Hilarious! and ridiculous! Wonderful illustration! Not my favorite of Raymond Briggs, but lots of fun anyway! ( )

Ug and his family: mom and dad live in a cave during the Stone Age. Ug is always asking questions to his parents. He has bright ideas about how to make things better. He wants softer trousers, hotter food, and a warmer cave. It takes a while for his parents to listen to some of his ideas but his father finally listens and uses animal fur to make wooly trousers but it doesn't turn out quite right. This book is different in the way the illustrations and text are written in comic book form. I also like that it points out that parents should listen to their children more and parents aren't always right. We can learn from anyone even children. ( )

very silly ( )

Now you don't have to tell the kids how spoiled they are by comparing their lives to your childhood, you can just share this book with them. Too bad for the sad ending though - otoh I have no idea where the author could have taken the concept that would have been more satisfying.

Maybe a teacher (maybe of 7-8 year-olds) could have the students write or draw their own ending. ( )

Um. Right. I knew the author/artist was familiar, but it wasn't until I hit the end of the book that I remembered the other book of his I've read - the one about the nuclear attack and the British farm couple surviving it. Or not surviving. This book is slightly less depressing but equally - pointless? Helpless? Hopeless? It starts out with a kid talking about how to make things better and being put down by his parents and friends - he invents the wheel at one point but can't figure out how to make it useful - and...well, nothing happens. Nothing changes. Then there's the silliness of footnotes for 'anachronisms' while ignoring stuff like...they didn't actually wear stone trousers in the Stone Age, nor use stone blankets. It's an _interesting_ book, and I suspect it will remain with me for some time (as did When The Wind Blows), but I didn't enjoy reading it. ( )