Q Pootle 5 - Softcover

Nick Butterworth was born in Kingsbury, North London. He has worked as a graphic desinger for major London design consultancies. Nick then moved into freelance graphics and illustrations, working in partnerhsip with three others, including Mick Inkpen. In 1981 his first children's book was published, B. B. Blacksheep and Company. Nick has also worked as a television presenter on the children's programme Rub-a-Dub-Tub.

PreSchool-Grade 2-A sweet-faced alien that looks a bit like Ziggy is forced to make a side trip to Earth on his way to a moon party. After crash-landing over four pages with a "SSSSCCCRRREEEEEE-! KARUMMP!" he discovers that something is wrong: one of his rocket boosters won't boost! The first few earthlings he meets are not much help; the frog doesn't even know what a rocket booster is, and the birds don't use them. Q Pootle 5 is getting quite desperate when up walks another earthling, Henry the cat, with a rocket booster (a tin can) in hand. After some tinkering, it is affixed and the protagonist blasts off into space. The story ends with a four-page foldout illustration of the alien friends at the moon party. Kids will get a kick out of the silly animals being considered "earthlings" by the naive space traveler, and having a can of cat food save the day is very silly indeed. Butterworth's watercolor illustrations are a perfect match for this slight story about creatures being nice and helpful to one another. While there is nothing spectacular here, parents will enjoy sharing this story with their children, and it is simple, short, and down-to-earth enough for beginning readers and to use in a space or extraterrestrial story program.
Piper L. Nyman, Fairfield/Suisun Community Library, Fairfield, CA
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