Jakub's Otter

Poet Carol Rumble’s first novel for children is a sweet story for the under tens. Jakub takes a holiday in rural Italy with family friends, away from his caring responsibilities for his mum, who has multiple sclerosis. The trip brings him new friendships: with an old Italian woodcutter, who introduces him to a pregnant otter in the nearby forest; and with Marta, the poetry writing daughter of his holiday hosts. The two children take some time to know one another, and, while Jakub is clearly a caring child, it is also apparent that dealing with the break-up of his parent’s marriage and his mother’s illness has made him both anxious and combative, something of which Marta is quickly aware. Rumble cleverly develops their friendship by allowing both children a part in telling the story, and Jakub’s first-person narrative – a kind of holiday diary – is interrupted by Marta’s poems, which give us a glimpse of her way of looking at the world. These poems are initially private to Marta, shared only with the reader, but, as Marta and Yakub become friends, Yakub comes to appreciate them, too, and their young creator. The poems themselves are thoughtful and convincing, moving between those that are simple and musical enough to be written by a talented child of Marta’s age and those where more of the adult author’s voice is apparent. The novel is full of the joys of new adventures, including meeting a forest bear and discovering a ruined house full of feral cats, but with the sadder parts of life – sickness and death – never far away.