Slow Mo Mark Sommerset

 Slow Mo Mark Sommerset              

 Slow Mo
Mark Sommerset
Ill. Carla Martell
Scholastic (2026)
Picture book
24 pages, Paperback
ISBN 978 1 77543 973 8

 

‘Slow Down! You’re approaching Snuggle Town.’ 

The sign at the beginning of Slow Mo is impressive but it is also funny. As readers follow the wordless opening illustrations, they see snails and insects creeping slowly along a vine. Turn the page and they see a fuzzy russet creature hanging upside down from the vine. Another turned page makes all clear.  Snuggle Town is a community of sloths! Dozens of sloths.

 Dangling from vines, the dozing sloths are introduced with their euphonious names, including Relaxed Max, Steady Eddie, Dozey Rosie and Inert Bert. As their names suggest these sloths are slow-moving but there is general agreement that the slowest-moving sloth is Mo.

‘No-one was slower than Mo.
Not Lazy Daisy or Weary Gerry or even Bored Claude.’

 Since most of the residents of Snuggle Town are semi-comatose, readers might expect nothing to happen in this book. Instead, tension rises, as the inhabitants of Snuggle Town learn something shocking:

‘Sloths like slow
And Mo was as slow
as a sloth can go.
Except for Bill.’

 Except for Bill? Who is Bill? The curious (and active) young sloths are fascinated by the large blue sloth who beats Mo at slowness. Mo climbs, eats and blinks v-e-r-y slowly.

Young sloth Busy Lizzie (who is easily distinguished by the red flower she wears behind her ear) brings this news back down the vine. Her report, passed slowly among the sloths, is that Bill doesn’t climb, and never eats or blinks at all! Bill is so still that the young sloths now call him Still Bill.

 ‘Sloths love still
and no one
was stiller than Bill’

 Then one day Busy Lizzy has an accident with a vine and makes an amazing discovery that brings surprises to all the sloths. The surprise and its revelation within a revelation is perfectly keyed to the story and is very funny as well.  It also creates a wonderfully warm conclusion to this s-l-o-w- -m-o-v-i-n-g tale.

 Carla Martell’s charming illustrations create an amazing range of sloths. Whether young and lively or adult and dozing they are hilarious.   Her pictures are a perfect match for Mark Sommerset’s witty wordplay.  Mark Sommerset’s picture books are always fun to read aloud and Slow Mo is no exception.

 

Trevor Agnew
7 Oct 2026  [Review 3869.]

 

 

 Photo ©Mark Sommerset: Author’s Blog: https://www.marksommerset.com/

 

 

Duck’s New Words Juliette MacIver Carla Martell

Duck’s New Words Juliette MacIver Carla Martell Title: Duck’s New Words. Author: Juliette MacIver. Scholastic (2025) 24 pages, Paperback. ISBN 978 1 77543 916 5

Duck’s New Words: ‘Duck’s a duck and sure of that But Duck is also quite the cat!’ Raised by a hospitable mother cat, Duck (a little yellow duckling) has a singularly feline view of life celebrated in the earlier picture books, Duck Goes Meow and How to Be a Cat. Now Juliette McIver’s clever verses stop Duck playing with balls of wool and send him off exploring the farmyard. As Duck meets new animals, he finds brand new words to try out. ‘OINK! Says Duck and Pig’s impressed.’ Horse is thrilled when Duck says, ‘Neigh!’. Duck has a linguistic problem, however, when he meets four ducks in a pond They say, ‘Quack.’ And Duck thinks, ’What on earth was that?’ What follows is hilarious as Duck fails to quack but succeeds in teaching the ducks to say words like ‘MEOW! And OINK!. Before long there is a complete foreign language school running in the farmyard. Duck, of course, has the last word. ‘Purr.’ As always, Juliette MacIver’s verse has perfect rhythms, which make it a delight to read aloud. Carla Martell’s bold, colourful illustrations include large speech balloons for the animal noises – an invitation for young readers to join in. This is a perfect book to read (or quack) aloud. Trevor Agnew, 29 Sep 2025 (Review 3804)