Meerkat Mail

Former Macmillan Prize winner Gravett has fun with the sociable habits of television’s favourite wild animals. Sunny is the meerkat with itchy feet; the one who decides to test the ‘stay safe, stay together’ motto. He heads off on a kind of ‘gap week’, visiting relatives in other parts to see if the grass is any greener than that in the Kalahari Desert (where there isn’t any). The book is full of little tricks and devices to keep the reader amused and engaged. Each day of Sunny’s week of wandering is represented by a postcard home, an actual postcard attached to the page in a way that allows both sides to be viewed and read. Meanwhile, the ever present fox asserts his menacing presence to the reader in purely pictorial form (à la Rosie’s Walk). Needless to say, the novelty of the greener grass soon wears thin just as the predator closes in. Soon the joys of a highly evolved social structure reassert their appeal.

This is a fun picture book that explores the age-old conflict between assertion of individuality and the safety of the family. Better characterisation and fewer gimmicks could perhaps have improved it further.