Grandude's green submarine by Paul McCartney. Illus. by Kathryn Durst

Following on from his first book Hey Grandude! Paul McCartney presents another magical adventure involving his Chillers (grandchildren).  They are cooling down in Grandude’s Invention shed and see a picture of their adventurous grandmother (Nandude).  Grandude suggests they use his favourite invention, the green submarine, to go in search of Nandude. The journey begins with the submarine skimming through the clouds to find their friend Ravi in a small Indian village, who may have clues as to Nandude’s location.  A monsoon makes it necessary to escape with the submarine down a river and into the depths of the ocean, following the tune of Nandude’s favourite song to find her.  Drama ensues when a giant octopus sends them into darkness until Nandude saves the day in her underwater sailing ship entrancing the octopus with her music and taking them home for tea.  Although the book flows well there could have been some tighter editing to convey the story with less text but the illustrations do a marvelous job of supporting and enriching the story. 

Some links to Beatles music are a little more evident in this book – a submarine, an octopus deep in the ocean, a friend in India; but children will just enjoy the rich visual feast in the gorgeous colourful illustrations in this book.  The story could spark an interesting discussion about what children call their grandparents as a few children who read it commented that there were too many “dudes” – maybe Nandude could have been Nangal!

Themes: Grandparents, Submarines, Music, Ocean creatures, Adventure, Inventions.

Gabrielle Anderson