"The Five Misfits" by Beatrice Alemagna (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)

"Different is cool" is an oft-used and effective message to weave into a children's story...
In "The Five Misfits" by Beatrice Alemagna, you couldn't wish to meet five more different characters if you tried.

There's a poor guy with four whopping great holes in his tummy (which makes drinking a glass of water slightly difficult). A poor lady who is folded up like a letter to be sent.

A strange worm-like fellow who can barely stay awake for more than 5 minutes at a time.

An upside-down lady who sees the world from a very odd angle.

And finally a big blobby creature who seems to be wrong in every respect of what we'd call 'normal' but seems to have a happy outlook on life, and can organise the most fantastic parties.

The five have an odd life, living together in a wonky tumbledown house but they're happy with their lot - until one day a perfect being enters and tries to make them see just how odd they all are.

Of course, the handsome fellow doesn't realise that different is great, and the misfits are surprisingly happy with their lot. So happy in fact that he fails miserably to convince them that they just won't do, won't fit in and shouldn't even exist.

This strong message is delivered in Beatrice's trademark mix of the sublime and the surreal. We were a bit taken aback when the story seemed to end really abruptly (almost like there was an extra spread missing at the end) and it doesn't feel quite as polished and rounded off as Beatrice's other work, but the message is still a positive one and I guarantee that your tinies will find a favourite 'misfit' they identify with the most.

"The 5 Misfits" by Beatrice Alemagna is out on 7th June 2018, published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books (Kindly supplied for review).