Goodnight, Mr. Clutterbuck

Mr. Clutterbuck is reserved and quite boring during the day, consistently turning down offers from people to join them in fun activities. However during his sleepwalking expeditions he becomes a town hero by singlehandedly putting an end to the rivalry between two biker gangs, preventing the impending bankruptcy of the sausage factory and helping a rock band out of a rut, amongst other exciting things. Gus, Mr. Clutterbuck's faithful guinea pig, tags along to ensure Mr. Clutterbuck remains safe while he wanders around the town asleep.

Translated from Finnish by Jill Timbers, I don't know if anything was lost in the translation but if it was it didn't matter. The names of the characters are a hoot! Rip and Roar are leaders of rival biker gangs, Wally Wurst is a hippopotamus that owns a sausage factory and one of the policemen is called Constable Fuzz!

Kids are going to love hearing the jumbled words that come out of Mr. Clutterbuck's mouth when he's sleepwalking. I couldn't tell you why but Mr. Clutterbuck's voice in my head sounded exactly like Wallace from Wallace & Gromit.

Kids and adults alike will enjoy finding new things in the pictures each time they open the book, like a car on a roof or a snake playing drums in a rock band. Even if you had no interest in this book based on the story I'd still recommend it for the illustrations alone. They're detailed, quirky, funny and the animals are fantastic!

I've already spent a lot of time looking closely at all of the pictures to try and ensure I haven't missed anything but even so I'm sure I have. There's just so much to look at! Keep your eye out for the cutest fuzzy little spider with a top hat and cane in the majority of illustrations, adorable bats, and the spoon thief who's lurking around throughout the book.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley (thank you so much to NetGalley and Archipelago Books for the opportunity) in exchange for honest feedback.

Goodnight, Mr. Clutterbuck by Mauri Kunnas. Translated from the Finnish by Jill Timbers.
Archipelago. Elsewhere Editions. Mauri Tapio Kunnass, one of Finland's most beloved children's writers, has written and illustrated this picture book now presented to the American market. His brilliantly colored drawings are rich with color and cover a wide variety of clothed animals as they humorously bring Mr. Clutterbuck’s chaotic sleepwalking adventures to a close. Thanks to NetGalley, Archipelago and Elsewhere Editions for providing this ebook for review.

Great Drawings, Bumpy Story

The setup here is that mild Mr. Clutterbuck has wild adventures while sleepwalking.

The illustrations are fun, and work on a couple of levels. Like the books of Richard Scarry, or the Mr. Postmouse books, the drawings energetically illustrate the action of the story, but loaded around the edges and hidden within the scenes, are oodles of little jokes and bits of business. Just as Scarry had Goldbug peeking out of every page to emphasize some bit of the story, so too here do we get Mr. Clutterbuck's pet guinea pig, Gus, (his companion and protector), reacting to the chaos caused by Clutterbuck's sleepwalking. Plus, neighbors and onlookers, and neighborhood pets, and who knows what else, are shown reacting to the events of the story. The overall effect is that there is a lot to find and to see on every page, and lots of visual jokes and puns to recognize and appreciate. Not only does this make the book fun, it greatly enhances its rereadability and it rewards careful observation.

The story itself is broken up into several different nights of sleepwalking and several different adventures, (most of which are a bit strange and off-kilter), and this almost chapter structure probably helps with littler readers. It also means that if one adventure isn't that interesting, well, there are more to come. By the end, though, everything comes together in a satisfying and cheerfully upbeat conclusion.

That said, some of the storytelling does wander around a bit. Mr. Clutterbuck mostly just mumbles nonsense words and rhymes while sleepwalking, and the antics sometimes have an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink feel. I'm not quite sure how the translator moved this from Finnish to English, but the end result is that the story sometimes feels unmoored. On the other hand, when a story involves doing the cha-cha in a railyard while graffiti artists look on, or riding a grocery cart into the middle of a motorcycle drag race, I'm not sure what your narrative options are except to go with the flow.

At bottom, I was impressed with the drawings, and willing to go along with the bumpy narrative, and mostly just amused by the cleverness and energy of the project. This might be best for an ambitious little reader with a taste for the silly absurd, but isn't that a nice place to be?

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

This was pretty funny! How can one miss with a sleep walking goat?! This is the busiest sleeping goat ever; he has sooo many funny adventures when sleeping It's a good thing he has little Gus to keep him safe! Kids are going to crack up reading this hilarious story! The illustrations are priceless!

When I was working in a library, back in my college days, there was a little boy who kept checking out the same Richard Scarey book. He loved looking at the pictures, which were quite detailed. It was probably Richard Scarey's world, or some such book like that.

Although this book is nothing like that, as this book is about Mr. Clutterbuck, who is a goat who sleepwalks, the drawings have that same detailed look of the Richard Scarey books, where <em>things</em> are happening all the way through the book, while the main story of Mr. Clutterbuck's night walks takes the center stage.

Cute story of how a sleep walking goat can both cause havoc, and yet save the day, from finding the spoon thief, to stopping the motorcycle gangs from frightens to help a musical group produce a hit record.

Lots of fun,and I think kids will enjoy reading, or having this read to them. Doesn't lose anything in the translation.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This is a really, really good picture book. Yes, it has quite a lot of words to it, but the artworks themselves are also crammed with detail, and the right reader will be poring over these adventures of a sleepwalking goat for a very long time. The story has a simplicity to it, but the amounts of clever cause and effect prove it to have been put together with a lot of care and craft. The layout is a little higgledy-piggledy at times, but on the whole this is wonderful.

I loved this story, it was a great concept and had a fab ending! A book that I can see being a favourite that gets read again and again - great images!

Good Night Mr Clutterbuck is a children's book that has been translated from Finnish. It is absolutely adorable, and I didn't fall asleep last night until I had finished it.

Mr Clutterbuck is a goat that has a habit of sleepwalking. During the day, he is mild mannered, and very shy. He tries to avoid social situations as often as possible. He is completely different in the night, when his true self takes over. I feel he is a true representation of a lot of humans. We tend to worry about what other people will think of us, but if that is taken away, great things can happen.

Of course, the book poses the question, "Who took all the spoons?" The answer is hilarious and surprising.

The illustrations are wonderful and bring the story to a whole new level. I enjoyed looking at all the details in the illustrations just as much as the actual story. This is an adorable children's book that everyone, no matter the age, will enjoy. Highly recommended.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.
Author: Mauri Kunnas
Publisher: Elswhere Editions
Publication Date: 28 Nov 2017

I loved this book from start to finish. The hilarious and very detailed illustrations are amazing. They are full of action, humour and emotion. They are brilliant!

Mr. Clutterbuck is a lethargic, kind of boring goat by day but boy does he change his demeanour during the nighttime hours. You see, Mr. Clutterbuck is a sleepwalker and his nightly body guard is Gus, his loyal and loving guinea pig. Gus sticks with him through thick and thin trying to keep his owner out of danger and safely back home to his bed. All Mr. Clutterbuck's friends kindly ask him to join them to go rollerskating, to a cookout or to participate in karaoke, but alas, he declines each invitation opting to have his familiar bedtime rituals and then head off to his bed.

Once asleep his nightly adventures lead him on wild and wonderful escapades. He breaks up motorcycle gang rivals, rescues Wally Wurst's sausage business from cashing and burning, causes havoc and destruction due to a humungous mustard spill he incurred and even becomes a rock band's lead singer (even though he cannot sing), just to name a few.

His bravery and bizarre antics do not go unnoticed by the local town folk. With very grateful hearts they descend upon his home to offer their praise and thanks to him. They give the confused and rather stunned Mr. Clutterbuck the ideal gift that a sleepwalker could ever dream of having. The ending is spot on perfect! This book will be thoroughly enjoyed by both younger and older audiences. The excellent detailed illustrations will have kids going back again and again to revel in their complexities. This book is translated from Finnish by Jill Timbers. I highly recommend it.

'Goodnight, Mr. Clutterbuck' by Mauri Kunnas with translation by Jill Timbers is a story about a poor creature who can't understand why he is so tired during the day, but the reader will know why.

Every night, Mr. Clutterbuck has a routine so that he could get a good night's sleep. It includes brushing his teeth, drinking a glass of warm milk, and tucking his guinea pig Gus in for the night. But every night, Mr. Clutterbuck is the busiest, noisiest sleepwalker in his town. Poor Gus has his hands full keeping Mr. Clutterbuck safe. Along the way, he manages to solve mysteries in his town, but what about all those missing spoons?

It's a really funny story which is only funnier with the great illustrations. I feel so bad for little Gus who is fully aware of all the close calls that Mr. Clutterbuck gets in to. I think this would be fa fun book to read aloud with kids.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Elsewhere Editions, Archipelago, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.