- The Observer,
- Sunday May 25 2008
I, Nigel Dorking (Puffin £5.99) by Mary-Anne Fahey (ages 10-13) could be narrated by Adrian Mole's Australian younger brother. Fahey is one of Australia's leading comediennes, and her first novel is a gloriously funny, touching and astutely observed story of family break-up and school bullying, as seen through the eyes of a precociously intelligent and socially inept 12-year-old. Nigel tries his best to live by the chivalric code his father taught him before leaving the family home for the evil, father-stealing sorceress Babette, but the young knight faces many trials on his quest to get his parents back together. There is the problem of his brother Ivan, who has cerebral palsy (though Nigel secretly hopes he might turn out to have the brain of Stephen Hawking), and his mother's relationship with Gordon, the kindly Scotsman who drives the 'spastic bus' - a marriage Nigel must prevent in order to bring his father home.
The Aussie setting might account for the liberal use of the word 'spastic', and some of the slang - 'utes' and 'stubbies' - could leave British children at a loss. But Nigel's agonies at school, his talent for getting himself into scrapes through the best of intentions, and his secret fears about himself and his family are portrayed with tenderness and comedy.
If Nigel's problems will seem painfully familiar to many children, the world of Toby Lolness in Timothée de Fombelle's first novel, Toby Alone (Walker Books £9.99) (ages 10-13) will seem strange and exotic. Thirteen-year-old Toby is 1.5mm tall and lives in The Tree with his scientist father and heiress mother. De Fombelle has brought a microscopic eye to this extraordinary landscape, where pools of water in the hollows of branches become vast lakes and ants are terrifying monsters. The novel opens as Toby is pursued by hunters through the branches and tells his story in flashback, translated here by Sarah Ardizzone with evocative illustrations by François Place. Toby Alone has been a bestseller in France and is translated into 22 languages; the ethereal world it creates pulls the reader in and the ecological message is saved from feeling too forced.
For younger readers (5-7) just moving on to books with more text, former Children's Laureate Anne Fine's Jamie and Angus Together (Walker Books £4.99) is perfect. Fans of the first book, The Jamie and Angus Stories, will know that Jamie is a resourceful only child who shares his games with Angus, a toy Highland bull, rendered with subtly varying expressions here in Penny Dale's gorgeous pencil illustrations. Jamie's everyday dilemmas are familiar to young children and will encourage them to share their own experiences; happily, there is always a cheerful ending.
UN Ambassador and Spice Girl Geri Halliwell has now added children's author to her bursting résumé with the launch of her Ugenia Lavender series for girls aged seven to 10. Ugenia bears a striking resemblance to her creator, but has anyone else noticed that her name is chillingly close to 'eugenics'? But I digress. In the first book, Ugenia Lavender (Macmillan £6.99), our heroine is picked on at her new school, but with the help of new friends, camp Rudy and Crazy Trevor - allegedly inspired by Halliwell's own best pals George Michael and Gordon Ramsay - 'good overcame evil and we totally came through'. It's all quite good fun actually, but with prose like that I don't think the likes of Anne Fine or Michael Rosen need fear for their laurels at present.
