French Illustrator
Ronan
Badel
The Lazy Friend
Gecko Press 2014 $24.99hb 24pp
ISBN 978 1 9272 7141 4
Themes: Bravery/ Courage/ Determination/ Friendship/ Jungles/
Sloths/ Wordless picture books
The
lazy friend of the title is Sloth who remains asleep through the whole drama
and yet, he is the cause of it all! When the tree fellers come to the jungle,
they cut down a tree on which Sloth is fast asleep and load him on to a truck.
Snake, his friend, slithers into action and follows him onto the truck while
the other friends wave a sad goodbye. The power of the illustrator, Ronan Badel,
is such, that he manages in a few simple lines, to convey abject misery on the
faces of Toucan and Frog as they sit on a tree stump, waving. Dramatic adventures
follow and then Snake organises the escape and the pair make it back home with Sloth
opening one slightly bemused eye on arrival. Stories within stories abound here
and there will be more to discover on each opening of the book. Older students
may well wonder at the skill of the artist who manages to tell such a story of
courage and determination without actually writing one word.
Adults
with imagination will have much delight in telling and sharing the saga in
their own words.
Preschool up/ Age 4 up.
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