Bang, by Leo Timmers

‘The Magical Life of Mr Renny‘ was the first book by Leo Timmers that we read. I would love to say that we saw the heavens open and light up the area around the book to make it obvious that we should borrow it. That was not the case. We picked it up, as can happen, in a hurried rush to grab a pile of books and leave the library because someone needs to be toileted.

Nevertheless from the first read I knew I was captivated by the pictures, and so were my kids. The abundance of colour is almost unbelievable. And the use of size, distortion and irregular scaling really allows you to imagine a different world. The story line, about a painter who has a brush (I’m punny) with magic, was also very sweet. So needless to say, when I saw ‘Bang’ on the library shelf it went immediately into our stash for that week. We were not disappointed.

‘Bang‘ almost falls into the category of a book with no words, which is one of the best types of books to stretch a kid’s imagination and create conversation and connection between parent and child. This also means that it is designed in such a way that even pre-readers can easily follow the story line of the book. The vivid colours and easy-to-follow plot of this book makes it ideal for younger children, but it will also be a pleasure for parents.

I once had the sweet experience of reading this book to my son’s 4 year old kinder class. The entire group of 25 children sat completely attentive and engaged in the book. They were eager to see what would happen next and join in shouting “BANG!” It was a lovely sharing of a simple, but extremely well designed and executed children’s picture book.

If I have yet to convince you to add a book by Leo Timmers to your reading list get over to his website. He has plenty of images there for you to fall in love with.