These are new titles in hugely popular Oxford Children’s Books series for new solo readers. Thanks to the publishers for sending them for review.

Isadora Moon Helps Out
Harriet Muncaster

When Isadora’s Mum is in bed with fairy flu, the little half fairy half vampire excitedly takes on the role of nurse. It’s not long though before her enthusiastic helping starts going wrong – very wrong. The special breakfast of strawberries is over creamy, the bathroom is awash with pink bubbly water and Dad finds himself sitting in the middle of a mess on the bathroom floor. Feeling rather guilty, Isadora offers to make amends by doing something ‘really helpful’ for her mum. However Dad’s instruction to tidy her bedroom isn’t quite what Isadora meant by ‘anything’. Instead she heads outside to Mum’s greenhouse where she accidentally spills some special soil that makes things grow extra big, extra fast. It turns out that it’s not just plants it has that effect on though.

Is there anything Isadora can get right? Happily yes and all ends perfectly.
It hardly seems possible that this is book nineteen in the highly illustrated series that has worked its special magic to help countless young children make the transition to early chapter books.

Emerald and the Lost Treasure
Harriet Muncaster

This is the first story in which Isadora Moon, Mirabelle and Emerald appear together. As it begins Emerald is preparing for a school trip. As part of an environmental project, Finders Keepers, she and her class are to spend the day sea combing – picking up rubbish dropped by humans that ends up on the ocean floor. Each pupil must keep one of the objects they find and write about it in a story later on. Emerald’s classmates soon find exciting jewellery type treasures for their stories; Emerald finds a teddy bear in the seaweed. She thinks it’s cute and is tempted to keep it but it has a tag saying it belongs to Jack who lives in Scallop Bay lighthouse: ‘finders-keepers’ is the rule under the sea, her friend Marina reminds her so Emerald takes it, promising Bertie bear that she’ll look after him. However, that evening Marina is having dinner at Emerald’s home and Emerald tells her friend that she doesn’t feel right about keeping the teddy and asks if her friend, land dweller Isadora Moon might assist them in returning Bertie to Jack.

Off goes a letter to Isadora requesting her help and on the Sunday morning they both set off to the suggested meeting place in the hope that Isadora will turn up. She does and together the three plus Mirabelle’s aunt embark on operation find Jack.

Happily Jack is sitting on the rocks by the lighthouse and he’s overjoyed to see his bear again. He shows the visitors around the lighthouse and a friendship develops which leads to Jack demonstrating his drawing prowess. Can you guess what Emerald decides is the best treasure of all?

With themes of caring for our planet and doing the right thing, this magical story will delight young readers and give them plenty to think about. Harriet’s illustrations are gorgeous and she also provides some ‘fintastic’ activities at the back of the book.,