Greedyguts

by Martina Selway

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 1990

Reviews

[Caro Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a parent of three young sons in the 1990s I picked this book up on a hunch. It turned out to be a fantastic choice, my youngest two loved it. And now I've shared it with another little boy of 4, the grandson of my partner, who couldn't get enough of it when I read it to him at Christmas. My partner has just flown abroad to visit the family, so I put Greedyguts in his suitcase. The little boy didn't want it to come home, so I've been looking for another copy for him.
The reason i want to review it is because I've searched for other books by the same author and found that she seems not to have produced any other story books, apart from some early readers. I wonder why. I think it is really unfortunate that she never received any accolade as far as i can see for what is a fantastic book for young kids. It seems to have a particular appeal to young boys. If i had to speculate I'd suggest that may be because the Greedyguts figure represents a huge, potentially frightening male archetype, and the book ingeniously develops a way in which that rather frightening (adult?) figure can be confronted and rendered harmless. That's my amateur psychology at work here - whatever, it fascinate young children at a certain period in their lives. I've never read it to a girl so i don't know whether it would appeal (sorry, i don't subscribe to the view that boys and girls are identical) but for boys it is almost unbeatable. The book is obtainable on abebooks for only a couple of quid - I'd bet any young boy between 4 - 7 would really enjoy it. And if you do buy it and like it, please review it, because any author who can give this much pleasure to children deserves to be recognised :-)