Showing posts with label Professor Puffendorf's Secret Potions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Professor Puffendorf's Secret Potions. Show all posts
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Professor Puffendorf's Secret Potions (revisited)
We originally reviewed "Professor Puffendorf's Secret Potions" back in October last year. Like a lot of our local library's books, Charlotte often picks the same books out of the stacks again and again, and this book is no exception.
Since the original review, Charlotte has become less obsessed with "the doctor lady" and more obsessed with her furry sidekick Chip, a guinea pig (Charlotte loves guinea pigs more than baby rabbits now, and she also finds Chip's name quite amusing. "Is it because he eats a lot of chips?")
The story of the Professor's lazy and rather nasty assistant Enzo, his attempts to steal the Professor's magical potions, and of course the method by which Enzo gets his come-uppance is an excellent tale - competing easily with the other Korky Paul Illustrated books featuring a certain Witch called Winnie (in fact I'm still a bit sad that Winnie didn't crop up in this one, particularly as she had a couple of neat little cameos in Sanjay the Baker).
Still, Professor Puffendorf is excellent (even though she spends the majority of the book absent) and it would be great if Tzannes / Paul could do at least one more book featuring her antics (and Chip's, of course!)
Charlotte's best bit - Counting to 5 as each potion weaves its magic on the poor hapless Chip
Daddy's favourite bit - Yeah you've guessed it, still in love with Korky Paul's scratchy art style
Rating - 4 out of 5
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Professor Puffendorf's Secret Potions
Written by Robin Tzannes
Illustrated by Korky Paul
Amazon Link: £4.49
Published by Oxford University Press
Charlotte has always wondered who the mysterious "Doctor Lady" was when she previously had cameo appearances in most of the Winnie Witch books. The answer is the marvellous amazing Professor Puffendorf, a mad scientist with as many crazy inventions as Winnie Witch's spells.
This is the first time we've seen any of the Prof Puffendorf books at the library so we had a look and I think we'll be on the lookout for more in the series as it's excellent stuff. In this cautionary tale of what happens if you're a nasty dishonest hired help, the Professor's cleaner steals several amazing secret potions, testing them out on Professor Puffendorf's hapless hamster before attempting to make off with them. Naturally the thief gets his comeuppance at the end of the book with hilarious consequences. As a massive fan of Korky Paul's artwork there's his trademark of scratchy pen work with absolute tons of detail on show in this story.
We can't wait to read more. Thoroughly recommended if you're fed up with Winnie and her misfiring spells.
Charlotte's best bit: Professor Puffendorf's hamster singing.
Daddy's favourite bit: Trying to decipher those bizarre cyrillic messages Korky Paul leaves throughout his work.
Rating: 4 out of 5
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