

If I compare my sons' childhood with my own, I don't think there is much that I envy them, but one thing that I would pick out would be their access to Roald Dahl's books. Reading them aloud when they were very young, I think I got as much enjoyment from them as they did, but very soon they were devouring them by themselves. I was surprised to discover that 'James and the Giant Peach' was first published in 1961, as I was not aware of it until at least twenty years later. I thought we had gone through the whole range of Dahl's novels, poetry books and autobiographies, so I was pleasantly surprised to come across a collection of his 'Songs and Verse', which does contain some previously unpublished material.

Having recognised Quentin Blake's delightful style of drawing on the front cover, I was initially disappointed to find that he has not illustrated the whole book. I needn't have been, as there is a fantastic variety of styles from the twenty-six artists who have contributed, including Babette Cole and Gerald Scarfe. Blake has written the foreword and has provided drawings for the opening of each section.

The anthology is divided into seven sections, the first of which is 'There are things to see and do'. This opens with 'The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me', a familiar one to most Dahl fans. Then comes 'The Centipede's Song' from 'James and the Giant Peach', where Dahl lets his imagination run riot over the centipede's diet:

'I often eat boiled slobbages. They're grand when served beside

Minced doodlebugs and curried slugs. And have you ever tried

Mosquitoes' toes and wampfish roes

Most delicately fried?'

It might be quite surprising that the second section is entitled 'Best behaviour', as not many of Dahl's characters behave particularly well. Examples are the Queen in 'Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs' and Goldilocks in 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', both taken from 'Revolting Rhymes'. Then comes 'Concerning Augustus Gloop', whom we all know from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory': well, he isn't exactly a paragon of virtue. I love the double page from 'Concerning Mike Teavee' where Posy Simmonds' depictions of a purple dragon, an orange elephant, Mr Toad and Squirrel Nutkin amongst others are interspersed with each four lines of verse.

The section ends with a previously unpublished poem, 'The Shark':

'He lay there gnawing, nibbling, munching,

Chewing, burping, grinning, crunching,

Until the whole of little Jim

Was pretty much inside of him.'

Be careful, dear parent, this is a bedtime story that might lead to nightmares.....

Section three deals with 'Unlikely creatures' and begins with 'The Grobes' from 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator', shown descending into the 'quelchy quaggy sogmire'. 'The Ant-Eater' from 'Dirty Beasts' looks quite cuddly but beware, looks are deceiving. 'The Tummy Beast', also from 'Dirty Beasts', describes a young boy who is convinced that there is someone in his tummy:

' “It's true!” I cried. “I swear it, mummy!

There is a person in my tummy!

He talks to me at night in bed,

He's always asking to be fed,” '

After quite a few more creatures, we reach the fourth section, 'Poisonous possibilities'. You will probably guess that 'George's Marvellous Medicine' features here, along with Goldie Pinklesweet from 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator', who lives to regret experimenting with Granny's laxatives:

'We're sure you do not wish to hear

About the hospital and where

They did a lot of horrid things

With stomach pumps and rubber rings.'

There is a lesson to be learned in that one.

In part five, 'Look who's here', we meet the Grand High Witch from 'The Witches', decreeing a punishment for a witch who dared to answer back:

'An idiotic vitch like you

Must rrroast upon the barbecue!'

Other delightful females included here are Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker from 'James and the Giant Peach', the former trying to hide her fat tummy, the latter the pimple on her nose.

Part six entitled 'All together now' brings us songs from the Giraffe, the Pelican, and the Oompa-Loompas amongst others. There is a rather menacing start in 'Crocodile Rhymes' from 'The Enormous Crocodile':

'The sort of things that I 'm going to eat

Have fingers, toe-nails, arms and legs and feet!'

This is another one that might scare the youngest members of the family.

The seventh and final section is 'And a few surprises' and contains five previously unpublished pieces, two of which take us right back to Dahl's school days. He obviously developed a hatred of umpires whilst playing cricket:

'Out on the shining square there stands a man -

A mope-eyed sot, a gutless leprechaun,

White-coated, black at heart, Hell's sacristan!

I think all umpires should be shot at dawn!'

Equally hated was Mister Unsworth, who twisted boys' ears until they came right off and littered the floor.

I haven't mentioned every song or verse here, as there are forty-one in total, eleven of which have not been published before. The index lists the verses according to the novel or poetry book that they come from, ending with the unpublished pieces.

The illustrations are so diverse that it is difficult to decide which work best, and everyone will have a personal favourite. I love the Roly-Poly Bird in his jagged yellow tree by Emma Chichester Clark, and the craziness of Neal Layton's drawing for 'I'm Going Going Going'. Some will prefer the softer touch Alexis Deacon uses for 'The Nicest Creatures in the World' featuring James of Giant Peach fame. Then I'm attracted again by Emma Chichester Clark's double page spread for 'There's No Knowing What We Shall See' with its Pink-Spotted Scrunch and Biddy-Bright Hen. Babette Cole charms me in 'Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs' and Satoshi Kitamura brings a delightful oriental slant to the dentist's surgery in 'The Porcupine'. Gerald Scarfe's caricature of 'A Nobleman Visiting Coutts' is a masterpiece.

The poetry is zany, delightful, grotesque, fantastic in the true sense, and yes, sometimes a little scary. But there is nothing else quite like it – I don't think the world will ever have another Roald Dahl.

This is a beautiful book to read, to look at and to handle. The illustrations are all in colour, the font is a comfortable size, and the quality of the paper is excellent. It would make a wonderful present for any Roald Dahl lover who wants a book to treasure. I shall use it for reading practice with pupils having private tuition: they love the humour of Dahl, and this superior quality of book with delightful pictures should whet any child's appetite. We can occasionally offer something better than a paperback!

Songs and Verse by Roald Dahl

Published by Jonathan Cape, London

192 pages ISBN 0 224 07038 X

Price £14.99 Hardback (Amazon £9.89)

The cleverest baby

If a children's book has won a major award that is judged by children, that's a sure sign that its target audience will love it. Such is the case with Simon James's 'Baby Brains', the overall winner of the Red House Children's Book Award in 2004. Subtitled 'The smartest baby in the whole world', the book's front cover shows a baby in a space suit space-walking against a bright blue sky speckled with silver stars and yellow dots. He's smiling inside his huge space helmet, and we know that he is no ordinary baby.

Turning through to the frontispiece, little Baby Brains is lying on the floor in his nappy, sucking a dummy, but there is an open book in front of him and two more to one side. They don't look like picture books, either – there are plenty of pages and plenty of text. This baby can read.

The story starts when Mrs Brains is several months pregnant, and she and her husband are doing everything they can think of to ensure that their baby will be a clever one: they turn the volume up when the television news is on, and Mrs Brains plays music and languages to her baby through headphones as well as reading to him before she goes to sleep at night.

Mrs Brains gives birth to a boy which she and her husband call Baby Brains. On their first night home, Mrs Brains lays him in his cot and tells him to sleep tight – it seems he does, too, as she is not woken by him during the night. What a lucky mum. The next morning, however, Mrs Brains is in for a shock when she finds Baby Brains sitting on the sofa, reading the newspaper. That afternoon he helps his father mend the car, and then announces that he would like to attend school the following day. Having amazed the children there, Baby Brains goes on to study medicine at university. It's only two weeks until he is working as a doctor at a hospital. Not long after that, he is invited to take part in a space mission.

Will Baby Brains continue to go from strength to strength, or will he suddenly feel that he wants to be an ordinary baby doing normal baby things, like being tickled and going out in his pram? Will Mr and Mrs Brains feel that they went too far in their quest for a clever baby and long just to bath and cuddle Baby Brains?

This is obviously a story that will delight children and no doubt amuse the adults that read it to them. It's very imaginative and full of humour. Adults will probably have a good chuckle at the lengths to which prospective parents will go to try to produce brainy offspring. Children will love the idea of a baby mending a car or going up into space.

Simon James has filled his story with colourful illustrations, perhaps slightly reminiscent of the style of Quentin Blake. Sometimes they almost fill the page, whereas others are smaller and interspersed with short paragraphs of text.

All the text is set against a white background and is large enough for easy reading. There are never more than four or five sentences to a page, sometimes less, so very young listeners will not get bored and be anxious to turn the page. Because there is such a good balance of text and illustrations, this could be a suitable book for young independent readers who are gaining confidence. They will not be put off by long paragraphs but will be encouraged by visual clues. There are a few difficult words such as 'languages', 'photographers' or 'headphones', but on the whole a five- or six-year-old could get a great deal of enjoyment from tackling this story.

I borrowed the paperback edition from the library and found a page of stickers (intact) at the end of the book. There are nine in all, depicting Baby Brains undertaking various activities such as talking on the phone, sitting at a laptop, or space walking. Each has a slogan, ranging from “I want my Mummy' through 'I love school' to 'stupendous'. I suspect they help to sell the book.

I do definitely recommend this as both as an entertaining read-aloud book for children aged three to five, and as a story for young independent readers. Although I wouldn't choose it as my favourite picture book, I can see the attraction for children imagining a baby who can turn his hand to almost anything that takes his fancy.

The only other book by Simon James that I am familiar with is 'Leon and Bob', a Smarties Book Prize Silver Award Winner which I enjoyed immensely. Amongst his other titles is 'Days Like This', which was short-listed for the Kate Greenaway Medal. There is apparently a sequel to 'Baby Brains' entitled 'Baby Brains Superstar', so I must keep an eye out for that.

Baby Brains

by Simon James

Walker Books, 2005

Paperback, 32 pages

ISBN 1844285227

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.49)