Margaret Atwood(Bloomsbury)
Two children live way up in a tree and seem very happy there, until two beavers decide to help themselves to their ladder and use it as a snack.
So the children are stuck – what will they do for cups of tea and pancakes? Will they be stuck in their horrible tree for ever? Thankfully a new friend comes to their rescue and the children find a way to make sure they are not stuck again.
This is a lovely story about children’s freedom and imagination. The rhyming text is simple, but very funny, and the story rather peculiar in a quaint kind of way. This is very much in the same realms as Dr Seuss, and the illustrations undoubtedly support that.
This book was first written in 1978; due to restrictions in printing at the time, only 2 colours – red and blue (and brown, which is combination of the two) – were used to save money. The hand-lettering was also a money-saving exercise, but in fact gives the book a lovely old-fashioned, retro style.
It’s a great book to read-aloud, and although it certainly is not the most beautiful book you’ll ever see, I think it still has a lot of charm and should not be seen as one for the Atwood fans only.
Il est sorti chez Rue du monde il y a quelques semaines!