The Weasel Puffin Unicorn Baboon Pig Lobster Race

There is going to be a race. The animals – weasel, puffin, unicorn, baboon, pig and lobster. Off they go. But who will be crowned champion? In their eagerness to be the winner the animals resort to cheating – all except the unicorn who predictably arrives last. But all is not lost, snail, unnoticed, has seen what has gone on. All is revealed, and the right result achieved.

With its bold retro illustrations using a flat perspective and saturated palette of limited colours (including a heavy use of pinks) combined with a quirky text, this  will not appeal to everyone. However, it is great fun. Borrowing from the tradition of Carrol, Nash and Thurber, here is a lively nonsense scenario in which a pig can sail in a chocolate submarine and puffin uses a banana digger. Young readers will have no difficulty in identifying which royal starts the race. The text, well placed on the page, is word -rich in exciting vocabulary and imaginative juxtapositions making it a pleasure to read.