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Lemony Snicket’s Poison for Breakfast (Oneworld/Rock the Boat, £10.99) is a genial, discursive ramble of a ebook. It touches on literature and flicks however its foremost concern is demise.
As within the writer’s huge-selling A Collection of Unlucky Occasions novels, Lemony Snicket (a pen title for Daniel Handler) is a personality right here, and certainly it’s he who has one way or the other ingested poison together with his breakfast, at the least in response to a mysterious scribbled be aware he discovers shortly after ending the meal. This prompts him to research every of the varied foodstuffs he has simply consumed, however his ideas preserve circling again to mortality.
The tone all through is Vonnegutian — bewildered, amused, quizzical — and if the ebook fails to ship any startling philosophical breakthrough, that’s quite the purpose, because it’s extra in regards to the journey than the vacation spot. A bit like life, then.
Catherine Fisher’s assortment The Pink Gloves and Different Tales (Firefly Press, £12.99) has its morbid parts too. There are ghosts and haunted mirrors, vengeful creatures from folklore and desires that prophesy demise. But, in its scrumptious spookiness, it’s something however gloomy. Every story is somewhat jewel of compressed storytelling, each spare and lyrical.
The sinister gloves of the title story, which appear to be possessed by a malevolent spirit and tear aside a fragile friendship, supply a well-worked metaphor, whereas the twist on the finish of “Ghost within the Rain” is plangently uplifting. Very a lot advisable.
Martin Brown’s Nell and the Cave Bear (Piccadilly Press, £6.99) is an altogether lighter, brighter affair. Set in prehistoric occasions, it follows a woman from a cave-dwelling clan and her pet bear cub who go off to discover a stream whereas the remainder of the tribe are busy searching mammoths.
Journey ensues, as their journey takes them into the clutches of a rival clan and onward to the ocean. Brown is finest often called the illustrator of the Horrible Histories collection and on this, his debut novel, his writing exhibits a readability and good-naturedness to match his cartooning.
Talking of Horrible Histories, Daniel Peak is among the lead writers on the TV model, in addition to producing scripts for sitcoms Not Going Out and Code: 404. Not unexpectedly, his first ebook for youthful readers, Little Horror (Firefly Press, £6.99), may be very humorous.
Rita is an unusually precocious toddler with the brainpower of an adolescent. She retains this a secret from her dad and mom till the day they and her older brother Lewis mysteriously disappear. She quickly learns that she isn’t the one small youngster with superior intelligence, and uncovers a sinister plot by a mad scientist to make children smarter sooner to allow them to be extra productive members of society. The story breezes alongside properly, and Peak skilfully exploits the comedian potential of ice cream vans, evil clowns, mobility scooters and indoor play areas.
Simply as amusing is Nadia Shireen’s Grimwood (Simon and Schuster, £12.99), which sees sibling foxes Ted and Nancy compelled to desert their metropolis dwelling after Ted unintentionally bites off the tail of a prissy, psychopathic cat known as Princess Buttons. They head for the countryside and discover refuge with the woodland group of the ebook’s title.
The agricultural locals are, frankly, barmy. For example, their favorite pastime is Treebonk, a sport that entails hurling oneself from tree to tree and rebounding with out hitting the bottom. However, Ted and Nancy are made to really feel welcome, and when a vengeful Princess Buttons tracks them down, they’ve newfound pals to assist shield them. Each web page of the ebook zings with invention and joie de vivre — and likewise is made to look ink-spattered, scribbled-on and thumb-marked, as if the writer’s scatty enthusiasm simply can’t be restrained.
That’s fairly a distinction to the exact, pristine illustrative fashion of Tom Gauld. His drily witty cartoons grace publications akin to New Scientist, The Guardian and The New Yorker, and now he has produced an image ebook, The Little Picket Robotic and the Log Princess (Templar Publishing, £12.99).
On this neat fairy story, a king and queen ask an inventor and a witch to offer them what they most need, kids. The household is completely satisfied, however then the princess — who reverts to being a log at night time — is solid out of the palace by mistake and her robotic brother units off to seek out her. It’s each bit as candy and charming because it sounds.
Higher realism is to be present in Journey to the Final River (Frances Lincoln Kids’s Books, £14.99). This follow-up to The Misplaced E-book of Journey particulars an expedition into the uncharted depths of the Amazon rainforest. Purportedly a facsimile of sketchbooks, maps and diaries compiled by an Unknown Adventurer, however truly the handiwork of writer and outdoor fanatic Teddy Eager, that is a rare, engaging fusion of fiction and pure historical past. The paintings alone, rendered in pencil and pastel, is beautiful.
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