Albert and the Thief

A Joyful Romp

“Albert and the Thief” is the 8th book in the “Albert the Tortoise” children’s picture book series by author Ian Brown and illustrator Eoin Clarke. As the title suggests, many of the little creatures living in Albert’s backyard, wake up one morning to discover some of their possessions missing. There follows the expected bickering and finger pointing, reminding one that these characters are stand-ins for people. This is also where the many lessons for children come in. Brown with his signature hilarity, conveys these lessons organically with examples being the ants stamping their feet “loudly” to cover the sounds of the thief re-entering the house to return the stolen items; the stolen items, themselves, being dutifully returned to the recycle bin; and the worm engineer’s suggestion to build a catapult to hurl the stolen items back through the window. Such images and more are brought to life by Clarke’s delightful artwork. Between belly laughs, the importance of coming clean about one’s wrong doings is conveyed together with the need to apologize and to mend the situation as much as might be possible. Another open-ended story, “Thief” lends itself to the classroom, with such writing prompts as, “How might Albert, thief and friends solve the bigger problem discovered on the last page of this story?” At the back of the book are, as always, some fun facts about the new animal featured in Albert’s world. A worthy addition to the series, “Albert and the Thief” is a joyful romp for children, parents and teachers alike.