King Coo
written and illustrated by
published by David Fickling Books
176 pages in paperback with many illustrations (I lost count)
tree-mendous fun!
(yes, the pun IS meant to be there)
A Reader’s perspective
It gave me great pleasure to hand this hilarious book to a local school on World Book Day. I could recommend it wholeheartedly – as I’d expect from DFB. A couple of children hung round hopefully – but the teacher wisely grabbed it first for a class reader!
It’ll be ideal for reading aloud. It’s funny, has a clever mix of ridiculousness and situations children will recognise, and twists off in ways they might well not expect. The illustrations are not just an entertaining bonus – they deepen the whole story. There are diagrams of contraptions and smaller images around the text which add to the experience too.
I think you can tell by the cover shown above and below that it’s a warm and appealing tale – and I’d recommend for a family bedtime. The pictures in its comic-like formula could be read* by a younger or less experienced reader, whilst an older one would enjoy both the silliness and the story.
*images can be read too – explored and interpreted
Summary from the back of the book:
A Writer and Editor’s VieW (some spoilers)
What King Coo does brilliantly
- makes you laugh
- inspires kids to invent
- mucks about with gender expectations
- encourages empathy
- combines visual and verbal literacy
What King Coo does not do:
- preach
- bore
- cover up a lack of story with comedy
Bonus
Look – there’s another one to come! June this year (2019). If anyone from DFB cares to send me one to review – not only will it be welcomed by me, but by the kids at my #BookBuddy school!