This is a combo review for Mango & Bambang book 1 and book 2! 

I spotted this book over at twitter and was instantly interested. A book about a girl and a tapir? A tapir!? Really I had to check this one out. A lot of books just feature the standard animals, cats, dogs, hamsters, rabbits, or dragons and unicorns (if one would go to fantasy land), but I haven’t spotted one that has a tapir!

Mango is a brave, sweet, wonderful, smart girl who lives with her father. She is the type who will try anything and everything, and also won’t give up instantly. She just keeps trying, even when it is hard or difficult.

One day while in the city she meets a tapir (who was trying to become one with the Zebra Crossing, though maybe we should just all call it Tapir Crossing considering how well the tapir blends in it), and after a bunch of talking (seriously, this girl is super brave to stand up for what she wants to do, even protecting someone she doesn’t yet know that well) they go to her home, and become fast friends.
I didn’t expect Bambang to talk, but for some reason I didn’t mind. It quickly became something normal and fun to see Bambang talk about everything.

The books are separated in various short stories, however I am not sure if you could read them randomly, I am sure you would miss certain events that happened previously. Like how they met, or that evil doctor/woman who likes to collect certain things. You would also be a bit curious about the whole dad situation.
I loved that the books were separated with short stories. We get to know the characters more, and we see them having a fun day or a fun time, or something happens. It is just something different from what normal books do (chapters/one continuous story) and I hope the other Tapir books (please let there be more) will also keep this format.

I have to say that I didn’t always like Bambang, at times I found him annoying or an idiot. I mean, you know that going outside is dangerous, yet you just go out like that? But mostly I did like him, he was an interesting character, though I wondered about his life before Mango. Where did he live in the jungle? Does he miss his family? Who is his family?
I had quite a few laughs at his hat addiction, a tapir loving hats and even have various of them for different situations. 🙂
I loved how sweet and kind he was towards Mango, how he cheered her up, how he was there for her, how they had a great big time together.

I had quite a few laughs at all the people who apparently couldn’t figure out what a tapir was, and kept referencing him as beast or pig. How can you get that wrong? Poor Bambang.

Mm, what more. Ah yes, the illustrations, I just loved those! They fitted the book perfectly and they were fun to look at. I also loved the fact that the books were mostly black/white but had one colour theme per book. For instance the first book stuff is coloured in purple/black/white, while the second book is red/black/white. I can’t wait to see what the next colour will be.

Ah yes, the last thing, while reading this book it just gave of vibes of books likes Ottoline and Goth Girl. Two series I both loved.

Would I recommend this series? Yes, yes I would. If you are looking for an adorable, cute, fluffy, and fun read, then read this one!

Book 1: 

Book 2: