Oscar and Arabella: Oscar and Arabella Hot Hot Hot - Hardcover

Oscar and Arabella are endearing woolly mammoths who yearn for adventures as long as they aren't scary. Stone Age life can be perilous but there's fun too, and ultimately they have one another. Glasgow-based Neal Layton uses mixed media, including collage and felt-tip to create his anarchic books. (Glasgow Herald)

This is a most original and inventive book, as well as being a good introduction to woolly mammoths and the concept of extinction.

The illustrations are lively and simple and Oscar and Arabella are depicted in a cartoon style, while background detail, such as the graffiti in the cave where they are doing their prehistoric painting, adds some fun.

The fonts used for the descriptive words are bold and provde a visual equivalent to inomatopoeia. 'Dark' is big and black and blocky, 'fall over' is italicised and wobbly and 'fast' has speed lines in front of it.

Altogether, this is an enjoyable story in simple language, and it should provide an enticing introduction to prehistory.

(Early Years Educator)

A lively and amusing tale...with fun comic illustrations. (family interest magazine)

Great splashy cartoony pictures of the mammoths and their chums accompany this original non-slushy tale. Fun for the four and fives. (Newbury weekly news)

Another fantastic picture book about those two lovable woolly mammoths, Oscar and Arabella, from Smarties shortlist author Neal Layton.