Oh the cackles of glee, oh the hoots of laughter. Oh the sheer deliciousness of the return of Dave Pigeon and his hapless sidekick Skipper in a tale that pays a nod to something I was PROPERLY obsessed with as a kid. More about that later though...
So "Dave Pigeon: Royal Coo" by Swapna Haddow and Sheena Dempsey dropped onto our doormat with nary a royal fanfare (we do keep asking our postie to bugle his arrival but so far all we get is a disgruntled "Hmmph!")
This time Dave and Skipper are taking in the sights, sounds and..er..smells of London.
Dave comes up with the idea of visiting Buckingham Palace just in case the queen has thrown out a few truffle offcuts or caviar vol-au-vents but while pecking around the gates of the royal residence they meet Prince Raju Pigeon, one of the Queen's personal birds from the Royal Lofts.
Raju isn't quite what Dave and Skipper expected, in fact Raju craves an ordinary life outside Buck House. The sort of life Dave and Skipper lead, in fact - and a plan is born. Dave and Raju swap places in a superb nod to "The Prince and the Pauper". Needless to say, Dave is no shy retiring wallflower about his new royal status, and it soon goes to his head. What will happen when Raju fetches up to resume his post as royal pigeon fave? Clue: It might involve flossing and biscuits!
Speaking of The Prince and the Pauper, does anyone remember the 1970s TV series? Can you remember who played the Prince? Here's a clue from the book adaptation that went with the series. Recognise that handsome plonker?
(Hahhahahaha! Brill!)
Once again Swapna and Sheena have taken Dave and Skipper on a superbly funny adventure that is full of giggles, but also a rather nicely subtle tongue-in-cheek dig or two at 'posh folk' and being fairly happy with your lot in life. We love these books a lot, and really hope that there'll be a few more!
Sum this book up in a sentence: A superb 'pigeon out of water' tale with some ace class jokes and crazy mishaps, possibly our favourite "Dave" book yet!
"Dave Pigeon: Royal Coo" by Swapna Haddow and Sheena Dempsey is out now, published by Faber and Faber (kindly supplied for review)