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I was rather thrilled by Monday morning this week (doesn't always happen!) due to a mystery parcel containing a surprise prize book' The Good little Devil and other tales' by Pierre Gripari.
When it arrived I was still gripped by "The Screaming Staircase" (which I'm going to find out more about in a mo when I hear Jonathan Stroud talk) so opened it on Tuesday. It's SUCH FUN to coin a phrase, it really is. I'm enjoying it and have regaled members of my family with some of the tales already as I've been snorting out loud at them and therefore had to explain myself. Very quirky, a little bit silly and rather wonderful. Short stories - modern fairytales with twists - but with a thread of characters running through them in a rather clever way. I don't want to say too much because you should open it up and take a read yourself.
There's a very funny story about a pair of shoes who want to be together but are bought and worn, much to their dismay because they are separated by the act of walking! They decide to try and veer towards each other and so trip their owner up. It's one of those books that you think where did that idea come from? Any story about a talking potato who has ambitions of becoming a French Frie is surely worth a peek? There's subtle humour for adults too so it would be a lovely laugh out loud one for bed time or any other time actually. Some gory bits but then fairytales are actually pretty gory when you think of it and it's nothing worse than any of those shoving people in oven to eat them stories or bleeding feet squeezing into dainty shoes.....
The drawings are amusing too and reminded me of a book I got from the Chip club (remember that in the 70s?) about a French school boy called NICHOLAS. Quite sketchy and energetic....I must find a copy for storyshack again though alas there is no CHIP CLUB any more. They add to the characters in the story. Love the one, particularly, of the fish and the frog but don't want to spoil that story so you can see the talking potato up above and Nicholas down below.
When it arrived I was still gripped by "The Screaming Staircase" (which I'm going to find out more about in a mo when I hear Jonathan Stroud talk) so opened it on Tuesday. It's SUCH FUN to coin a phrase, it really is. I'm enjoying it and have regaled members of my family with some of the tales already as I've been snorting out loud at them and therefore had to explain myself. Very quirky, a little bit silly and rather wonderful. Short stories - modern fairytales with twists - but with a thread of characters running through them in a rather clever way. I don't want to say too much because you should open it up and take a read yourself.
There's a very funny story about a pair of shoes who want to be together but are bought and worn, much to their dismay because they are separated by the act of walking! They decide to try and veer towards each other and so trip their owner up. It's one of those books that you think where did that idea come from? Any story about a talking potato who has ambitions of becoming a French Frie is surely worth a peek? There's subtle humour for adults too so it would be a lovely laugh out loud one for bed time or any other time actually. Some gory bits but then fairytales are actually pretty gory when you think of it and it's nothing worse than any of those shoving people in oven to eat them stories or bleeding feet squeezing into dainty shoes.....
The drawings are amusing too and reminded me of a book I got from the Chip club (remember that in the 70s?) about a French school boy called NICHOLAS. Quite sketchy and energetic....I must find a copy for storyshack again though alas there is no CHIP CLUB any more. They add to the characters in the story. Love the one, particularly, of the fish and the frog but don't want to spoil that story so you can see the talking potato up above and Nicholas down below.
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