Pssst , I've got a secret - Olive and the BIG Secret!

I’m going to tell you about it.. but no one else…just YOU!

This secret is the ever so lovely illustrator Tor Freeman and her band new picture book published by Templar Olive and the BIG Secret.Every so often something new catches the attention of these Book Sniffing peepers.. something bold new and fresh (Benji Davies / Alex T Smith and Owen Davey  for instance) and Tor Freeman is just one of those special new talents.

I was ever so delighted when a copy of Olive and the BIG secret landed on the door mat at Book Sniffer Towers,
I’ve had all manner of treats this week so I started at the top of the pile with this deeeeeeeeelightful new picture book.

Olive andthe Big Secret oozes retro charm from every page with a fresh Richard Scarry –esque appeal, and you know how much I love a picture surprise underneath the dust jacket, well clever old Templar have gone above and beyond and hidden delightful pictures front and back – what a treat! (great attention to detail). With clever use of white space and delightful touches of hand written copy this is a lovely looking book indeed.

 This book contains a veritable abundance of funny little characters from pudgy ginger cat Olive to Ziggy the” too cool for school “skateboarding monkey, and Olive is an endearing little thing, dungarees never looked so good!.

This is an utterly charming tale of an unfortunate game of Chinese whispers orchestrated unwittingly by Olive who simply can not keep a secret however hard she tries.
Molly tells Olive a secret which in turn Olive tells Jessie.......and Ziggy........and Joe.. who then tells Matt, who blurts it out to Lola and Bea.. by which point you too will be bursting to find out what Olives BIG secret is..
Then full circle Bea tell Molly who’s secret it was in the first place.. eeeeek! ..I bet you think I’m going to tell you what the secret was now… Well of course I’m not, you’ll just have to grab a copy of the book and find out!

Tor is a fresh new face on our illustration radar and one we look forward to following in the coming years. We also hope to see Olive and her friends again in another book!

Thanks to Templar / Brubaker Ford and Friends and he delightful Tor Freeman   - Hip Hip Hooray!