Hungry Roscoe by David Plant (Flying Eye Books)

A cheeky but smart Racoon is the star of this hilarious picture book from Flying Eye. In "Hungry Roscoe" by talented fellah David Plant, Roscoe the Racoon is absolutely STARVING and the pickings in the park are exceedingly slim. Luckily Roscoe is a racoon with a big brain - his foolproof plan is to do something that animals usually do the exact opposite of! Break into the zoo, wait till feeding time, then gorge himself on all the tasty treats until his tummy is full.

Roscoe's plan seems like a good one at first, but a rampaging zookeeper doesn't like scavengers (no matter how cute they are), and Roscoe is sent on his way with a swift boot up the bottom!

Roscoe's plan B involves a sneaky disguise. Armed with an umbrella, a piece of orange peel and some plant pots, Roscoe assumes the form of a plodding tortoise - After all, those lumbering chaps always seem to get fresh fruit (literally) thrown at them!

Plan B pretty much goes the way of Plan A. By now, Roscoe's sore bottom calls for drastic measures so Plan C involves prettying himself up as a p-p-p-perfect penguin!

Does anyone want to guess what happens next?

Roscoe is tired, hungry and disillusioned but a group of cheeky monkeys offer him a deal. If he can filch the keys to the monkey cage from the Zookeeper, the monkeys will give Roscoe all their food!

DEAL!

This time the plan goes swimmingly - and if there's ever an example of karma being served, it's what happens to the Zookeeper while Roscoe happily stuffs his face and the cheeky monkeys let the rest of the zoo animals loose!

This is an awesome and entertaining story that captures the classic look and feel (and often frenetic excitement and complete chaos) of 60s and 70s "Golden Age" children's books from both the UK and US and we really really cannot give higher praise than that.

David is destined to become something of a children's book superstar, we think!

Charlotte's best bit: Roscoe's flawed but funny penguin costume (an ice cream cone as a beak! Genius!)

Daddy's Favourite bit: A fun and entertainingly original story with plenty of excitement and hilarity. Roscoe rocks!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Flying Eye Books)