Review by Frank Plowright

Jamie Smart is the UK’s most popular creator of graphic novels for the just pre-teen market, and Max & Chaffy is an attempt to capture the attention of those children at a slightly earlier age.

Max Boggle is an enthusiastic child who likes finding things, and there are plenty of things to find on Animal Island, not least a cast of eccentric characters from the moose running the police station to Chaffy, a strange creature even better at finding things than Max. Just as well, because on Animal Island people are forever misplacing their belongings.

Smart illustrates the book in the simple manner of a game like Animal Crossing rather than his usual manic style. Clarity is key here, so young children can always understand what’s going on, and Smart delivers a brightly coloured, cheerful world where nothing is more threatening than the grumpiness of Foghorn, the boat owner. Each person has their defined location, with Chaffy the one anomaly.

To anyone other than children Chaffy is a really strange creation, the disembodied head of a rabbit with one short ear, perhaps due to injury caused by Monkey in Smart’s better known series.

Older readers may recall the children’s comics of their childhood featuring a puzzle page, and as per the sample art Smart resurrects that idea via detailed spreads in which Chaffy must be found. As per the Where’s Wally/Waldo books, the back pages supply lists of other objects to look for in the spreads, so giving extra value.

The curious child should rapidly engage with Max and Chaffy’s world, and if you’d like a sample, head for findchaffy.com.