The
alluring title had me immediately fishing my money out of my handbag; Davide Cali’s
hilarious, humour - filled story seriously distracting me from the book launch
I was actually there to attend – sorry, my bad!!
Commonly
enough, the story starts off with a teacher asking the main character Henry to
show his new classmate around school. We will never find out this little girl’s
name but she looks harmless enough with her massive fringe so off we go with
them on a trip throughout this mysterious school.
Chaud
decorates his story with a tone of understatement throughout. The first thing
Henry and his puppy show the new girl is the class pet – a massive, page
filling, jelly fish but apparently ‘there
really isn’t much to see’ so why would we get excited.
We continue further to meet the maths teacher
who has a striking resemblance to Albert Einstein. Nobody understands his
complex equations anyway so on we walk.
Among other curious things, there is an amazing secret science experiment taking place, while a couple of pages further on we are faced with the most amazing treehouse on the oval. It even features a roller coaster but again, there ‘really isn’t anything to see here’.
By now, it is lunch time and we make
our way to my personally favourite page – the cafeteria. A most wondrous
contraption with lots of buttons and scales squirts out a
yellow substance in all directions and we are informed that the
food usually isn’t too bad but there are sometimes problems with the mashed
potatoes.
After lunch, Henry guides us through a
Hogwarts-like library, past the all-controlling creepy janitor handling his
dashboard of spy cameras, past the dragon’s den and the magic-performing principal until we reach the end of
a seemingly normal school day and bid the teacher farewell. I am sure you will
enjoy the final twist of this beautiful little story at the pickup-zone just as
much as I did but I will obviously not spoil the surprise. Just watch out for
the little girl’s fringe and her mother’s means of transport….
This
book is perfect for older school children who like wizards, spy stories and
secrets. It is visually very appealing due to the striking machine, architecture
and creature illustrations in coloured ink, thus boosting
imagination. Plus, on every new page there are interesting details to discover
for both children and adults alike – for example the already mentioned Albert
Einstein lookalike or the PE teacher who reminds me of a certain Swedish girl in
stripy socks…
It is quite simply a little jewel of a
book, full of fun and quirkiness, that might work wonders on kids for whom school has lost its
fun and help remind them what a magical place it really can be.
Title:
The Truth
About My Unbelievable School
Author:
Davide Cali
Illustrator:
Benjamin
Chaud
Publisher:
Chronicle
Books
Publication
Date: 1February 2018
Format:
Hardcover
ISBN: 9781452155944
For
ages: 4+
Type:
Picture Book
