Monday, October 04, 2010

Mrs Armitage on wheels

Image source: Amazon
Author & Illustrator- Quentin Blake
Red Fox- Random House
Ages- 4-8 years
Quentin Blake is probably more known as the hand behind the lovely and unmistakable illustrations that appear in Roald Dahl's books. This is the first book that we read which had been authored by him.

We all have a relative or a parent or a child, who potters around taking things apart and then embellishing or 'fixing' them. The world would really be boring without them.

Mrs Armitage is one more of those exciting types. Accompanying her on this fun ride is her faithful friend- Breakspear the dog.

The author paints a very engaging story here with the quirky Mrs. Armitage. She is ingenious, clever and maybe a wee bit over-enthusiastic. But her never say die and inventive approach are surely good traits to acquire.

She is a gizmo freak of a different kind- enhancing and accessorising her bicycle each time she feels the need. She begins by adding not one but 3 horns till it does not remain too sound an idea at all.

She is a kind soul and adds a seat for her dog, she is romantic and adds on a cassette player to wash away the blues and so on, till one can hardly recognise the bicycle .

Her eagerness finally causes the cycle to end up in the trash but she bounces back, this time on a cooler set of wheels- a pair of skates!!

Hilarious, light and engaging, with easy use of fonts and very lively illustrations, you will fall in love with Mrs Armitage ( an enthu patani for those of you familiar with that term) and wonder what mirthful adventure she is off to next.
And do look out for the onlookers in the story- be they rich ladies or old gentlemen or even a couple of cows- they look utterly baffled by her.

As we drew to the end of the story, Anushka, my five year old, began to guess how the gutsy lady was going to liven up the skates and make them more 'useful' or add 'oomph' to them. And therein another story was born...

16 comments:

GB said...

I love his illustrations in Dahl's books and when I saw the cover of this one, I assumed it was by Dahl too! Sounds like a fun book...shall try to pick it up!

Choxbox said...

Lovely pick Art!

Quentin Blake rocks! Went for an exhibition of his works one time, was awesome. He was the first Children’s Laureate of UK.

@GB: Agree! The association between the two is really strong. A bit like Julia Donaldson and Axel Sheffler I guess :)

artnavy said...

I guess Dahl and Blake are a couple of sorts

Chox
i was planning to do a cluster of the duo u speak of!!

Choxbox said...

Look fwd to it Art.

I had done it one time on my blog too :)

utbtkids said...

Got to read this, unfortunately not available in our library. As a consolation, I have Clown by QB on hold :)

artnavy said...

chox- then it would be better for u to share it here at ST no?

utbt- thanks to Uma i got to read this!!

Praba Ram said...

Sounds delightful, Art. Will pick it up. K is a roll with RD, yet again. One can't get enough of QB's quirky illustrations.

Thanks, Art! And thanks GB for dropping by! :)

artnavy said...

Hi P
Yeah GB is such an ocassional
visitor here!!

All
Added a link on the main post- http://www.quentinblake.com/about/meet_qb.html

SoulSpace said...

Scrumptious I say!

artnavy said...

Hi SSS
Long time! I share your love for this book...

Meera Sriram said...

Sounds delightful Art! Will try to hunt this one down.

sandhya said...

"She begins by adding not one but 3 horns till it does not remain too sound an idea at all."
Love the wordplay there, Art!

artnavy said...

Meera-
You must Meera- there is an entire Armitage series....let me know how the others are if you find them

Sandhya-
Could not resist that Sandhya

the mad momma said...

its funny you know, but you dont often find fun books for kids. theres always a bit of a lesson somewhere for them. this one sounds like plain fun with no ulterior motives.

artnavy said...

absolutely no motives ulterior or otherwise....just a fun ride

Meera Sriram said...

Found them, read them! A riot! Kids love it! We love QBlake, so the package is much appreciated! Thanks Art.

Related Posts with Thumbnails