Bryn’s Review

We are becoming fans of Anushka Ravishankar in this house (review of To Marker, To Market) so jumped at the chance to review her book Captain Coconut illustrated by Priya Sundram. (We were fortunate to get a copy of this book from the publishers to review but all opinions are honest and our own.)

The eponymous hero of the story, Captain Coconut, is a brilliant detective, or so he thinks, and his debut case in this new series of stories involves some missing bananas. Labelled a ‘number mystery’, there are simple sums weaved into this very funny story and plenty of clues – so as in all good detective stories the reader is able to solve the mystery too.

Like all good detectives Captain Coconut has a handy notebook for jotting down the clues, interviews the suspects, checks the facts and (perhaps less typically) even bursts into song. The songs in the book reminded me of my favourite bollywood films being big, catchy, fun and they include a number of costume changes (I now just need to work on the dance routine.)

We have all enjoyed this original book which has a distinctive illustrative style, lyrical prose and humour – but it is Captain Coconut we have all fallen for.