Scatological humour for all ages! (The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business - Werner Holzwarth, Wolf Erlbruch)

Member Name: zusy

Product:	The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business - Werner Holzwarth, Wolf Erlbruch
Date:	29/01/01 (188 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Charming, hilarious, beautiful pictures, would make a fantastic gift!

Disadvantages: Your child may want to talk about poo all the time in public (but at least they can do so in a knowledgeable way!)

Mole pokes head out of hole. Mole has something "...a little like a sausage" fall on his head. Mole attempts to discover identity of 'sausage' (poo) deliverer...

Thus we have the basis of this delightful, hilarious and most of all instructive book, primarily aimed at children but suitable for all ages.

The illustrations are perfect - one can imagine the subject matter may have presented a problem for the illustrator at first. How to show animal poo in a charming yet factually correct manner?

The pictures are as important as the words, here - the character of the mole is wonderfully drawn. He is indignant, outraged, curious, amazed and, finally, smug.
He serves to mirror the reactions of children, who are inevitably drawn to poo, bottoms and all other things adults would rather not discuss with them!

The drawings are lovely, quite spare, almost cartoony, but subtly coloured in crayons (?) or watercolour style pencils.

The picture that adorns the cover - our plucky little bespectacled mole, striding forcefully across a field with the offending poo on his head. An expression of grim determination mixed with dignified outrage on his face - has me in hysterics every time I see it.

The illustrations *are* wonderful, but it is the text that captivates, too:

***Extract*********************************

"Did you do this on my head?" he asked the horse, who was grazing in the pasture.

"Me? No, how could I? I do it like this!"

And flump, plump - five big fat horsey apples plopped down within a hair's breadth of the mole. He was very impressed.

*******************************************

Flump, plump! Yes, 'horsey apples' do sound like that! I have no idea why this description delighted me so much, but it did, and continues to do so. Perhaps it's because the words and illustrations seem so natural, almost effortle
ss; yet were obviously carefully thought-out.

I got my boyfriend a copy of this book for Christmas, and it has proved to be a big hit. He has shown it to all his friends at work, most of whom have gone on to order their own copies, and I have now got another copy for my dad.

Everyone who reads this book is chuckling away from their first glance at the cover. The ending (I wont spoil it here...) is particularly satisfying, and gives one a sense of hope and justice in the big, bad world!

As I have said, this book would suit all ages. I don't have children, but friends of mine who do and purchased this book, have all commented on the refreshing attitude of a book that manages to teach children about little-discussed aspects of animals (!) in a funny, unpatronising way. Plus, as a huge bonus, the adult reading it with the child gets to have a good giggle, too :-)

Can't think of an original gift for a humour-loving friend?

Now you can ;-)

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