View source for Mister Whistler by Margaret Mahy and Gavin Bishop

{{infobox2
|title=Mister Whistler
|author=Margaret Mahy and Gavin Bishop
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=For Sharing
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1877467912
|pages=32
|publisher=Gecko Press
|date=October 2012
|aznuk=187746791X
|aznus=187746791X
|cover=187746791X
|website=
|video=
|summary=A fun story, with grown-up looking artwork and a great, unexpected ending!
}}
Mister Whistler wakes up with his head full of singing and dancing.  A phone call comes from his Aunt asking him to come over and help but the song is still humming away in his head and his feet are twitching to dance.  Can he dress himself and get ready to go without the tune interrupting him too much?

This feels like quite a grown up picture book initially.  The illustrations have unusual, slightly muted autumnal colouring and the style is quite repetitive in that there are lots of pictures of Mister Whistler in various states of undress (nothing lewd, don't worry!), dancing to the tune in his head.  It doesn't have that instantly appealing 'pick me up' feel but  I rather liked the way the characters were drawn, and the watercolour-wash backgrounds.  I think perhaps it's wrong to expect all toddlers to only want to see bright primary colours and cartoon animals wearing human clothes.  You might not initially think it's worth picking up, but the story is fabulous and works its magic well with the illustrations.

So anyway, we know Mister Whistler has music in his head.  He does dress himself and gets off to the train station, but once there he panics as he has lost his train ticket.  Where on earth could it be?  After checking his coat pockets he takes that off and checks his jacket.  Nothing.  Perhaps it's in his waistcoat?  So he removes the jacket and checks the waistcoat.  Still nothing, so perhaps it's in his shirt?  Off comes the waistcoat!  Mister Whistler strips down to his underpants and vest, still unable to find the ticket.  What ''has'' he done with it?

My daughter loved the anticipation of what was happening.  As readers, we know, we can see, that Mr Whistler's ticket is right there, in his mouth the whole time!  We watch him take off each layer of clothes, wondering just when he's going to realise!  The slow build to his realisation works really well.  And whilst he's been dancing as he removed his clothes a crowd has gathered to watch him.  They all throw money into his hat having enjoyed the dance!  When he finally realises where his ticket is Mister Whistler then has to quickly get dressed again to be ready to visit his Aunt, so we see the clothes go back on in reverse order.  The humour is repeated when he's finally on the train and wonders where his ticket is again.  Is he going to undress again on the train?!  Fortunately he quickly realises it's back in his mouth.  But then something even funnier happens...!

The great story here, by the wonderful Margaret Mahy, carries the book along really well and the funny ending made us both laugh out loud.  A fun read for older toddlers and those just starting school.

For more dancing delights try [[Daddy Does the Cha Cha Cha by David Bedford and Bridget Strevens-Marzo]]

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[[Category:Margaret Mahy]]
[[Category:Gavin Bishop]]