Bamboozled

By David Legge

Reviewed by Margarite Igras

Bamboozled was David Legge’s first picture book and this is the Thirty Years celebration edition, showcasing the sustained popularity of the work and including bonus behind the scenes pages from the author.  David has achieved not only as an author, winning the 1995 CBCA Honour Book and seven children’s choice awards in Australia and the USA, but, also as an illustrator.  His illustration talent can be seen in other award-winning titles that include Baby Boomsticks, written by Margaret Wild, and two titles written by Francis Watts, Kisses for Daddy and Parsley Rabbit’s Book about Books.

Bamboozled starts with a girl making her weekly visit to her grandad. She knocks on his door and enters a topsy turvy world akin to Alice in Wonderland or a Graeme Base story.  The reader is overwhelmed (bamboozled), by what unfolds over the next twenty-six plages. But for the girl, things are the same as usual, except ‘There’s something I can’t put my finger on. Something, today, seems odd.’  As usual, she chats with her grandad, has tea and freshly baked cake, plays cards, listens to his stories, helps him with some housework and then just as we were saying our goodbyes on the doorstep, it suddenly struck me. The reader will be delighted at the outcome.

The pages are filled with bright colourful watercolour illustrations with limited text on each page. There is a humorous subtext between the illustration and the text that is at the core of this clever book. The reader will love all the strange and humorous revisions of common household items and activities. My favourite is granddad pouring a flowerpot of tea with a watering can containing three teabags. Legge has a fertile imagination that will continue to grab the attention of 4- to 8-year-old children, though I can imagine the adult reader being amused and entertained as well.

Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd 2024