Thursday, 3 November 2016

The Great Sock Secret by Susan Whelan and Gwynneth Jones (Children's, Picture book, 9/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

October 2016, Exisle Publishing, 32 pages, Hardback, Review copy 

Summary from Exisle 
Sarah’s mother is tired of finding odd socks in the laundry basket. Where do all the missing socks go? Sarah’s mother is pretty sure the puppy is responsible but Sarah knows better. And her mother simply mustn’t find out the truth! The Great Sock Secret is a wonderfully fun adventure into an imaginative world that’s home to some very cool fairies. You’ll never look at your socks in the same way again!

Nayu's thoughts
While not entirely my favourite colour palette or style I liked how the pictures were cute and quite realistic in style. In this story more than some other picture books the pictures told over half the story - there wasn't a mention of the fairies or what they did until the end, which I found unusual but not a negative point. While I had wanted to know more about the fairies from the stories, the pictures really did speak volumes. The absence of information makes the reader think about what they are seeing, that the fairies used socks to play with and for ordinary life activities. Sarah helps hide the fairies from being discovered by her mother by searching the places the fairies lived herself, until the end when her mother thinks about searching for another item which is also used by the fairies! 

The only odd thing which did bring down the grade for me was that on the last few pages which has the same washing line with socks at the front of the book with fairies stealing socks, there's a boy fairy who doesn't have legs. There's just background where the legs should be. it looks super weird, and there's no other item that's blocking them from you. That aside I loved the sheer variety in the fairies hair and clothes as well as all the activities they do with odd socks. I love and only really wear odd socks, so fairies will love my sock drawer! 

Find out more on Susan's website




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