I love this book. It is so bizarre that it just seems to work.
Pavey's illustrations are something else all together. There are an incredibly detailed mix of styles from cross-hatch to sparse cartoon-ish parts coloured gently with pencil. There are bright and arresting elements and then at times some very realistic looking animals. These are all combined on each page. There is just so much to look at it's fantastic!
The story itself is very funny too. Taggarty Toad turns up to an audience of animals as a guest speaker. The group consists of a cat, a chicken, a wallaby, a snake, an emu, a fox, and a dodo; just to name a few. Oh, and some odd looking lizzardy-dragon-thing (for a point of difference?).
Anyway, Taggarty Toad begins to describe how magnificent he is, how he's "indestructible" and then starts to list all the "unbelievable" things he has done. These include catching gigantic caterpillars, sailing the seven seas and tying a knot in the tail of a tiger. They become more and more far fetched until his speech is cut short when a tiger with a knot in its tail attacks him. The next (and final) page sees our big talking hero walking away covered in bandages.
Now, this will pose the question: 'Did he really do all those things?' Well splashing the sun and bending the moon don't really seem possible, so surely he hasn't done any of them and he's just a big show-man. BUT, why then, did the tiger attack him? Surely it wanted revenge for the wrong done to it? So, could all the other things also be true?
I'm sure you'll enjoy puzzling over these questions with your child/ren if you share this classic with them. I know I enjoy puzzling over them on my own.
Find it on Goodreads
