Book Review: The Bolds

Some moments just call for a book, like when I take my boys to the high school pool for the summer open swim time. The chaos of the environment precludes serious reading, so I turn to lighter fare, knowing my head will be popping in and out of the book quite frequently. With those particular needs in mind, this children's book by Julian Clary seemed perfect.

The Bolds are a family of hyenas disguised as human beings. They live in a suburb of London and carefully guard their secret from their nosy neighbor, Mr. McNulty. Being hyenas, they love to laugh. Mr. Bold's jokes are amusing and I did have to share two boy-friendly ones with my sons:

"Why did the toilet paper roll down the hill? - To get to the bottom!"

"Some thieves broke into a police station and stole the toilet. The police are investigating, but for now they've got nothing to go on."

The illustrations were cute and the story was lighthearted. I don't think I'll seek out any more of the series (three more books to date), but if my boys were younger, I could see them eating this series up. A dash of imagination to uncover a story about being an outsider.