Down the back of the chair.
by Margaret Mahy.
It’s amazing what you can find down the back of the chair!
Dad is so poor he is pulling his hair out (The poor old fella doesn’t have much left as it is).
His family is in rack and ruin, until Mary suggests he do what she does whenever she needs something – look down the back of the chair.
There are so many funny, crazy, silly and amazing things down the back of that chair. Dad finds everything from a bandicoot to a bumble bee and even a long lost will of Uncle Bill. Woo-hooo! His family is saved.
At last dad can see how life could be – down the back of the chair.
What’s down the back of your chair. Have a look!
If you find anything as much fun as this classic book, then you’re a winner. This is a rhyming picture book with such great rhythm, energy and craziness. It’s an absolute romp! And, Polly Dunbar’s illustrations add to the fun perfectly.
I remember reading a book by Margaret Mahy called Lion in the Meadow when I was young, and whenever I think about it my childhood floods back. Books are like that. Awesome! So it was a buzz to read this Margaret Mahy book to my son a few years back.
Then yesterday, quite by accident, I pulled this from the shelf and read it again. Wow. I’d forgotten how crazy and silly and funny Down the back of the chair is. So, I decided to sit my son down last night and read it to him again. He is 15 now and in high school. “Go away, Old man,” he said, “You’re in the way of the TV!” But I read it anyway. And, while he says he wasn’t listening, I know what I saw. A smile.
By the way, I didn’t put it back on the shelf. I stuck it down the back of the chair.
Details:
Title: Down the back of the chair
Author: Margaret Mahy
Illustrator: Illustrated by Polly Dunbar.
Publisher: Frances Lincoln Books, 2006,