EDGAR AND THE SAUSAGE INSPECTOR, by Jan Fearnley. Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

Jan Fearnley's latest picture book for Nosy Crow is a hoot. Edgar and his sister Edith live at the end of an alley. Edgar loves Edith very much and one day sets off to buy her favourite treat. Sausages!

Sadly, coming out of the butcher's, Edith is waylaid by a food inspector, a rat, who pronounces the sausages tainted and makes off with them, presumably for further inspection in a lab. The same unhappy meeting keeps repeating itself on further shopping sprees and it soon becomes apparent that the inspector is not all he claims to be. This pushes the otherwise peace loving Edgar over the edge, with fatal consequences for...but no spoilers here.

Fearnley's story is a delicious tale of sweet revenge.  Told in a fast, edgy style with gorgeous retro illustrations that remind me of the ever-popular Madeline books. It's one that I'm sure will prove popular with many readers. The ending would also be great to engender discussions about the nature of revenge and 'getting your own back.' A treat in more ways that one.  Let's hope there are more adventures of Edgar and Edith on the way. They are an adorable pair.


Saviour Pirotta's latest picture book, The Unicorn Prince, is illustrated by Jane Ray and out now. Follow Saviour on twitter @spirotta.

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TWO BEAUTIFUL BOOKS BY JACKIE MORRIS. Reviewed by Adèle Geras

 I am going to review two books written and illustrated by an artist (and writer) who's very well-known but who somehow, in spite of her talents and productivity, seems to me to be not as much appreciated as she ought to be.

Jackie Morris is on Twitter, where she frequently posts lovely 'work in progress' which delights her many followers and I do urge any of my readers who tweets to follow her. She lives in Wales with many animals and it's perhaps as an artist who both loves and properly sees animals that she's at her best. The first book I'm going to talk about is called I AM CAT and it's not much bigger than an iPhone. While watching her ginger cat, Pixie, sleeping ("curled in warm places, ammonite-tight") Morris was inspired to think of what her pet might be dreaming about. The answer is: other cats. Every kind of feline appears in the unscrolling dreams: cheetah, puma, snow leopard and many others.

Morris paints each creature in delicate colours that sing to us from the page. Even though the scale of the book is small, she manages to convey the grandeur and beauty of every single cat she describes. And she accompanies each spread with her own words which are both simple and poetic. Here is an example, describing the tiger: "s...bright, flame cat of the forest, striped like the shadows, sun-scorched." I can't think of a better way to spend a fiver.  Frances Lincoln have published it most beautifully. This is a gem of a book.

The second book is SONG OF THE GOLDEN HARE, also published by the admirable Frances Lincoln. It's a much grander production, and it tells a mysterious, entrancing story of a boy and his sister. They come from a family who protect the Golden Hare, because there  are others who would hunt and kill it. The story unfolds with all the mystery and suspense you could wish for. The children find the Golden Hare and in the end, the creature is safe for who knows how long on a special magical island, to which it has been carried by an army of obliging seals. It's a lovely tale and again, told in Morris's poetic style, but the art is the real glory of this book. The Golden Hare itself is a wonderful creation, but greyhounds and people and birds and butterflies, not to mention the detailed landscapes, fill every corner of every spread. The colours are glorious and you can spend hours just admiring them and marvelling at the skill of the artist and wishing you could frame certain images and put them up on a wall.  As it is, you'll have to be content with turning the pages, preferably with someone young on your lap, listening as you read aloud the story of the mysterious Golden Hare and the lucky children who are called to care for it.

I AM CAT
Written and illustrated by Jackie Morris
pub Frances Lincoln hbk £4.99
ISBN: 9781847805072

SONG OF THE GOLDEN HARE
Written and illustrated by Jackie Morris
pub. Frances Lincoln hbk £12.99
ISBN: 9781847804501



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PUSS JEKYLL, CAT HYDE by Joyce Dunbar and Jill Barton. Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

Title:  Puss Jekyll, Cat Hyde
Written by Joyce Dunbar
Illustrated by Jill Barton
Published by Frances Lincoln
Publication date: 3rd October 2013
ISBN-10: 1847804926
ISBN-13: 978-1847804921

When asked why he'd settled on T.S. Elliot's 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats' as the source material for his new musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber famously answered something akin to, 'I read somewhere that 90% of people love cats, which gives the musical a big chance of becoming a hit.'

He was right, of course.  Cats have always figured prominently in art, from the funerary moggies carved by the Ancient Egyptians to the arrogant, wise-cracking Siamese twins in Disney's The Lady and the Tramp, Dr Seuss's Cat in the Hat and Lewis Carroll's grinning Cheshire feline.

No wonder, then, that cats feature largely in picture books too.   They are instantly recognisable, even to very young children.  We are all familiar with the cat's character, mores and foibles, which makes it the perfect protagonist for stories that can be understood and appreciated by readers all over the world.

Joyce Dunbar's Puss Jeykll and Cat Hyde is an exciting addition to the feline canon. Here is a book that explores the dual nature of the cat - the playful ball of fur we love to cuddle up to on the sofa and the amoral hunter that stalks vulnerable creatures by the light of the moon.

The rhythmic text, a beautifully written free-flow poem, takes us through a day and night in a cat's life.  We see the cat enjoying the housebound pursuits of a loving pet, interspersed with the exploits of a jungle wild-beast.   Dunbar uses quite challenging language, always a plus-point in my opinion.

Jill Barton's luminous coloured pencil and water colour drawings stick to a restricted palette, of mostly blues, beiges and blacks.  They compliment the text perfectly, making this a must-have book that will be enjoyed time and time again.

Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

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