Find Fenton! by Martin Berry and Stuart Cooper

cover image

Headline, 2012. ISBN 978 0 7553 6399 5
(Age: 6+) Picture book. Humour. Cartoons. In the line of Where's Wally, Find Fenton! follows the effects of the lost labrador, Fenton as he makes his destructive way around many of London's iconic places. Starting with Richmond Park, where he causes havoc, he moves on to Wimbledon, the Oxford Cambridge boat race, Notting Hill Market, the Proms, the House of Commons, Buckingham Palace, Tate Modern, St Pancras Station, Trafalgar Square, London Zoo, Camden Market, the Unolympic games, Leicester Square, Hamleys for Christmas shopping and finally Somerset House for Christmas.
Each double page has a myriad of figures and things to navigate in the search for the image of the dog, finding that its face, or feet, or eyes are to be spotted amongst the colour and movement on every page. it takes some eyes quite a while to do this, but I am sure that younger eyes will do it in a trice. At the end of the book is a list of other things to spot on each page as well as Fenton's lead, collar, stick, footprints, turd and deer.
Each event in London's diary will intrigue the readers of the book, finding out about the events and their characteristics, which  along the way are infused with some subtle social comment. the strawberries at Wimbledon, one of those things associated with the tennis matches, has people queueing with bags of money, while the pigeons in Trafalgar Square have a placard which reads, 'Follow us on twitter'. A book of pure escapist fun.
Fran Knight

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