Bob the Builder: Roley and the Woodland Walk

Roley and the Woodland Walk
Roley and the Woodland Walk

Illustrated by Craig Cameron (Egmont)
ISBN: 978-1-4052-3750-5

One of the absolute best bits about being a comics fan – or any kind of collecting hobbyist – is the semi-obsessive thrill that comes from chasing a set. We’re all suckers for the thrill of hunting a missing number and that’s all the better if the book in question is a great read and visually memorable.

And it’s never too early to start. Roley and the Woodland Walk is a surprisingly well written book for the very young based on the popular TV series featuring the affable steamroller and all the animals in Sunflower Valley in a delightful comedy of errors, with sensible Bob once again having to come to the rescue.

Designed for small hands, the book is 34 pages plus covers and has 13 lavish, eye-catching full-page illustrations. It is number #5 in the Bob the Builder Story Library, cunningly enumerated on the spine, and has ads for the other titles in the back, just like all the best comics do (eight to collect, so far, kids!).

In our electronic, post-literate culture, kids need every aid and inducement to pick up the reading bug, and these lush little pictorials are a perfect primer for a life of reading comics and books. They’re also superbly well crafted and re-readable if you’re the adult having to narrate them at bedtime.

Gotta Get ’em All!

© 2008 HIT Entertainment Limited and Keith Chapman. All Rights Reserved.