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Traction Man is Here

by Mini Grey

Interest age: 4+
Reading age: 5+

Published by Random House, 2006

  • Adventure
  • Funny
  • Picture books

About this book

Mini Grey’s sense of humour is in full surreal flow in this book. For Traction Man, feats of derring-do are all in a day’s work.

Do your toy animals need rescuing from evil pillows? Are your dolls in danger of being buried alive? Traction Man always saves the day with aplomb.

One day, though, his confidence takes a severe knock when Granny knits him an all-in-one green wool outfit with matching cap. Transformed in an instant from combat cool to sartorial nightmare, can Traction Man ever be a superhero again?

Readers so inclined can easily discern a positive message about one’s true nature residing within. Most, however, will be happy simply to revel in Grey’s wild imagination.

About the author

Mini Grey was given her name after being born in a mini in a car park in South Wales. After taking a foundation Course in Fine Art, she studied for an English degree at UCL, afterwards working as a theatre designer, then a primary teacher, before studying for an MA in sequential design at Brighton University.

Mini's first picture book for children, Egg Drop, a surreal story of an egg that dreams of being able to fly, was published in 2002. It established her as both a visually exciting illustrator of detailed, colourful artwork and a highly accomplished storyteller, who often narrates from an unusual point of view, such as that of the pea in The Pea and the Princess (2003) (shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway illustration award); the biscuit in Biscuit Bear (2004) - winner of the Nestlé Smarties Gold Prize (under 5s category) - and the spoon in The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon (2006).

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