What can I say about this book that hasn’t already been written over and over in blogs and newspapers already? I can’t write an unbiased opinion of Dixie O’Day because I love Shirley Hughes and Clara Vulliamy so much. As Polly at Little Wooden Horse says, the names on the front cover should have had you rushing out to buy this book as soon as it was released!
For anyone who has found this page by accident, and doesn’t already know, Dixie O’Day is a gentleman dog who, with his best friend Percy, drives an excellent motor car that he takes great care of. The car was not new but it was a very clean machine. Dixie and Percy get into some exciting scrapes, and this tale involves an all-day race between two towns. They have a worst enemy, Lou-Ella from next door, and lots of helpful friends.
Dixie O’Day is adoringly ‘retro’ in style. You’d be more likely to find Dixie and Percy listening to the radio than playing on iPads. Children are immensely adaptable. They may not have the cultural reference for the era (1960’s) that the book represents, but they accept it in the same way that talking dogs driving cars is completely normal.
The Dixie O’Day series has been designed with seven chapters so it can be read one for every day of the week. The chapters may have exciting cliff-hangers, encouraging anticipation for the next night’s story. It’s also possible to read in one go if you read lots to children but separating it into chapters allows busy parents a natural break point, and is just right for building early reading stamina.
I have been thinking, and writing, a lot about gender recently and it would be lax of me not to mention gender in relation to this book. The main characters are male, and the lack of female animal characters in picture books is something Carmen at Rhino Reads writes about compellingly. However, this book comes from the pens of two author / illustrators who are exemplary in their inclusion major female characters throughout their work. This particular story does happen to have more male characters. But let’s look at the two main female characters from In The Fast Lane in detail:
Lou-Ella
Lou-Ella is the neighbour from hell. She is a character you love to hate, somewhere between Cruella de Vil and Penelope Pitstop. She’s self-centred, mean and thoroughly unlikable. I’m not really selling this character to you? But she’s also an independent woman who can afford to buy a brand new car every year. There’s no husband behind the scenes or any implication that she’s a ‘kept woman’; she’s earning well and is motivated to get what she wants. There’s a lot of unknown back-story here, and much potential.
Auntie Dot
Auntie Dot may only appear on one page, but she is absolutely pivotal to the plot. Without her input, Dixie and Percy wouldn’t get the outcome they achieve. In a similar manner to Dave’s big sister Bella saving the day in Dogger, Auntie Dot is essential. You can’t get more positive than that. She’s also adorable and I hope we see more of her in future stories.
Dixie O’Day: In The Fast Lane is packed full of extras to hold the interest of today’s iPad generation. There’s the map of the route, interviews, quizzes, and so many things to see on every page that you could easily fill at least a month of activities riffing off different interests. There’s even a sneak peek at the second book in the series: The Great Diamond Robbery. MG and DG are huge fans of Dixie in his own right already, and this is a book we re-read regularly. I get to both read and be read to by MG, which is a lovely role reversal!
Future books will have different colour covers for instant identification, but the duotone interior will remain the same (how could we lose Dixie’s gorgeous red car?!) Dixie O’Day: In The Fast Lane is not only an important entry in the world of children’s literature on account of its creators, it’s an excellent start to an exciting series that children will love.
Related posts:
Interview at The Book Sniffer
Interview at Library Mice
Interview at Playing by the Book
Review from Little Wooden Horse
Review from Read It, Daddy
Review from Kate Louise (includes book trailer)
Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Dixie O’Day: In The Fast Lane by Random House Children’s Books for review. No other financial reward was given and the opinions are my own. I was not asked to write this post.
Anna Hibiscus
There are currently seven Anna Hibiscus books published – two picture books and five chapter books – with at least one more chapter book in the works. They are all wonderful and I can’t praise them highly enough.
Atinuke wrote the stories because she found that in the UK children weren’t aware of the Africa she grew up in; the affluent business Africa of big cities and business deals full of traditions and family customs. So she wrote about Anna Hibiscus, who has an African father and a Canadian mother, and her adventures in a middle class African home. Atinuke is from Nigeria, but she chose to write about Amazing Africa rather than a specific country.
Lauren Tobia illustrates these books with warmth and humour and makes you feel like you are in Africa with Anna and her family. The illustrations are spot on and essential to help children who don’t come from this culture to visualise the world Anna is growing up in.
The chapter books are lovely for emerging readers, being short enough for early readers but with enough interest and layers to work for older readers too. Each book contains four separate stories, which can be read as individual stories, but also builds up into a longer tale. For example at the end of book one Anna discovers she can visit her Granny in Canada; in book three she shops for winter clothes; book four is the Canada visit; and book five contains her return.
There are many other stories contained in these books as well. These cover Anna’s brushes with the poverty that exists in the city side-by-side with the more affluent world she inhabits; lots of family love and excitement; the horrors of hair brushing and more!
Anna lives with all her family in one house: parents, grandparents, cousins, aunties and uncles. She has cousins called Benz, Wonderful, Chocolate, Thank-God, Sociable, Joy, Clarity, and Common Sense; and twin brothers called Double and Trouble. This quote from the first Anna Hibiscus chapter book gives an explanation of the names by way of a conversation between an Auntie returning to America and talking to Anna’s grandparents:
“Welcome, Comfort!” Grandfather said.
“Thank-you, Father,” Auntie Comfort replied. “But I am now called Yemisi.”
“Why?” said Grandmother. “What is wrong with Comfort?”
“I wanted to have an African name, Mama,” said Auntie Comfort.
The aunties started to laugh.
“Comfort is an African name,” said Grandmother.
“But it is an English word, Mama,” said Auntie Comfort.
“It is an English word, but an African name,” said Grandfather. “Have you ever heard of any English person being called Comfort?”
The importance of family and caring for people is deeply rooted in all the stories, which can be enjoyed by all ages. The chapter books are lovely read-alouds for younger children but there are also the two picture books.
In Anna Hibiscus’ Song, Anna is full of so much happiness but she doesn’t know how to express it. She asks her family, who tell her all the different things that they do when they are happy, and then discovers her own way, which is to sing. A wonderful book full of joy, and also good for helping children find ways of dealing with all the big emotions that come along. We try to help small children with emotions like sadness, fear, and anger; but happiness is big too and deserves attention.
In Splash, Anna Hibiscus, the family have gone to the beach. Anna wants to splash in the waves but all of her family is too busy. She wants to splash with somebody, but the pull of the waves gets her splashing and giggling, which fills all her family with joy too.
I love this double page spread especially, it perfectly captures the feeling of aloneness:
But soon after, Anna is joined by her family and this spread captures family togetherness and joy:
There are so many reasons to love the Anna Hibiscus books as wonderful stories with beautiful illustrations; but the inclusion of a mixed-race family and unfamiliar cultural setting (for the UK) make these important books to share with every child.
If you’ve not read any before and you’re not sure which one to start with, I recommend Splash, Anna Hibiscus for toddlers & up and Anna Hibiscus for pre-schoolers & up; but once you’ve read those, you’ll want to read them all. We all love amazing Anna Hibiscus here, and we hope you will too.
You can read an interview with Atinuke at Playing by the Book, and I recommend watching the videos there too. You can see more of Lauren Tobia’s gorgeous artwork on her website.
Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Splash, Anna Hibiscus! by Lauren Tobia for review, but had already bought the other Anna Hibiscus books independently. No other financial reward was given and the opinions are my own. I was not asked to write this post.
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Posted in Books, Detailed Picture Book Commentary, Picture Books, Unsolicited Review
Tagged Africa, Amazing Africa, Anna Hibiscus, Anna Hibiscus' Song, Atinuke, Good Luck Anna Hibiscus, Have Fun Anna Hibiscus, Hooray for Anna Hibiscus, Lauren Tobia, Splash Anna Hibiscus, Walker Books, Welcome Home Anna Hibiscus