Jim, Who Ran Away From His Nurse and Was Eaten By A Lion by Hilaire Belloc and Mini Grey
| Jim, Who Ran Away From His Nurse and Was Eaten By A Lion by Hilaire Belloc and Mini Grey | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
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| Summary: The perfect combination of Hilarie Belloc and Mini Grey create a stunning book that children and adults will love poring over. I couldn't speak any more highly of Jim. Highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 24 | Date: October 2009 |
| Publisher: Jonathan Cape | |
| ISBN: 978-0224083676 | |
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Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales For Children are rightly lauded as classics. Mini Grey (also rightly lauded), has illustrated one of these fine tales, so that a new generation of children can discover just what happens when you run away from your nurse and a lion eats you. Pay attention kids.
I flicked through Jim with a sense of child-like awe. I loved lifting the flaps, discovering the poem, seeing the lion pop up and poring over the map of the zoo. It's a beautifully constructed book, and it's completely flawless, utterly perfect, glorious, wonderful, magnificent, a total joy. (And after I'd finished hogging it for myself, I reluctantly shared it with someone in the intended age range, who concurred).
Hilaire Belloc and Roald Dahl remind me of one another: they know just how gruesome to be to have kids sitting there agape, wide-eyed and loving every minute of it, without ever stepping into nightmare territory. Their words twinkle, their ideas spark with children and adults alike, and there are lashings of black humour to keep you giggling. Every child should devour both authors like Ponto the lion devours Jim.
Mini Grey taps into this mindset perfectly, with her beautiful illustrations. The quality shines out on every page, blending the text and pictures seamlessly. The sight of Ponto looking bashfully over his shoulder as he sits by a dismembered leg is absolutely hilarious, and on the other side of the page, Jim's little head with Xs for eyes will strike a chord with every child who's ever pulled the head off a Lego man. It all sounds horribly violent, but in fact it's spot on, however sensitive or squeamish you and yours might be.
Jim is the sort of book that you'll treasure for years to come - it's up there with the likes of Little Beauty by Anthony Browne and I Really Want To Eat A Child by Sylviane Donnio and Dorothee de Monfreid for me. I just hope that Mini Grey illustrates more of Belloc's Cautionary Tales, as it's a winning combination. Please please please do more! Highly recommended.
My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag.
There's plenty of further reading to choose from in our Top Ten Quirky Kids' Books, all of which have the same sense of fun. If scary things with big teeth are what you're looking for in your picture books, then check out The Shark In The Dark by Peter Bently and Ben Cort and Choking Wolf (Urgency Emergency!) by Dosh Archer.
Jim, Who Ran Away From His Nurse and Was Eaten By A Lion by Hilaire Belloc and Mini Grey is in the Bookbag's Christmas Gift Recommendations 2009.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Jim, Who Ran Away From His Nurse and Was Eaten By A Lion by Hilaire Belloc and Mini Grey at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Jim, Who Ran Away From His Nurse and Was Eaten By A Lion by Hilaire Belloc and Mini Grey at Amazon.com.
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