The Gobbledegook Book: A Joy Cowley Anthology product reviews

Joy Cowley is a name that is synonymous with New Zealand books for the young and young at heart, working at a bookshop she is always one of the top suggestions for those wanting a kiwi book or those who grew up with her books and now want copies for their own children. This book is bright and catchy, the pages are printed on a nice, thick paper, giving it the feeling of a book that will last a good while and perfect for kids to grow up with and hold onto, to give it to their own children one day. It also comes with a handy dandy, built in ribbon bookmark which will always come in handy.

The book is composed of twenty rhymes and stories, a good mixture of sizes here, with some taking up multiple pages. The illustrations are nice and big, they're the kind that would catch my eye but I don't like this style enough to be drawn to the book (the illustrations also made me think of Quintin Blake's style). There were a couple of the rhymes that I didn't enjoy, though none really stand out at all for me, I far preferred the short stories, especially "Faster, Faster" which would have my girls roaring with laughter. Whilst I didn't love this enough to have a copy on my shelf, and my kids are now past the aimed age group, this will be a good addition to any families bookshelf.