By Allan Ahlberg, Illustrated by Bruce Ingman
Candlewick Press, 2006
I love Ahlberg's narrative style of talking to the reader as if he's sitting at the table with them, recounting a story and inviting them to participate with questions like, "Full of such fun, don't you agree?" Each turn of the page draws us further into the adventure with the mischievous sausage in the lead. The text often becomes part of the illustrations and is perfectly placed on the page. I read the book once and we recognized a winner. I immediately read it again, more slowly the second time, savouring all the details and adapted my read-aloud voice to better fit the writing style. It got funnier the more we read it!
Allan Ahlberg was adopted by a working class family in The Black Country (in the Midlands of England) and dreamt of becoming a writer. It wasn't until he married Janet, an illustrator, and she asked him to write her a story, that he actually put pen to paper and began his writing career! Janet and Allan Ahlberg worked together for 20 years until Janet passed away from breast cancer at the age of 50. One of their most popular books, "The Jolly Postman" published in 1986, sold over 6 million copies. It was filled with envelopes and "real" letters to and from various fairy tale characters, delivered by the jolly postman.
We just read "Half a Pig" which was illustrated by Allan and Janet's daughter, Jessica Ahlberg and enjoyed it very much. Another humorous chase story involving a great cast of characters, including kid heroes, bad guys, a divorcee and a pig.
I am now an official Allan Ahlberg fan and have 7 more of his books on hold at our library. Check out a Guardian interview with Ahlberg here.
