Fum by Karl Newson Review

illustrated by Lucy Fleming

Fum

Fee, Fi, Fo … but where is Fum?

Regular readers of What’s Good to Read will be aware that I love to read and think that reading should be encouraged, especially with children. It doesn’t matter what genre you read, there is a lot of enjoyment to have in reading – you just need to find the right book for you.

When it comes to books for younger children, they haven’t yet developed their own styles and tastes and we pick the books for them depending on their interests (and our own personal tastes). Maverick Books is always a good place to start with a very good range of children’s picture and chapter books, and a wide variety of authors. Today we will be looking a picture book called Fum, written by Karl Newson and illustrated by Lucy Fleming.

Kids love fairy tales, and most will have heard of Jack and the Beanstalk. Fum combines different fairy tales with that infamous giant at the top of the clouds to create a real fun and loveable story. The first thing that the kids loved about it was the front cover, featuring an image of a small child standing on a giant head.

Fum is the tale of one family, a GIANT family, and they are The Crumbs. The Crumb family are a large family, in more ways than one, made up of seven giants. There is Pa, Ma, Grandpa Plum, Fee, Fi, Fo and of course, Fum. Fum is smallest of the Crumb family giants.

The basis for the story is that little Fum has gone missing, and nobody has any idea where he is or where he could have gone. As we all know, when we lose something we go and look for it, so that’s what the Crumb family did – they went off in search of the littlest Crumb and this 32 page picture book follows their adventures through a variety of other fairy tales to try and find him.

Overall, Fum is a well-written and fun rhyming story, one that we loved reading and seeing if we could find the elusive Fum on every page. With dragons, princesses and fairy tale characters, what child wouldn’t love it for their bedtime reading? As you journey through the pages you will meet very familiar characters from classic fairy tales, asking them if they have seen Fum. How many will you and your kids recognise?

Lucy Fleming has done an excellent job of illustrating the story. The illustrations are bright and colourful, lots of fun and clearly help explain what is happening throughout the story, allowing non-readers to join in with the storytelling.

Fum is a very heart-warming and engaging giant of a story with its lyrical content and bright and colourful illustrations. Due to the way the story is told it also has lots of talking points including trying to find Fum on the pages (he is there) and discussing who are the fairy tale characters the Crumbs meet along the way.

A fun and humorous story that will engage the readers and get them interacting with the story.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £6.99 (Paperback)

For more information, visit maverickbooks.co.uk. Available to buy from Amazon here.

DISCLOSURE: I was provided with a free copy of this book for the purposes of writing a honest and impartial review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This review uses an affiliate link which I may receive a small commission from if you purchase through the link.