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.
Harriet is seven. And a quarter. Horace is seventeenth century. And a STATUE! But, after a rocky start, their friendship is soon on a very firm footing and they take up the challenge to help Horace come down from his pedestal and get to grips with modern life. Separated by centuries. Joined by a common purpose. Horace and Harriet are rock solid!
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
