The Baby that Roared has been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize! - Nosy Crow Skip to content
Posted by Tom, September 20, 2012

The Baby that Roared has been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Let joy be unconfined: the Roald Dahl Funny Prize shortlists have been announced, and include, in the ‘Six and Under’ category, The Baby that Roared, written by Simon Puttock and illustrated by Nadia Shireen. This is the first Nosy Crow book to make the Funny Prize shortlist, and we’re absolutely thrilled!

Simon says:
“I am disproportionately very pleased indeed! (Idiotically mugging emoticon.) Words do not fail me, but I shall be mercifully brief: Yikes!!”

Nadia says:
“Roald Dahl has always been a hero of mine, so to be included on this fantastic shortlist is an absolute honour. It also makes those hours of pulling silly monster faces in the mirror all worthwhile!”

The full shortlist in the Six and Under category is:

★ The Baby that Roared by Simon Puttock, illustrated by Nadia Shireen (Nosy Crow)
★ My Big Shouting Day by Rebecca Patterson (Random House Children’s Books, Jonathan Cape)
★ Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton (Walker Books)
★ The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle (Templar)
★ Stuck by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
★ The Worst Princess by Anna Kemp, illustrated by Sara Ogilvie (Simon & Schuster)

And the shortlist in the Seven to Fourteen category is:

★ Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce, illustrated by Joe Berger (Macmillan Children’s Books)
★ Dark Lord: Teenage Years by Jamie Thomson, illustrated by Freya Hartas (Hachette Children’s Books, Orchard Books)
★ The Dragonsitter by Josh Lacey, illustrated by Garry Parsons (Andersen Press)
★ Gangsta Granny by David Walliams, illustrated by Tony Ross (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
★ Goblins by Philip Reeve, illustrated by Dave Semple (Marion Lloyd Books)
★ Socks are Not Enough by Mark Lowery (Scholastic Children’s Books)

The Baby that Roared has already received some great reviews. The Guardian called it “A deliciously entertaining story that takes a fresh look at the arrival of a new baby and the problems it can bring.” The Daily Mail called the book “A wonderfully wicked story with monstrous behaviour, magnificent burps and a terrible twist at the end. Enormous fun and perfect for roaring out loud.” And Publishers Weekly wrote that “Part of the charm of this mischievous story from Puttock is that readers know more than the main characters … Shireen is a smart choice to illustrate, given the similarly wicked humor that propelled her Good Little Wolf; her mixed-media art plays up both the baby’s maniacal tendencies and the other animals’ cluelessness … The repetitive structure and subversive humor should make this a storytime favorite.”

You can read more about the prize on Booktrust’s website here, buy The Baby that Roared online here and take a look inside below. Congratulations, Simon and Nadia!

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