Wouldn't it be remarkable if someone caught—in his hat, no less—a baby who had fallen out of a second-story window and then he ended up marrying that same baby many years later? Read full book review >
In this distant cousin to Harold and the Purple Crayon, a pencil draws a smiling boy (previously met in Ahlberg and Ingman's Runaway Dinner, 2006) and names him "Banjo." Read full book review >
Along the same lines as David LaRochelle and Richard Egielski's The End (February 2007), but using more predictable elements, Ahlberg and Ingman present a set of linked tales in rewind mode. Read full book review >
Just as a boy named Banjo is about to eat dinner, his sausage, Melvin, jumps up and runs off, accompanied by the dish, fork, knife, carrots (all girls named Caroline, Clara, etc.), peas (all boys named Peter, Percival and Paul) and so on. Read full book review >
Madcap, zany adventures follow the Gaskitt family in these 16 chapters of fun. Read full book review >
Leaving dad to paint the kitchen, a child trails her mom, little Harry and Wilf the Wonderdog out to the grocery store in this enticing invitation to take the long way 'round. Read full book review >
Do not be deceived by the diminutive trim size and aloofly posed but pettable-looking feline on the cover: there's nothing warm or fuzzy about this eerie tale of a family enslaved by an adopted stray. Read full book review >
A wild custody battle over a pig becomes the raison d'être for Ahlberg père's latest deconstruction of the picture book. Read full book review >
Bert, our hero of the simple pleasures and deadpan circumstances (The Adventures of Bert, 2001), returns. Read full book review >
The Gaskitt family has an exciting morning in this tilt-a-whirl tale from the ever-innovative Ahlberg (The Adventures of Bert, p. 798, etc.). Mr. Gaskitt rises in the morning, dons three sets of socks and underwear, three shirts, two pairs of pants, four sweaters, and four coats. Read full book review >
Top-drawer, absurd entertainment from two English masters of the droll. Read full book review >
Fans of the resourceful Gaskitt family, introduced in The Man Who Wore All His Clothes (2001), will welcome this new, multi-stranded caper. Read full book review >
Ahlberg and Tyler (Snail House, 2001) celebrate the playful games that deepen family ties; each morning brings a succession of treasure hunts, as Tilly's mother hides her breakfast banana in the kitchen, her father hides her sock rabbit in the garage—and where has the cat gone off? Read full book review >
Even after his death, Tom is there for his little sister and brother in this poignant ghost story. Read full book review >
This homespun tale, heard at Grandma's knee, will transport readers just as it does her young listeners. Read full book review >
A haphazard collection of poems, musings, noodlings, and heavily revised fairy tales from Ahlberg (The Better Brown Stories, 1996, etc.). The poems, in general, are better than the stories: ``Getting Up for School'' and ``The Vampire and the Hound'' have built-in kid appeal, while others—``Father and Child,'' about a dad observing his son mailing a letter on a snowy night—are good but with an adult perspective. Read full book review >
Made on an assembly line, the bear fails inspection and lands in the reject bin—a calamity that, ironically, is more difficult for him to endure since it's a result of his supercilious expression: a mouth stitch gone awry and a misplaced eye affect his character as much as they do his visage. Read full book review >
The characters in these stories—two more in the Funnybones series—are mostly skeletons, which would give them high interest even without Ahlberg's inventive wit. Read full book review >
