The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith, illustrations by Katz Cowley, review by Lynda Waterhouse

I first came across this story via a YouTube video of a Scottish gran, Janice Clark, reading the book amid gales of uncontrollable laughter to her slightly bemused baby grandson. Her uncontrollable delight in the language and humour of the story is so infectious that I found myself cackling along too. The warm tone of her Scottish brogue added magic to the story of a journey where we are walking the road and meeting with Wonky Donkey and discovering various aspects of his character in a riot of delightful cumulative wordplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbsZohEMn38

I am wary of so-called internet viral sensations but something about this clip was so authentic and enchanting that I found myself sharing it with friends and bought myself a copy of the book without any pretence that it was to share with children, teachers or to review. This video was not the product of an ‘influencer’ at work or a cynical ploy to create a buzz in the marketing of a celebrity author’s book. It was pleasing to note that The Wonky Donkey overtook ‘Fear: Trump in the White House’ on the Barnes and Noble bestseller list.

The Wonky Donkey is written by New Zealander Craig Smith and illustrated by Katz Cowley and it was first published in 2009 with a modest print run. Thanks to Janice’s rendition sales are going through the roof.

 In her dedication the illustrator, Katz Cowley says,

To my precious Mum, Dad and aunt Wren ... your love support and inspiration fuels my creative journey and makes all of me smile and sing. With big-fat gratitude for keeping me tuned to the magic and humour of life.

Sharing what delights you and makes you laugh is life enhancing and helps babies and children to tune into the magic and humour of life. It highlights the importance of sharing stories.

There is even a song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDeQT9zCvi4

I have a cherished memory of being a six-year-old and, along with the rest of the class, being delighted by our teacher’s rendition of A.A. Milne’s poem, Furry Bear, particularly the lines,

For I’d have fur boots and a brown fur wrap

And brown fur knickers and a big fur cap

We would all crack up with gales of laughter to hear our teacher say the rude word - knickers. I can still recall the delight on her face too as we begged her time and time again to read the poem to us. That Christmas I asked for a book of A.A. Milne’s poetry for Christmas so I could read the poem by myself.

Here’s hoping that this book with its humour, ‘rude’ bits and wordplay will inspire more people of all ages to read aloud to children, share the humour and magic of life, visit their public libraries and to foster a lifelong love of reading.

Heee Haww!

ISBN 978-1 407195-57-5

Scholastic  www.scholastic.co.uk

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MY STORY: POMPEII by Sue Reid. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

My fascination with Pompeii began at school, at about the age of seven. I have a vivid memory of a film show where we sat on benches in what I now realise was probably a converted air-raid shelter. I was near the front, and was hugely impressed by the sight of red molten lava moving relentlessly down the side of the volcano. The recent British Museum exhibition will have brought this ancient catastrophe to the attention of many more children, and Sue Reid's story - exciting, well-researched and written in a lively diary form - will appeal to anyone eager to know what it would have been like to be there.

This story recreates the last fourteen months of the doomed city through the experience of a young teenage girl, Claudia. Her father gives her a spare roll of papyrus, and Claudia decides to write a diary, starting with the day in August AD 78 when earth tremors shake the city and she encounters a slave boy, a Briton, who is to become a secret friend. Claudia's concerns are typical of a girl of her age: making and breaking friendships with other girls, playing with her brothers, looking after the family's dog and trying to avoid the household tasks that her mother says she must learn if she is to become a proper Roman wife with a house and slaves to manage. Throughout Claudia's story is woven that of Aengus, the British boy, and his search for his sister and for freedom.

Sue Reid portrays well the mix of people in Pompeii. Claudia's father is a freed slave, and this gives him and his family an instinctive sympathy for other slaves. Her mother is an Egyptian, a devotee of the goddess Isis, to whom Claudia dedicates her diary. The city of Pompeii is brought to vigorous life: noisy, smelly, crowded, cosmopolitan - its inhabitants so like ourselves and yet so different with their love of gladiatorial combat and their anxious propitiation of the gods, their sacrifices, curses and good luck charms.

The sense of impending doom makes this a compelling read. The reader fears for the characters and wonders what will happen to them all. Wisely, Sue Reid does not tie up too many ends, but the story finishes in a satisfying way.

At the back there is detailed information about the eruption, how the cities were overwhelmed, the archaeological work, and photographs - including a poignant photo of plaster casts of huddled bodies beside a wall.

Scholastic, p/b. First published 2008, this edition 2015.

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FOXCRAFT: The Taken, by Inbali Iserles; reviewed by Gillian Philip (plus giveaway!)

“It was always hardest for Fox.” Siffrin, emissary of the fox Elders, tells us so in this enchanting, gripping animal fantasy by Inbali Iserles, the first of a series. “To live free among the furless?” he goes on. “To hunt our prey without being seen? To elude our enemies as they circled us? It is Foxcraft that saved us.”  

Inbali Iserles (one of the Erin Hunter team who writes Survivors) has created a stunning animal world that ranges from the Snowlands to the Wildlands to the Greylands and beyond; it’s one that we see in all its beauty, grimness and terror through the eyes of young Isla, a not-quite-full-grown cub who is torn from her family as the story begins. Or rather, her family – Fa, Ma, Greatma and brother Pirie - is wrenched from her, in an act of terrible violence. By chance, Isla herself escapes, but she sees enough to know that the vicious attackers who destroy her world are foxes, too. The mystery is why they would do such a thing; and Iserles is skilful in giving Isla (and the reader) sinister glimpses of the answer. The hints at a dark-hearted Mage and a secret society of Elder foxes made me hungry to know more.

Of course Isla sets out to find her lost family; and her quest through the dirty, menacing streets of the Greylands – the ‘Great Snarl’, the city of the furless – is one that will call on all her courage, cunning and determination.

Luckily for a young and inexperienced fox, those are not all she has going for her. Siffrin is an enigmatic young stranger who claims to be a friend – but has he come to help her or betray her? Perhaps he simply doesn’t care, because Isla is no more than a means to an end… But what Siffrin does give the frightened youngster is a lesson in foxcraft: an ancient magic that feels profoundly real, and rooted deep in the natural world. If you’ve ever caught a glimpse of a fox, urban or rural, only to blink as it apparently vanishes in shadow, you’ll find foxcraft an all-too-believable kind of magic. 

Iserles has mined a rich vein of folklore to bring us foxes that can blend into thin air, that can mimic the calls of other creatures, that can even shapeshift. There may be other sons and daughters of Canista – dogs that are slaves to the furless humans, and savage wolves that howl and hunt in packs – but foxes are the most enigmatic: wise in foxlore, answering to no creature, standing alone, yet fiercely loyal to family.

The close fox’s-eye view of the narrative brings the reader right into Isla’s skin, feeling her joys as well as her fears. She’s an instantly engaging narrator, and her terror in the city is lightened by her flashbacks to a more innocent, happy cubhood. The supporting cast, from loving brother to vicious assassin, from empty-eyed hench-fox to a terrifyingly cynical and cold-eyed wolf, are drawn with the keen and perceptive eye of a true animal lover. The eponymous Taken – foxes who have had their will stolen by the mysterious Mage – are an enemy to chill the spine, but they can still prick your sympathy gland. Handsome Siffrin became an instant favourite of mine: he’s a combination of arrogance, charisma and clouded motivations who reminded me of Haku in the Hayao Miyazaki movie Spirited Away.

Clearly Inbali Iserles is absurdly talented, because the delightful drawings at each chapter head are her own. She has created haunting characters, a thoroughly exciting quest story and an enticing mystery. And she has combined those with descriptive writing that can raise the hairs on the back of your neck – whether you’re walking with Isla through the fresh wildness of parks, slinking down the city’s gritty, stinking alleys, or dashing with her, panicked, across its mangler-infested deathways.

“Dreams are the beginning,” Isla reminds us, as this part of the story ends. I am delighted that’s as far as they take us. I’m looking forward very much to whatever those dreams are going to bring us next. 

Thanks to the generosity of Scholastic, Awfully Big Reviews has three advance proof copies to give away! Just comment below, and three winners will be chosen at random. Results to be announced here on 1st September.

FOXCRAFT: The Taken by Inbali Iserles 

To be published by Scholastic on 1st October 2015; £5.99

www.gillianphilip.com

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