Next Please

Five broken toys sit in the shadowy corridor outside a surgery. They enter one by one, and leave again restored to happy wholeness. Soon only the puppet with the broken nose is left, his anxiety rising with his loneliness until it is his turn at last. That is about it, yet with just fifteen subtly and expressively cross-hatched paintings and a very minimal text, this splendid picture book reassuringly guides young readers through what will be a familiar ordeal for most of them. At the same time, it is a counting and subtraction game, and a rich source of conversation between children and their fellow readers about the backstories to all of these poor, semi-comical casualties. An excellent book for sharing at home or at school.