Please Don’t Read the Footnotes Please – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Humour, short stories, imaginative, creative, innovative.
Children’s book title: Please Don’t Read the Footnotes Please.
Children’s author: Rob Walton.
Children’s illustrator: Reena Makwana.
Genre: Short stories.
Published by: The Emma Press
ISBN: 9781915628367.
Recommended for children aged: 8-12 year-olds.
First published: Paperback March 2025.
This children’s book is ideal for: KS2 readers.
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Our review:
Traditionally, once a book is published, the author’s role is over. The book belongs to the reader after that, and it’s up to you decide what the stories are about.
Rob Walton is having none of it.
Please Don’t Read the Footnotes Please is a hilarious collection of 30 short stories by writer, performer and teacher Rob Walton. Eschewing the traditional author-reader relationship, Rob himself pops up throughout the stories in a series of footnotes to give additional information, meandering asides and (not always) relevant facts.
We, the publishers, recommend that you ignore his nonsense and focus exclusively on the stories.
But of course you won’t! Reminiscent of Terry Pratchett, the footnotes give an additional, highly comedic layer to this wonderful collection of stories. There are messy bedrooms and macaroni cheese. Pennies and pains-au-chocolat. Libraries and Lincolnshire. Not to mention the on-going escapades of the candy floss wielding Knights of Butterwick!
There is no story about a dog with a tuna bake so please stop looking.
Despite the warning of the book’s title, the reader will inevitably zig-zag across the page, interspersing reading the footnotes with the stories themselves. This results in a unique and highly enjoyable literary experience.
Particular highlights include:
- The Hungry Girl – why you shouldn’t assume that a wooden cottage in the woods is really a pop-up café, especially if there are bears nearby
- Planetary Changes – a well-intentioned lesson on the solar system leads to chaos
- Boxing Day – the reluctant purchase of a new fridge in the post-Christmas sales gives Michael a perfect new home
With each story only a few pages long at most, and some as short as half a page, Please Don’t Read the Footnotes Please is perfect for reluctant readers. It will also appeal to more confident readers who want something short to dip into. The humorous asides make the stories ideal for reading aloud and sharing with others. At the end of the book there are tips on writing your own stories – with or without footnotes!
Please Don’t Read the Footnotes Please is a charming and unique collection that will appeal to fans of Terry Pratchett’s short fiction.
Many thanks to The Emma Press for the review copy.
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