Grandad's grown a whopper (The Trouble with Grandad - Babette Cole)

Member Name: frangliz

Product:	The Trouble with Grandad - Babette Cole
Date:	13/10/09 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great illustrations and characters

Disadvantages: None for me

I have long been a fan of Babette Cole, as much for her exuberant illustrations as for her hilarious stories. Young children will love the humor and colorful, lively illustrations of 'The Trouble with Grandad'. Grandad gets into a pickle because of the enormous vegetables he grows: he wins all the prizes at the Vegetable Show and makes other competitors jealous. When a rival gives him a tomato plant that becomes taller than the police station, Grandad is put in prison for growing a dangerous vegetable. All attempts to destroy it fail, so Grandad is released to see if he can solve the problem himself. He discovers that an enormous caterpillar is hidden inside it, which emerges and devours the tomato. When the prisoners decide to escape, they are so frightened of the caterpillar that they run back into jail. The caterpillar turns into a chrysalis and crashes into the police station. Grandad and grandson manage to escape the wrath of the chasing policemen by flying off on the back a a giant moth that emerges from the chrysalis. On returning to his allotment, Grandad hollows out a huge cucumber complete with windows and a clock tower, presenting it as a new police station. The police are delighted, but they have to protect their station from marauding giant slugs.

There is plenty of fantasy and humor here to delight young readers, and illustrations fill the greater part of each page. I find the one of the huge caterpillar happily sleeping on the roof of the police station particularly attractive. Young children are bound to love the picture of grandad and grandson flying off on the back of a giant moth, pursued by five angry, truncheon-wielding policemen. There is a good mix of bright, cheerful colours and darker night-time scenes.

This is a picture book that is better suited to reading aloud than for independent readers to practise on, partly because there are a number of difficult words such as 'exhibitors' and 'chrysalis'. The fact that in some cases the text is superimposed on an illustration that uses dark colours could also present a problem. I have the book in the mini format where the font is clear but quite small; if you can get hold of the standard format I am sure the font will be larger. Very young listeners will not have a chance to get bored, I'm sure, as with just one exception there is never more than a sentence of text on any single page.

This is the kind of book that grown-ups are likely to get as much enjoyment out of as their children are. Even so, for those looking for an educational element, the story does go through the progression from caterpillar to chrysalis to moth. If you want a change from The Hungry Caterpillar, you have the same science lesson here.

Unfortunately, 'The Trouble with Grandad' seems to have gone out of print, although at the time of writing there are a few new copies of the mini book available on Amazon Marketplace. Used copies can be picked up for as little as 1p plus postage. It is, I would say, a book that is worth owning for the humour and wonderful illustrations, but borrowing a copy from the library will allow you to see whether or not you agree with me. I'm sure any Grandad would love to have the chance to share this with a grandchild of around three to five years of age.

Babette Cole has published three other books in the series: 'The Trouble with Mum', 'The Trouble with Dad' and 'The Trouble with Gran'.

Also posted on Ciao under my username denella.

Summary: A picture book by Babette Cole