buckets of fun! (Billy's Bucket - Kes Gray)

Member Name: helican

Product:	Billy's Bucket - Kes Gray
Date:	31/05/09 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great pictures & a delightful story

Disadvantages: none

Billy's Bucket is one of my all-time favourite children's books, about how children are the best & have amazing imaginations, & grown-ups are rubbish & small minded.

Billy wants a bucket for his birthday. His parents are doubtful ("nobody has buckets for their birthday") but Billy is determined. So they go to the fabulous Buckets "R" Us, a vast store stacked to the ceiling with buckets. All the buckets look the same to us but, gloriously, Billy sees the exact one he wants: "right up there - 19 shelves up, 78 along from the left."

Back at home, when Billy fills his bucket with water he can see all kinds of astonishing rock pools & sea life, & even submarines & scuba divers swimming in it. We can see them too, & they're gorgeously painted. His parents sneer & say, "of course you can, Billy," but Billy's not bothered. He just tells them never ever ever to borrow his bucket, but they laugh, & we know it's going to end badly for them.

Next morning - disaster! - the bucket's gone. Billy rushes outside to find Dad using it to water the car. He's just thrown a bucketful of water on the car - & there's a vast whale, crushing Dad's car & dripping seawater. It's just a fantastic picture, so unexpected, with this huge, solid whale taking up a big double page, & lots of stunned little people gawping at it. ' "I told you not to borrow my bucket," said Billy.'

I love the way the adults are so utterly wrong throughout this book. It's so cleverly done: the parents just see their boy looking into a bucket, but we see Billy as from the bottom of the ocean, with amazing creatures swimming all round, & Billy's little face peering in through the top of the bucket as if through an observation window. And yet we still assume that what we see on the page is a portrayal of Billy's imagination: when the massive whale plops out of that tiny bucket & crushes Dad's car it's totally unexpected: a stroke of genius.

I love it that Billy's never a know-it-all, never argues; he's just politely determined & quietly self-assured, while the adults make fools of themselves. Luckily his parents learn their lesson, & on a wonderful last page we see the three of them happily peering into Billy's bucket, watching the stunning creatures swimming by.

I also like it that Billy doesn't dive in & have all manner of adventures in his bucket. He's having the best time ever just looking at stuff & taking it all in, instead of being some action hero. There's something really winning about a child getting maximum enjoyment from looking into a bucket for hours.

This is a bright, beautifully-illustrated book, with a small amount of simple text on each page but intelligent enough to be suitable for a wide range of ages. A delight.

Summary: a fuuny tale of a child's imagination, with a great twist.