Wednesday, 22 September 2010
The Incredible Book Eating Boy
Written and Illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
Amazon Link: £3.89
Published by HarperCollins Children's Books
Oliver Jeffers is definitely one of my favourite children's book authors and illustrators. He's got a slightly cartoonish and surreal eye for detail and this story tells a slightly darkly tinged tale of what happens when you develop a taste for doing more than just reading books. Red books taste better than green or yellow ones, did you know?
The Incredible Book Eating Boy is a superb book though judging by some of the colour plates, a fair amount of book abuse happened behind the scenes, and not just with the ones that Henry eats. Find (if you can) several pictures in the book that were lovingly painted across the pages and covers of old trashed books themselves.
The moral of the tale is that books are better enjoyed as intended and if you take to eating them instead of reading them, you could end up finding out what the irish term "Boke" means.
Charlotte's best bit: "Cat done a poo, Daddy!"
Daddy's favourite bit: A superb painting splayed across the cover of an old encyclopaedia.
Rating: 5 out of 5
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