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‘We need the literature of other countries to expand our
horizons and stimulate our ideas. Without it, we are not only
diminished, we are starved’
(The Times, Magnus Linklater 29/06/05)
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Little Smudge
by Lionel Le Neouanic
Age Range: Under_5
Little Smudge has no one to play with and in his quest to find friends, comes across some shapes who are unkind because he is not the same as them. However, Little Smudge’s father shows him how he is special and interesting and how he can use his talents to impress the shapes. Little Smudge soon finds he has lots of new friends!
Lionel Le Néouanic’s colourful illustrations bring the text alive in this book, as the colour and the geometric shapes really stand out on the page and form such a contrast with the dark and undefined Little Smudge. The fabulous designs on the last few pages are also very joyous and appealing in their simplicity and brightness.
This simplicity may also be a stumbling block. The colourful shapes are fun but that they are featureless might make them seem a bit minimal or dull. Three years and over can absorb more detail in a story and might find the shapes a little basic. This is probably a book for the very young end of the age range, where the colour and the shapes can be enjoyed for themselves as much as illustrations to a story.
As a positive, the easy prose does tell a story of friendship and how to celebrate the good in someone, rather than focusing on their differences. What is most clever about this story is that Lionel Le Néouanic manages to invest so much sympathy in a smudge and some shapes by weaving them into a story that every child will probably experience in some form. Children will understand the plight of Little Smudge and hopefully learn from it, even if they don’t realise quite how relevant it is to them as it uses abstract colour and shape.
Overall, the most charming qualities in the simple story of Little Smudge are the celebration of bright colour and shape and the happy ending as all the shapes and Little Smudge learn to play together.
Abby Phillips (2010)