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Uncle Glenn and Me Too, Glenn Colquhoun
Reed

At the Beach, Roland Harvey
Allen & Unwin

Reviewed by Jan Treliving-Brown (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)

As a performance poet, Glenn Colquhoun is outstanding. I heard him in New Plymouth at the Power of Words one year. Sadly, his written work for children lacks the X-factor kids go for. I know it's elusive, but there are plenty of authors getting it right.

Some of Colquhoun's advice leaves me plain confused, for example when Uncle Glenn and his niece are hanging out at the supermarket: "We buy chocolate biscuits because Uncle Glenn says they're not too hard to cook." I don't get it. I guess some of the antics are funny...er...like taking your niece into the boys' changing rooms at the local pool? Sorry Uncle Glenn, it made me feel geeky.

At the Beach – Postcards from Crabby Spit, does have features that give it one over Uncle Glenn. Roland Harvey has joined the queue of Where's Wally clones. This time, a family goes on holiday to Crabby Spit, leaving Grandma at home to feed the axolotl and the mice. The 12 items they subsequently lose can be located on 30 very busy pages featuring the various venues they visit: Treasure Trove, Sentinel Rock, Skull Island.

The text is in the form of postcards written by the three children to Gran back home.

The "find-the-hidden-items" idea does at least spin a book out nicely from a 10-minute read to a half-hour search. Handy for kids' quiet reading time on a wet weekend. Ten points to parents who can be bothered to help with the detail of the search.