Childhood is not carefree. Young kids do not wander happily through some wonderland. They worry, just like adults.

They might worry about things that seem trivial to “grown-ups” but those worries are just as real and just as big to them. But they have not yet learned what to do about it.

In top British author/illustrator Anthony Browne’s new picture book Silly Billy we follow Billy’s attempts to deal with all the worries that surround him. Like Browne’s Willy the Wimp series, the book is a deceptively simple story backed up by drawings of subtle detail and depth.

Billy worries about giant birds, and shoes, and hats, and rain and many other everyday things. His parents try to help him but it is his Grandma who comes up with the first solution. It works for a while but, in the end, Billy develops his own way to deal with all the problems.

Simple, yes, but also brilliant. Browne has always had a keen awareness of a child’s view of the world and Silly Billy manages to deliver its message to both a young and a grown-up audience. Billy’s worries are real, even if adults would not see them as major. Grandma does not just brush them aside, she respects them and gives Billy a way of coping.

The pictures are typical Browne. There are cheeky hints and clues to some of his other books, and little background details that symbolise what is happening in the story.  Browne's intricate and post-modern approach, that sets up themes and patterns as much as presenting a report of the scene, does not intrude into Billy's personal story.  Rather it simply provides some subtle emphasis to key ideas and points in the narrative.  Indeed, these extra details make it a book to explore as well as read.

While its message is very important, Silly Billy is not a heavy-handed teaching book. It is a hopeful story that respects its young readers’ view of the world

Review by David Beagley

© 2006 David Beagley