Eleanor's Eyebrows by Timothy Knapman and David Tazzyman
| Eleanor's Eyebrows by Timothy Knapman and David Tazzyman | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Ng
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| Summary: Completely and utterly bonkers! This story is ridiculous, but in the best possible way. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: June 2013 |
| Publisher: Simon & Schuster Childrens Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0857078414 | |
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Eleanor just can't see the point of eyebrows. They don't do anything. They just sit there, two silly, scruffy, hairy, little bits of fluff! Sadly for Eleanor, her eyebrows overhear her describing them in this way, and they refuse to stay where they aren't wanted and so pack their bags and set off into the big world to find a place where someone will love them!
Just when you think you've seen every possible idea for a children's picture book along comes one about eyebrows! I really, really like this story. It's just so very silly, and yet there's something sweet about it too, and you're left with a warm happy feeling inside at the end, and a sense that you should really go and look in the mirror to admire your eyebrows for a while! When Eleanor's eyebrows leave they try to find a new place where they'll be accepted. They attempt to live in the Butterfly House at the zoo, but they don't like eating leaves and they just can't manage to make cocoons. Next we see them working as a twirling moustache for a magician, but it turns out his tricks involve explosions and are very dangerous.
The range of jobs the eyebrows try continues to get more and more absurd, and will leave you pondering together what else they might have been able to try to be, in a very silly way! Meanwhile, Eleanor hasn't been missing her eyebrows at all until her Granny comes to visit, takes one look at Eleanor, and runs off screaming! Eleanor decides to have a go at drawing on her own eyebrows, with little success. She tries using other objects to replace them, but it just doesn't work. And the more she misses her own eyebrows, the more she sees everyone else's eyebrows and how different and wild and wonderful they all are.
Though for a moment it seems there can be no happy ending to this story never fear, Eleanor finds a way to get her eyebrows back, and it makes her very, very happy to see them again! Of course, a story like this needs some great illustrations, and thankfully these ones are. The pictures are a little bit scratchy and wild in style, like the eyebrows themselves, and I like the style of the drawings. Eleanor isn't exactly pretty, and in some pictures she looks pretty terrible, but I liked this and found it refreshing. As for the eyebrows, well, they're thin and hairy and I don't know how but they seem to have little personalities despite having no facial features (and indeed, no face!)
I particularly liked the two page spread of Eleanor trying to draw eyebrows on her face. The range of expressions is wonderful, and the truly awful eyebrows made us laugh! I also really like the final picture of Eleanor beamingly happy with her eyebrows back on her face. It made me feel a little warm and fuzzy inside to see it.
Yes, it's ridiculous. Yes, it's just plain silly. Yes, kids will love it! It's a fun, unique story and one we thoroughly enjoyed in our house. Go and get yourself a copy now!
If you enjoy this sort of silliness then do, please, take a look at the wonderful Claude in the City by Alex T Smith
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You can read more book reviews or buy Eleanor's Eyebrows by Timothy Knapman and David Tazzyman at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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