I Love You, Stick Insect

It’s impossible not to love the irrepressible stick insect star of Chris Naylor-Ballesteros’ picture book. All legs and enthusiasm he bounds into the book to declare extravagant love for ‘the most beautiful stick insect’ he has ever seen. A rather more sanguine butterfly is at hand to point out that the object of his affection is in fact simply a stick, something that will have been immediately apparent to sharp-eyed young readers. This doesn’t stop our hero dreaming of a loved-up future in which he and his darling have fun and laughter and live happily ever after. In his imagination, and over a series of vibrant spreads bursting with movement, we see the two of them enjoying various outings – to the seaside, surfing, skating, on motorbikes and even dancing the hula (two or three hoops each). Each page builds on the silliness, composition and layout enhancing the comedy and surprise delivered by each spread, until the moment we have been expecting arrives, and the scales fall from the lovestruck insect’s eyes. It’s a lesson for us all perhaps on the pitfalls of blind infatuation, but mostly it’s a book that delights with its sheer unconquerable vivacity. Chris Naylor-Ballesteros is an illustrator to watch.