No Room to Swing a Cat

Ecstatic confirmation of Ralph Steadman's place in the world of children's books. He gives us brilliantly funny and perceptive drawings with a richness of detail that begs to be talked and laughed about. The wild, swirling, frenzy of colours, characteristically Steadman in style, swish and twirl about the page with a dynamism that leaves others looking wooden. The colours are vibrantly alive and yet manage subtlety at the same time. My Y4 8-year-olds were wide-eyed at Tom's attempts to tell his mother how big he wants his room, with the giraffe getting a special encore.