The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Review
‘Never grow up, always down’
In time for half term, our pick of new children’s books – from Roald Dahl to a pooch in the palace
In an age of statue-toppling and author-cancelling, it is remarkable that Roald Dahl, 30 years after his death, remains relatively unscathed. The controversy is there, to put it mildly: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s OompaLoompas were originally depicted as small black pygmies, we find; last year, the official Roald Dahl website posted an apology for his extraordinarily anti-Semitic comments, such as: “Even a stinker like Hitler didn’t pick on [the Jews] for no reason.”
Yet commercially Dahl is the gift that keeps on giving, with a huge spin-off industry in everything from duvet covers to glove puppets. Now his estate are releasing a new picture book – Never Grow Up (Puffin, £12.99) – to refocus attention on “his philosophy”: that the best adults “never grow up, always down”. “Are you a child who’s ‘good as gold’?/ Do you do everything you’re told?/ For if you are then I’m afraid…/ A terrible mistake’s been made!” So begins this anarchic tale, which cleverly captures Dahl’s magic and mayhem, with exuberant illustrations by Quentin Blake.
For the child worried about keeping up playground appearances, How to Be Cooler than Cool by Sean Taylor (£12.99, Walker) is a reminder that the coolest thing is to be yourself. “I’m not just any old cat at the playground… I’m a real cool cat who can glide backwards down the slide,” boasts Cat – who soon comes a cropper. For those wisftful for the seaside, Noah’s Seal by Layn Marlow (OUP, 11.99), does not fail to enchant. “At the edge of the wild wide sea lies a sandy beach, where Noah sits and waits,” begins this gently suspenseful story about a little boy who makes an imaginary seal out of sand.
SIX PLUS
A Sliver of Moon and a Shard of Truth by Chitra Soundar (Walker, £6.99) is a lyrical collection of stories from Indian folklore. Simply and warmly told, the narrative follows Prince Veera and his friend as they find themselves thrown into mishap at a summer festival.
And Alex T Smith’s joyous Claude series celebrates its 10th anniversary with a new adventure, Claude at the Palace (Hodder, £8.99). This time, the snappily dressed pooch bounds into “a terrible fancy building with a flag fluttering above it”, and becomes the unwitting hero of a royal birthday party.
NINE PLUS
The Three Impossibles (Pushkin, £7.99) is another enchanting fantasy by Susie Bower, author of School for Nobodies. This time, the heroine is Mim, who longs to escape from the dismal castle where her family lives under a mysterious curse. “There’s a strange, ominous silence, as if the castle’s waiting for something to happen.
On Curse Day, that something isn’t likely to be good.” More mysteries await in The Secret Detectives (Nosy Crow, £7.99), an uproarious historical thriller by Ella Risbridger. With a contrary, orphaned heroine, a distant uncle, and a body thrown from a cruise ship in the middle of the night, this reads as if Agatha Christie had stumbled into The Secret Garden.
Children of the Quicksands by Efua Traore (Chicken House, £7.99) is the beautifully evoked story of a girl sent to stay with her grandmother in a remote Nigerian village. When Simi suspects her grandmother is hiding family secrets, she sets out across the forbidden quicksands to discover the truth. (“Just when she thought it was over and she was going to die, the quicksands spat her out… She was not in the jungle of Ajao any more. This was a different place.”)
When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle (Andersen, £7.99) is set during the Second World War, and tells the adventures of a lonely boy who finds solace through his relationship with a silverback gorilla in a rundown city zoo. This is an uplifting story, which should whet appetites for wartime classics such as
Carrie’s War and Goodnight Mister Tom. A Glasshouse of Stars (Usborne, £7.99) by Shirley Marr uses the second person to tell the story of a Chinese girl whose family relocates to Australia. “You have arrived for a better life at the New House in the New Land,” begins this heartfelt novel, based on Marr’s own memories of arriving in Australia as a child.
NON-FICTION No budding ornithologist should be without Watching the Swallows (Walker, £8.99), an eclectic anthology of bird poems, illustrated by Harry Tennant. “Alone and warming his five wits/ The white owl in the belfry sits,” observed Tennyson – whose poem “The Owl” sits between verses from Dorothy Wordsworth and the 17th-century haiku master Matsuo Bashō.
And don’t leave home without My Big Book of Outdoors (£16, Walker) by Tim Hopgood, a beautifully illustrated treasury of nature celebrating everything from migrating birds to daisy chains. With a mixture of poetry, facts and things to do, this is the ideal companion for a British summer holiday – wet or dry.