The Puddleman

by Raymond Briggs

The Puddleman

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Family, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Raymond Redvers Briggs was an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist, and author who had achieved critical and popular success among adults and children. He was best known for his story "The Snowman", which is shown every Christmas on British television in cartoon form and on the stage as a musical.

His first three major works, Father Christmas, Father Christmas Goes on Holiday (both featuring a curmudgeonly Father Christmas who complains incessantly about the "blooming snow"), and Fungus the Bogeyman, were in the form of comics rather than the typical children's-book format of separate text and illustrations. The Snowman (1978) was entirely wordless, and illustrated with only pencil crayons. The Snowman became Briggs' best-known work when in 1982 it was made into an Oscar nominated animated cartoon, that has been shown every year since on British television.

Briggs continued to work in a similar format, but with more adult content, in Gentleman Jim (1980), a sombre look at the working class trials of Jim and Hilda Bloggs, closely based on his parents. When the Wind Blows (1982) confronted the trusting, optimistic Bloggs couple with the horror of nuclear war, and was praised in the British House of Commons for its timeliness and originality. The topic was inspired after Briggs watched a Panorama documentary on nuclear contingency planning, and the dense format of the page was inspired by a Swiss publisher's miniature version of Father Christmas. This book was turned into a two-handed radio play with Peter Sallis in the male lead role, and subsequently an animated film, featuring John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft. The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman (1984) was a scathing denunciation of the Falklands War. However, Briggs continued to produce humour for children, in works such as the Unlucky Wally series and The Bear.

He was recognized as The Children's Author of the Year in 1993 by the British Book Awards. His graphic novel Ethel and Ernest, which portrayed his parents' 41-year marriage, won Best Illustrated Book in the 1999 British Book Awards.

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Description: Tom refers to his grandfather as “Collar” because he drags him around on a lead. One day Tom decides that he will take Collar on a walk to see the puddles he has named after the members of the family, but the puddles are not there. Collar insists that this is because it hasn’t rained, but Tom believes that it’s just because they haven’t been put in yet. He wanders off, leaving Collar talking to Mrs. Whitebobblehat, and comes across just the person he needs.

Finally, puddles restored to their full, family-resembling glory, Tom and Collar go home for tea.

[Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A warm, gentle mini graphic novel about a young boy, Tom, who takes his grandfather, Collar, out for a walk with him down the country lane. Collar, so called because his grandson drags him everywhere on a lead, begrudgingly joins his grandson on a walk down the country lane: he'd much prefer to be reading the newspaper.

Upon the walk, he discovers that his grandson has decided to name several puddles upon the path after people who matter to him. When he sees that the puddles are all dried up, he leaves Collar to chat to a fellow villager and heads off to find a solution. Enter the Puddleman who, through 'suspended animation' manages to carry all the puddles on his back. Together they find the right puddle for the right hole. When they're done, the little boy fetches his grandfather who, much to his bemusement, finds that the once-empty puddles are now full. With no answer for this conundrum, he carries his grandson home upon his shoulders.

It felt, in reading this, that Briggs was beginning to soften in his grumpy old age. This time, Grandad is out there with his grandchild listening to his imaginative recreations and stories. There's no admonishment here, perhaps a pinch of disbelief, but a willingness to go along and appease. As always, Briggs' soft, coloured pencil illustrations lend a heightened sense of familial warmth that only he is capable of. A lovely celebration of the imagination and pricelessness of those intergenerational relationships.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple story of a boy going for a walk with his grandfather and finding the puddles have gone. Although grandfather explains this is due to evaporation the boy explains they have been collected by the puddle man. We then meet the puddle man who puts back the puddles named after family members. The story is simple but Raymond Briggs drawings are wonderful and for his pencil drawings of a puddle being picked up in mid air alone it's worth a look. Must be hard to follow up The Snowman !

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is light-hearted, by Briggs standards, which means that, rather than being cynical, pessimistic, or outright nihilistic, it is instead possessed of a deep whimsy. The concept is lightly fantastical: puddles come from a Puddleman, who carries them around on his back in a state of suspended animation, until placing them in their proper spots on the ground, at which point they liquify. An unnamed boy (who calls his grandfather Collar, leads him around with a dog leash, and doesn't consider him human) meets said Puddleman ans helps him install the puddles, which the boy associates with various family members--but not with the only other family member we actually see, his grandfather. This book captures far more realistically the odd turnings of the chil's mind than do most books about children. It also comment subtly both on imagination and on the invisible strange around us, as well as on the contingent and ephemeral nature of life (if people are puddles...). Excellent, as one expects from Briggs.

[Alastair Hudson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soft, delicate drawings. This Briggs tale feels calm and settled with the struggling adult inconsequential.
‘Dream like and calm; this would make a fine bedtime read for a four-year-old.

Possibly a new classic but a bit light for grown-ups and ranking way below his best.

[Isabel Bryan [the Bookmark Hoarder] · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very strange book. I love the concept, that there's a "puddleman" whose job it is to put puddles in the ground (he caries then on his back). I liked that part but the boy dragging his grandfather on a leash was weird.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Raymond Briggs illustration. This story is fun, but a little odd. My favorite part of the book is that I was able to have the meal that the grandson enjoys myself. Great fun to gather beans on toast with black (marmite) and trees (broccoli). Quite delicious and fun to read a nosh together!

[Brenda Lower · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my favorite books as a kid was The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. Another introspective and imaginative book by him.

[Lisa Macklem · Rating 3 out of 5]

No question that the art is beautiful. The story was less successful for me.

[Jessica Joines · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story

[Jack Kirby and the X-man · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love some of Raymond Briggs' other works - so I thought I'd give this one a try.

This book revolves around the idea that there is a man (ala Santa or the Tooth Fairy) who sole role in life is to deliver puddles. The Puddleman delivers these warm puddles in suspended animation - custom fitted for the hollows they fill.

The unnamed boy who discovers The Puddleman is your typical imaginative boy - who has named his local puddles after his family members. Of course no-one believes it when he tells them of The Puddleman.

The grandfather is the other major character - he gets dragged around by his hyperactive grandson by a lead. I kept thinking it would be revealed that the grandfather was a dog - he got lead by a lead, he didn't get a puddle named after him because "It's only for people" - but apparently he's just a put-upon grandfather.

The idea is certainly an interesting one. However I don't think that the narrative takes full advantage of this core idea.

[The Brothers · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just a weird graphic novel-y sort of book. A little boy takes his grandfather out for a walk like a dog and calls him Collar. Huh? This relationship is never really explained and I thought that maybe the boy just imagined his grandfather and he wasn't a real person at all. He is.

The little boy wants to play in puddles even though there hasn't been any rain for awhile. He meets a man carrying puddles on back and helps the stranger place the puddles (which he names after family members - another huh?) in the road.

Then grandfather and boy go back home for English tea. And beans on toast. My American upbringing struggles with this concept.

Illustrations are okay - the story is just really strange.

[TwoDrinks · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book makes more sense when you realise that it was inspired by a member of Briggs' family (there is a post script at the end). I just thought it was odd. Now I like odd, but this was at the 'too puzzling' end of the scale.

[Emkoshka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a typical irreverent and whimsical Raymond Briggs book about a boy who takes his grandfather for a walk on a leash and helps a man 'put the puddles in'. Very cute, though it's a strange little boy who likes to eat 'tree' (broccoli)!

[Christine Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grandfather

Originally published: London: Jonathan Cape, 2004.

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd one. I like Briggs' stuff though. The story has a weird twist about the nature of the puddles that I didn't really get.