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Naughty Nina
by Juliet Mickelburgh

Release Date: 7th Mar 2011
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 978 1 4088 003903
RRP: £5.99

Average Customer Rating: 
(0.0 based on 0 ratings)

Vintage illustrations lift this book out of its uninspiring narrative...

With a front cover that immediately strikes you simply because it isn’t more of the usual bold, bright colours that you normally see on children’s literature; the initial impression of Naughty Nina is that of a quirky, moodiness and abstract beauty. And indeed, the illustrations by AnnaLaura Cantone are sublime, even if her characters are a little out of proportion.

Naughty or nice? That is the dilemma facing little Nina as she goes about her daily life. Bored of being ‘nice’ all the time, she resolves to become a naughty little girl – painting all over walls at home, scribbling in books at school and talking with her mouth full at her Aunt Emily’s house. Being naughty is fun, for a while... The end conclusion is that Nina remains true to herself, which means she is usually nice, normally attentive and rarely talks with her mouth full.
Whilst there is obviously nothing wrong with this message, it lacks any really power. A child in this age group (presumably school age) would already be well aware of the concepts of being naughty and nice, and more than likely have an understanding of the consequences of both – so do we really need a book to spell it out – and ambiguously at that? I agree wholeheartedly that we should encourage our little ones to be true to themselves; but what does this have to do with behaving badly or not? Learning to behave is an important aspect of civilised society and first and foremost this is the message our children should be learning. Accepting that sometimes we fail to be perfect is a difficult idea to assimilate, especially at this age. A simpler message would have been much better.
What we find irresistible is Cantone’s illustrations; they are whimsical, full of character and have a gorgeous vintage feel to them. The inclusion of a fold-out game at the back is an unnecessary aside, in my opinion. For this one, you’ll need a dice and about 20 minutes of attention; which may turn out to be difficult as the game itself is lukewarm at best. We’d buy for the pictures and that’s about it.

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