Nannycatch Chronicles
by James Heneghan and Bruce McBay
illustrated by Geraldo Valerio
CM, Volume XIII Number 3, September 29, 2006
When children outgrow Piglet and Eeyore at the House of Pooh Corner, now there�s a nearby place to learn�gently�that everything in this world doesn�t always turn out all right in the end. It�s called Nannycatch Meadows. And it�s in the Great Forest, across from Grotty Bottom, which is located between Sheepshank Knott and Pokey Edge. You can�t miss it because James Heneghan and Bruce McBay have put a map at the outset of Nannycatch Chronicles. The marvellous place names of that map, such as Boggle Hole, Biskey Fen and Pussytoe Hollow, are derived from real villages that Heneghan and his wife discovered in the north of England during a recent walking tour. Having collaborated with McBay on several books already, Heneghan was happy to lend his list of places to the process of creating an unusual chapter book about an unassuming possum and his decidedly nasty uncle. The drawings by Geraldo Val�rio are comfortingly familiar, teensy etchings of Chief Moose, a tea pot, Chipmunk, Robin and Bear. But the amusing and concise storylines in Nannycatch Chronicles are a tad different. More than a few of the charming critters die. Or rather, they get killed. Sometimes not entirely by accident, usually because Uncle Possum is as careless as he is callous. The Nannycatch News carries the UPSETTING news but it appears nobody can do much about such things. Death, like a well-known four-letter word, happens.
Good-hearted Possum can�t fix his Uncle Possum�s temper. �Uncle�s heart grows nastier and meaner every year,� he says. �He yells at babies, he doesn�t believe in Christmas or coloured crayons or bubblegum, and he never plays any games. Uncle Possum doesn�t know the meaning of fun.� As a radical measure, Possum arranges for his uncle to have a heart operation to get it fixed. �If the operation is a success,� says Chipmunk, �perhaps your uncle will become a vegetarian like us.� But no such luck. In Nannycatch, whimsy is seldom rewarded. The procedure fails and Uncle Possum remains as cantankerous as ever.
A new highway is built by humans, making refugees of Possum�s friends. He tries to help everyone, heroically saving Old Weasel�s life. But fatal and near-fatal accidents continue. Skunk is killed when Uncle Possum hurls a book at him. Forced to try swimming, Swallow drowns. �Swallow swallowed a lot of water,� notes Woodpecker. Nannycatch Meadows, like the real world, is a charming but dangerous place. Illustrated by little tombstones, there�s a Publisher�s Warning at the outset. �Everything dies: flowers, trees, elephants, bees, hamsters, turtles, dolphins, dogs, cats� Everything. Nothing lives forever. Everyone knows this. Young readers, however, should guard against this book falling into the hands of grown-ups, many of whom get quite upset whenever the subject of death is mentioned. Don�t ask us why.�
BC Bookworld
This little book contains a humourous and engaging series of adventures in the life of Possum and other forest animals. There are twelve chapters in all and this book could easily become a favourite bedtime read that the caregiver would have to begin again each two weeks!
Written for five to nine year olds, the authors examine all kinds of behaviours and events. Selfish relatives, sad events like animals being hit by vehicles while crossing the road and birthday parties are all covered with equal aplomb. Each day is a new day but things don't always go wonderfully well and this book matter-of-factly deals with the things that can go wrong as well.
Relationships and lessons that can be learned from things that happen are the focus of this book. Suitable for a family read (so that the discussions resulting from the ways the animal acts and react can be discussed using family values) more so than a classroom one. This would be an interesting addition to the library.
-- by Susan Miller. Resource Links, Volume 11, Number 3, February 2006
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