Changes

This is a book which knows exactly how to appeal to children, not just the story but the actual book itself. The way it is laid out makes it intriguing and exciting, with maps and illustrations tied in with the text to create a world which seems impossible not to want to explore. This is for kids, and as an adult reading I suddenly felt like a ten year old under my duvet with a torch reading a book when I should have been sleeping. The entire opening of the book is completely captivating and compelling, not only the opening chapter which sets the scene, but also the introduction of the characters (my favourite being Wagner the great Bavarian mountain owl, of course) and the way it slips the back story in before continuing deeper into the story itself.

It isn’t very often that you read a book and know whole-heartedly that you are reading something which will be around in ten or twenty years time. I know that when my son is older, he will read and love this book and, no doubt, all the rest of Walliams’ work too. I haven’t read any of his other books yet, but I cannot wait to now, and I’m pretty sure that you will too if you already haven’t.