A random rhinoceros Lunchtime went to look at children's books. Imagine my horror after writing a book about a dapper skeleton all year to see a new, prizewinning book about a dapper skeleton detective called Skullduggery Pleasant. Bastards. Bastards. Had a look at it, and it seemed excellent. Fortunately the similarities are superficial, but still galling. Bought James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl which I read for the first time this evening. Lovely stuff. This on the first page made me laugh out loud. "Then one day, James's mother and father went to London to do some shopping, and there a terrible thing happened. Both of them suddenly got eaten up (in full daylight, mind you, and on a crowded street) by an enormous angry rhinoceros which had escaped from London Zoo.... Their troubles were all over in a jiffy. They were dead and gone in 35 seconds flat." Masterful. And also I bought Michael Rosen's Sad book which, like the Dahl, is illustrated by Quinten B...