'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Review: Babbit


Meet Babbit. He lives with Big One and Little One. Little One is supposed to look after Babbit but she doesn’t really do a great job. Take today – when Babbit is snatched, in broad daylight, from a picnic by Witchy One.

That’s right. Stolen! Along with Snappy One, Growly One and Snorty one, who are always playing tricks. Meanies!

And do Big One and Little One come looking for Babbit? Of course not! Babbit is tried to a tree and has to listen to the meanies discussing how they’re going to divvy him up (!) but then… could it be? Yes! It’s Big One and Little One, come to rescue him from a fate worse than ripped stitching. But can they outrun the meanies and make it back to safety – to the house of the Biggest One of All?

Told in the first person, I adore the childlike voice Monks uses as she writes. Babbit is an adorable character and the reader truly feels like they’re running alongside these delightful kids as they play act and dramatise and succumb to the shenanigans of childhood.

Fanciful, quirky illustrations are sheer delight, making this a unique and totally covetable book that sits at the very top of the everyday book pile and smacks of exceptional. Love it.

Title: Babbit
Author/Illustrator: Lydia Monks
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont, $16.95
Publication Date: 1 September 2011
ISBN: 9781405254236
Format: Soft cover
For ages: 6 – 10
Type: Picture Book