I’ll Wait, Mr Panda

Steve Antony does it again, dishing up a delicious treat of a sequel to Please Mr Panda. On this occasion the po-faced Mr P. is in his kitchen rustling up, as he tells the stream of eager animal inquirers, ‘a surprise’. But can they wait and find out what our pinny clad cook is concocting with his culinary equipment? For the most part, the answer is a resounding no; but there is one little penguin with the necessary staying power and patience, and he certainly needs plenty of the latter as he has rather a hard job making his presence felt at all in Mr Panda’s kitchen.

So what is it that eventually emerges from that oven of our gastronomic genius? Let’s just say, the proof of the pudding is on the pinny – so to speak and it’s certainly worth a wow! from that patient penguin, even if he is just a little bit overwhelmed.

Steve Antony manages once again to combine simplicity with depth: his wonderful characterisation, gentle humour, just the right degree of suspense for a young audience, and mouth-watering endpapers that will definitely ensure cover to cover consumption mean that this has all the ingredients for a wholly satisfying reading experience for adult readers and child listeners.