Vikings in the Supermarket

Vikings on a shopping trip, a mermaid finding various uses for a shoe, a cheeky little vampire bat, and a tidy pirate named Clyde – just some of the colourful characters waiting to be discovered in Nick Sharratt’s new book, his very first poetry collection. As ever, his illustrations are wonderfully bright and lively, full of energy and movement, and his verse is too: it bounces along nicely with some very satisfying rhymes for young readers. He has particular fun with A Tartan Tale in which the farmer – not Macdonald here but Fergal MacFindlay MacFee – lives ‘With his Scotty MacDog/ And his purry MacCat/ His MacBudgies (one green and one blue)/ His oinky MacPig/And his woolly MacSheep/And his greedy MacBillygoat too.’ Farmer, farm and livestock are all represented in stylish Sharratt tartan, an irresistible double page spread! Children will have great fun too examining the Vikings’ helmets, especially when they notice that – on their return trip from the supermarket – they are augmented with bananas, carrots and ice-cream cones! Full of an exuberant pleasure in language and images, this is a verbal and visual treat for children.