Varmints
As seen:
By Helen Ward
avg rating
13 reviews
- SHORTLISTED FOR THE KATE GREENAWAY AWARD *
Once, the only sounds to be heard were the buzzing of bees in the grass, the murmuring of moles in the earth, and the song of birds in the sky. These warmed the hearts of those who cared to listen – until the others came to fill the sky with a cacophony of noise. With dramatically lit artwork and a spare, intriguing text, Varmints tells of a pastoral world in need of protection and of the souls who love it enough to ensure its regeneration.
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It was weird I don't really understand what happens. I would suggest for all ages
Although the themes explored within the book are important , I found this a tricky text to engage with due to the illustrations and non-standard font. From speaking to colleagues, it would appear that this is a "Marmite" text: people either love it or hate it and whilst I wouldn't go as far as to say that I hated it, it wouldn't be my first choice to share with children.
I was disappointed in this book. Despite the main character, a varmint, being 'cute' (big eyes, rabbit ears) the illustrations were dark and not particularly suitable for showing from the front of the classroom or under the visualiser. The story didn't really hang together and was rather confusing. It has a message but an incomplete resolution. The accompanying animation added some content, but, should you have to watch the film to understand the book? It has won awards but I'm not sure why. I'm not looking forward to teaching from this book and will have to work hard to feign enthusiasm for it.
I think it is a very environment friendly book but it is also very calm…at the beginning it is not really my type of book but it has a very interesting message.
I didn't like it because I do not like dark stories
Beautifully illustrated. The way the tall building were described to be scratching the sky really resonated with me.
This book taught me that how can anything change unless we have the time and space to think.
Amazing picture book!
I would recommend this book to someone who likes a bit of nature but also enjoys people who don't give up.
Really good and epic drawings
This looks like a normal picture book from the cover, but is actually really emotional. The illustrations are so powerful it tells a really powerful story. There is a short movie made from this book which you can watch which is quite interesting so you can compare the book and the movie. But in my opinion the book is better. Good for age 10+ I only scored it 3/5 as it’s a sad story so I didn’t enjoy it.
This is a fiction book. My favourite character was Varmint the Dog because he had weird ears. I would recommend this book to a friend.
Interesting and sad at the same time
