Trouble for Trumpets

by Peter Dallas-Smith and Peter Cross

Book Overview

Just as the Trumpets, summer creatures who live in a world of warmth and sunshine, prepare to hibernate, the Grumpets, winter creatures who live in the dark, frozen mountains of the north, prepare to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679803432
• ISBN13: 9780679803430
• Release Date: June 1990
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

My Kids LOVED This Book-- And I Loved Reading It To Them

NEW EDITION, PLEASE!! Why are great kids' books like this allowed to fall out of print? All of my kids spent hours pouring over every page of this thing, seeking all the exciting little details that were hidden in the illustrations. The story is fun, the illustrations ravishing-- it's a joy to read to a 4 or 5 or 6-year-old, and older kids will enjoy reading it themselves. Seeing the prices on available copies, I'd better hang onto our tattered copy for eventual grand-kids....

Trouble in Trumpet City

The English cultivate a talent that we Americans, for all our inherent charms, lack. Consider for a moment the picture books of artists like Graeme Base or Peter Cross. In both their works, lush full-color illustrations are filled to overflowing with hidden details, small clues, and minor hilarities on almost every page. Of course, for all Base's charms, he can't hold a candle to Cross's work on the "Trumpets" series. I've never run across a picture book, no matter how beautifully illustrated, that sported the illustrator's name before the author's on the book's cover. "Trouble For Trumpets" is the first I've seen to do this, and deservedly so. Fairly reeking of its own Englishness, the story tells of a battle between good and evil in a fairly Redwallian manner. It's not for the plot that you'll be reading this book, however, but for the journey that takes you through its pages. Podd welcomes you right from the start. He's a Trumpet, which is to say that he's a rather adorable creature that enjoy the summers and hibernates during the winters. Trumpets have a well-organized society and must continually protect themselves from the opposing Grumpet army. Grumpets are like Trumpets but they prefer the cold and dark and are intent on conquering the Trumpet land. In this particular tale, Podd and his friend Livingstone are on a bit of a vacation when they come across a Grumpet submarine. While the rest of the Trumpets are traipsing off to hibernate, Podd is intent on discovering what the Grumpets are up to. He spies on them and is captured rather quickly before he can ascertain the nature of the Grumpet "secret weapon". Fortunately, Podd is able to make a daring escape, warn the Trumpet army, and participate in a truly epic battle between Trumpet and Grumpet forces. In the end, the Trumpets win and Podd is allowed a much-deserved nap of his own. The story, such as it is, is nothing much to crow about. Traces of "The Borrowers", "Redwall", and "Brambly Hedge" come to mind in its narrative. None of this is to say that the story is poorly written. I'm just pointing out that the real winner here is illustrator Peter Cross. I spent literally half an hour inspecting as many little tiny details as I could in a single picture, and I probably haven't even scratched the surface of what there is to find here. Cross makes references to Magritte and M.C. Escher, places little numbers all over the pictures with a corresponding key at the bottom of large color spreads, and is shockingly accurate when it comes to the flora and fauna of the British countryside. Mice, birds, insects, and reptiles are rendered completely realistically here. You can make out every little feather on his English Robin's breast and for some it will come as no surprise that starlings are the birds most used by Grumpets. And just in case you're feeling particularly in need of entertainment, Cross has hidden 22 faces amongst his illustrations throughout the book, as w

I Love This Book

I have had this book forever and i absolulty love it. all the little hidden treasures which i have spent hours looking at. the Grumpet Alphabet, the hidden faces (I still can only find 19, I don't think there are 22), and every thing else in general.

This one my first and favourite fantasy book.

I grew up reading this book, the illustrations are wonderful and are so detailed. The best pictures are at the beginning of the book, with a map of the area, which details the cold winter land to the north and the warm summer land of the trumpets to the south. The pictures use real wildlife and down the side of each page their is a numbered key, which relates to the specific item on the picture. Such as Ladybirds, Robins and Blackberries. The story is marvellous, as the trumpets hibernate through the winter, and have to take a underground train to their lair. But trouble is in store for them when the enemies of the north advance. But with the help of the animals, the trumpets save the day.

Great. The best I have ever read. Must read!!!!!!!!!! :-)

I think that I will always enjoy this book and I really like it. I'm tweleve and I liked it the first time I read it. I think that this book should get some kind of reward. Like well..."The Best Book Of The Century". I think that everyone should read it. I think that little kids would really like it. I know that I did when I was alittle kid. I liked how the illistrater made such cool pictures.I mean that the pictures where really detailed. William Kenny