I’m the mum at softplay, the farm and playgroup, who’s forever chasing down her two rambunctious toddlers as they leave a trail of destruction in their wake. Kids sprawled across the ground, wailing at their mums about how “she ran into me”, or “he took my goat food”. Yes goat food. My kids can’t help it. According to Alice it’s because of their “fast legs”. But the truth is… they’re enthusiastically Alphas. So in the world of the three foot twos, that puts them in charge. I’ve now stopped going to softplays. Not only to avoid the “judgey”, middle class mummy glares – as my Alphas jostle little Tarquin off his prime (some might say privileged) spot on the top of the slide. But because my kids are now better suited to a military grade assault course. So when I’m in Charge by Jeanne Willis and Jarvis came through the post, I thought… “Yes. This book was written for us.” And it is.
Rhino’s a sturdy rhinoceros lad who likes to do things his way. Yep. So far… so familiar. He’s the boss. He steamrolls Dad. He bulldozes Mum. He flattens just about everyone and everything in his path. Unexpectedly, Rhino has a guilty pleasure. Mangoes. (Haven’t we all). But when he refuses to share access to the mango tree, he almost gets the “Disney Mufasa treatment”. Aka, flattened by a herd of wildebeest.
On the surface, this might sound like a sanctimonious tale of comeuppance for an out of control toddler. Well you’d be wrong. It’s handled much more cleverly than that. Rhino is in fact an affable little fella. The way he bellows, cavorts, tosses, scatters, startles and squashes, is, frankly, charming. He’s a kid after all. And this is exactly what kids do. Eventually they come ‘round. Right? Right?
Jeanne is a celebrated author with over 300 books to her name and a bevvy of awards. Her choice of vocabulary is fab – no dumming down for our little readers – and her rhyme bounds along. We were also very curious about the man who only goes by the name Jarvis (he’s in charge of illustrations). It’s Peter Jarvis. And his illustrations convey as much personality as the words. In fact Jeanne and Jarvis are the perfect pairing – having previously created ‘Poles Apart’ together.
Oh, and we downloaded the free 7-minute audio version. Great! Now, to get back to my kids and remind them who’s in charge…
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