‘The Scarecrow and his Servant’ is another great book from Philip Pullman! It is about 250 pages long with quite a large font. The colourful and bright cover instantly drew my attention. It is light-hearted and very amusing; I couldn’t suppress a laugh as I read parts of the story. It also contains little sketches every few pages, which, however childish and out-of-place they seemed in a teenage novel, were useful and entertaining throughout the story. This; I believe is mainly because the level of description in the book is not particularly detailed, and the pictures help to build a mental image of the world of the scarecrow.

A battered old scarecrow is struck by lightning in a thunderstorm. By an amazing chance, it comes alive! The literally ‘pea-brained’ scarecrow manages to persuade a boy called Jack to be his servant and to travel with him on his quest, and they have many adventures along the way. Here is a quotation:

 “He turned his head sideways and shook it. Something fell out and bounced on the road.
The two of them bent over and looked at it.
‘It’s a pea,’ said Jack.
‘Ah yes,’ said the Scarecrow modestly. ‘That’s my brain, you know.’
But before either of them could pick it up and put it back, a blackbird flew down, seized the pea in his beak and flew up and perched on a branch.
The Scarecrow was outraged. He waved his road sign, he opened and shut his umbrella and he stamped in fury.
‘You scoundrel! You thief!’ he roared. ‘Give me my brain back!’
The blackbird swallowed the pea, and then, to Jack’s astonishment, said, ‘Get lost. I saw it first.’” 

I enjoyed reading this book very much, and would recommend it to anyone with a sense of humour!