One of Philip Pullman’s favourites, this picturebook-sized storybook, translated into English at last, is the first of a series of nine about Farmer Pettson and his cat Findus, who wears dungarees and speaks. First published in 1985 in Sweden, where the award-winning author and illustrator is celebrated, it has since appeared in 44 languages. The tale is a comic unravelling of a puzzle about Pettson’s eccentric behaviour, which includes tying a curtain to his cat’s tail and seeming to add his trousers to his pancake batter, but which turns out to have a logical explanation. The delightfully characterised Pettson is eccentric, but not as much as his neighbours think he is. There is succinct and underplayed comedy, too, in his dry exchanges with his cat, whose body language is as expressive as his speech. Best of all is the way in which the pictures create a world, not only depicting the farmhouse and surrounding countryside in irresistible detail, but also telling humorous little sub-narratives about the tiny creatures who live around the farm. Subsequent readings are bound to yield more discoveries than the first.

Age 5-7, Hawthorn Press £10.99

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