You can always rely on Kyle Mewburn to write a book that will make kids laugh and keep them entertained from start to finish.  Kyle’s latest book, illustrated by new talent Daron Parton, features a silly animal who likes being different.

Boo is the one and only blue gnu.  Well he thinks he is, until he meets Hoo.  Hoo tries to convince Boo that it’s more fun with two, but Boo likes being unique.  So Boo tries to make himself look different by adding touches of colour.  Boo has to decide whether it’s better to be the one and only striped or spotted blue gnu or whether things really are better with two.

Blue Gnu is a delightful, tongue-twister of a book about friendship and being different.  You can tell that Kyle has had so much fun writing this book!  You can get tripped up very easily with his wonderful, rhyming text.  Kyle always uses lots of ‘noisy’ words and Blue Gnu is no exception.  Sentences like “What a splotchy, spotty, dotty gnu!” and “What a hoopy, loopy, stripey gnu!” are fun to get your mouth around and it would be great to get the children saying it with you (try saying those sentences quickly three times!).  I love Daron Parton’s illustrations, which seem to fit the story perfectly.  He has brought Kyle’s silly gnu’s to life and made Boo and Hoo stand out from the herd.  His style is really unique and his bright, bold illustrations make the book great to share with a large group of children. I’ll look forward to seeing more of his illustrations in future books.  Book Design have also done a great job of positioning the text so that it doesn’t get in the way of these wonderful illustrations.

If you’re not already hooked on Kyle Mewburn’s books, you will be once you read Blue Gnu.  Grab a copy from your library or bookshop now.