Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve is a gloriously daft sea adventure for 7 year olds about a boy who mislays both his parents on his first day at home.<\/p>\n
Oliver Crisp is ten and his mum and dad are explorers. He was born into it. Ten years of living in the back of the explorermobile, with a bunk instead of a bedroom, no school and nobody his own age.<\/p>\n
Then they run out of places to explore. No blank spaces left on the map at all. So they drive home to a big grey house by the sea and Oliver is completely thrilled about it.<\/p>\n
His own room, with the sun making long golden stripes down the wallpaper. School in St Porrocks next term, which he is also excited about (he’s never been).<\/p>\n
Only the bay is full of scruffy little islands that aren’t marked on anything. His parents take one look and forget the house entirely. Unmapped, they whisper. Uncharted. Unexplored. Off they go in the dinghy.<\/p>\n
So Oliver unpacks. Books on the shelf, clothes in the cupboard. Then he notices it’s gone very quiet, and when he leans out of the window the islands have gone and so have Mum and Dad. There’s just the orange dinghy washing back in on the tide.<\/p>\n
What makes Oliver such good company is how unbothered he is by all this. He’s a Crisp. An eagle once made off with his pram. A bear took his sleeping bag. He doesn’t panic, he packs a rucksack of Useful Things and leaves a note on the front door.<\/p>\n
There’s one quiet line that gets you though. He knows his parents love him. He just has the feeling, now and then, that they love exploring a bit more.<\/p>\n
Then he rows out to the one island still left in the bay and a creaky voice tells him to put a sock in it, some of us are trying to sleep. Birds don’t talk, Oliver points out. This one does, and it’s very cross indeed.<\/p>\n
Worth knowing if you’ve got a worrier at home. The parents disappear almost straight away and no grown-up arrives to sort it out. Oliver is entirely unbothered and the tone stays comic rather than frightening. Still, a small reader who takes missing parents seriously may want you nearby for that bit.<\/p>\n
The flip side is that his calmness is the best thing about him. He’s got a plan inside a page, and he’s off.<\/p>\n
Silly names, animals with strong opinions and a picture to look at on the way through. If that’s your child’s thing, this is a treat. It’s an illustrated book and it knows exactly how funny it is.<\/p>\n
My Father’s Dragon is in the library too and it’s a good match. Another boy sorts out his own supplies, gets himself to an island alone and finds that everything living on it can talk back. He’s going to rescue a dragon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve is a gloriously daft sea adventure for 7 year olds about a boy who mislays both his parents on his first day at home. Oliver Crisp is ten and his mum and dad are explorers. He was born into it. Ten years of living in the back of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11755,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":8190,"lr_next_read_anchor":"My Father's Dragon","lr_seo_hook":"His parents rowed out to islands that are on no map, and vanished."},"book_tag":[25],"age_group":[19],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[798],"class_list":["post-8334","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-friendship-books","age_group-books-for-7-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-philip-reeve"],"yoast_title":"Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"His parents rowed out to islands that are on no map, and vanished. For ages 7+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n