The Nut Stayed Shut

Reviews / Votes

There's top notch comedy in a nutshell in an inventive and high-energy picture book from the talented Mike Henson, a new author and illustrator with a genius for slapstick humour. Patience really is a virtue in this frenetic and funny tale of a squirrel with a tough nut to crack.
Henson, who enjoys writing songs and children's stories, adds his own unique beat to a highly visual story full of rhyme and reason, and with a few lift-the-flap surprises. And children will be glued to the fantastic gallery of illustrations, all created through a distinctive palette of bold, vintage colours and textures. Entertaining, enlightening and laugh-out-loud funny, this addictive little story is destined to be a family favourite... -- Pam Norfolk * Blackpool Gazette * If you want to crack a nut, you need to
be strong, determined and resilient - as
long as you have those qualities, then
all it takes to get the upper hand is the
right amount of force, correctly applied.
That's certainly been the experience of
Rodney the squirrel so far; resulting in
him scooping trophies and medals galore
for being the best nut cracker in the
world. When he's faced with a closed
shell that proves resistant to all his usual
techniques, though. Rodney has to raise
his game and find a new approach. No
matter how hard he tries, this pesky nut
refuses to crack - diggers, elephants
and even TNT leave it resolutely shut!
Eventually, our hero is forced to admit
defeat and walk away; and that's the
point at which he learns that sometimes
it makes sense to wait and be patient,
rather than simply shout louder and
hit harder. There's plenty to enjoy in
this fast-paced, energetic story with
a simple but powerful message; and
the intriguingly open ending offers an
opportunity to spark little ones' creativity
by talking about what they think might
happen next. * Teach Early years * You know exactly what it's like when you're enjoying a lovely handful of tasty pistachios and you come across that one, that awkward one that just won't open...
No one ever has such a thing as a nutcracker in their house any more, so you're either forced to risk busting your teeth trying to gnaw the thing open, or end up resigning yourself to the fact that you're going to lose out on that gorgeous green nugget of nutty goodness.

In "The Nut Stayed Shut" I'm pretty sure Mike Henson was inspired by just such an occurrence.

A squirrel faces his toughest opponent yet, the titular hard nut. Despite the canny squirrel in this story using brains and brawn and all manner of far-fetched solutions to try and crack that shell, the nut stays shut.

There are inventive solutions to the problem, some involving rhino poo (!)

Karate doesn't seem to do the job, alas!

No tool seems to be able to break through the rock-hard shell of this thing!

But the story teaches the art of patience, and there is at least a satisfying pay off at the end - before the story (rather abruptly) leaves you to fill in the rest of the squirrel's story using your active imagination!

It's a fun and action-packed book for little ones, and definitely one that will make a few nut-loving parents smile in recognition.

Charlotte's best bit: The scene-stealing bird pal, chronicling each attempt doomed to failure

Daddy's favourite bit: An awesome and original idea for a story with tons of engagement and action through awesome action-packed illustrations. * Read it Daddy *