Ten Fat Sausages

Name: William Joseph
Price range: $

by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Tor Freeman

Interest age: 4 to 7
Reading age: 5+

Published by Andersen Press, 2018

Funny
Picture books
Poetry and rhyme

About this book

Many of us think we know the “Ten fat sausages, sizzling in a pan” rhyme, but what if the sausages opted out of their bang-and-pop destiny and made a run for it? Yet the ill-fated pan-deserters find that they might be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire with a series of unfortunate kitchen-related mishaps featuring a blender (ouch), a drain whirlpool and the relentless velocity of a ceiling fan.

Everything in this sausagey counting book works perfectly: Tor Freeman’s big, bold illustration is arranged in full page and split-page panels that really capture the action of the sausages’ numerous escapes. Michelle Robinson’s text hops along beautifully in a satisfying rhyme that works well for preschoolers, as well as entertaining adults and older children who will really get the silly humour.

About the illustrator

I was born in London, but a South African mother meant frequent trips there when I was little, and memories of holidays with my grandparents next to the sea are some of my most powerful and influential. Leaving secondary school, I knew I wanted to study art, but hadn't really registered that illustration might be a degree all by itself. Finding that it was, I went to Kingston, and meeting a class of twenty other people interested in the same things as me was sort of a revelation - here were more people who'd drawn fairies in their teens, liked to talk about types of pencil and thought Maurice Sendak was wonderful.

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