GRRRRR!

Rob Biddulph I was lucky enough to be sent a proof copy of GRRRRR! By Rob Biddulph. After the success of Blown Away I was very excited to get my paws on this!

GRRRRR! is about a grizzly bear called Fred. Every year Fred wins the Best Bear In The Wood Contest. To win this contest you must be a brilliant fish-catcher, a fine Hula-hooper, very scary to all humans and most importantly of all, you must have the loudest GRRRRR! All Fred does day in and day out is practice of the contest. He doesn’t need friends in his life as long as he has his trophies.

Then the day before the contest, a new bear shows up. He has a rather fantastic moustache and jumper combo. His name is Boris and he is acting rather fishy. At night he sneaks into Fred’s house. When Fred wakes in the morning, to his horror his GRRRRR has gone. Fred goes in search of his prized GRRRRR along with many other helpful animals in the woods. It seems that no one can find what happened to it!

 

 

 

Fred must now face the Best Bear in the Woods Contest without his famous GRRRRR. Fred and Boris go head to head in every competition coming out tied in all of them. When it finally comes to who has the loudest GRRRRR Boris’ roar goes off the Growl-o-meter! Fred steps up to take his turn, when he opens his mouth all of his woodland companions GRRRRR for him. The noise they make is so loud it makes Boris jump. And what should fall out from under Boris’ snazzy jumper? Why it’s Fred’s GRRRRR! Boris is told off for cheating and he admits that all he really wants are some friends of his own. Fred sees a lot of himself reflected in Boris and decides that he is not a bad bear. Boris and Fred share a hug and become friends.

 

 

GRRRRR! is laugh out loud funny with lots of fun characters and interesting things to spot on every page. Biddulph’s illustrations are vibrant, cheerful and exciting making reading this picture book all the more fun. I really liked that this story highlighted the importance of friendship and how having friends by your side can be more important than being the best at something.

Being a longlist reader for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2015 which Rob deservedly won was so much fun and I really loved Blown Away. However, it seems that for me GRRRRR! is a favourite.

 

Nuts in Space

 

The minute I saw Nuts in Space I became very excited. I was a huge fan of Dolan’s first picture book, “Weasels”. On reading Nuts in Space I was not disappointed. It is a very similar layout to Weasels with every page packed full of fun and interesting things to spot.

 

 

Nuts in Space is a parody of Star Wars, I have not seen the films and I still found this book hilarious. The tale begins with a Star Wars style introduction with an overview of the story telling us about the fantastical “Lost Nuts of Legend” which will render the eater immortal, invincible and it will never be past their bedtime. However, the nuts must never be eaten. The hapless crew have the nuts and are returning to Earth, only they are very hungry and there is no food on board their space ship.

The crew soon find that their usually reliable star-nav has broken down. Immediately the crew go into meltdown at the thought of not being home for tea and having the forbidden food on board. They then travel from location to location trying to find directions on how to get back home. Along the way they come across a rowdy diner that has also run out of food, a small moon full of aliens that are all allergic to nuts, the Forest Planet that is home to some rather sinister and cute bears and lastly (and my favourite) the ominous Death Banana. The Death Banana is where the evil (storm trooper) monkeys live with their leader the Monkey Overlord. When the crew are attacked the Wise Owl spots a sign for home and the gang manage to make a speedy getaway.

 

Once back on board the ship the crew make a terrible discovery. Beaver could not contain his hunger anymore and has eaten The Lost Nuts of Legend! Captain Moose is left with no choice but to turn his ship around and head once more back into space in search for more nuts, much to the crew’s dismay.

 

 

 

This picture book was an absolute delight to read. I absolutely loved going through each page and finding the funny little jokes and hidden puns. I really liked that this book appeals to adults as much as children. As with Weasels this will go with my vast collection of picture books and will come out when I’m in need of a good giggle.