Five little children lined up
in a row,
In soft evening sunshine,
their faces aglow.
Impatient and eager the
five cousins stood …
Their granny was visiting Muggleswick Wood.
As the sun goes down and eyes become sleepy, young Beth asks Granny for a story. So begins this book with five chapters, with a story for each of the children.
Each story is written in rhyme with short amounts of text. The stories are linked by Muggleswick Wood and include tales of a small, bearded gnome with a red hat, a beetle with cool go-faster stripes and Melvin the Mole, who is causing all sorts of havoc on the lawn above his tunnels and steam to come out of Major Hugh’s ears.
The stories are accompanied by beautifully whimsical watercolour illustrations on almost every page which marry perfectly with the gentle rhyming words. They elevate this book to an even higher level.
This hardcover is beautifully produced and reminds me of the classic editions of such English books as Wind in the Willows or Winnie the Pooh, with its cloth binding on the spine and the bookmark ribbon.
Making wonderful bedtime reading this book is destined to remain a favourite.
Reviewed by Emily Ross
Age Guide 4+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am a dyslexic mother of four, with a great love of the countryside. I am a keen horsewoman and a member of British Eventing. I live in East Yorkshire with my husband and menagerie of animals, from a pack of dogs to an albino wallaby and three rather random and incredibly ugly turkeys, that were the product of a refreshing evening out.
I have always loved writing, especially the thrill in the challenge of telling my stories in rhyme. I suppose the rhymes started at school and were normally not overly polite poems about my least favourite members of teaching staff (finally something I can genuinely thank them for). So, when the last of the girls reached four years old, which in itself was an achievement given her love of heights and jumping from them, what else had I to do with all this unaccustomed spare time … but write. So I did.
The first five books have been bought to life by the artist and sculptor Charlie Mackesy, whom it has been a privilege to get to know. I truly hope you enjoy them and that soon they are tattered and battered and covered in snot!
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
British artist, illustrator and author Charlie Mackesy began his career as a cartoonist for The Spectator, before becoming a book illustrator for Oxford University Press. His award-winning work has featured in books, private collections, galleries and public spaces around the world.
Charlie’s beloved book is the first ever book to be awarded both the Waterstones Book of the Year and Barnes and Noble Book of the Year (2019) and has been translated into over 40 different languages and dialects. Charlie’s words and illustrations have brought comfort to many and have been shared online around the world as well as on t-shirts for Comic Relief, magazine covers, street lamp posts, school classrooms, cafés, women’s safe houses, prisons, hospital wards and as NHS hospital computer screensavers. Charlie worked with Richard Curtis on the set of Love Actually to create a set of drawings to be auctioned for Comic Relief, and with Nelson Mandela on a lithograph project, The Unity Series. Charlie’s paintings have been exhibited widely, most recently in Sotheby’s in London. His bronzes can be found in public spaces in London, including Highgate Cemetery and the Brompton Road. Away from art, Charlie co-runs Mama Buci, a honey social enterprise in Zambia that helps families of low and no income become beekeepers. He lives between Brixton and Suffolk with his dog Barney.
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