Book of bite-size advice good for weary parents

Nigel Latta – Battlefield Wisdom (Harper Collins)

‘‘A picture is worth a thousand words’’ the adage goes, and a couple of kids’ books released by Gecko Press recently rely totally on their images to tell their story.

The Fishing Trip by Beatrice Rodriguez one of wordless adventures she’s depicted about a fox and hen. With no food in the fridge, the chicken goes off fishing. A poaching seagull and hungry sea monster ensure an epic catch. Bursting with cheeky humour and a sweet sense of family, this is a real winner, and even toddlers should be able to follow the tale without much navigation. To top it off, the inking

is four and binding is gorgeous.

Pitched a little older is The Birthday Cake Mystery by Indonesian artist Tjong-King. Each double-page shows a park picnic scene from the same perspective while a multitude of animal characters go about their day, be it making lunch, painting a house or swatting flies. There’s plenty of detail to the mischief going on and young readers are encouraged to play detective and suss out whose birthday it is, who steals the necklace, and what those naughty monkeys are up to.

Also from Gecko is A Mammoth in the Fridge by French author Michael Escoffier and illustrator Matthieu Maudet. There’s a mammoth in the fridge, which causes quite a bit of angst for a family and the local fire department – but it turns out to be not such a surprise for one member of the family. The twist ending provides wry reward for older readers but it will be the twopage picture of a roaring fire engine that hooks the little ones.

For the over- eights is the dark, unusual The Great Orlando from Scholastic. Orlando’s mum has died, his father his horrible to him, so he seeks escape through a magic trick. There’s a touch of Lemony Snicket in both the characterisations and the bent writing style of Ben Brown. It’s certainly different, I’ll give it that, but it’s heavy going and the ending is flat and abrupt. I also can’t see many older children being attracted by the picture book style.

Matthew Dallas