March 2018 Debut of the Month | In a nutshell: fast-moving, funny, highly-illustrated story with a very unusual central character |
Seven-year-old Harriet makes an unusual new friend in this hugely appealing new series: Horace – or to give him his full title Lord Commander Horatio Frederick Wallington Nincompoop Maximus Pimpleberry the Third – is a statue in her local park. One day, totally fed up at being decorated with graffiti, pigeon poo and traffic cones, he climbs down from his plinth to find a new home. Harriet seems to be the only person who notices and is soon recruited to be his helper-in-chief. Horace, who has been on his plinth since the late 1700s, refuses to be confounded by modern life and their adventures are daft but very satisfying. Harriet and Horace make a great double act and the illustrations, also by Clare Elsom, capture the sense of friendship and fun perfectly. ~Andrea Reece
Newly confident readers are being particularly well-served by publishers at the moment and this can be recommended to fans of the Dotty Detective books by Clara Vulliamy and the Claude books by Alex T. Smith.
Lord Commander Horatio Frederick Wallington Nincompoop Maximus Pimpleberry the Third (or Horace, for short) has been a statue on a plinth in Princes Park for hundreds of years. But after suffering pranks, graffiti, endless mobile phone chat, and pigeon poo, Horace has had enough. He decides it's time to get off his pedestal . . . and walks away. Surely he can find a better home? One suitable for such a fine commander? Assisted by his new friend Harriet (she's sevenand a quarter years old and definitely NOT a statue) Horace tackles modern life (though he can't shake off his embarrassing hobby of invading everything) in his quest to find the perfect place to live. The trouble is, nowhere seems to be quite as good as Mayor Silverbottom's house. And MayorSilverbottom just happens to be a descendant of Horace's arch enemy . . . Packed with splendiferous pictures this is a rollicking read for children of five and up.
Clare Elsom is an illustrator of lots of children's books, including the Flying Fergus series, written by Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy and Joanna Nadin, and Furry Friends, the new series from bestselling author Holly Webb.
Horace and Harriet is her first authored series.
She studied Illustration at Falmouth University (lots of drawing) and also has an MA in Children's Literature from Roehampton University (lots of writing).
She grew up in Oxford, lived in London and then ran away to beautiful Devon where she spends her free time tap-dancing, paddle boarding and drinking cinnamon lattes. You can keep up with Clare on Instagram @clare_elsom
