Book review: Jim by Hilaire Belloc and illustrated by Mini Grey
Be careful of the lions.
That was the warning that I heeded, but sadly Jim did not.
Mine came from a representative of Random House, and I was of course delighted to receive a review copy of; Cautionary Tale of Jim, to further learn why such caution should be adopted.
This is an illustrated update of a classic, written, and originally published in 1907, by Hilaire Belloc.
I have to admit to have never read the original, and for that matter, ever knowing of it, but the description of this book had me interested.
The book promises gatefolds, flaps, a fold-out map and a terrifying pop-up lion, I was sold. Plus free is my favourite price.
Bringing the book to life is illustrator, Mini Grey, and she does an absolutely marvellous job, doing exactly what it says on the tin, or marketing promotion, in this case.
Mini, named after being born in a car of the same moniker, demonstrates tremendous talent, and I am sure why she was amongst the top ten illustrators in the UK, as part of the 2008 Big Picture campaign.
For children’s books, this is aimed at older kids than I am currently used to – it is targeting the 7-9 age group – yet it has a wonderful feel to it.
The quality is fantastic, and I did find myself treating it quite gingerly, almost like the book was more precious than the others in our growing library.
Physically I suppose that is true, as with all the aforementioned upgrades – flaps, pop-ups etc – if given to little ones I would imagine that its effectiveness may be diminished quite quickly.
It probably warrants its own shelf on our children’s bookcase.
The story itself is a little grim, and real too, but I like that, and the serious message it actually contains, is still amusingly told.
It is actually more a poem that tells a story, and if an adult was just reading the text, it would not take a great deal of time to read. But the illustrations are so vibrant, interesting and full of detail, that I suspect the book would never be read that way in any case.
My four year-old son was a little frightened by the book, but still interested enough to want to have it read to him several times, and he spent quite a bit of time pouring over some of the drawings and features.
It would probably make more sense to a slightly more mature child too, as it uses the term ‘Nurse’ as meaning child carer, rather than as how my boy currently understands what that job title means.
But again, and conversely, it is a prompt to expand understanding in the younger ones.
If you would like to buy a copy of the book, it is available on-line from the commercial arm of Random House, Rbooks.
And if you enjoyed this review, and would like to see what else we have been reading, you should hopefully find all our reviews here, that is if we have tagged them correctly.
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I love Hilaire Belloc! I’m so thrilled to hear about this book. Thank you for sharing!
No worries, glad that you do. My son and I really enjoyed this book, even if at first read he was a little put off.