Good prevails but not without plenty of knockabout humour and some digs at the educational priorities of today's cash-strapped schools
Good prevails, but not without plenty of knockabout humour and some digs at the educational priorities of today's cash-strapped schools.That Pam Ayres has a way with words and a clear-eyed but benevolent view of the world will come as no surprise. The Nubbler (Orion, pounds 9.99) has a gentle directness that takes it beyond the run of the mill "how to cope with your parents' divorce" story. Racked with misery by his parents' constant warring, Rufus is an only child who feels horribly alone until he is taken up by the Nubbler, a magical helpmeet who tunes into distressed children and sees them through what the cards in WH Smith call "this difficult time".Puff the Magic Dragon crossed with Lassie, the Nubbler is always there to offer a comforting but tough paw in a crisis. He also gives Rufus a tactical "shove in the right direction" when moral choices have to be made, and opens up visions of what could be. Cynics will find the story impossibly optimistic, and it is probable that the lightly sketched hint that Rufus's mother will end up with his understanding new form teacher is indeed one tidy ending too many. But why not? Optimism, hope for a better future, is exactly what children deserve.Geraldine Kaye's The Dragon Upstairs (Scolastic, pounds 4.99) is a richly-imagined but simply-written story, excellent for beginner readers.
It, too, sports a bedroom miracle, this time an egg which little Anna, a Chinese girl new to England, finds in a freezer in the attic of the takeaway restaurant that her parents take over. It hatches out into what could just be a chingtosaurus: a tiny dragon-like creature that should have become extinct millions of years ago.Little Ching is Anna's secret, but becomes a challenge to care for. Coping with her makes Anna learn English words and ways, and also helps her gain street cred at school, but Ching is in danger of becoming a national sensation unless Anna can give her freedom.Superficially light-hearted but ultimately thought-provoking, Martin Waddell's diary novel The Life and Loves of Zoe T. Curley (Walker, pounds 8.99) walks a risky tightrope between Adrian Mole and Judy Blume and emerges triumphant. The key to its success is not only the creation of Zoe, a teenager plagued by puppy-fat and braces and roller-coasting between love and loathing of boys, but also its skilful, very funny depiction of the changing dynamics of family life as children grow up and need both mental and physical space of their own.. The final straw came when I received The Pizza Pals from Reader's Digest Children's Books.
"A fun-filled box of pre-school books, each shaped as pizza, and each featuring a colourful Pizza Pal character .. get a pizza the action," trumpeted the press release. What did they expect? That I would tear open the brightly chequered pizza box with shouts of glee, pausing only to note the cunning puns emanating from Pepperoni Pete and Tommy Tomato ("We deliver a real treat"; "We're just what you ordered!") and cry "What a wonderful idea - how is it that no one has thought of this before?" What I actually did was decide that after 14 years of involvement in children's books, I had had enough. lt is time to stem the tide of books, often unsolicited, flowing into my house; time to put a stop to studying books that look like pizzas or lunchboxes or trains; books in baskets, that squeak, or turn into houses; books that suffer from multiple personality disorder (the original, followed by the book of the film, game, activity, quiz and board books). No more Popposites, Flip-Flap Books or Fingerwiggle Board Books.Children's publishing has become increasingly frenzied, the scramble for new ideas ever more desperate.