Pernickety Boo, by Sally Gardner

A talking umbrella with magic powers finds his forever home.

When a muddle-headed wizard unwittingly bungles a spell, he brings to life an umbrella. Pernickety Boo - a talking dog’s head attached to an umbrella canopy - finds himself abandoned by the forgetful wizard to a lost property depot. He languishes there for several years until he meets Sally Moonshine, a young girl who takes an immediate liking to Pernickety Boo. He moves in with Sally and her two Mums, meeting several interesting characters along the way, notably the cat Jimjam and a horse named Crackers. Pernickety and Sally experience many adventures, especially once Pernickety figures out how to use his time travelling skills. But danger looms when brattish Billy Turpin decides he wants Pernickety Boo for himself.

Best selling children’s author Sally Gardner has written a winning story full of whimsy and clever nonsense. Think Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. All of the novel’s interlocking parts shouldn’t really work - a talking umbrella that even the adults see as perfectly normal, talking cats that performed as circus acts in previous lives, plus a host of other absurdities - yet Sally Gardner has the magic touch and creates a bubbly, effervescent tonic out of this seeming chaos. 

A book sure to delight young and old readers alike. 

Pernickety Boo, by Sally Gardner. Published by HarperCollins. $19.99

June 2025