Very good fun and quite a bit emotional. ( )

An only child, Aubrey lives with his parents in a small town somewhere in mainland Britain. From birth he has proved himself outstanding in refusing to live down to expectations, and gets on with doing things which aren't always beyond his capabilities. Until the day that he becomes convinced that his father has been put under a spell. Followed soon after by realising he can talk to animals.

I can't emphasise how much I enjoyed this children's book, focused on a rambunctious boy. (You knew, of course, that rambunctious means someone who is uncontrollably exuberant or boisterous!) The spell Aubrey's father has fallen under is depression, a state that does indeed often feel like some kind of curse called down by some malevolent being. Often depression is characterised as a black dog, but Aubrey is a boy with little time for clichés -- he discovers that his father is preyed on by the Terrible Yoot.

Horatio Clare deals with this devastating condition with subtlety and sensitivity, and yet also manages to channel humour, hope and not a little poetry, especially in the final vision that Aubrey and his father Jim are party to: to successfully balance the parochial feel of the suburban setting with a universal animistic perspective in a children's tale is no mean feat, and Clare manages to make the transition feel entirely natural.

It's also risky to mix the serious subject of depression with what could be seen as cutesy talking animals but here, as we see things largely from Aubrey's point of view, it works. Totally. The story is helped by Jane Matthews' masterful illustrations which shade through from surreal to naturalistic: the human figures conform to the expectations that readers of this age range might have while the pictures of wild creatures -- squirrels, owls, insects, herons -- testify to the artist's careful study of her originals. All, from family and friends to neighbours and creatures, contribute to Jim's return from the depths he has sunk into.

We learn too a little about the nature of the Yoot; and, hopefully, that compassion should be at the root of all our relationships.

https://wp.me/s2oNj1-yoot ( )