Orchard Books ISBN 97-1408346143 £6.99
Fans of the Charlie and Lola picture book series will be thrilled to read another episode in their lives. Charlie’s narration always begins, ‘I have this little sister Lola. She is small and very funny’. There follows much sibling dialogue, in this case on Lola’s current obsession: dogs. They talk about what dog they would like, they pretend to be dogs, Lola has an imaginary dog and yet Mum and Dad have made it quite clear there will be no dog and that they will visit the pet shop at the weekend to choose a rabbit. Undaunted, Lola continues to plan her ideal dog – its name, its ears, tail, fur, bark and so on until the day comes. Remarkably, she does return with a sniffing, fluffy tailed, wiggly-nosed, hopping creature with nice ears which she calls Snowpuff. As always Child’s genius is in creating the voice of the child. Lola is imaginative, comical yet earnest, but often with a five-year-old’s literalness which is so endearing: ‘My dog must not catch fleas’, says Lola. He must catch sticks.’ Friends Marv and Lotta appear, but the pace and impetus of the storyline is not at all interrupted. The focus remains on the dog discussion. Children will enjoy sharing their own thoughts on dogs and pets as well as pondering if Lola was carefully engineering a shift in her thoughts towards a rabbit all along, or whether she remains oblivious right to the end. Child’s trademark bright, bold illustrations and changes in font and print direction make this a story to interact with and savour in Early Years classrooms. Ge range: 3 to 7.
Sue Barrett, retired teacher and lecturer