2008-05-10 A Lovely Book which works well for slightly older readers too

My oldest child (8) still occasionally likes to look at picture books, but there is little to bridge the gap between young childrens picture books and graphic novels. Then I found this. I bought it for her when we were going on an aeroplane and needed to keep her amused and she had a lovely time.

The story is that young Meerkat is tired of his noisy, busy family and their house, so he decides to spread his wings and do a bit of travelling around. As he moves from place to place he sends his family postcards, before realising that home, with the people who love him, is always going to be the best. Someone has commented in a review that this book is unoriginal. I would say that it is a traditional story, and there's nothing wrong with that. The postcard element has been done by the Ahlbergs with The Jolly Postman, and the travel story is probably not new either, but that doesn't mean that it's rubbish. On the contrary, it is a great spin on a tale that children will find comforting because they know the pattern to come.

It's nicely written with very high production qualities. The story is fun and the meerkats are naturally appealing to children, and indeed most adults truth be told. The pictures are detailed enough to leave room for lots of discussion with the child around the main story. The postcards Meerkat sends detach from the book and are really lovely and have all the authentic details like stamps, postmarks etc.

The story is quite long for a picture book, which is why my daughter enjoyed it, and all the extra twiddles means it lasts quite a while in holding their interest and provoking play. I made sure that along with the book I provided a book of blank postcards and some pens so that my daughter could make cards of her own travels. A really good holiday book.

Having mentioned that I gave it to my eight year old, the story is also suitable for younger children, although you naturally have to watch that the postcards stay put.