I am thrilled to be joining the Pinkie and Boo blog tour this May, what a wonderful line up of bloggers and reviewers.
Multi award-winning author Chae Strathie teams up with illustrator Francis Martin for this fabulously funny story about a feisty little girl, her toy monkey and the mischievous adventures they get up to. Francis’s vibrant, quirky illustrations bring this story to life capturing the wonders of the imagination and the chaos that ensues when Pinkie and Boo get together.
An audiobook and specially-written song will be available for download from the Little Door Books website.
SYNOPSIS:
Pinkie loves being the smallest in her family, but the arrival of a baby means everything is about to change. It seems like the tiny new addition to the family will get all the attention . . . and Pinkie isn’t happy about that.
To cheer her up Mum and Dad give her a lovely toy monkey called Boo. But it turns out there’s much more to him than meets the eye – at least in Pinkie’s imagination. Their outrageous efforts to regain some attention lead to a whole lot of mess and mayhem, but everything works out happily in the end.
A funny and warm-hearted new picture book from award-winning author Chae Strathie and exciting illustrator Francis Martin.
MY THOUGHTS:
This delightful picture book is perfect for children aged 3-6 years old. Pinkie, a girl with a vivid imagination, doesn't like the idea of not being the youngest in the family anymore and having to share her parents with a sibling. To help her adjust and feel special they give Pinkie a toy monkey which she names Boo. The two set off on a mission to do something nice for Pinkie's parents so that they don't forget about her. However, things don't go to plan and the pair have to rethink their initial ideas after bringing about a lot of chaos to the house.
This heartwarming story will appeal to both children and adults, as I'm sure many parents will relate to the situations that arise in the book. Pinkie's determination to not be forgotten is admirable and her thoughts and actions are extremely humorous. The themes of jealousy and anxiety surrounding a new baby are explored in a fun way making this a wonderful book to read to a child before the arrival of a sibling or to evoke discussions about these emotions.
The bold illustrations are rich and colourful complimenting the story perfectly. I loved the sassy nature of Pinkie and can envisage a whole series of books featuring her and Boo. I do hope there will be more to come. She is the perfect representation of a preschooler who is trying to make sense of the world around her and know she will be adored by the reader.
Many thanks to Little Door Books for inviting me to join the blog tour, it has been an absolute pleasure to read and review Pinkie and Boo! What a treasure of a book.
About the author:
Chae Strathie is an award-winning children’s author and journalist who lives in the vibrant city of Dundee. He has written 24 books for children, from picture books to young fiction and non-fiction, and has won the Bookbug Children’s Book Award twice. He is also the winner of several other picture book awards, from Sussex to Dundee. His most recent work includes a historical non-fiction series called So You Think You’ve Got It Bad with the British Museum. Chae is renowned for his high-energy, zany live shows that combine reading with music, dance, puppetry, and comedy, and have captivated audiences in schools as far afield as Romania, and at major book festivals such as Edinburgh, Hay, Wigtown, Borders and Aye Write.
About the Illustrator:
Francis studied sculpture at Liverpool School of Art in the Eighties. Unfortunately he developed an allergy to marble dust so he gave it up and joined a rock ‘n’ roll band. In spite of limited musical talent he took part in five John Peel sessions, made five albums and he went to New York, invented ‘Grunge Rock’ fact! He came back to Liverpool, designed record covers and drew cartoons that were published in The Guardian, Private Eye and other magazines and he never stopped drawing and telling stories. When he became a dad he read picture books to his child and realised that this was a world that he would like to be a part of. So off he trotted back to Art School in order to complete his date with destiny - Cambridge this time where he found out he wasn’t allergic to ink and that drawing was fun. Francis is the author of Daddy Hair Do which won the Oxfordshire Book Awards in 2020.