The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers
| The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Ng
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| Summary: Forest animals conducting a serious crime scene investigation? What's not to love! | |
| Buy? yes | Borrow? yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: April 2017 |
| Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9780007182336 | |
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Something terrible is happening in the forest. Branches from trees are going missing overnight, and nobody knows what's going on. Everyone living in the forest gathers together to look at the crime scene, and to try to discover what has happened. Initially they blame each other, but after discovering everyone there has a solid alibi they continue their investigations to try and find the culprit.
Oliver Jeffers has a distinctive style, in both his writing and his illustrations, and this book shows off both very well. You need to look at the pictures in conjunction with what you're reading to get the full story. For example, when the animals are blaming each other, they each have a picture bubble above their heads, which shows who they are blaming and why, but there is no text involved. You need to look at each image to see that the pig blames the deer who imagines carrying branches on his back, but the boy blames the duck, who he imagines has carried away branches in his beak! This continues on the following page when each animal gives their alibi, and these alibis include pictures of the duck sitting under a hair dryer at the hairdressers, and pig frying up his dinner which looks like 2 rashers of bacon!
The illustrations continue to be important throughout the story, adding little extras to your reading pleasure. For example there's the picture of poor Owl falling flat on the floor because the branch he usually lands on in a tree has been stolen! Of course, in the illustrations you can also see the real culprit of the tree thefts, a large bear in a red bobble hat who appears to be trying very hard to make and fly paper airplanes! The investigators do manage to discover what's been going on, and the Bear is first held for questioning, and then taken to court where he confesses that he is trying to win a paper airplane competition, and that he had no one to ask for help and he's very sorry about the trees. He says he'll help to fix things, by planting new trees, and the other forest dwellers offer to help Bear to win the competition.
I really enjoyed this book, and I like the way it is told very seriously, but is very funny. It's best for older toddlers, who will take the time to look properly at all the pictures with you, or better still with older children still who can fully appreciate the humour. The police line up made me laugh out loud, and there are other very funny moments throughout. It's a cleverly thought out, and beautifully drawn story. Definitely recommended!
Further reading suggestion: You might also enjoy other books by the same author such as the beautiful Lost and Found or for more woodland adventures do try The Lumberjack's Beard by Duncan Beedie
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers 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 The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers at Amazon.com.
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