Age 7-9

Fans of Kay Thompson’s 1950s character Eloise should meet Ottoline. Here, too, is a heroine whose whimsical adventures are depicted in comic and skilful line drawings. Eloise is more eccentric, but Ottoline’s world is more fantastical. Ottoline lives in her apartment with Mr Munroe, a hairy creature from a Norwegian bog, while her parents travel the globe adding to their collections of odd objects, from four-spouted teapots to butterfly nets. Together Ottoline, Mr Munroe and an endearing kleptomaniac bear she meets in the basement solve a mystery involving a criminal lapdog agency run by a slinky yellow cat. But the fun of this book is not so much the plot as the fine artwork in detailed black and white (with spots of red) of buildings (including aerial cross sections and maps to pore over), over-the-top characters and settings such as stage sets. Clues and connections are as much in the illustrations as in the text, encouraging close scrutiny, and each page is designed with retro elegance. Written for children who like a lot of pictures, the result in much classier than comic books.

OTTOLINE AND THE YELLOW CAT by Chris Riddell

(Macmillan £8.99).

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