Harvey and the Moon Bus by Jill Stanton-Huxton #Review
I am delighted to be taking part in the celebrations for Jill Stanton-Huxton's Harvey and the Moon Bus.
This is a beautifully-illustrated story about anthropomorphic
animals who have a fantasy adventure together.
It has an underlying theme and moral message which is the
importance of helping people.
In short, it is a fantastical adventure story for children 5-7 years old.
“Harvey is a grey cat with big green eyes and a long bushy
tail, who loves wearing his favourite pair of blue dungarees. What a lovely
sunny morning, Harvey thought, just the sort of day for an adventure.”
Harvey sees his friends, Chester and Nelly, heading for the
corner shop and boarding the Moon Bus, so he decides to join them. Harvey sits
next to a grumpy grey rabbit. The Moon Bus takes off and flies through space
and lands on the Moon and they all head off to The Moon Rock Sweet Emporium in
Moon Crater Alley.
Harvey loses Chester and Nelly – so when he sees the grey
rabbit heading for a nearby circus tent he decides to follow him, where he
meets a small mouse called Gretel. But they only have 15 minutes to reach the
Moon Bus before it leaves for the day!
Gretel tells him the magic mats on the Helter Skelter will
take them to the Moon Bus really quickly. The magic mat flies over the cobbled
streets towards a huge crater but Gretel falls out of Harvey’s pocket and
starts plummeting to the ground. Harvey manages to grab her safely. As the Moon
Bus is about to take off, Harvey uses the last of his three wishes to catch it
and jumps on board.. They look out of the window and see the grey rabbit
running along the runway after the Moon Bus… But will he catch it in time?
Full of fun characters, with magical situations, this is a lovely book to share with young readers. At 42 pages, it is accessible and the illustrations add to the sense of fun and movement. Divided into short chapters, it will appeal to early readers who are ready to attempt slightly longer books and the fast paced story will keep them interested to the end.
The underlying message of being kind and helping others is never overdone. It will however provide some opportunities for discussion. The first in a planned series of Harvey books, this is a great introduction to the characters and I am sure that young readers will warm to them.
Cat and Mouse say: Time to get on the Moon bus!
About the Author
JILL STANTON-HUXTON grew up in Buckinghamshire and
has a BA Honours Degree, a Diploma in Humanities and a
Diploma in Literature & Creative Writing from the Open University. She has
had non-fiction articles, short stories and poems published in magazines, local
newspapers and online. Jill has been a volunteer judge on the BBC Radio 2 500
words competition for the last two years, marking stories in the 5-9 year
range. She was also the winner of The Buckinghamshire Family History Society
Alan Dell Memorial Award for 2013.
The idea for the characters in the book came from her own
childhood and family pets. "The inspiration for the book comes from our
beautiful and charismatic Norwegian Forest Cat, Macavity. He is six years old
now and has become a local celebrity in the neighbourhood," says Jill.
"With so many of Macavity's cat antics to choose from and the fact that
I'm always making up stories in my head ... it was only a matter of time before
Harvey materialised
I plan on writing more books in the series ... what adventures
will Harvey and his friends go on next? Only time will tell," says Jill.
Harvey and the Moon Bus is the first in a planned series of
Harvey books.
Illustrated by Emily Brady. Her work can be seen here:
footloosecomic.com
Thanks to Jill Stanton-Huxton, Matador Books and Anne Cater
of Random Things Tours for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.
Check out the rest of the tour!
Thank you so much for supporting the Blog Tour x
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