Super Dooper Jezebel by Tony Ross
| Super Dooper Jezebel by Tony Ross | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
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| Summary: A super dooper book! A smarmy goody-two shoes gets her comeuppance in a perfectly paced and brilliantly funny picture book. Highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: May 2010 |
| Publisher: Andersen Press | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1849390163 | |
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Jezebel is a good girl - so good, in fact, that everyone calls her Super Dooper Jezebel. She's neat and tidy, does her chores, is perfectly behaved, and is an inspiration to all. The Prime Minister sent her a special medal for being so good, and Jezebel gets her own TV show to show others how to behave. She won't even run, because it's against the rules. Sometimes, just sometimes, rules are meant to be broken...
Oh what a super dooper book! Jezebel starts off as a little bit of a goody two-shoes, but page by page her perfection becomes more smarmy. She does something that's a bit too good, and you're not sure where the story is going. She says something creepy-crawly like vests make much better presents than video games, you laugh, but are not sure where the story's going. She does something else, and something else, all the time cranking up her smugness, and then comes the clump. Perfect denouement. Absolutely perfect. I shan't tell you what it is (and using the word denouement in a review of a picture book should be a crime, but I'm doing it anyway). The first time you read Super Dooper Jezebel, it'll take you by surprise and you'll roar with laughter. With every subsequent reading, you'll be just counting down the pages until the payoff.
Tony Ross' illustrations are as wonderful as ever. They have a style and energy all of their own, and they work brilliantly here. Jezebel's big-headedness and self-importance shines through with every grin or prim dress. The pictures crank up the story, with Jezebel getting slightly more red-faced and monstrous throughout. The supposedly naughty kids are always great fun to look at, up to their eyeballs in mud or smeared with food. It's an absolute joy to pore over.
It's hilarious and every young child will love it. You might say it's just a one joke book, but what a joke! It's got a wicked glint in its eye, it's perfectly written and brilliantly illustrated. Your bookshelf needs Super Dooper Jezebel. Highly recommended.
Hattie the Bad by Jane Devlin and Joe Berger features another goody two-shoes and is equally hilarious. Other books with similar pacing, wicked glints or unexpected hilarity include Green by Mark Sperring and Leo Timmers, I Really Want To Eat A Child by Sylviane Donnio and Dorothee de Monfreid, Jumpy Jack and Googily by Meg Rosoff and Sophie Blackall and, for slightly older readers, Jim, Who Ran Away From His Nurse and Was Eaten By A Lion by Hilaire Belloc and Mini Grey. We think you'll also enjoy Rita's Rhino by Tony Ross.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Super Dooper Jezebel by Tony Ross 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 Super Dooper Jezebel by Tony Ross at Amazon.com.
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