Whingeville by Coral Vass and Aleksandra Szmidt

Will loves to whinge. He whinges about everything. Nothing it seems is to his liking. He complains about dirt and dessert, about showers and dinner. The fish is too fishy, the chips too old, the ice cream too cold. One night a magnificent hot-air balloon stops by and whisks him off to a kingdom where he is crowned king. This is Whingeville, the land of the Grumps and as king he must hear every complaint. He is given a crown, a gown and a throne and as he sits in all his majesty thinks he will like it here. But the complaints begin straight away. People don’t like sharing the air, the water is too wet, the dogs too pink, spaghetti too long and the sandwiches too square, the cats too fluffy, their pants too tight. Will is overwhelmed with the whinges until he has had enough and storms off, catching the hot-air balloon back home, a wiser and more chastened young boy. He has leant his lesson.

Children will love Will and his dream of being a king. Like him they will expect it to be perfect, until the people start their complaints just like he used to do. The comparison is obvious and children will laugh with glee at the turnaround as Will must put up with the host of whinges from the populace. And readers will see what a lesson he has learnt when being put in the position of having to listen to a long queue of complaints.

The audience will love the rhyming text getting ready to predict the rhyming word at the end of each sentence and adore the illustrations with a host of things to look at in the background. Kids will laugh out loud at this enticing read a loud book with illustrations to pore over.

The different look of the end papers will intrigue as information about the author and illustrator is included, along with an array of other books produced by this company. Larrikin House is a new publisher, promoting quirky, original and humorous books in partnership with long time education publisher, Learning Discovery.

Find out more here. Their range of books offers a refreshing alternative to the many issue books currently available, and the laugh out loud facet of their list is very welcome.

Themes: Humour, Complaining, Responsibility.

Fran Knight