Who is Stripy Horse?

Again we are back with another Kiddie Book review, which I apologize because I am still adjusting to writing.  Stripy Horse was found during one of those bookstore trips where Gavin, our son, wanted nothing to do with the selection process.  His only focus was to play with the other boy in the kids room who was also ignoring his father and playing with the gigantic Thomas train table.  Hats off to B&N for a great room and a tool to distract children when you need a few minutes to read a synopsis, but when you need you child’s attention you might as well be talking to a statue.  After 40 minutes of holding up picturebook after picturebook I finally got a tilted head and a “yaaaah” smile with the a Collection book I just held up because nothing was working, so off we went with The Adventures of Stripy Horse.

Did he chose Stripy Horse because he genuinely thought that was the best book we had shown him?  I don’t think so, I showed him many more books that were his taste and style.  I think I was getting more of a reaction to the silly floppy horse on the cover.  Regardless of fate or innate timing that selected the book, it was a tremendous selection, and was the right choice however it happened.  This edition has two stories:

• Who Are You, Stripy Horse?
• Look Out, Stripy Horse!

If you like dialogue stories as we do this is a real must have.  I must warn you the dialogue is quick and furious at times and with the nearly dozen characters or so it can get jumbled in your head if you do individual voices for each character as we do at storytime and bedtime.  I would suggest a practice run or four to get the voices down.  If you have no experience with the World of Weevil’s Bric-a-Brac Toy Shop I would liken the story to a cross between Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium meets some lonely Velveteen Rabbit toys.

The first story, Who Are You, Stripy Horse? is an origins tale if you will about a horse who wakes to life one day in a toy shop with no idea who he (or she) is and what it is to do.  Guided by a very Jiminy Cricket-like hummingbird from the lampshade he sets out to find Stripy Horse’s name from the very wise and mysterious Ming the Wise who resides a very far and treacherous journey across the toystore to the countertop.

The second tale, Look Out, Stripy Horse! has our seasoned heroes protecting the shop and it’s residents from some very mischievous monkeys who are reeking havoc across the toystore.  Think a half-dozen Curious George baby moneys all hyped up on Pez being hunted Jumanji style.

Both stories are equally well written and the pages are drawn in simple classic artwork which is nice to see artists still practice because it seems every book is now done with computer graphic artwork.  Imported from our neighbors across the pond, the English team of Karen Wall and Jim Helmore are sure to earn more sales from this household.