Is this illustrated kid’s book about a purple panda who visits Thailand a cynical attempt to cash-in on the Kingdom’s panda-mania? Hard to say. If it is though, it’s a far more engaging cash-in than the Panda Channel, an oh-so-soporific Thai cable TV station broadcasting the captive life of Lin Ping, the first panda cub born here. Like so many kid’s books, it’s so out-there it’s hard to shake the niggling suspicion that the author puffs the funny stuff. After chomping a bowl of (LSD-laced?) worm cereal, Bertie feels a bit funny in his tummy, jumps on his rainbow trampoline (a “glittering paradise of possibilities”) and is transported to a Thailand so lurid your eyes ache. But trippy panda psychedelica aside, this is a sweet, if slight, little tale perfect for bedtime reading sessions. By the time little Bertie has scooted around the Kingdom and is safely tucked up in bed, your sprog will be sleeping as soundly as he is.

Where are you going today Bertie? Thailand
Jo Rattigan & Sammiiii | 24 pp | B 485