Barbapapa's New House by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor
| Barbapapa's New House by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Louise Jones
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| Summary: Barbapapa has to relocate his growing family now that they have outgrown their home. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: March 2014 |
| Publisher: Orchard Books | |
| ISBN: 978-1408331392 | |
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At the end of the last Barbapapa book, our pink protagonist and his lovely wife were blessed with the addition of seven new shape-shifting Barbababies. A house that was already cramped for a couple was literally bursting at the seams as the family of nine squeezed and squashed themselves into every available crevice. Something had to give; the walls collapsed and out spilled the unfortunate family.
With a little help from their friends, they relocate to a lovely old house, which they lovingly renovate. But their happiness is short lived when the developers decide to flatten the old houses to make way for a new apartment block. The homeless family them make their way to the countryside, where they design and build their dream home. Everything seems perfect, until they hear the familiar rumbling of bulldozers in the distance...
Barbapapa's New House continues the series in its own inimitable style, making full creative use of the humour based around the shape-shifting skills of the nine main characters. As always, each page is crammed with little details that are easily missed on the first reading, making it a joy to share over and over again and always enabling the reader to discover something new.
The book expands of the personalities of the seven children, each of whom has their own special talent. I especially enjoyed watching the family work together to build a dream house with special areas for each character, especially when Barbapapa uses his body as a mould. The book also has an underlying 'eco' message, but it never comes across as overbearing or preachy.
As in the previous book, some of the French-English translation can come across as a bit strange in places, but the story and artwork more than compensate for this and the book is a pleasure to read and share.
If you want to read about the origins of the Barbapapa family, read Barbapapa's Voyage in which a lonely pink blob searches the world for his perfect mate.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Barbapapa's New House by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor 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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