posted on 10 Dec 2017

Game of Stones by Rebecca Lisle illustrated by Richard Watson

The cheeky title with its reference to a more famous fantasy novel sequence and television series gives you a hint that we’re in for a pretty irreverent take on some historic events.

Back in the Stone Age if you wanted fun you had to make your own entertainment. Pod and his younger brother, Hinge, are bored and thinking about how they could make life a bit more exciting. This being the Stone Age the answer is obvious – stones.

Pod turns out to be endlessly ingenious and his first invention is the stone yo-yo. You might have wondered how the toy got its name – well, here’s the answer. Using the new stone toy too vigorously the stone flies off its creeper-string and hurtles onto the head of people and animals alike. And what do they cry? Yes, you’ve guessed it – Yow! Yow! You are allowed to groan here because that’s the level of the jokes.

Deciding that the yow-yow is too dangerous, Pod now invents cricket. He makes a wooden bat and uses animal bones for stumps but, of course, the fly in the ointment is the ball – and inevitably Pod decides it should be a round stone. Well the results are predictable as Hinge bashes the ball through the cave-house window.

But then Pod has a brainwave as he rolls some branches on a couple of stones – he’ll make Hinge the perfect toy. I bet none of you knew that these are the true origins of the skateboard.

And another age-old mystery gets solved at the same time.

Some of the very best minds have pondered the purpose and significance of Stonehenge but now the puzzle is solved! It was, of course, built to be a skate park for Hinge and his new skateboard. And we’ve had the name wrong all along – it was, some of you may have guessed, Stone Hinge! Yes, you can groan again here.

How could any youngster resist the sheer joy and silliness of all this? On top of that there’s the big, bold cartoon-like drawings that spread themselves over the full page and frequently give you a full double page panorama.

This is another visually stunning picture story book from Maverick Arts Publishing and it keeps up their reputation for top quality children’s picture books.

Terry Potter

December 2017