Mango & Bambang - Tapir All at Sea - Story Snug
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Mango & Bambang The Not-a-Pig / Tapir All at Sea by Polly Faber & Clara Vulliamy

These beautiful, stripy little hardbacks contain stories about a little girl, Mango Allsorts, and Bambang, the tapir that Mango rescues form a zebra crossing in the middle of the big busy city where she lives. Mango and Bambang form an unusual but heartwarming friendship and their bond is strengthened through the adventures that they have together.

Mango is a very kind, resourceful little girl who lives with her busy papa in the city. She spends a lot of time alone but keeps busy by practising karate and playing the clarinet. Bambang comes from Malaysia and has somehow taken a wrong turning and ended up in the city. When Mango meets him he is very nervous but once he moves in with her he gains confidence, becomes a loyal friend and develops a love of hats.

Each sturdy little book contains four beautifully illustrated chapters. Clara Vulliamy’s predominantly black and white illustrations (with splashes of purple in the first book and red in the second) break up and support Polly Faber’s easy to read, humorous text – this is an ideal first chapter book for a beginner reader. We love the way that familiar situations have been given amusing and quirky twists and we can’t possibly pick favourite stories or scenes as they are all so original and entertaining. However, there are some memorable scenes, we’ve never seen a tapir wearing a purple flowery bathing hat before or a picture of a tapir with an engagement ring stuck to his bottom!

These quirky stories evoked a wide range of emotions as we read – we laughed, we (almost!) cried and the mention of banana pancakes and peach flapjacks made us hungry! As well as humour there is tension and emotion and we read the final chapter of Tapir All At Sea on the edge of our seats in the hope that there would be a happy ending!

Mango & Bambang – The Not-a-Pig

After Mango meets Bambang she takes him home for banana pancakes and he moves in with her and her papa. While Mango tries to help Bambang find a place to swim they make a new friend George, the son of the Very Important Governor, who likes to climb trees. Bambang has a nasty experience when he is captured by Dr. Cynthia Prickle-Posset, the downstairs neighbour who collects unusual things, and in the final chapter he proves to be a loyal and supportive friend when he helps Mango to practise for her clarinet concert.

Mango & Bambang: The Not-a-Pig - Story Snug

Mango & Bambang – Tapir All At Sea

Mango does her best to find a hobby for Bambang that he will enjoy. She discovers quite by accident that flamenco dancing is the perfect hobby for a tapir and his dancing helps him when he has another nasty experience with neighbour, Dr. Cynthia Prickle-Posset. A Run in the Park leads Bambang to make a new friend, Rocket the dog, who proves extremely helpful when Bambang goes to sea on The Queen Mirabelle.

Mango & Bambang - Tapir All at Sea - Story Snug

We really enjoyed reading both of the Mango and Bambang books and we’re looking forward to reading the third book which will be published in September.

Age Range: 5 +

Author: Polly Faber / Illustrator: Clara Vulliamy

Mango likes making banana pancakes so inspired by the stories we made vegan, gluten free banana pancakes. They taste absolutely delicious!

gluten free, vegan banana pancakes - Story Snug

We made the batter using 150g gluten free flour (you can also use plain flour), 300ml soya milk, 2 teaspoons baking powder, a pinch of salt and two very ripe bananas. We whizzed all the ingredients up in a food processor then fried the pancakes in sunflower oil. This recipe makes 12 small pancakes.

Guten Appetit!


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12 responses to “Mango & Bambang The Not-a-Pig / Tapir All at Sea by Polly Faber & Clara Vulliamy”


  1. Yet Another Blogging Mummy!!! avatar

    Not heard of these but love the character names. Think son2 would enjoy these #readwithme


    1. Catherine avatar

      The character names are fab aren’t they and now my daughter knows what a tapir is 🙂


  2. Jenny avatar

    I love Clara Vulliamy’s illustrations, these sound lovely #ReadWithMe


    1. Catherine avatar

      They are and the illustrations reflect the humour in the text 🙂


  3. Sarah MumofThree World avatar

    These sound great. It’s always tricky finding first chapter books and making that leap from picture books to chapter book. These sound like a great way to do it (must remember them for my niece in a couple of years!).


    1. Catherine avatar

      These are the perfect bridge between complex picture books and chapter books. The text is supported so well by the illustrations.


  4. Acorn books avatar

    These books sound great and so unusual too. I love the black and white illustrations with the coloured stripes, they really stand out. #readwithme


    1. Catherine avatar

      They are very original and so beautifully illustrated 🙂


  5. chantelle hazelden avatar

    Oh I love the names first off and those stripy covers are very appealing for some reason. I’m a bit quirky myself so these sound fab! Thanks for sharing with #ReadWithMe


    1. Catherine avatar

      The covers are gorgeous aren’t they 🙂


  6. Jennifer avatar

    I’ve never seen these books, but the covers and description made me think of Eloise and Pippi Longstocking for some reason. Sounds cute!


    1. Catherine avatar

      Mango & Bambang are fairly new. The first book was published last autumn, the second at the beginning of this month.