Clang!

When the story starts Boy is worried because his toy penguin is missing.

Grandad helps Boy look for her but with no success. Boy decides they need to look in the ocean and so they set about making a boat using a bathtub, a broken airer and tea towels for sails. There follows an amazing nautical adventure in which they encounter a series of vessels, helpful captains, and find themselves following several false trails. Finally, they head to Antarctica where their search ends successfully.

Illustrating the adage ‘There are some things worth going to the ends of the earth for,’ this is a story full of warmth and imagination.  There is more than a touch of humour, particularly in the final spread when it is clear Grandad and Boy have brought back not only Boy’s missing toy but a virtual colony of real penguins too. The illustrations are fantastic with so many details to spot. Don’t miss the wonderful end papers; there is an annotated design plan of a submarine at the front and one of the boat Boy and Grandad make at the back of the book.

This is the second title in Sam Usher’s latest quartet of books featuring his popular characters Boy and his Grandad. In this series we find them using their ingenuity to create amazing vehicles from recycled materials which take them on exciting adventures.