Today is a first for Waggy Tales Dog Blog because the main character in the children’s book I reviewed today is ………………………………………..a cat!
However, he is a very special cat…..and I’m sure he has a waggy tail so let’s have a change today and have some feline fun!
Harvey and the Moon Bus by Jill Stanton-Huxton
Today I am thrilled to be part of the Blog Tour for Harvey and the Moon Bus by Jill Stanton-Huxton. Many thanks to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours, Matador Books and the author for a copy of the book, which I have reviewed honestly.
Here is a list of other lovely book bloggers taking part in the tour, I hope you can call by to see what they think of this magical children’s book.
https://http://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/young-adult/harvey-and-the-moon-bus/
“Harvey is a grey cat with big green eyes and a long bushy tail, who loves wearing his favourite pair of blue dungarees. What a lovely sunny morning, Harvey thought, just the sort of day for an adventure.”
A beautifully-illustrated story about anthropomorphic animals who have a fantasy adventure together.
An underlying theme and moral message which is the importance of helping people.
A fantastical adventure story for children 5-7 years old.
Harvey sees his friends, Chester and Nelly, heading for the corner shop and boarding the Moon Bus, so he decides to join them. Harvey sits next to a grumpy grey rabbit. The Moon Bus takes off and flies through space and lands on the Moon and they all head off to The Moon Rock Sweet Emporium in Moon Crater Alley.
Harvey loses Chester and Nelly – so when he sees the grey rabbit heading for a nearby circus tent he decides to follow him, where he meets a small mouse called Gretel. But they only have 15 minutes to reach the Moon Bus before it leaves for the day!
Gretel tells him the magic mats on the Helter Skelter will take them to the Moon Bus really quickly. The magic mat flies over the cobbled streets towards a huge crater but Gretel falls out of Harvey’s pocket and starts plummeting to the ground. Harvey manages to grab her safely. As the Moon Bus is about to take off, Harvey uses the last of his three wishes to catch it and jumps on board.. They look out of the window and see the grey rabbit running along the runway after the Moon Bus… But will he catch it in time?
My Thoughts
I’ve just spent some time reading this magical story and looking at all the pictures that accompany it. Sweet little Harvey gets taken on a magical bus journey by his friends Chester and Nelly and before he knows it, they’re all on the Moon! Harvey experiences the wonders of the Sweet Emporium and when he finds himself running late, there’s a Magic Mat to make sure he arrives in time for the bus home.
All the characters are animals. There is the main character Harvey the green-eyed cat, Chester is a black and white dog and Nelly is a tortoiseshell cat. All the supporting characters are animals too. I loved Otis and Olive the twin guinea pigs. Then there is the villain, the grumpy grey rabbit and poor victim Greta the little white mouse who Harvey rescues from the circus.
Harvey and the Moon Bus gives a feeling that anything is possible. Unlike many children’s books, there is an air of suspense which builds to a truly exciting finish. I loved that the book was inspired by Jill Stanton-Huxton’s own cat Macavity and the illustrations (by Emily Brady) are engaging and a great addition to the story. Parents and teachers will enjoy reading this story (as much as I did!) and it will definitely ignite the children’s imaginations.
I’m sure that children will adore Harvey’s adventures and will want to hear more about the kind-hearted cat and his adventurous friends.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
JILL STANTON-HUXTON grew up in Buckinghamshire and has a BA Honours Degree, a Diploma in Humanities and a Diploma in Literature & Creative Writing from the Open University. She has had non-fiction articles, short stories and poems published in magazines, local newspapers and online. Jill has been a volunteer judge on the BBC Radio 2 500 words competition for the last two years, marking stories in the 5-9 year range. She was also the winner of The Buckinghamshire Family History Society Alan Dell Memorial Award for 2013.
The idea for the characters in the book came from her own childhood and family pets. The inspiration for the book comes from our beautiful and charismatic Norwegian Forest Cat, Macavity. He is six years old now and has become a local celebrity in the neighbourhood,” says Jill. With so many of Macavity’s cat antics to choose from and the fact that I’m always making up stories in my head … it was only a matter of time before Harvey materialised
I plan on writing more books in the series … what adventures will Harvey and his friends go on next? Only time will tell,” says Jill. Harvey and the Moon Bus is the first in a planned series of Harvey books.
Somehow the bus dea caught my imagination first.
Can’t think why LOL
But i love the idea of a grumpy rabbit…
sounds fun
I think children of this generation will grow up fascinated by bus journeys, whereas for me, it was an everyday occurrence!
For me I blame sir cliff Richards who made me want to go on a summer holiday on a bus. Indeed I wanted to take my bus to Spain 🇪🇸 but only in my imagination.
Wouldn’t that have been fun if I had!
I was obsessed by The Double Deckers, I can still remember the theme tune.
Thank you so much for this blog tour support x
Thank you Anne x