Flotsam and Jetsam and the Grooof

From the ‘Racing Reads’ series for ‘confident readers’, this title is one of a set of books about two little driftwood characters who live in an upturned boat furnished with the products of beachcombing. In this volume, our heroes are joined by a dog who proves a challenge to their experience of the world.

Innocent, gentle fun, without too much real content – the story is uneventful with the main interest deriving from the way Flotsam and Jetsam interpret and re-use their findings. I found the illustrations unattractive, but it is difficult to be convincing in the depiction of a small creature made out of driftwood, rope and tangled string. I can’t quite envisage an audience for these somehow, inoffensive though they may be.