Birchfield Close h/c back

Fans of PEBBLE ISLAND will simply adore this sequel of sorts as McNaught employs the same beautiful mixture of light red and blue shading, dots and fine lines along with a little solid black here and there to tell another laid-back tale, as two boys climb onto a roof and simply watch the world go by. There's some really clever little moments in the storytelling that take this work a notch up from PEBBLE ISLAND though, such as when a hot air balloon takes off, we first get a few panels with the boys sat on the rooftop hearing strange noises before the balloon itself appears, which is when we realise the noises must have been the sound of the balloon inflating, followed by a little compressed sequence of panels imagining an adventurous and arduous ballooning journey, before returning to the boys on the rooftop again.

This work is full of imaginative little segueways like that which adds considerably to its charm. The only negative comment once again is the price as, at £9-00 for a little book of relatively few pages, it does seem a bit pricey. I do appreciate that Nobrow, the publishers of this and other recent quality little gems like THE BENTO BESTIARY, HILDAFOLK, OUROBOROS and EVERYTHING WE MISS clearly don't want to skimp on production values, but I can't help wondering if they aren't harming their own sales with their ambitious pricing structure.