THE VOYAGE OF VAN ROUGE
*Written by Heather Summers*
*Illustrated by Paski*
Come on a hilarious road trip with Pumpkin and Sweet P, two bold and feisty travellers chasing their dream. Take a back seat in vintage camper, Van Rouge, and journey with them all the way from deepest West Wales to the remote Greek Island of Lesvos. You are guaranteed a fun ride full of adventure, mishap, surprises, interesting characters and discoveries along the way. Pumpkin and Sweet P are very creative; busking, playing a fiddle, juggling, clowning around, bartering and finding all sorts of weird and wonderful, potentially useful things en route. You'll find foreign words to play with in every chapter.
Young children will love having it read to them, older children will enjoy reading it themselves. Grown Ups can play their inner child!
REVIEWS
"It's a lovely book. It's friendly and happy, and about all the good things in life." Malachy Doyle
Author of 'Jack and the Jungle','The Barefoot Book Of Fairy Tales' and dozens more
"Imaginative & quirky, this illustrated book crosses borders in all sorts of ways and a bit like ‘Alice In Wonderland,’ the plot is surprising with plenty of appeal for adults too." Leonie Pearce
"A delightful, life-enhancing tale about the joys of European travel"
*****
"I was completely won over by Sweet Pea, Pumpkin and the cast of colourful vegetable characters who make this book such an engaging, fun and pacy read. The author strikes a great balance between silliness and moral purpose, without ever hammering it home. A child reading this book will pick up great messages about gender equality, recycling and teamwork AND learn a smattering of Welsh, French, Italian and Greek words which are handily and wittily presented at the start of each chapter. They will also build their vocabulary of English words. Importantly, the author never talks down to her young audience. There are delightful jokes that newly-independent readers will enjoy and the story works equally well read aloud by an adult. I shall be using it in my Year 4 classroom. The illustrations fit beautifully alongside the text. Overall a delightful, life-enhancing tale about the joys of European travel, the makes the perfect antidote to BREXIT" Alison Child
Author of 'Tell Me I'm Forgiven'
I Loved it! - A joy to children and adults
*****
I found this to be a wonderful, imaginative, uplifting, fun story with exceptionally colourful and endearing characters.
Sweet P and Pumpkin are creative, plucky little spirits who demonstrate love, friendship, compassion, bravery and integrity while having a lot of fun along the way. Their exciting adventure through Europe to Greece is a joy to be part of... Made me wish I had a camper and could also go on fun adventures with mates like these. Sam Skyborne
Author of 'Alice', 'Risk' and more
Active vegetating
*****
"I agree with every word of Alison Child's fulsome review. Hop into Van Rouge and enjoy every twist and turn." Mangel-wurzel
"You won't be able to put the Voyage of the Van Rouge down. Make it bedtime reading and you go to bed happy and dreaming of adventures, where you are capeable, passionate, creative and free, and the kindness of strangers fills you with love." Sarah Green
"The Voyage of Van Rouge is a thoroughly enjoyable story which takes you across Europe. As a class reader this book works brilliantly as we can trace the journey of the imaginative characters, developing our understanding of locational and place knowledge along the way. The story is full of humour and interest, and keeps the children engaged and entertained throughout. Highly recommended." Mr Baker, Class teacher, Yardley Hastings Primary School
A lovely life-affirming book about friendship, adventure and curiosity
*****
