Yesterday I walked into Hatchards at St Pancras Station,
walked over to the picture book section and began browsing. I kept returning to
this book. The title intrigued me and the clear white spaces on the cover drew
me in as did the beguiling child friendly feel of the illustrations.
Then I read the story and I couldn't put it down and have
been reading it ever since. It begins with the words; ‘Underneath the cherry tree in our garden there is a little hole. We
found it one day when I bounced my ball and it didn't bounce back.’
A child loses their ball down a hole and begins to wonder
what is down there. The simplest of
story lines and yet so much happens. Everyone has an opinion about what is down
the hole. Mum thinks it might be a doorway into a mouse’s house, someone else
thinks it could be a troll down there or is it a dragon’s den. Grandma and
Grandpa are more realistic in their opinions. They think it might be a mole or
a badger. The important thing is that everyone has different ideas about it
even the dog.
The mystery of The Something is
never solved and the child simply enjoys quietly watching, waiting and
imagining what lies beneath.
The text has a lovely lyrical
rhythm that is a delight to read aloud. It is full of gentle touches. You are
not sure if the child is a boy or a girl – they are just a child. One of the
child’s friends is in a wheelchair. The weather and the tree are constantly
changing. Each illustration shows what might have happened to the ball down the
hole.
This is a story about looking, thinking and asking
questions. It is about being happy with not knowing all the answers but keeping
watch anyway in the hope that something surprising will appear.
Published by Macmillan
ISBN 978-1-4472-7181-9
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