The Bandit Queen by Natalia O’Hara (Author), Lauren O’Hara (Illustrator

Hardcover – 4 Oct 2018

Book blurb

“O Bandit Queen!” the bandits cried.
“Little horror! Poison weed!
We’ll give you everything a queen could ever need…”

A beautiful book about finding family in unexpected places, from the creators of Hortense and the Shadow.

My thoughts

A gorgeous book. The O’Hara sisters are doing again with there second, beautifully illustrated book.

When bandits find more than they were expecting amongst their ill gotten gains we are off on the story of The Bandit Queen. A charming tale, not as dark than the first, which demonstrates that family can be made in different ways and found in all sorts of places.

Setting aside my thoughts which shot off towards kidnapping, borne from years of reading crime fiction, because this is a children’s book, a fairytale, and a wonderful one at that.

As we know fairytales were often based on scary, even criminal activities and used as a way of warning children in terms that they could easily understand to be careful. Here it is more a heartwarming tale of realising that family is wherever you feel most welcome, comfortable, loved and knowing that’s where you want to be.

I think it should appeal to both girls and boys of the recommended age range of 5-7 year olds. I hope the sisters, author and illustrator, continue to produce more books of this quality.

Highly recommended.

With thanks for the invitation from Puffin who provided an e-copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thoughts are my own, I have not received any payment for this.

Information

Publisher:       Puffin (4 Oct. 2018)

Age Range: 5-7 years              Hardcover: 32 pages               Language: English

ISBN-10: 9780141374031       ISBN-13: 978-0141374031       ASIN: 0141374039

Buy:                 Amazon – UK

Author: Natalia O’Hara

We’re sisters who make children’s books together. Natalia writes and Lauren, who’s three years younger, illustrates. Raised in the north of England we now live in London. Our first picture book, Hortense and the Shadow, was published by Puffin at Penguin Random House in October 2017, and our second book is out this year.

Illustrator: Lauren O’Hara

O’Hara Sisters on Twitter                              O’Hara Sisters Website

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