You’re Thinking about Tomatoes by Michael Rosen (Author), Cole Henley (Illustrator)
Michael Rosen is a favorite author of mine: he doesn’t shy away from difficult topics and makes some important points in his poems and musings, both in his blog and in his work. His last book cannot be more important, as it refers to the Migrant crisis by casually speaking about how it was that his family escaped Nazism, in a migrant journey of their own, not always met with a happy ending.
This graphic novel by Cole Henley adapts an important story of Michael’s and does so in a beautiful and free style, that invites humor and sensibility. In it Frank, a sensitive kid, isn’t doing well at school, and he has just been told off by his head teacher again… (he is always daydreaming).
The last chance the principal gives him is to complete a worksheet about his class trip to Chiltern House, but when a girl steps out of a painting and steals his worksheet, everything changes.
The girl wants to know what her name is and why she was in the painting because the people in the house just called her Sheba. You soon begin to suspect that nothing is as it seems in this stately home. Piracy, abuse, and terror were a dark part of the lords at Chiltern House, and they are the reason behind their vast fortune.
There is Mummy, an obvious device to lighten the mood, as it was stolen from Egypt ages ago and now only wants to be a famous mummy star in adventure films. There is a sage monkey (one of the statues stolen from India) and there is a fierce hound that is trying to prevent Fran from finding the truth.
I love the fact that all the antiques and knickknacks talk about their memories and how they pass the time. And I really want Frank to speak up and tell everyone the truth, even if it is a dark one.
‘You’re Thinking about Tomatoes’ is on sale since June 23, 2023.
Genre: Dark Humor,
Publisher: Unbound
Publish Date: June 23, 2023
Pages: 144
Type: Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9781800181441
Featured image by Cole Henley , all images belong to Unbound Publishing
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