My Mum Has X-Ray Vision by Angela McAllister and Alex T Smith

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My Mum Has X-Ray Vision by Angela McAllister and Alex T Smith

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Buy My Mum Has X-Ray Vision by Angela McAllister and Alex T Smith at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Category: For Sharing
Rating: 4/5
Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
Reviewed by Keith Dudhnath
Summary: A great picture book, at once quirky and fun, but with appropriate subtlety that rewards further reading. Alex T Smith's illustrations are excellent and it all works really well together. Recommended.
Buy? Yes Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32 Date: January 2010
Publisher: Scholastic
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1407105383

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Milo suspects his mum has x-ray vision. She can see through the ceiling downstairs when he's jumping on her bed. She can see through the outside wall when he's making potions in the garden in her saucepans. Is she really a superhero? Milo puts her to the test...

My Mum Has X-Ray Vision definitely improves with a number of readings. At first, the joke (she really is a superhero and is busy rescuing someone when he puts her to the test) can pass the little ones by. It's not hammered home - in fact, it isn't even mentioned in the text - which can leave the story feeling a little empty at first. The more you read it and take in the pictures, the more the story develops.

Alex T Smith's illustrations are good fun, playing up the quirky nature of the story and allowing the subplot to be revealed at an appropriate pace. They looked great in Bella and Monty and they look great here. Without wanting to sound too right-on and groovy, it was great to see characters in a picture book who genuinely just so happened to be black, rather than the main character having a black friend, or skin colour being the point of the story. I realise that commenting on it not being an issue makes it an issue, but the book itself handles it perfectly.

X-Ray Vision seems, at first, to be a fairly standard and simple story, but it has a great style and sense of humour. It improves with age and will become a firm favourite for any young book fan. Recommended.

My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag.

If superheros are your thing, check out Nat Fantastic by Giles Andreae and Katharine McEwen. DogFish by Gillian Shields, Smile! by Leigh Hodgkinson and Eeeek, Mouse! by Lydia Monks all have similar senses of humour.

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Buy My Mum Has X-Ray Vision by Angela McAllister and Alex T Smith at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy My Mum Has X-Ray Vision by Angela McAllister and Alex T Smith at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
Buy My Mum Has X-Ray Vision by Angela McAllister and Alex T Smith at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy My Mum Has X-Ray Vision by Angela McAllister and Alex T Smith at Amazon.com.

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