Fuzz McFlops by Eva Furnari was originally written in Portuguese and has sold over 200,000 copies in Brazil. Hats off to Alison Entrekin who has done an outstanding job of translating it into English. It trips off the tongue when you read it out loud and has managed to retain all the warmth and humour that I can only imagine are in the original.
The story is dedicated to everyone with different ears. This may be a fun reference to the rabbit in the story but it also has a more serious and universal undertone, reaching out with a big heartfelt hug to anyone who feels different and wants to shut themselves away because they feel unloved and unlovable.
Fuzz McFlops is a famous poet but all his poems are a bit depressing and pessimistic. One day he receives some fan-mail with a difference - a feisty young female rabbit is daring to criticise his work and rewrite his poems in a more positive, upbeat style. How dare she ?!
Her good humour and positive attitude are quite infectious though and Fuzz McFlops actually starts to think that she may be right. The story is largely told through a serious of short letters between the two rabbits and it's lovely to see their romance blossoming as Fuzz is drawn out of his burrow (and his proverbial shell) into the world at large.
Even as a grown-up, I laughed in delight when Fuzz got the wrong end of the stick with the rain-sploshed postcard and raced off to rescue his damsel in distress, only to find her dying her fur and waxing her legs in a grotty old T shirt !
It's a really fun story with a lovely life lesson about never feeling bad about the little quirks that make you unique. The large number of illustrations and the fact that the letters break up the text would make this a great book for reluctant readers too.
At the end of the book, there is a humorous but educational look at some of the technical literary terms, such as fable, poem, fairy tale and telegram. Even that had me giggling so it really is a lovely book to share with your children.
star rating : 5/5
RRP : £6.99
- Paperback: 56 pages
- Publisher: Pushkin Children's Books (23 April 2015)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1782690751
- ISBN-13: 978-1782690757
- Product Dimensions: 14.8 x 1 x 20 cm
Disclosure : We received a copy of the book in order to write an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment