Children's Book review

Oliver Who Travelled Far and Wide

By Mara Bergman

Published by Hodder Children's Books

Oliver Donnington Rimington-Sneep, the small boy with the big name, returns for further adventures, his quest this time to find his lost Ted, who is nowhere to be found.

But then Oliver notices his toy train is roaring and revving to go, and they steam through deserts and forests, over lakes and seas until Ted is finally found and they can all go home to sleep.

From the moment you open this book you're on an adventure in language and design. The tiny vignettes showing Oliver searching his bedroom for Ted suddenly open into the generous, sweeping page spreads of his fantastical journey, whilst the rhyming text has a balanced and assured simplicity.

Beautiful, imaginative, soothing, reassuring – the perfect bedtime story.

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Illustrator: Nick Maland
Reading age: 5+
Interest level: 3+