The titular pair, Aife and Stray, are quite content to spend their evenings at home chilling out in their comfortable loungewear. But when style icon Prunella Bonbon unexpectedly invites them to her party, it's time for a mad dash to the shops for Aife. What on earth is she going to wear?
They live in a town inhabited by some truly strange boutique owners, each with their own colourful preferences - and as you'll find as this bouncy rhyming story unfolds - each with their own particular "oddity".
This story works on several levels, as a great bouncy rhyme-along story for children first learning their colours. As a surreal tale of strange characters for older kids, and as a bit of awesome and original fun for children C's age, particularly if they're mildly obsessed with fashion and clothes, and looking cool.
So what does Aife finally wear to the party? You'll have to find out! Stevie's rhymes are mostly good (there were a few that made our teeth grate, to be honest!) and Emily's illustrations are fab and original. As we've come to expect from Troika, this isn't your average picture book, it's really fun, surreal and quite exquisite, just like Prunella Bonbon's wardrobe!
Sum this book up in a sentence: A surreal, weird and utterly awesome book that works on multiple levels as a great way of learning colours, but as a fun and entertaining rhyming story with a whole cast of amazing characters.
"Aife and Stray: Seven Style Secrets for a Perilous Party" by Stevie Westgarth and Emily Ford is out now, published by Troika (kindly supplied for review).