Skimbleshanks: The Railyway Cat by T S Eliot and Arthur Robins
| Skimbleshanks: The Railyway Cat by T S Eliot and Arthur Robins | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Ng
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| Summary: I defy you not to read this aloud with the choo choo clickety-clack pace of a train! Super illustrations for a famous old poem. | |
| Buy? yes | Borrow? yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: November 2015 |
| Publisher: Faber & Faber | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9780571324835 | |
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I have to say, on opening this book I was tempted to break out into song! This is due to a lot of my teenage years spent listening to, and singing along with Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals (I know...I do apologise!) You'd think being an English graduate I'd take a T.S. Eliot poem more seriously, wouldn't you? But no, it's the musical of Cats that leapt instantly to my mind. Anyway, if an Eliot poem seems an unlikely source for a children's picture book, think again, because this is a lovely book, both funny to read and listen to, and with lots to see and discuss.
Once I got over my need to sing this poem I still found I was completely unable to read it aloud in anything other than a fast train rhythm. The way it's written lends itself to a wheels on the track, repetitive pace, so my only complaint was that sometimes I was reading too fast for us to enjoy all the pictures! (Never fear - we went back again to take a good look!) It's a brilliant way to introduce small children to the joys of poetry, the different patterns and sounds and rhythms you can create, and this is a very accessible poem about a rather superior sort of cat.
The artwork reminds me a little of Quentin Blake, since it has a sort of scrappy feel to it, and I mean that in the best possible way! The poem is a tale of a world gone by now, unrecognisable to today's toddlers, yet the pictures bring it alive in a way that is understandable, and Skimbleshanks, in his smart guard's uniform, mixes easily with the variety of animal and human characters through the book. The illustrations are full of lovely details. I like looking at what all the secondary characters are getting up to on each page. One of my favourites is the picture of Skimbleshanks checking in on third class, which is a carriage full of mice (including a whole family piled up in the luggage rack!), where he already seems to have his eye on a few dodgy looking mice! I also like where we get to see Skimbleshanks putting his feet up to have a cup of tea in his very cosy looking carriage!
You don't need to be a cat lover to enjoy dear old Skimbleshanks, and you don't even need to love poetry since this is so easy to read that you speed along through it, finding that you need to go straight back to the beginning to read it all over again!
Further reading suggestion: If this one appeals then you might also wish to take a look at another of the poems from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats that has been turned into a picture book: Macavity,the Mystery Cat whilst older readers should dive right in with the full collection of poetic cats!
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You can read more book reviews or buy Skimbleshanks: The Railyway Cat by T S Eliot and Arthur Robins 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 Skimbleshanks: The Railyway Cat by T S Eliot and Arthur Robins at Amazon.com.
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