Max the Champion by Sean Stockdale and Alexandra Strick

Illustrator Ros Asquith
Review by The Mole

Max is a sports mad dreamer. From the moment he wakes to his dreams at night he imagines that everything he does involves sport and that he is winning at it. When they have a fun sports day at school then Max dreams he is winning the world cup.

Very much a picture book for a child to read because the pictures are "inclusive", that is to say his dreams as well as his day to day life include disabled children. While Max is the only winner (well, they are his dreams!) the disabled children are included throughout the book and they often come second to the champion - they are not just spectators but fully integrated as friends.

The only person referred to in the story is Max, not even his toy rabbit and turtle who turn up almost as often as Max in the pictures get a mention.

An extremely lovely book with a message - a subtle message - and a rarity in that the pictures actually have greater importance in the story than the words themselves.

Publisher - Frances Lincoln
Genre -children's picture book

Alien Schoolboy's Z-A Guide to Earthlings Ros Asquith

Review by The Mole

Flowkee has visited Earth, disguised himself as a schoolboy and tried to learn about Earthlings. He made some mistakes along the way and so has produced this guide for other Faathings who will follow. Sadly he didn't get the title quite right but he did manage to put the entries in the correct order - entries starting at "Aaargh" going through to "Zoo". With an introduction on how to prepare and a section at the back where the reader can add "Everything else...".

Shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny prize it carries entries like "Losing stuff" where it says "... When earthlings find something, they say 'It's always in the last place you look.' Are there really Earthlings who go on looking after they've found something?" and you can see why it achieved that prestigious accolade.

Laugh out loud funny with lots of hilariously captioned pictures throughout this is a book that is going to be loved by it's readers and is a valuable reference book for those who follow the "Alien Schoolboy" books. A great Christmas present for young readers and it includes some facts to be absorbed by osmosis.

Publisher - Piccadilly Press
Genre - Children's 8+,Sci-Fi(?), humour

Buy Letters from an Alien Schoolboy: Alien Schoolboy's Z - A Guide to Earthlings (Letters from/Alien Schoolboy) from Amazon