Soonchild by Russell Hoban and Alexis Deacon

This book came to me highly recommended by someone who has a good eye for the brilliant. On top of that, Patrick Ness, with whom I’m more than a little obsessed, is quoted on the cover saying “Hoban is the best sort of genius.” Further, I’ve had a soft spot for Alexis Deacon ever since I read ‘Beegu’.

All in all, I was pretty geared up to read it. And it didn’t disappoint.

Rather than reading the back or anything, I jumped straight into it taking what I found as I went. Immediately I was immersed in the ‘The North’, “where’s it so cold that your nose hairs get stiff and your eyeballs get brittle and your face hurts and your hands will freeze if you leave them uncovered for too long… Where the polar bear walks alone and is never lost.” Hoban’s words conjured up that north in my mind with just enough detail to guide me through it, without so much that my imagination didn’t have room to play in the snow.

Beegu by Alexis Deacon

Beegu is a cute little picture book about being lost and finding your place in the world, making friends and acceptance that a friend of mine introduced me to years ago.

"Beegu was not supposed to be here. She was lost."

An adorable alien looks for her parents and a place to call home, while adults disregard her at every turn. Children are the only people who accept her, and are the ones that leave a lasting impression when she is finally reunited with her parents. Read into that what you will, I just love this book!

Here's a little video of the story, turned into clay sculptures. It's not complete, and actually misses some the pages that I think are most important to the story, but it'll give you an idea anyway.

4 Gold Stars

Find it on Goodreads

A Place To Call Home by Alexis Deacon and Vivian Schwarz

Let’s get the first question on everyone’s lips out there from the start: They might be hamsters, or guineapigs, or mice, or gerbils, or something else. It does not matter. They are seven furry brothers and they are small and cute and that’s all that really matters for the story. So let’s read on.

“The trouble is, if you grow up in a small dark hole, even if you start out tiny, there comes a time when you’ve grown too big and the you have to go … out into the world.”

Then our seven furry brothers need a hole to replace the one they have outgrown, for they are scared their “EARS WILL FREEZE!”

Hehehe. Love it.

So, they don some hole-like objects that allow them to feel safe while they journey to find a new home-hole. Only one of them has a hole in his hole, and he alone can see.

So, terrain after terrain they traverse blindly, each with something to say until, horror of horrors, a beast steals away the brother who can see. At first they are too scared to do anything, but then they realised they have journeyed far and across treacherous terrains, so of course they can rescue their brother. Then, their mobile-homes/holes come in handy in subduing the beast in what is a rather funny spread.

Finally, they find a hole in the fence and realise that in it is their new home, for in that hole “is the whole world … and it is home.”

This book never fails to leave me smiling.