Ernest by Catherine Rayner

September 2009, MacMillan Children's Books
24 pages, Hardcover
Review copy

Clouds: 4/5
Pencils: 5/5
Yunaleska's recommended rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

Ernest is a moose. He wants to appear in the book. He does, only he wants all of himself in the book. Being a large animal isn't easy. His friend, a nameless female chipmunk (I think...) feels sad for her friend. She wants to help him out.

For most of the story it involves the chipmunk trying to squeeze and squish Ernest into the book. Several parts of him fit quite nicely, but not all of them together. Until she has a brainwave. How will Ernest fit in the book?

I liked how the background is graph paper, providing a hint for the ending. The large illustrations use what I think are crayon and pencil. The lack of fancy background didn't bother me, because of the end result it works better that the only illustrations are Ernest and his female chipmunk friend.

I hope there are more adventures of Ernest and his crafty chipmunk friend in the future. They make a good team.

Catherine's website which includes a list of her other books is here.

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