Fuzz McFlops by Eva Furnari

Over the past six months, as my daughter has gotten a little older, she has been wanting to read longer books with more detailed stories. Bear Snores On and The Gruffalo aren’t quite enough for her. When I got the chance to review Fuzz McFlops then, I thought it was worth a go.

Fuzz McFlops is one of the most famous rabbit-writers in the land, but ever since his classmates teased him about his lopsided ears at school he’s lead a lonely life, writing sad stories such as The Withered Carrot. Now he’s started receiving some scandalous, outrageous and rather eye-catching letters from one of his fans. Who is she? And why does Fuzz’s funny, too-short ear start twitching every time he replies to her shocking notes? As their correspondence continues, Fuzz McFlops begins to wonder where this tale is heading, and whether he might not discover a happy ending for once, after all…

One of the the things we’ve struggled with as we transition into “big girl books” is that my daughter doesn’t have the greatest attention span and so there still needs to be enough in the way of illustrations to keep her interested and help her understanding. Fuzz McFlops seems to have found that balance and she really enjoyed it. I did too, a big plus as I won’t mind reading it again – and I’m sure we will.

It’s a really sweet love story about a misfit rabbit poet (Fuzz) and a reader (Charlotte) who feels the need to point out his stories aren’t that cheerful. Her honesty encourages Fuzz to tell her how he feels and helps him grow in confidence. Suddenly his ears that aren’t the same length don’t seem to matter too much. The moral you find in kids books is there but it doesn’t beat you over the head which I thought was a good thing.

A slight downside is this is a translation of a Brazilian story and so every now and then something does feel as if it has been lost in translation – the poems Fuzz writes don’t rhythm for example and a few sentences feel clunky and were hard to read out loud. I am not sure my daughter noticed these though. She just liked the tale and the drawings, which I thought were great – bright, colourful and not babyish as at all – which means, overall this was liked a lot my mother and daughter and one I would recommend.

Emma

Note: I received a copy of this book in return for a fair and honest review.