Children's Books
THERE is nothing to match the joyful exuberance of children's author-cum-artist Quentin Blake. Cockatoos (Red Fox $51) is a daft counting book in which eccentric Professor Dupont hunts through his house for 10 rebellious birds. Youngsters will enjoy finding them for him amid Blake's delightful watercolours depicting rooms ranging from bathroom to cellar.
Michael Foreman is another familiar name from the shelves of picture books. But he has a greater mission - to inform small children, albeit with a great deal of humour, that they belong to a species that has much to feel guilty about.
Trick a Tracker (Gollancz $68) is one of his latest offerings, this one about what happened when humans started to be beastly to animals. The animals learn to cover up their tracks, eventually by taking to wheels which in turn inspired people to build trucks and other vehicles.
The animals have the last laugh as the humans go too fast to enjoy the world and bother them. His moral tone is irritatingly unsubtle. Nor can one say human's life on wheels means we leave animals untouched.
But the pictures in his soft watercolour style are a hit. The sight of lions, elephants and other animals rushing down the Pyramids on skateboards should elicit roars of laughter.
Foreman has illustrated another picture book that seems to address itself as much to the parent reading it as the child. Fun by Jan Mark (Gollancz $68), is an unkind book about a little boy whose parents have all sorts of plans as to how to make his life''fun''.
But it is mother who takes most pleasure from the swings, rocking horse and finger paints while he wants to quietly observe the small joys of life, such as a spider spinning its web. Foreman's illustrations range from the gentle, when the boy is on his own, to viciously funny depictions of foolish adults.
Return to playful innocence with A Fox Got My Socks by Hilda Offen (Red Fox $43). This action rhyme is delightful with its cues to flap arms, touch head and dance as the child loses clothes to a colourful array of animals.
