Little King December

This strange and charming little book is narrated by a troubled office worker who is visited regularly by a plump, talkative, three-inch tall king. December the second appears from a gap between the bookcase and the wall, emerging from a secret room in which he keeps his dreams in boxes.

His universe is one in which people are born fully grown, ‘knowing everything, but as you get a little bit smaller and forget a little bit more’. King December’s restless, critical observations on our world are both a consolation and an inspiration to the narrator, whose wry remarks suggest a man aching for the magic of the childhood towards which the king is progressing. Many of the ironies and allusions of the text mark it out for an older readership, but its mood of gentle whimsy would also appeal to younger children. Sowa’s illustrations, in the Magritte-like style of Anthony Browne, are suitably disquieting.