Rating seem to show now we just need edits sorted and then we can all spend hours editing our old re...
Rating seem to show now we just need edits sorted and then we can all spend hours editing our old reviews so they look okay! Thanks Ciao
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Oscar by Torbjorn Lundmark and Dana K. Lundmark ISN 0868962813 Published by Ashton Scholastic
Yet another of my children’s books brought back with us from Australia in 1989 so it is quite an old book. It was actually a birthday present from a pre-school friend of my 27 year old daughter! It has been read to many classes of children in school over the years and my husband read it to our grandchildren when they stayed the night a few weeks ago. All enjoyed the story and appreciated the humour which is expressed in both the story and the illustrations.
The story is about a nice, well behaved little boy called Oscar who hates salami (I question why anyone would force their child to eat salami) and his ingenious ways of avoiding eating the stuff.
The illustrations showing Oscar’s hatred of salami are wonderful and I love the way hid huge floppy dog echoes his facial expressions throughout the book. Oscar thinks salami smells like” dirty old socks” and looks like “squashed frogs”. However if Oscar does not eat the salami he does not get his icre-cream which he loves so sneaky tricks are needed. Oscar stuffs the salami in his pockets at the table while the dog has a grin on his face like Mutley from the “Wacky Races”.
Another touch I like in the illustrations is the scene with Dad wearing an apron is loading the dishwasher while Mum in her high heels is reading the paper and enjoying a cuppa. Once Oscar has achieved the first stage in his plan and loaded all the salami into his pocket having made chewing noises to cover his tracks, he enjoys his ice-cream with relish; the dog appears to prefer ice cream to salami too and is licking up spills.
Back in his bedroom Oscar if left with the problem of how to dispose of his pocketful of the dreaded salami until he spots his piggy bank. Luckily salami just slips nicely through the slot and so Oscar continues to put any salami he is given into said piggy bank. I can’t begin to imagine what his bedroom smells like; obviously Mum is not too house- proud and obviously has no sense of smell either.
All is well until one day Dad decides that Oscar’s piggy bank is very full and so they should take it to the bank to have it emptied. Once again the expressions on the faces of Oscar and the dog on the way to the bank are wonderful. They are almost as good as those on the faces of Mum and Dad and the bank teller when the piggy bank is broken open.
Mum and Dad are really cross and Oscar and the dog look suitably humiliated and guess what they offer Oscar for his next meal!
A new plan is called for. The dog holds a bag under the table for Oscar to put the salami in. The last page has no writing and just shows the god digging a big hole.
As I said this book really appeals to children as it is a bit cheeky. There are places when you can ask children, “What do you think is going to happen next?” It is a fun book with a silly story and great illustrations which has given my family a lot of pleasure when reading it.
Thank you for reading. This review may be posted on other sites under my same user name.
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