I'm the Best

In wonderfully splotchy colours, black lines and uneven hand-written text, we meet Dog, a beast who believes himself to be better at everything than his friends Mole, Ladybird, Goose and Donkey. And he sets about to prove it! After all, he can swim better than Donkey, dig better than Goose, run faster than Mole, and is bigger than Ladybird. For a time his friends believe this obfuscation, but then Mole realises he can dig better than Dog, and each of the friends in turn discovers something he is best at. Dog then feels a failure until his friends tell him he has ‘beautiful fluffy ears’ and is the best at being their friend. A nicely tuned parable about over the top self-belief and the dangers thereof, and the pictures are splendid, full of child-like, messy colour and line. The endpapers look like a child’s painting! Lucy Cousins has produced another winner.