Pearl's Place

For me, Bob Graham is one of the finds of the eighties. His energetic illustrations are at once casual yet precise in their portrayal of domestic situations and human emotions. Here, there are delightful touches of humour in both words and pictures as we meet Pearl, a lady of rather generous proportions (Arthur guessed she weighed about two tonnes) whose place: 'We've got three dogs, two cats, three hundred budgies, and you can throw water bombs off the roof,' is every small boy's - and one boy in particular - ideal of paradise. The contrast between the two homes - Arthur's high rise block (which stood like a breadknife against the sky) and Pearl's, with its abundance of flora, is an marked as the difference in life style of the two central characters.
Highly recommended, thought-provoking reading for all ages.