The Warrior Sheep Go West

The Warrior Sheep Go West by Christine & Christopher Russell (Hardie Grant Egmont)

PB RRP $14.95

ISBN 978-1-4052-4377-3

Reviewed by Lillian Rodrigues-Pang

www.thestoryline.com.au 

“They only went into the barn to get out of the rain. But that just goes to show that big adventures can start where you least expect them.” What a fantastic first line, and I am happy to say the precise and humorous writing did not stop there.

The Warrior Sheep Go West is the sequel to The Quest of the Warrior Sheep. This is a very enjoyable book, for me and my 8 and 9-year-old children.

The story centres on a pack of rare breed sheep, which usually reside with their owners Tod and Gran in Eppingham (UK). They are adventure-loving sheep, each endowed with a different talent/intelligence. One sheep knows all the songs of old, one understands humans, another is a rap singing sheep constantly creating verse for them all to sing. There are large doses of humour throughout such as tumble weed described as “organic barbed wire”. There is also plenty of adventure. Humans feature as kind, evil and just plain dumb.

In this adventure the sheep face the frightening challenge of “Red Tongue” a long sung of enemy that will rise one day in the west and threaten all of sheep kind. The Warrior sheep take on all manner of challenges – computers, flying from the UK to USA, the dessert and in particular a mad scientist. The result is a page turning, fun adventure. The story relating to the sheep and their owners run parallel throughout the book until the spectacular and thrilling end. The structure is fantastic and adds to the adventure. A very good writing sample that kids will enjoy.

The book is well written, with careful descriptions, use of imagery and language – highly recommended.