| Product: |
Meerkat Mail - Emily Gravett |
| Date: |
10/01/07 (81 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Original, Interactive and funny
Disadvantages: Postcards don't restick as well as I would like
Author: Illustrator: Emily Gravett
Publisher: Macmillan
Published Date: August 2006
Age Suitability: 4+ although my 2-year old loves it
Pages: 32
RRP: £10.99
Amazon Price: £6.59
***Summary***
Sunny the Meerkat lives with his family in the Kalahari Desert. They are a very close family and Sunny soon grows tired of working, eating, playing and even sleeping with them so one day Sunny decides to pack his bags in search of a new home. He visits relatives across the land but each place he stops isn't quite home and he doesn't quite fit in. Will he eventually find a place to call home or will he find himself back with the family who know and love him the best?
***Who is Emily Gravett***
There is little doubt that Emily's parents, her father a printmaker and her mother an art teacher had a huge impact on Emily, and the career path she eventually chose. Before attending University, Gravett travelled across Britain with friends picking fruit for money or drawing pictures for tourists. After settling in West Wales with the partner Mik whom she met on her travels Emily decided she wanted a career that involved her talent and passion for drawing.
This brought Emily to study at Brighton University and in 2004, while working towards her final degree, she entered a book (Wolves) she had created some years earlier in the Macmillan Prize for Illustration competition. Wolves won the award and was picked up by Macmillan for publication and released early last year. It is now sold in five different countries.
In addition to the Macmillan Prize for Illustration, which launched her career, Gravett also won the Nestle Children's Book Prize Bronze Award last year, the CILIP Kate Greenway Award (for Meerkat Mail) and critical acclaim for her first publication.
*Other books available by Emily Gravett*
Orange Pear Apple Bear
Wolves
*Books to be published in 2007*
Monkey and Me
Little Mouse's Book of Fears
***What I liked about the book"
*Story*
Emily Gravett is a great writer with a fantastic sense of humour. Her story has a great flow to it which makes it not only easy to read but also easy for your children to identify with and join in with. My son is often pre-empting the next line as Gravett uses reoccurring sentiments as well as language to hold the readers attention.
Sandy is a likeable character who like many young people feels a bit unsettled and claustrophobic at home. The way Gravett describes his travels is fantastic and endears Sandy to the readers more through each page. Sandy writes postcards home to his family from each new place he visits and his optimism and obviously the joy and excitement of his adventure soon fades resulting in funny notes home about bad weather and disgusting food and signed off with notes of "Wish you were here (or that I wasn't)" When Sandy inevitably returns to the bosom of his overbearing family and walks in to a welcome home surprise party the reader (young and old) can't help but feel warmed by the loving reunion.
One point to make about Gravetts ability to be silly and relate better to little people is her biography on the back page. In it, instead or listing her experience, accolades and accomplishments she rights of her fondness for cheesy beans on toast. Even when writing this inocuous piece of information which is often overlooked she manages to amuse the reader and connect with her younger ones.
*Illustrations and extras*
It is obvious Gravett comes from an illustrating background. This book, like Wolves has been put together with great care and consideration. On each page, Gravett sets a scene of fun with a great deal going on. Each page is sure to contain a quirky image in the background to make you smile (i.e. one student Meerkat writing the Meerkat "stay together - stay safe together" motto as lines on a chalkboard). She uses a mix between sketch drawing and water-colour painting to create an inviting atmosphere with identifiable characters.
The characters are drawn with sincerity and it is clear that as illustrator and author, Gravett is fond of each one. They have a particularly life-like feel with a cartoon sketch style but with added detail. Sandy has the most wonderful black eyes that somehow have the ability to go from a look of total despair to a look of pure joy.
To add to the interactive feel of this book, Gravett has inserted actual postcards which can be removed from the page to read. Sandy sends one of these from each place he stays and they in themselves tell a story. On the front, scenes of dodgy motels with equally dodgy sayings or 24 coffee shops can be found and on the back, Sandy's scribbled messages to his loved ones are written. My son loves being able to handle these as a separate part of the book and he gets progressively excited about reading and looking at each new one. This is a wonderful way of holding young readers' attention.
The Cover, inside and out is plastered with stamps, passport markings and other details picked up from Sandy's travels which add to the idea of this little Meerkat having been on a wild excursion. Gravett really has left no stone unturned in her efforts to provide stimulation for her readers.
***Conclusion***
Like my favourite children's writer Oliver Jeffers, Emily Gravett is carving a special place in my child's book collection thanks to her unique, exciting and clever stories which have been put together in an equally clever and artful manner. It is always a joy to find a writer who thinks with originality and presents our kids with a challenging, funny and interesting read.
Summary: A Meerkat discovers home is where the heart is.
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