Ivy and I both love books that are a little bit crazy, so when NERP! landed in our laps we instantly fell in love. Every single word of the story is quite literally utter nonsense, but somehow the whole thing makes perfect sense!
The premise will be very familiar to any parents out there with picky eaters. We see an enthusiastic mum and dad present their child with a series of lovingly prepared dishes in the hope that they might actually eat something, but nothing is quite right.
The frizzle frazzle hotchy potch? NERP! Mushy gushy bloobarsh? NERP! Even the garble snarfy barflecrunch and the yuckaroni smackintosh are rejected with a massive NERP! Will anything make this pesky child say YERP or SLURP?
I love the concept of this book and it’s realy well executed. We’ve read it so many times that Ivy can now ‘read’ it to herself having memorised many of the nonsense words!
The illustrations are really special and unlike anything I’ve seen before. The images seem textured and layered, even though the pages are smooth.
The author recently documented the creative process on her instagram page and it was utterly fascinating! She created a real-life tiny dining room ‘set’ out of cardboard including walls, flooring, a table and chairs, tiny bowls, miniature food and a beautiful little rug for the photography. The attention to detail is phenomenal and as a result the book itself feels like something extra special.
Buy it now: https://amzn.to/39WLdyh
Disclosure: The publisher provided us with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.