Age 3-6

“Digger and Tiger were rough-and-tumble boys, spiky-haired, hole-at-the-knee boys. They were not brothers, but they went together like a dustbin and its lid.” They haunt a rubbish dump and spend their time kicking cans and throwing stones. But one day a girl arrives, a girl with imagination and a face the shape of a marrow, and she wants to play. “Girls don’t know how to play,” say the boys. As it turns out, Meggie Moon does know how to play. She transforms the rubbish into fantastic inventions and the boys’ lives into exciting adventures, as she builds cars and ships and dens from the debris. And while she’s at it she puts paid to their silly prejudices against girls. The theme of this picturebook is satisfying: that it is not hard to make your own fun. Its language is lively, precise and surprising, and the story develops with pace, observation and emotion. Meanwhile, Mabire draws busy cartoony pictures with lots of detail (look for the comical rats). Without being inaccessible or complicated, this book is clever and subtle, and, like Meggie, it promotes girl power without being boring for boys.

(Little Tiger Press £10.99)

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