Mr Boo Comes To London: The Adventures of Mr Boo, Book I
Why publish fantasy books on climate change? Well, we think it's timely, but aside from that, we recognise a classic best-selling fantasy novel when we see it.
Since the Hobbit, Harry Potter is all we've had to touch us in that strange, semi-conscious place which is part history, part fairytale and part mythic romance. These impulses that hide deep within us somehow come to life in a small human figure named Mr Boo, whose steps we follow in the Mr Boo Adventure series. In Book I our hero falls into an English garden kept by an eccentric magical creature, Mr Greenthumb. Mr Boo's London of the future has become a Wasteland from climate change, but a witch's portal allows him to return to the current day world of safe refuge, where he can prepare his magic seeds. In a fishing hut by the shores of the Thames, he hides from his pursuers, and with the aid of Betty the garden gnome and his friend Mr Greenthumb, he learns the secrets to a good compost. There are of course, witches, treehouses and an evil dolphin, as well as several goofy looking monsters as expected in any good story book. But the books take climate change seriously, and a marshy period has taken place in London's future history - Book II alludes to the decayed remnants of amphibious craft. Mr Boo has been playing on the rusty hulls that have been shipwrecked around the gills of a once semi aquatic Big Ben. The dome of St Paul's had been used in wetter centuries as a diving platform, only to survive drying out to hang old boats chained to its steeple, in a world without water. With over 90 full colour images, the books are enjoyable for anyone 5 years to 15, with some of Mr Greenthumb's antics and subtler allusions - for example, to WWII and TS Eliot - only comprehensible after the age of 50. An excellent series, appealing to all ages, similar to The Hobbit, we expect Mr Boo to accompany us for many years to come.
