Dimple and the Boo

Pip Jones's Dimple and the Boo is a funny, gentle story for 5 year olds about a little gnome with some very big feelings.

What happens

PopPop has had to close his whizzy-kart workshop and go and work far away. Only for two weeks, he promises. But Dimple is cross, so he kicks the lompit tree as hard as he can.

Down drops a red, fuzzy, fizzing thing with shiny black eyes. It isn't a lompit. It's a Boo.

Dimple stuffs it in his hoodie pocket and takes it home. Big mistake! When Mama serves cabbage pie, the Boo shouts "Ewwwww! Yucky!" When old Mrs Miskin next door waves up at the window, it blows the loudest, rudest raspberry EVER.

And guess who gets the blame? Dimple, every single time.

Then the school trip to the Dragonfly Derby gets rained off, and there's a spelling test instead. When the whole class laughs at Dimple, the Boo has had enough...

Little ones will LOVE the Boo's naughtiness. Who hasn't wanted to blow a raspberry at cabbage pie? But you'll probably spot what the Boo really is well before Dimple does. It gets hot and fizzy whenever he feels hurt or cross, and it seems to be getting bigger.

That's what makes this such a nice one to share. It's about feelings that are hard to put into words. Missing someone. Feeling like nobody listens. Being laughed at. And it shows Dimple finding a better way to tell the grown-ups what's wrong (with a little help from Mama).

The world is full of silly, cosy details too. There's hoop-ball, a teacher called Mr Tick and a whizzy-kart ride over Zig-Zag Bridge and through Whistling Wood.

If you've got a little one who's had a big change at home, or who goes quiet and then explodes, this could open up a really gentle conversation.

What to read next

If they take to Pip Jones's stories, Madam Squeaker is a lovely next step. Minetta is a tiny mouse whose squeak nobody seems to hear, while the greedy rats of the house gobble up all the food.