Claude On The Slopes

I did a little whoop of delight when I came into work after a day off and discovered that the new Claude book was on the shelf. To say I was excited was an understatement. I danced a small jig and ran around the shop showing my colleagues who were no doubt fatigued by my giddiness, but they managed to humour me despite their probable overwhelming desire to sit on me just to keep me still.
Anyhow onto the book and it doesn't disappoint. I did things properly and sat down with a pot of tea (leaf assam of course) and a red velvet cupcake and tucked into Claude. The by now familiar opening settles you for another fun and exiting adventure. Claude On The Slopes starts the day before the actual adventure when Claude and Sir Bobblysock visit the library. Claude turns up to the library wearing his One Man Band outfit... But the very kind librarian, Miss Hush, explains to Claude how to behave in a library. So after being quiet, Claude needs a LOUD day and so uses his OUTDOOR VOICE a lot. It has snowed overnight and so Claude and Sir Bobblysock don their snow outfits and head off to the local winter sports centre. There's lots of fun with a snowman competition, meet Sidney Snood, a mountain rescuer with a quite splendid moustache, and Claude learns an important lesson about when to use his indoor and outdoor voice.
It's a lovely book, full of those original touches that make something really special. Adults will delight at some of the book titles in the library and the look on the face of the poor chappie who is rescued during the mountain recscue operation is priceless. Add to this the superb asides of Sir Bobblysock (bunions!) and, oh it's just wonderful. Buy it for any four, five or six year olds you know and enjoy it.
Just a small note. I discovered yesterday that Claude is going to be made into a television series. Part of me is elated, and part of me is worried. I hope that they do Claude justice, he deserves it and it will be wonderful to see him reach as wide an audience as possible. However I worry that the charm of the books will be lost in translation, that the inevitable spin off stories will be inferior to the originals and that overfamiliarity will breed if not contempt, then a little indifference. A television series initially did wonders for both Charlie and Lola and the Octonauts. A year later and they languish, rarely asked for on my shelves. I have no Wibbly Pig books in regular stock despite him being a regular on CBeebies and I have very few Kipper titles. I would hate for this to be Claude's fate, the books are too good for this to be allowed to happen.
One final point. I do hope that when the television series does come out some very clever marketing people make a soft toy of Claude, preferably with a removable beret, and one of Sir Bobblysock with his Larry Grayson glasses. That prospect truly excites me!