Mr Penguin and the Lost Treasure, by Alex T. Smith: reviewed by Sue Purkiss

I went into our local bookshop (Waterstones) the other day in search of books for my grandson, who is six, and enthusiastically learning to read by himself. He's at that crossover stage, where he still enjoys picture books, but is starting to need more text - while still needing the stimulation of interesting pictures.

The first three or four shelves had books from reading schemes. Many of them looked great - but I have no idea what books his school has (he lives in Brussels) so was wary of choosing any of these. Then there were lots and lots of little paperbacks, often series, which, to be honest, all looked quite similar. There were cute animals, witches, lots of pirates, little superheroes, and naughty little boys. Many of them are probably excellent stories, and who knows? They might have fitted the bill perfectly.

But somehow I felt I wanted something a little bit different. And then I spotted this one. Published by Hodder, it stood out because it's larger than the standard paperback size, because it's hard backed and satisfyingly chunky, and because of the limited, but striking, colour range of its illustrations, which are also by Alex T. Smith and are orange, black and white, with on the cover the addition of several shades of green. Before the story itself begins, there is the front page of a newspaper, The Cityville Times, with various entertaining stories and Mr Penguin's advertisement. Have a good look at this. (That was a clue.)

It's a detective story with (faint) echoes of Raymond Chandler. Mr Penguin is, indeed, a penguin. (One who can't swim and doesn't like the cold.) He has set up as a Professional Adventurer, and all he needs is for the phone to ring 'and for there to be a jolly exciting Adventure on the other end'. If this doesn't happen, he will quickly run out of money (why are private investigators always extremely short of cash?) and be obliged to pack his battered suitcase and hop on the first boat 'back to the Frozen South'.

Fortunately, the phone does ring. It's Boudicca Bones, the owner of the Museum of Extraordinary Objects. She tells him that she, too, is short of cash - but she happens to know that somewhere in the museum, an ancestor hid a stash of treasure, and she needs his help to find it. So, with his sidekick Colin - a bowler hatted spider with very little conversation but a nice line in karate kicks - off he goes, and a  riotous adventure ensues with a jolly good twist at the end.

It's funny and fast-moving and beautifully produced -  and I think my grandson will love it. Will report back!


Sue Purkiss's latest book is Jack Fortune and the Search for the Hidden Valley, which is about plant hunting in the Himalayas and also has an orange and green cover, as you can see. 



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Sleuth On Skates by Clementine Beauvais, illustrated by Sarah Horne, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

This is an absolute treat of a book! 

Even before you read a word of text, the physical book is a pleasure.  It has a cover that feels velvety soft, and glints in places.  That cover has tucked-in ends as if it was a wrap-around.  Inside are full-colour decorated end-papers.  It is bright and enticing, with quotes from real child readers rather than the usual suspect rent-a-quote other authors.  The text is printed in a particularly pleasing font, and it is all lavishly illustrated with funny Sarah Horne pictures.  The whole book looks and feels fresh and special … which is just right because what you find inside that cover IS fresh and special.

I read quite a lot of ‘funny’ children’s books, and can often get right through such books without a single outward chuckle, and hardly a mouth twitch towards a smile, even when I can appreciate that funny things are being portrayed.  This book genuinely had me laughing out loud, and annoying my family by reading bits out to them when they were trying to concentrate on other things.  The result is a queue of family members now wanting to get their hands on the book. 

 What’s so funny?  Genuine clever wit and observation is what’s so funny. 

Sophie Margaret Catriona Seade (better known as Sesame) suffers from having a professor Master of Christ’s College Cambridge for her mother, and the college chaplain for her father.  Those parents might be clever, but so too is our Sesame.  She tells her own tale of daring sleuthing discovery of dastardly deeds in her own, inimitable, fresh and observant voice.  She says things such as –

‘I try not to get too attached to them (students) because, like rabbits, they only last three or four years and then they’re gone.’

‘…I had to flatten myself like a plaice against the wall…’

‘On the banks of the river, the grass grew thick and tangled, and croaked ‘ribbit ribbit’ when the glistening ripples of water reached it.’

The story revolves around a mysteriously missing student who should have been performing in Swan Lake.  “What part?” asks Sesame’s friend.

“The Lead.  I don’t know the story, so I’m assuming it’s either the swan or the lake.”

When Sesame, who hates anything tutu-related, has to sit through the whole balletic performance, she takes her seat and... 'quickly went into power-saving mode…’

I mustn’t go on quoting bits that particularly tickled me, or struck me as true, because we could be here all day.  What I want to convey is quite what an excitingly fresh storytelling voice Clementine Beauvais has.   This is a cracking good story too, full of excitements and surprises, and very nearly believable. 

As somebody who grew-up with a professor father based at Jesus College in Cambridge, and a mother who had been a college secretary, and who now lives in the village where the missing girl in the story is found, I particularly enjoyed the Cambridgeness of the book, even if the geography is played with a bit.  I hope that Clementine Beauvais gets free blueberry cheesecake in Auntie’s Tea Shop from now on!  And I am quite sure that her ‘Maman cherie’ to whom the book is dedicated is, rightly, extremely proud. 

Hats off to Clementine, to Sarah Horne, and to Hodder for producing an exceptional book for children …. and I see that a second book in the series is coming out in October.  This book has my vote to be winner of the next Roald Dahl Funny Prize.

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