Review: Evie and Pog: Take Off! and Puppy Playtime!


This joyfully illustrated new junior series by gifted author / illustrator, Tania McCartney is an exuberant romp about the garden and neighbourhood playgrounds with best friends, Evie and Pog.

One is a young girl who adores cake, knitting and favours daisies above any other pretty thing. If Evie could read books, bake cakes and roll about in the daisy-spot grass all day, her life would be near complete, much the same way a dog's would be. In fact, sometimes Evie's behaviour is more pooch-like than her best friend, Pog's.

Pog is a young - well let's call him a Pug type breed of dog who's predilections for vegetables, engaging newspaper stories and a good pot of tea seem a little whacky or rather out of whack at first, but soon settle into the tone of the story. For it is precisely Pog's refined and reserved nature along with his level-headedness that cleverly counterbalances Evie's compulsive and clumsy capers (she trips over a lot!).

These two spend their days in their extremely cool tree house, each ensconced in their own favourite nook doing their own favourite things, content to cut and paste, read and sip. That is until life thrusts its head up their slide and invites them down on adventures.

In truth the adventures Evie and Pog tangle themselves up in often begin as days as ordinary as toast but are made increasingly chaotic and comic thanks to their overzealous, cleaning-obsessed, Granny Gladys and some often inconveniently placed knitting yarn.

Ironically, it is Granny's turbo-charged knitting ability that also frequently saves the day.


Three separate tales grace each of these books with common elements such as cupcakes, jungle gyms and puppies running throughout. The language is simple enough for confident early primary readers to handle with ease and is typeset to accent particularly interesting verbs and nouns creating visual interest and literacy excitement. Storylines promote friendship, problem solving and lateral thinking; there is always a messy dilemma to untangle themselves from and always a satisfying if not sticky outcome making these tales a breeze to enjoy.

McCartney's playful illustrations bounce with a unique jaunty flair encouraging readers to visually seek out the action and consequences of Evie and Pog's exploits rather than rely wholly on the narrative.

Quirky, fun and unexpected, this zany series is chock-a-block full of bizarre storylines, effervescent imagery and positive outcomes that all add up to maximum entertainment.

Take Off! and Puppy Playtime! are out now. In April 2020, Party Perfect! will complete this series pack. Let's hope there are more on the way!

 Title: Evie and Pog
Author: Tania McCartney
Illustrator: Tania McCartney
Publisher: Harper Collins, $12.99
Publication Date: January 2020
Format: Paperback
ISBN: Take Off! 9781460757932 Puppy Playtime! 9781460757949
For ages: 6 – 8
Type: Junior Novel

 Buy the Book: HarperCollins Children’sBooks, Boomerang Books


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Goldfish Boy

Image
Twelve-year-old Matthew Corbin is your regular pre-teen boy living in an unspectacular cul-de-sac deep in British suburbia. The major difference between him and the other inhabitants of Chestnut Close however is the state of his red-raw hands and tortured mind and the fact that he barely steps outside his terraced-home second story bedroom. Matthew is afflicted with severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD and can barely function as a result. From his fishbowl vantage point, Matthew keeps track of his neighbours, dutifully recording their every movement, their comings and goings, and their habitual rituals in his notebooks. In this way we are introduced to the residents and their characteristic irks and quirks from the get go in a way that is both intriguing and comical. Matthew’s observations allude to his condition; he is both analytical and detailed in his approach. The orderliness of his notations suggest a mind used to repetition and accuracy, an intense desire to ‘get things r
Read more

Review: My Shadow Is Pink

Image
What are little boys made of? Is it really frogs and snails ; everything that is not sugar and spice and all things nice that are otherwise attributed to the makeup of girls? Should blue be the only shade that maketh the man? Debut author illustrator, Scott Stuart blows these outdated tropes well and truly out of the water with this deliriously amusing and tender picture book, My Shadow is Pink . Our intrepid main character’s little face is a picture of consternation after he concedes that his shadow is not the strong blue that trails the other males in his family. His is a delicate shade of rose and mirrors that which he loves most: sparkles, dancing, twirling and dressing up. Despite his father’s reassurances that his shadow will adopt a more ‘manly’ appearance one of these days , and the little boy’s own yearning to fit in with the other acceptable shadow groups, he is unable to dismiss his conflicting feelings. Then one day an invitation to let his shadow dress up in its favour
Read more

Christmas Countdown Day 3 - The Grandest Bookshop in the World

Image
The Grandest Bookshop in the World It’s something I’ve always wanted to do – live in a bookshop and be surrounded by the magic of words and other spellbinding things, like cake. Siblings Pearl and Vally Cole are living that dream. But it’s not just any old bookshop; it’s the Cole’s Book Arcade in Melbourne. Their fantastical story germinates from their father’s own stirring rags to riches tale and meanders closely to the actual chronological time line of the eccentric Edward Cole, founder of Coles Book Arcade in the late 1800s. The key thing to remember be you staff, family member or patron of the Arcade is that buying a book is secondary to enjoying your visitation. Customers are encouraged to relax, read, dine on tantalising fare, wander through the exotic gardens harbouring monkeys, or perhaps select a curious toy for a well-behaved youngster. These fascinations really did exist and in the Cole children’s thrilling tale form the critical backdrops to their chilling (fictional) a
Read more