posted on 14 Oct 2019

Malcolm and the Trampoline by Katy Segrove, illustrated by Katerina Vykhodtseva

I was pleased to see another in this series of softly-coloured picture books focussing on this quirky group of animal friends as I very much enjoyed the last one. It is one of the’Happy Go Hopscotch’ series published by Tiny Tree, which aims to teach children about the ‘Science of Happiness’. Rather a big ask you might think, but if this means that their gentle stories should bring a smile to the face of the young reader, I think that they succeed with this one.

The little community is basking in the sunshine and so it seems to be the perfect opportunity for a trampoline party in Rainbow Mews. Most of the animals living there are very keen to bounce away all day, despite the evident heat. Once again we meet Hopscotch the horse, Ingrid the pig, Carlo the cat, Jules the hen and Barbara the sheep, all with their distinctive personalities which are shown in how they approach the activity. It seems that they are all noisily enjoying themselves apart from Malcolm the cow ( my favourite character by far) who much prefers to while away the day reading his book under the shade of a tree.

The various trampoline antics look like good fun, but are very noisy and Malcolm just can’t concentrate. Everyone tries to persuade him to have a turn but he moves away from the party to sit to read his book on a quiet bench. But Barbara the sheep is not going to give up pestering him to try out the novel experience of trampolining. He remains unconvinced and goes off again in search of a peaceful spot which he finds sitting comfortably in his favourite armchair at home. Unfortunately he is soon disturbed again when, you’ve guessed it, those irritatingly exuberant gang of friends appear bouncing up and down outside the window, having now moved the trampoline into his garden! This seems rather intrusive as he has deliberately distanced himself from the mayhem and my favourite illustration shows him then looking wistfully around his book lined room that even includes a library ladder:

‘ I do like books’, he said to himself.

Will he be tempted to join them? I am not going to reveal exactly what happens next for this very tolerant book-loving cow who just longs for some peace and quiet, although it wasn’t quite what I hoped for. When I was a child I can vividly remember being quite annoyed by my mother nagging me to come down from my bedroom where I was happily reading and ‘ get some fresh air and exercise’. Surely the growing brain and imagination need to be nourished at least as much as the body, so please lets hear it from Malcolm’s point of view a bit more strongly? You might guess that I would never consider trampolining over reading a book, no matter how persuasive the argument for trying something new might be. Despite this minor grumble, I really liked this unusual story and there is plenty of scope for children and adults to discuss their individual preferred activities.

Strongly recommended.

 

Karen Argent

October 2019