The Messy Book

A brilliant concept picture book, illustrated by the always fun Richard Smythe. Maudie Powell-Tuck’s text is cute and clever – Cat has made a mess. Dog wants to tidy up, but Cat just wants to get rid of it. ‘Are we being naughty?’ asks Dog. Cat shoves it to the sides and squashes it down, but jumping on the mess just puts it in someone else’s way. Dog doesn’t approve of any of Cat’s other ideas to get rid of the mess and when she finally does tidy up, in her own way, it backfires and makes a bigger mess than before. There’s no other option – they’ll have to work together to tidy it up, but putting everything in the right place brings a nice surprise in itself.

Children and adults alike will love this picture book. It continues to surprise and the use of white space and dialogue story is really exciting. A penguin-in-a-hat side line story adds extra laughs but it’s Cat that really steals the show. Cat’s expression when proclaiming ‘all done’ is priceless. This will be an instant hit at home and parents may end up referring to Cat when convincing little ones to tidy away their toys.