Pugs of the Frozen North by Reeve and McIntyre

Winter came in the night, like a white sheet laid over the world. It came so cold and so fast that the waves of the ocean froze as they rolled. The good ship Lucky Star froze with them, trapped tight in the suddenly solid sea.

Published by Oxford University Press in September 2015

Pages - 211

Summary

The Race to the Top of the World! It comes around once in a lifetime, and the prize? Your heart's desire. Shen and Sika can't resist the chance to win, but competition is fierce. The path to victory is littered with snow trolls, sea monsters, and a gang of particularly hungry yetis. But Shen and Sika have something the other contestants don't have. Actually, they have 66 other things; pugs to be exact. That's a 264 paw-powered sled. Let the race begin! 

*****

This book is delightfully bizarre! I'm completely convinced that sixty-four pugs could pull a sled in a race to meet the Snowfather. In fact, I would argue with anyone that doubted it.

From the moment the sea freezes over, I was wrapped up in this story. All the characters are quirky and unique. How could you not love Mitzi Von Primm with her newly grown Yeti fur or Helga Hammerfest and her beard?

The story is mind blowingly original. The Yeti Noodle Bar was the zaniest part of the book and yet so utterly believable. 

Sensitive situations were made extremely child friendly and I imagine children getting comfort from the way the story climaxes. 

I honestly don't know what I loved best - the illustrations or the words. They both work so beautifully together. I think someone should capture the imagination of Reeve and McIntyre and bottle it. It would sell for a thousands on Ebay. When I'm plotting in the future, I shall ponder over the question - what would Reeve and McIntyre do in this situation?  

I can see why these books are such a hit with the kids. They take situations further than extreme and make them down right hilarious. I would say it would suit the more confident reader but it would also be a brilliant book for parents and children to share together. 

What a super talented team.

An Interview with Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre

To celebrate the publication of Oliver and the Seawigs, I’m so pleased to welcome the book’s author, Philip Reeve and illustrator, Sarah McIntyre onto  the blog.

How did the working partnership between you both come about?

PR: We met at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010. Sarah was doing a drawing a day on her blog at that time, and I thought that sounded like a good idea, since I'd rather let my drawing lapse since I became a full-time writer. So I came home to Devon and started drawing landscapes, and we talked a lot online about drawing and stories, and became the best of friends. 

SM: The most interesting bit was when winter set in, and he kept going out on the moor and drawing. And I thought, if he’s braving the cold of Dartmoor to draw, I can at least manage to get to Greenwich Park. So I nearly froze my fingers off more than a few times, trying to keep up with him.

PR: At first I never imagined we'd work together, because our styles and outlooks are so different, but it was such fun inventing stories and throwing mad ideas to-and-fro that it just became inevitable.

 What came first - the storyline or some of the pictures?

PR: We came up with the idea together, and Sarah did some drawings of the main characters, which I referred to while I was writing.  But lots of the ideas in the story are Sarah's, and sometimes when I got stuck I'd just ask her what she wanted to draw!

SM: The Sea Monkeys came about because of an advert I’d seen in comics as a child, offering a family of sea monkeys if you’d send them a dollar. There was a little drawing of a happy underwater family - strangely humanoid - and I knew the sea monkeys couldn’t possibly be actual little people for only a dollar. So they started in our book with that advertising image, became part of our text, then I drew them as something slightly different.

I understand there are plans for further books in the series,  can you tell us anything about that yet?

PR: We've signed a contract for four books, and I hope there will be many more! They won't be a series in the usual sense, though: each one will be a new story, with new characters. The second is a space adventure, set aboard an enormous spaceship where everyone is asleep in suspended animation except for one girl who wakes up, and has to deal with various problems that arise, including cheeky aliens and... well, it's called Cakes In Space.

SM: We didn’t want to to tie ourselves down to one set of characters; we’re looking forward to playing around with entirely new ideas each time. And we like cakes, and space.

Your working partnership has been compared to Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake’s - how does that make you feel?

PR: McIntyre is a lot taller than Quentin Blake...

SM: Reeve isn’t quite as grumpy as Roald Dahl.

What projects are you working on individually at the moment?

SM: I’ve just finished a picture book with Scholastic that I’ve written myself, called There’s a Shark in the Bath and I’m working on another picture book with David O’Connell at the moment. I’m also the artist for next year’s Summer Reading Challenge, so I have a few posters and stickers and things to prepare for that. I’m trying to keep the downloadable activity sheets on my website up to date with each book and suddenly I’m getting requests from some of our foreign Seawigs publishers (Dutch, Turkish) to hand-letter the sheets in different languages

PR: I'm just finishing the third novel in my Goblins series, which will be published by Scholastic.

 

Oliver and the Seawigs is published by Oxford University Press. Check out K.M. Lockwood’s review here.

To find out more about Philip Reeve:

Website / Tumblr / Twitter / Facebook

To find out more about Sarah McIntyre:

Website / Twitter

Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve & Sarah McIntyre

Oliver Crisp was only ten years old, but they had been a busy and exciting ten years, because Oliver’s mother and father were explorers.

They had met on the top of Mount Everest.

(I wish you could see the goat saying ‘Meh!’as the mountaineers fall in love)

They had been married at the Lost Temple of Amon Hotep, and had spent their honeymoon searching for the elephants’ graveyard.

Published by Oxford University Press in September 2013

203 pages in hardback

Coloured cover with grey scale illustrations throughout.

Summary from http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk

Oliver grew up in a family of explorers - but his biggest adventure is about to begin! Along with his new friends, a grumpy old albatross, a short-sighted mermaid and a friendly island called Cliff, Oliver goes off in search of his missing parents. But before he can put his rescue plan into action there's the evil Stacey de Lacey and an army of greasy, green sea monkeys to contend with ...

*****

Reviewed by K. M. Lockwood

This illustrated book for children is frankly bonkers. It is stuffed full of enchantingly mad pictures by Sarah McIntyre and equally potty characters by Philip Reeve. Who could fail to love Mr Culpeper the grumpy albatross, Iris, a plump and resourceful mermaid and Cliff, the jolly wading island?

The story follows our brave ten year old hero Oliver searching for his missing explorer parents - and encountering some very strange places and problems along the way. It’s deeply daft - in a good way - and actually has a plot, not just a sequence of funny events. The overall story could suit a very able young reader -whilst there is peril, our hero and his friends overcome it with cleverness and courage. 

The illustrations, like the language, are a source of joy. Both are lively, unpatronising and imaginative. Dare I say it, but I believe some children might enjoy colouring in Sarah’s line-drawings?

I particularly enjoyed the places where the text and the images play with each other; for example, where a scene in darkness is written white on black or the pictures invade the page. Great fun.

There’s plenty for more experienced readers to enjoy and detailed artwork begging to looked at carefully. It would work very well as a book to read aloud and share: I wonder if OUP might consider a ‘Big Book’ for schools?

All-in-all, a splendidly funny book for good readers of seven and over. I would add that it is a good read for girls as Iris is a strong and central character. I do hope Oliver and his friends go onto have further adventures.