Jinks & O'Hare Funfair Repair by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre
Meet Emily. She's your typical young girl, except she's a little bit of a tomboy. Oh, and she's got a tail. Oh, and she was born from an egg that was left on a ride on the huge theme park that is Funfair Moon and when she hatched she grew up in the Lost Property Office with a sort of giant alien octopus as surrogate mother. But apart from that she's a typical young girl. She likes hanging round with the two weird creatures – one that's hairless and green, with eyes on stalks, and another that's like the plumpest Wookie – that maintain Funfair Moon. But today there's more than routine repair work to be done – but the way Emily throws herself into solving the drastic list of problems is typical of young, thoughtful, enterprising girls everywhere. But is it enough?
| Jinks & O'Hare Funfair Repair by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: I didn't think this the best book this partnership has created, but it's a dryly wacky sci-fi adventure, that anybody in the target age range would find perfectly readable and fun. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 224 | Date: September 2016 |
| Publisher: OUP Oxford | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9780192734587 | |
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I can't really go far with this review without mentioning the title of the book. Yes it scans and rhymes, and has bearing on the plot, but Emily is certainly the lead character, and is our way in to the bizarre collections of aliens and alien events that are in these pages. It seems strange to not honour her at all in the title, but base it on the two gents that don't always see eye to eye (on stalks or otherwise) about her joining in with their work. And work they have to do – here's a helter skelter that sends the rider from the bottom up – and out, over the whole park; there's a ghost train where something is scaring off the resident workers; and throughout is the most ill-timed, unexpected visit from a theme park inspector with a penchant for forms and bland coded terminology.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the young reader turning to this book saw through the flim-flam provided by inherently dramatic scenes set at diverse locations across the Moon, and worked the real plot out early. It's not exactly complex what's going on. I won't be the only adult reviewer to point out that the book isn't exactly funny – it has a couple of witty beats, but really reins in on the word play, punning, cleverness and so on, preferring to avoid the archness of so much writing for the under-twelve audience, and go for a matter-of-fact approach, that almost makes the thought of candy floss eating you for a change sound mundane.
But that said, I wouldn't be at all surprised either if kids re-read this book. It has the pell-mell action of the best roller-coaster. No, you never leave the tracks for one moment from an obvious point A to an obvious point B, but the ups and downs, the contrasts, the energy and action you are party to on the way, are all commendable. The way the text never mentions the tail Emily bears, but it's an early surprise from the artwork, is just one example of how these creators work together in providing a book that is all a piece for the target audience, perfectly marrying script and picture. A lot of thought goes into these novels, so even if this seems a surprisingly low-key time-passer, it has a vim that will still engage with the right reader.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
The first book this pair created together was the lovely Oliver and the Seawigs.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Jinks & O'Hare Funfair Repair by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre at Amazon.com.
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