Supermum

This celebration of mothers, animal and human, misses the mark on several counts. Despite a promising start - 'Supermum is everywhere! Swinging, swooping, swimming, scooting', illustrated by pictures of appropriate animals and a Vespa-mounted human - my sympathy was quickly lost. A two-level text for no obvious reason, simplistic information, and an attempt to compare many species of animal with each other and with homo sapiens, while at the same time celebrating differences within the human race add up to a jolly but inconsequential book. Hard information about the animals is held in the 'index' at the back of the book - by the time you get there, you might well have lost interest in what you are looking for. In addition, the very theme is undermined by a caption next to the dedication ('to mums everywhere') asking 'what about superdad?'. And I hope I am not the only reader to be offended at the suggestion that a punk-haired, tongue studded mum might be as scary as a Tyrannosaurus Rex?