Fuzzy Doodle

Written by Melinda Szymanik and illustrated by Donovan Bixley is the timeless take of the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Whilst this has been done so beautifully in the classic work by Eric Carle, The Hungry Caterpillar, this new version of the theme takes a whole different slant on the story. And, it really is beautiful one. Focusing primarily on the emergence of a beautiful, visual and colourful idea from the humble beginnings of a simple scribble.

In this story, language and art work move in perfect harmony, developing and growing together as the story and artwork develop until something beautiful emerges. I enjoyed this story so, so much that I read it with my daughter 3 nights in a row. She wanted to follow the inky black lines of the caterpillar through the book time and time again and each reading was mesmerised as the drawing becomes more colourful and eventually ‘real gold’ emerges on the page! This is truly a rich reading experience for children. The language is poetic and lyrical without it being too ridged and sing-song in style as so many children’s rhyming books are  and it works beautifully with the free form illustrations that accompany the text.  It also creates for older readers a great talking point about how ideas are formed and then grow with nurturing before they blossom into something wonderful. Idea’s take time to nurture and craft no matter what form they eventually take. I would highly recommend this book to any picture book lovers of any age! It is fabulous!