The Coming of the Iron Man, written by Ted Hughes, illustrated by Mini Grey, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

Ted Hughes' Iron Man is one of Faber Publishings treasures, and this new picture book edition, carefully edited and beautifully illustrated by Mini Grey, is a total treat. 

The story starts in the familiar way -

    'The Iron Man came to the top of the cliff.

    How far had he walked? Nobody knows.

    Where had he come from? Nobody knows.

    How was he made? Nobody knows.'

- and we are in the hands of a poet. 

The story, as ever, thrills as the gigantic Iron Man falls and crashes apart, then his component parts find each other and re-make him. As he eats the farmers' tractors and they dig a trap to bait him to his death. And small boy Hogarth lures him by clanking iron things together. And then .... But you must read the book to find that out! Exciting, scary, funny, satisfying.

But it's Mini Grey's illustrations which are new. They are wonderful, similarly full of drama and beauty and humour (note the riveted divide between images!) -

I love the details of light and natural settings -

Printed on luxuriously thick paper, large format and with almost twice the number of spreads of a standard picture book, this book is stunningly good value at £7.99