Little lunch: The slide by Danny Katz and Mitch Vane

Another trio of short stories in this eminently collectable series of tales set in a school at recess time will delight early chapter readers. Katz’s perceptive look a the goings on in the playground during that most important fifteen minutes of escape from the classroom will have students laughing with glee as they recognise situations and people they have come across. And the funny take Katz puts on events will see a lot of sharing as kids want to read bits aloud, particularly words not normally come across in print. Vane’s accompanying equally hilarious illustrations give faces to the events, and in one case a very big bottom, that will make sure everyone is focused on what happens to that bottom.

The first story, The Slide, tells us that Mrs Gonsha has the most gigantic bum: one so large it looks like a bean bag filled with porridge. The description was enough to have me scream with laughter and the illustrations will further entreat readers. So what happens to this mammoth behind? Stuck in the playground slide. So a solution is needed, one that involves a banana skin. The very next story, not to be outdone in humour, has the children finding something absolutely gross in their sandpit. Finding it was horrid enough but having to dispose of it after some of them used it as a soccer ball, will ignite readers’ imaginations and invoke the problem solving skills of the glorious Mrs Gonsha.

And the third story, The principal’s office will sit well with many students for whom that place is a place not often frequented. But Rory is one of those students who has a place in the corner of this office with his name on it. Not only does he pick his nose and squirt water at the others, but he incurs the wrath of Mrs Gonsha which sees him spend the morning in the corner. Here he receives messages of support from the class when they are out at little lunch and he is not.

First published in 2003, this series is a very welcome reissue. The humour in the telling and the zaniness of the stories, captured by the wonderfully apt illustrations will engage a new audience, willing to see the very funny side of their time in the playground at little lunch.

Themes: Humour, Playground, Recess, School.

Fran Knight