Llamas in the Library (James Hinchon, illus Ian Worrall-Dutton, Five Mile)

James Hinchon’s Llamas in the Library is a rollicking adventure about a group of children who must team up to herd a marauding group of llamas that infiltrates their school library. The llamas begin relentlessly munching on books, drooling, screeching with delight, and making a general mess of the place. The story doesn’t delve much deeper than that (although the children are notably motivated, resilient and ready to solve problems), but it is enjoyable nonetheless. The delightfully silly premise sustains the verse narrative with its reliable rhythms and satisfying, driving metre, along with a catchy refrain that doesn’t wear out its welcome (but be warned, the cry, ‘There’s llamas in the library and we need to get them out!’ is likely to echo in your mind long after you’ve closed the book). Ian Worrall-Dutton’s illustrations favour bright, bold, saturated pastel tones and margin-to-margin colour. The human and animal characters feature large, expressive eyes reminiscent of manga or Disney figures. The pages are bustling with sketch-style lines and digital block-colour fills, giving the book an overall look that combines modern Pixar storyboard imagery with a vintage ‘rubber hose’ or ‘toon’ style. Llamas in the Library is a fun read-aloud book for energetic young children with a sense of humour.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Anica Boulanger-Mashberg, an editor and writer, is a bookseller at The Hobart Bookshop. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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