Emma Perry (text) & Rikin Parekh (art)
(David Fickling Books)
Alfonso the Alpaca loves nothing more than relaxing with a good book. And many a books he has! But all he can see in those books is bears. Bears, bears and more bears! Where are the Alpacas? Alfonso thinks Alpacas also deserve to be heroes too, but what can he do to convince others? Well, he is going to write a story about them. And there is no one better to help him than his friend Colin who happens to be … a Bear!
Alfonso’s story is hilarious, kooky and great fun to read, but it also carries a gentle, covert message about the importance of seeing oneself in books and for every one to have the space and opportunity to tell their story. The use of two animals, one a constant presence in picture books and one seldom seen is a clever analogy for the lack of representation in picture books. The story remains light-hearted and perfectly pitched, and this is supported by the artwork. Rikin Parekh’s style is colourful, brimful of energy and his use of panels, frames, speech bubbles, labelling all come together brilliantly to create a really dynamic support to the funny narrative.
The panel sequence describing the writing and publishing process is particularly brilliant, I love it:
A brilliant read!
Make sure you check out the rest of the blog tour:
This Book Has Alcapas and Bears is out now and can be purchased from your local bookshop or online from our partner bookshop Storytellers Inc.:
Source: review copy kindly provided by publisher
