Marty Moose: First Class Mischief

"Claire Powell is a fantastic author and illustrator. I enjoyed Marty Moose , and our readers enjoyed it too, because it captures the excitement and nerves of trying something new in a way that feels warm, funny and very reassuring. It’s the story of Marty, who’s a mouse, not a moose. It’s a typo on his birth certificate. He has just landed his first job as a postmouse and everything unfolds over the course of his very first day in this job. The story begins with him at home with lovely glimpses of his chaotic family life, which immediately grounds the story. Marty is nervous about his first day and he wants to do well. It’s not anxiety, he’s genuinely excited, which I think is quite sweet. So he sets off on his delivery route, and the story becomes a gentle and rather wacky adventure. He encounters a cast of memorable characters, including two warring toads and a number of other tricky animals, each bringing their own small complications. Along the way, Marty starts to piece together a mystery, spotting clues that help him work out who’s causing all the trouble. He’s been very focused on himself and what he’s doing and how well he’s doing, but then he has a gradual realisation that he is not the problem; he realises there is something else going on, and with a little help from his new friends he can turn things around. Structurally, the book is beautifully pitched. Short chapters make it ideal for bedtime, and natural stopping points within the book encourage you to look at the illustrations and talk about what has happened and how Marty is feeling. The format is incredibly supportive for developing readers and for shared reading at the end of a busy day. I would say it’s for ages 5 to 7, which is quite a tricky age range. It’s often a stage where parents assume children are just learning to read and they don’t need to include other reading, but actually this is a brilliant time to read books that are a little bit longer than picture books, but still have illustrations and aren’t too text heavy. A book like this perfectly bridges that gap. The illustrations play a huge role here. Claire brings the story and its inhabitants to life with real warmth and humour, and Marty himself is brilliantly expressive. He’s determined, and very courageous. He starts off quite uncertain and he becomes quite bold by the end, so you see him develop through the hundred or so pages. There’s a line in the book which is something like “Just because you’re small doesn’t mean you can’t be brave”, which sums up the whole book beautifully. It’s about doing your best, navigating the unexpected, and realising that bravery sometimes is just showing up and dealing with whatever life throws at you. It’s a very comforting read and it’s exactly the kind of story children love returning to. Yes, I think it’s book one in a new series. Claire Powell has illustrated other books as well. I really love her illustrations, they’re so quirky."