Publisher: Robinswood Press
Author: Guy Hallifax
Illustrator: Rebecca Sands
Age range: 3-6
Price: £7.95 (paperback)
Website: www.robinswoodpress.com
Bruno flumped down on the back
doorstep. This was not good.
Not a good day at all. He’d got his
mouth all ready for biscuits. He
really, really wanted biscuits.
He closed his eyes for a big think.
Bruno, the little bassett hound puppy in this book by Guy Hallifax, does a lot of thinking – but then, there’s a lot to think about when you’re the smallest puppy in the litter and you need to work hard to get noticed.
Bruno contains three stories, ‘Bruno and the big think’, ‘Bruno and the biscuits’ and ‘Bruno and the snowy stuff’. The illustrations, by Rebecca Sands, steal the show. Bruno himself is an extremely lovable creation, perfectly capturing the charm of a puppy.
Equally eye-catching is the creative use of typography. Different typefaces are used for different characters in the stories, and there is some very effective use of different text sizes to drum home really important passages, such as when Bruno has one of his big thinks.
The stories themselves, by Guy Hallifax (best known for Bob the Builder), are entertainingly written and their length allows for quite a sophisticated structure. They are a good step up from more basic children’s books and a useful introduction to longer stories for young readers.
A proportion of the royalties from the sale of each book will go to help children suffering from haemophilia, a cause close to the heart of Dr Pamela Todd, who created the character of Bruno and wrote the original stories on which Guy Hallifax has based this book.
Bruno is a character with considerable appeal and more of his adventures would certainly be welcome.
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