  Waterstones |
Bjarne Reuter ill Kirsten Raagaard |
Wacky Bee |
9780995697287 |
April 2018 |
paperback |
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| What a delight this book is! It mixes a childlike wonder with generous sprinklings of adult irony that avoid breaking the spell. Elise is missing her mother, a busy architect who is far away in another country busy with a large project. Her father, a musician, is kindly but busy with busking and performing at weddings. Desperate for company, Elise yearns for a dog. Dad resists. But not for long. Part of the book’s charm, greatly enhanced by the illustrations, is that it is told mainly through dialogue: Elise with her father; Elise with the dog; Elise with her aunt; Elise with Miss Martini, a Chinese neighbour who “folded the most beautiful roses made of the finest silk paper while listening to old Jim Reeves records.” Elise names her dog Prince Valiant, but he maintains he already has a name – McAduddi – and that he hails from Tobermory in Scotland. It turns out that he has a penchant for singing sea shanties about Highland Park malt whisky. The book will be a strong contender for ACHUKA’s Book fo the Month slot, when it is published in April. |
The Rabbit And The Shadow
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Melanie Rutten tr. Sarah Ardizzone |
Book Island |
9780994109804 |
October 2014 |
hardback |
Finished |
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| Let us hope that this is just the first of Melanie Rutten’s books to be translated into English, because I want to be able to appreciate absolutely everything she creates. This book – broadly about growing in confidence and becoming independent, but about much else along the way – has that surreal, quirky individuality which I thrill at discovering in a picture book. The book’s cast – a rabbit, a stag, a soldier, a cat, a book and a shadow – are each given their own ‘chapters’ as the story unfolds whilst Rutten’s watercolour illustrations complement the narrative seamlessly. She uses lots of smaller illustrations as well as pagespreads and the book has been sumptuously designed and printed on thick paper by the New Zealand publisher, Book Island. One to make a point of asking to look at whenever you are in a bookshop – and if the shop isn’t stocking it you should tell them that they absolutely must!
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The Rest Is Silence
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Carla Guelfenbein |
Portobello Books |
1846272319 |
May 2011 |
Kindle |
Finished |
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A claustrophobically, atmospheric and bleak novel that identifies each section’s voice by means of a symbol. I was deeply intrigued at the start of the novel, particularly by the voice of Tommy, a boy with a weak heart, but as the book develops the reader becomes more involved with the character of Tommy’s heart-surgeon father and with Alma, the woman now married to him, Tommy’s mother having committed suicide at some point in the past. The book floundered somewhat in its middle section, and I struggled to stay with it. I’m not sure the downbeat conclusion repaid the effort.
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