Rah!

Some books deserve a far better and wider-reaching reputation than the have. What goes wrong? Not fitting with the precise marketing fashions of the time I guess: some books – albeit often brilliant ones – receive saturation coverage while others come and go with a whisper.

Rah! was published in 2002/3 and we must have picked it up in the library around that time - and we fell instantly in love with it. Now B has got to know it and loves it just as much. But no-one else seems to know about it. It has receieved just one review on Amazon, I’ve never seen it in a bookshop and nobody else has listed it on Librarything. But it’s great.

Lotte is a toddler/preschooler who spends the day at home with her mum – she’s pretending to be different animals as the day progresses and any parent or child will recognise the swift-changing moods and the way that play and chores merge together when dealing with a lively child. By suppertime Lotte, now a crocodile, is tired and crochety and shouts at her Mum, resulting in her sitting alone at the bottom of the stairs. Tor Freeman is sparing with the details here, but if you are the sort of household which uses the ‘naughty step’, I am sure that a child would assume that was what was happening. Or is it just that Lotte discovers that the attention she has enjoyed from Mum all day doesn’t happen when she is unpleasant?

But Lotte’s Mum, with support and insight, helps Lotte out of her crocodile mood and welcomes the real Lotte back with affection – while Lotte shows the resilience so typical of kids this age, because by the time she falls asleep, she’s already turned into another animal!

The illustrations are lively, colourful and full of gentle, everyday affection. Text and images work well together, pacing the story beaustifully. Be calls ‘Rah’ the “ME book” – in clear recognition of the dramatic moment-of-truth point in the story.

Tor Freeman has a lovely little website with lots of examples of her work. I’ve yet to see another book by her, but I’m on the look-out.