Come along, gentle reader, on a journey to another time. A time when the internet was a mere twinkle in a nerd’s eye. When Everybody Wants to Rule the World was a smash hit single. When Amadeus won Best Picture at the Oscars.
This was also the year one of the many Garfield pocket books was published, this one being Garfield Steps Out. Why is it called Steps Out? Well, there is absolutely no reason, as far as I can tell. But the escapades of a cranky ginger cat and his hapless owner need some kind of title, and this one works just fine. And look, Garfield is wearing a bow tie and a little hat. What’s not to love?
I have a little reader in this house, which is a gift. We were wandering through one of the massive Lifeline Bookfests held in a cavernous convention centre a couple of times a year when I stumbled upon a treasure chest of Garfield pocket books. I was always partial to these, rather than the larger and more easily obtained standard ‘Garfield format’ wide-book comic collections. We bought as many as we could carry, and my little reader loves them just as much as I loved them as a kid. Which is kind of magic, isn’t it?
I realise this is more 1985 nostalgia trip than book review, but hey. I just read this book in the time it took my kid to shower, put on his jimjams, and brush his teeth, and I giggled out loud no fewer than a dozen times. So, in times like these, that is enough for me.
5 bird-bath dips out of 5.
