Wonder Girl Carmela & Tinker the Stinker - Lucy Chillery-Watson - ★★★.½

AUTHOR: Lucy Chillery-Watson

ILLUSTRATOR: Paul Humphreys

GENRE: Children's Picture Book.

RATING: 3.5 stars

In a Nutshell: A heartwarming picture book about a little girl and her dog who takes them on amazing adventures through his… uhhmmm... farts! Could have benefited with some fine-tuning, but pretty good as is.

(Never ever thought I'd use 'heartwarming' and 'farts' in the same sentence, ever! 😂)

Story Synopsis:

Tinker the Stinker is Wonder Girl Carmela’s best friend despite his stinky farts. This is because his farts propel them on adventurous dreams, and the two travel every night to various places using a very special rhyme before it's time to go back home.

It was a novelty to see a ‘fartilicious’ adventure with a girl at the helm of the narrative. Such stories usually have boys in the main role, as if girls don't enjoy potty humour. Tinker's special farts are bound to generate giggles.

The book is written in rhythmic prose. Most of the words are fairly easy for the target age group, with a few tough exceptions such as ‘asteroids’ and ‘entrancing’. The magical farts need a special song to be activated, and as this song appears multiple times throughout the tale, kids will enjoy saying the rhyme aloud with Carmela.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of rhyming picture books because most of them force the rhymes in a way that doesn't flow naturally while reading aloud. The rhymes in this book, written mostly in the ABCB pattern, are quite often on point, but a few words look like they were inserted only to make the rhyme work even though they don't fit well in the context.

The different places Carmela travels to in her fart-propelled dreams are quite varied, covering earth and sea and sky and even space. While this range brings fun to the story, the number of places means that we don’t get to experience any location properly. It all feels a bit rushed. Maybe this premise could have been turned into a series of adventures set in different locations, with one book exploring one specific setting.

While this is a fantasy story, its eponymous lead is based on the author's daughter, who is introduced to us in the inside cover. The real-life Carmela, based in Devon (England), is a gutsy eight-year-old who has a very rare form of muscular dystrophy, but is determined not to let her disorder overpower her life. Along with Tinker, her therapy dog, Carmela spreads smiles and awareness. She even made exercise videos during the lockdown!

Because of this background, I thought that the story would introduce Carmela and her disorder to the kids in a simple way. But the story is just about a girl and her magical pet and a glimpse into their adventures, though we see a wheelchair in the background illustrations of her room.

The graphics are somewhat simplistic and not my favourite in artistic style, but they work decently for the story. The bright colours are sure to attract little readers. Some of the pages have some nice detailing such as a tortoise wearing skates, or Tinker’s pong wilting a flower.

I wanted to give this book 5 stars just because of its author's backstory, but ultimately, this is still a book review so my rating has to be restricted to my reading experience. I've read plenty of picture books by now, so it is quite tough for books to astound me even in this easy-going genre. So while I liked this book enough, it didn't blow me away. Kids might experience the adventures differently.

Recommended to little adventure-lovers who wish to try out a fanciful (or maybe I should say, "fartiful" 😉) story about a sweet girl and her dog.

The proceeds from this book go to Carmela’s charity, which raises funds for muscular dystrophy research. You can read more about her charity HERE.

My thanks to Blue Poppy Publishing for providing me with a complimentary copy of “Wonder Girl Carmela & Tinker the Stinker”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.