The Wild

Russell, his family and pets live in a hill-top house surrounded by 'The Wild'. It is into this that Russell's pet frog and rabbit escape. They search in vain for the escapees and then next day decide that their pet duck ought to return to 'The Wild' too. I've always been a fan of Bob Graham but I have to say that I found this book rather disappointing. At first sight it looks like a winner with varied picture sequences, some in comic strip format, others being single or double page spreads, and the characters appear to have Graham's usual humorous appeal; but the story itself is rambling and disjointed. Told in the present tense, it lacks pace and, in places, textual cohesion. Indeed some of the spreads can be read in more than one sequence without much altering the flow. Its theme however is thought-provoking and worthy of discussion but this is certainly not a book for those still needing contextual support from the illustrations.