Under the Table

Meet the Cannon family; there’s little Elsie, her parents named Mrs and Mr, her brother named Banjo, their cat, Mildred and dog, Bruce.

One morning Banjo and Dad are busy washing the car when out rushes Elsie proclaiming ‘There’s an egg in my egg cup! And a great big grey thing under the table!’ When they go in to investigate, the egg (Bertie) has run away but the large grey thing – an elephant that introduces itself as Nathaniel – is still beneath the table. Elsie makes a useful suggestion and out they go to wash the car, courtesy of the elephant.

Later on when Mum returns with a boot full of shopping, out dashes Elsie: now the elephant ‘neath the table has been replaced by a big bouncy thing with a pocket. Said kangaroo is Abigail and her offspring, Joey. They make splendid assistants when it comes to unloading the shopping. Come meal time, two penguins make their appearance and at Mum’s suggestion, the following morning the family, plus animal entourage, plus various items of crockery make their way to the caravan and off they all go on a seaside holiday. where a jolly good time is had by all. The culmination is a barbecue and as you might expect Elsie discovers the presence of animals -‘thingamebobs’ – hundreds of them, underneath the table (yes they took the table on holiday too) that didn’t seem to be going away any time soon. Before long it’s party time times two and there the story ends. We leave them all, sleeping under the stars. Did I say that was the end, but …

Brilliantly capturing the wonderful imagination of young children, this author illustrator team, with a full appreciation of children’s predilection for the preposterous, have created what is sure to become a classic.