George is a dog. This much is fairly obvious from the cover of this book by Chris Haughton. George lives in a world where he is about 5 times the size of his owner, Harris, who despite his better judgement goes out, leaving George the massive pink dog alone in the house unsupervised. Alas, George the magenta mongrel is no stranger to temptation...
Ultimately, this is a story about temptation, failure, forgiveness and redemption, with a cliffhanger ending which I won't spoil. This is a fun book to read aloud with a child, as George the dog succumbs to temptation a number of times and so after asking the question "What will George do?" your child can happily respond "Oh No, George!" as George fails to control his more primal urges. The story very clearly highlights that George knows that he's been naughty but doesn't dwell on this, providing George with a chance to try to behave properly, right up to the final page (where both of my children have decided it would likely conclude with an 'Oh No, George!' moment).
I've only docked a point below for 'child's enjoyment of story' as it can perhaps place excessive emphasis on the visual, specifically on the 'Oh No, George!' parts - for a younger audience the art style may leave them wondering what exactly is going on when George is demolishing the pot plants for example but really this is a minor concern (and can be swiftly dealt with by some good sound effects!).
The illustrations do a great job of conveying the story with the paper-cut-like images, mostly of George the rose-coloured rascal but also the green people who inhabit his world... and Cat, who can be found hiding in the background for most of the first half of the book. Poor Cat. I can't completely work out just how the original illustration are done - on the odd occasion there even seems to be some curious pixellation making it look like they were done on Deluxe Pain on the Amiga in the 1990s...
Overall, the book is simple and funny for both children and adults alike, with the whole book taking just a handful of minutes to read (always a winner for bedtime stories!).
Parent's reading-out-loud enjoyment rating: 5/5
Child's enjoyment of story: 4/5
Preferred voice to use for George: Ray Winstone
Cakes consumed by dogs: 1 out of a possible 2
Images used here taken from Chris Haughton's website
No comments:
Post a Comment