posted on 14 May 2017

The Snugglewump by Lou Treleaven, illustrated by Kate Chappell

This charmingly illustrated rhyming story retreads familiar picture book territory with its focus on the qualities of a much loved, but sometimes neglected item in a child's life- the Snugglewump. As often happens in the real world, this is a nondescript piece of fabric that plays an important part in providing the little girl Molly with comfort and reassurance.

It doesn't have the easy glamour of her many other toys - nothing to impress her at all it seems. So, when it overhears them discussing which toy she likes the best it has to compare its own qualities and starts to feel a bit anxious. The ancient doll tells them that she is an antique whereas the Snugglewump realises that it is merely quite old. Action Andy shows off his parachuting skills which it thinks it could possibly match if given the chance and when the Alien toy proclaims that she likes its slimy skin and tentacles - the Snugglewump reflects that ' I'm more the soft and squidgy type'. Nevertheless it is clearly having something of an identity crisis and so flops out of the cat flap and goes out into the wide world. After blowing around and then being stuck to a postman's shoe for a while, it ends up spending the night in the park. Here it reflects further on its lack of interesting features:

"How nice to be a toy", it thought, "with arms and legs and face.

I'm just a square with nothing there,

an empty waste of space..."

But of course it soon learns that it is very useful because a rabbit uses it as a hanky and afterwards two birds hang it out to dry on a tree. The next day, Molly spots it there and is absolutely thrilled to find it:

As Molly took it in her arms,

it understood quite rightly:

You know how much you're treasured

when your loved one holds you tightly

I really liked this gentle little story that has a strong message about being confident about ones attributes, whatever these might be. I can imagine using it as a starting point for discussing this with very young children. It could also be used as a way into talking with children ( and parents) about how they can have lots of imaginative fun with the simplest of items like the Snugglewump that are often much more adaptable that expensive gimmicky toys.

Karen Argent

May 2017