Dog Called Whatnot, A; Mummy Family Find Fame, The

Within the Banana Storybooks series, ‘Red Bananas’ are easy reading titles aimed at building confidence in reading for six- to eight-year-olds. And the formula succeeds. First and foremost the tales are a good read; add to this great covers, a liberal spread of speech bubbles, colourfully illustrated pages, plenty of humour, and a skilful editorial eye on introducing and reinforcing new vocabulary.

In A Dog Called Whatnot readers will quickly identify with Tim and Ajay playing cricket in the park, only to find a young collie joining in the fielding. The dog seems intent on deserting its owners and joining Tim’s family; while his granddad is all for the idea, mother and sister will have none of it. How Wilmot Whatnot eventually comes to live with Tim unfolds in the final short chapters, one of which has an explosion of alliterative words with which this age range will have great fun.

The second title opens in the Land of Sand: the ‘dead broke’ Mummy family are having breakfast in their lovely pyramid by the river. Daddy Mummy decides to try for a big cash prize by entering the family for a new show produced by Sphinx TV, housed of course in Memphis. With a fly-on-the-wall camera installed in their home, the Mummy children Tut and Sis behave badly live on TV and win the prize against strong competition from the Frankenstein and Dracula families. Bradman’s witty text is complemented by some wonderfully zany illustrations. RB