What's Up Mumu?

What’s Up Mumu? is an incredibly funny and unique picture book from the wonderful David Mackintosh who previously bought us the excellent Standing In For Lincoln Green. I was lucky enough to be sent a proof from HarperCollins and with Mackintosh’s fabulous illustrations this stood out to me immediately.  

 

The story follows two friends, Mumu and Lox. Mumu is in a very bad and grumpy mood and is totally fed up. Best buddy Lox is trying to cheer Mumu up in any way that he can think of. He goes to an enormous amount of effort to try and make Mumu’s day a little better but all of his gestures seem annoy Mumu even further. Lox tries everything, from going to the lake to a trip to the countryside. Mumu has a constant excuse why she can’t enjoy Lox’s efforts. Eventually, Lox thinks he has the best idea and takes Mumu to the fantastic High Skyscraper! It’s eighty stories tall, twenty meters wide and has five thousand windows. It takes two years to paint and by the time you finish you have to start all over again! Lox takes Mumu to the top only to find that Mumu has no interest in the magnificent High Skyscraper. Lox ends up losing his temper with Mumu which then leads Mumu to try and cheer up Lox. Mumu ends up telling Lox to “Cheer up. It can’t be so bad, whatever it is”. The pair make up.

 

Mackintosh’s incredible illustrations make this book all the more a joy to read. In every page there is something to spot which makes the book all the more humorous. My personal favourite has to be all the cinema posters for horse films. Lox’s facial expressions are also hilarious.

 

I think what I like the most about this book is how it relates to adults almost in the exact same way it relates to children. I often feel that I have been in a mood like Mumu and no matter what my friends try and do to cheer me up I am set on being a grump for the whole day. Equally I also find myself trying to improve my friend’s days whenever they are feeling sad only to find myself getting annoyed when they have no interest in cheering up.

 

What’s Up Mumu? is a fantastic picture book for both parents and children as well as people like me that feel they just often have grumpy days and need to brighten up. This is a funny and open look at most friendships that are around us while showing us not to take our own relationships for granted.

 

 

 

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.

 

The Sea Tiger

The Sea Tiger is one of those picture books I could read again and again! The Sea Tiger takes us through the touching story of the Oscar, the young merman and The Sea Tiger. Together they go on exciting and dazzling adventures through the ocean. From exploring the deepest depths of the sea to going to an extraordinary circus, The Sea Tiger looks after Oscar and protects him from any danger that might be near. The Sea Tiger soon comes to realise, however that Oscar only has one friend – him. The Tiger decides that for Oscar to make some friends of his own he must make some new friends too.

The end of this book made me feel a little bit sad as I was really touched by Oscar’s relationship with The Sea Tiger and I wanted them to stay friends forever. However, on reflection I thought that this was a really good ending as it compares to friendships in real life. It was nice to see The Sea Tiger look after Oscar and in the end help him find some new friends so he can stand on his own two feet (or flippers for that matter).

For me, the best thing about this book has to be the illustrations. The Sea Tiger is full of some of the finest and most stunning artwork I have seen in a picture book for quite a long time. The colour scheme is wonderful and flows so well with the sea theme of the book. Every page of this remarkable book is filled with haunting and ethereal images that are so delicate and soft. This is a completely magical journey from start to finish.

 

 

The High Street

The High Street by Alice Melvin is a beautifully illustrated, fun and catchy tale about a little girl's visit to the shops and everything she has to remember to buy. The young girl has a rather long list of things to remember to buy and is only able to get these things from separate shops. On every page her rhyming shopping list becomes shorter and shorter until she only has a yellow rose left to buy. When she enters the last shop to buy her yellow rose, they have sold out! The young girl sadly leaves the shop to take the long walk home when she stumbles upon a garden packed full of yellow roses.

The layout of this book is brilliant. I love that every page has a flap that you can lift so you can see into all of the various shops on the high street. The rhyming shopping list is also a fantastic aspect of the book as you find yourself joining in with all the things the little girl needs to buy. Melvin’s illustrations are also completely stunning, simple and very pretty. This quirky little picture book is fabulous and fun from the very start.   

King Bidgood's In The Bathtub

 

For my first blog post I feel it would only be right to start it with a truly wonderful book. King Bidgood's in the Bathtub has for me all the great makings of a fantastic picture book. Enjoying his bath time a little too much King Bidgood decides that he will not get out and will conduct all of his duties from the bath. A stream of his court visits him one by one to try and coax him out of the bath, only to be dragged in. When the court feel they have exhausted all efforts to get the King out of the bathtub the young page comes along and pulls the plug out for them.
 

The thing I love most about this book however, is the marvellous illustrations by Don Wood. His artwork is completely unique and beautiful. Every page is brimming with colour and imagination. King Bidgood’s banquet in the tub with his wife is truly stunning.

I discovered this book whilst working at Waterstones and fell in love with it. It was always one of my favourites to recommend to customers who had a lot of the main stream titles at home and wanted something different. Before I could buy a copy of this brilliant book for myself it went out of print! To say I was disappointed is an understatement. Recently on a visit to New York’s finest bookshop; Books of Wonder, I found a hardback pristine edition of King Bidgood. It now sits pride of place upon my bookshelf.  If you have not discovered this one of a kind, royally fun picture book I urge you to go online and buy yourself a copy while they are still out there!