Rastamouse and the Crucial Plan

Meet Rastamouse and his team of crime-fighting mice, the Easy Crew! Bandulu is stealing cheese and President Wensleydale can’t catch him, so he calls on Rastamouse and his friends Scratchy and Zoomer, who rollerskate and skateboard in to save the day.

Fortunately, Rastamouse comes up with a clever plan to catch the thief and there’s a heartwarming twist at the end, as Bandulu stops his thieving ways and becomes Head Cook at the local orphanage.

Patterns of stars, snowflakes, and @ signs give energy to the otherwise white backgrounds on some pages, while other spreads are solid colour from end to end. Children will want their parents to read this book to them again and again, and happily, the adults won’t mind a bit.

The text is well-written and uses clever rhyme that reads like groovy song lyrics. Kids and parents alike will feel cool reading this laugh-out-loud story that celebrates the Jamaican dialect, for instance, ‘Ok, it was me, I teef all de cheese. / I promise me nah do it again.’

Thick, bold outlines and flat colours give a young, engaging look; be prepared to smile all the way through this brilliant and joyful story.