Silly Billy
Silly Billy by Anthony Browne
by Anthony Browne
Walker Books, £10.99
The front cover of this book succeeds in encapsulating the essence of the story at the same time as it draws the reader in. Set within the big gorgeous title letters, and representing the 'I' of the word 'SILLY', is a stuffed doll with a downturned mouth. This is a worry doll. The only other character is a boy, who is seen walking towards the edge of the cover, encouraging us to look inside.
On turning the page we find that Billy worries about everything, particularly at bedtime. Billy's concerns are made manifest for the reader, and they include being by invaded by a swarm of hats and a troupe of stomping shoes. Billy's grandmother gives him some Guatemalan worry dolls, and all is sorted when he relates his concerns to these dolls before falling asleep.
There's a touching humour in Billy's realisation that, by imposing his worries on the dolls, he could be making them unhappy. So he makes a new set of worry dolls for the first dolls to pass on their worries to.
The creator sets a tough task of showing the same bedroom scene on adjacent spreads, but monotony is cleverly avoided by the use of inventive illustration styles and colour palettes.
