Author jillrbennett

Reggie Rabbit and the Metro Mice / Toby and the Pixies: How To Be Cool

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Reggie Rabbit and the Metro Mice
Swapna Reddy and Becka Moor
Oxford Children’s Books

This is the 4th of the Reggie Rabbit series and it appears that Reggie isn’t quite as sharp as usual and is missing bits of information here and there: could those high-alert detective skills be getting a tad rusty?
As he and Pipsqueak head out of the school gates one afternoon, they are approached by Mo, a shy mouse asking for their help. His home, the warren-like metro tunnels beneath Bearburgh, is under threat, putting the metro mice in great danger. Cracks are appearing in the metro’s structure but equally, the mouse community isn’t united in wanting help from members of ‘The Aboves’ so Mo’s Aunty Mona says.

Mo isn’t going to give up on their help though and he takes Reggie and Pipsqueak to a tunnel beside the council room where they hear strange sounds and see more cracks appearing. Once back on the surface Reggie and Pipsqueak hear a scream for help. They rush down the city street to where a jeweller tells them that he’s been robbed. Maybe the two things are connected with the criminal activity of racoon, Nora Masque, Reggie’s nemesis, and her brothers. It looks as though it’s up to Reggie and Pipsqueak to discover what is afoot.

Part chapter book, part graphic novel, this funny tale is ideal for new solo readers particularly young comic lovers.

For slightly older readers of graphic novels is:

Toby and the Pixies: How To Be Cool
James Turner and Andreas Schuster
David Fickling Books

In this 4th book featuring the accidental king of the pixies Toby is endeavouring to reinvent himself as T-Train. However, it doesn’t work so the pixies step in to help by using a memory orb, telling Toby that it will ‘make sure that everyone gives you a completely clean slate.’ This is clearly a step too far as now, not even Toby’s dad recognises him and sends the boy packing from his home.

A fresh start or an utter mess? Can the pixies sort out this particular disaster. Maybe but that’s only the beginning of the mayhem. Then come the hairy problems and a whole lot of more besides.

Ridiculously nonsensical silliness but highly hilarious: Toby’s fans will gobble it up and ask for more.

Ten Tiny Squirrels

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Ten Tiny Squirrels
Kael Tudor and Marc Boutavant
Scholastic

A zany counting book wherein readers, along with the bear narrator, are supposed to count back from ten to zero one joining in with the rhyme. That isn’t quite what happens however. It starts off thus: ‘Ten tiny squirrels sitting in a line, / One ran away, / and then there were … ‘ but it’s not just one squirrel that runs away – it’s all of them.

A squirrel hunt ensues during which we encounter a diminishing number of other creatures – nine budgies, eight geese, seven polar bears, six chameleons (particular hard to spot), five mice, four very belligerent ducks,

three rocks – oops! make that tortoises, a couple of budgies AGAIN! and one very large tiger snacking on – phew! not squirrels. At journey’s end sitting atop a park bench are the runaways, all ten of them. Let the counting game begin. Err …

There are plenty of counting opportunities in this tale but so much more. I thought- I saw some of the squirrels hiding in plain sight among the other animals but were they?

With Bear’s various different expressions and those of the other animals engaged in all manner of unlikely occupations, Marc Boutavant’s illustrations give readers and listeners so much more to enjoy.

Home Away from Home

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Home Away from Home
Nazneen Akbari and Rashin Kheiriyeh
Barefoot Books

Nuha is anxious about the prospect of going to spend the summer with her Jadda (grandmother) in Oman; however she takes comfort in her favourite doll, Mary, that she’s taking with her. That is her intention at least but on arriving at the airport Nuha realises that she’s left Mary behind in the car.

Consequently when she arrives in Oman, Nuha is sad and grumpy. Fortunately Jadda knows what to do: she takes her granddaughter straightway to the souk to choose a new doll. Despite her reluctance, Nuha goes along but remains unimpressed with the Omani dolls that look nothing like her Mary.

Lured by the smell of roast chicken, they then proceed to the place where the meat is being cooked and eventually Nuha decides to taste a bite of shawarma (a Middle Eastern street food) and approves of the snack. After this they continue exploring the alleyways full of stalls and shops in search of dolls. While so doing Nuha is distracted by women applying henna and is reminded of Eid celebrations at home. She sits down very still and after a while is excited to see her name in henna on Jadda’s hand.

This proves to be a turning point and henceforward the little girl discovers joy and fun in her new environment: she plays a drum and dances before finally sitting with her Jadda and feeling that after all, this place truly is ‘home away from home’. As they walk back to Jadda’s through the market, an Omani doll catches Nuha’s eye and she loves it for lots of reasons. Jadda buys the doll and Nuha names her Maryam.

This tenderly told, delightful story, provides a glimpse of every day life in Oman. Rashin Kheiriyeh’s warm, detailed mixed media illustrations extend the text. I love that Nuha names her new doll named Maryam, the Arabic equivalent of her favourite doll, Mary.
(Notes following the story add further details about some of the things Nuha experiences and there’s a short glossary.)

Rock and Roll

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Rock and Roll
Ruby Amy Thompson
Little Tiger

Meet Rock and Roll. Rock is grey and hard; he also hates attention. Roll is a golden yellow colour, squashy and loves attention. They always appear on opposite pages – Rock on the verso, Roll on the recto. They don’t seem to have much in common but wait. Despite coming from very different worlds,

they are both great team players; they both look fabulous in green; both love fancy dress and both remain calm when under pressure

Yes they’re always on different pages but though strong as a rule, sometimes Rock is soft, Roll, on the other hand has the strength to give comfort. It appears that this is a friendship that can rock and roll. Assuredly, these two have found common ground.

With its seemingly simple text, and clever layout, this is a picture book that’s bursting with heart and can initiate deep thinking on the part of listeners. Wise and wonderful is what I’d call the creator’s debut picture book.

Boy vs Reality

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Boy vs Reality
James Fox
Scholastic

Ethan Lacey’s family – mum, dad and elder brother Mason – are influencers. They film pretty much everything they do and upload it onto their vlog, Meet the Laceys. However Ethan detests the performative nature of his life at home and doesn’t even consider them a proper family, let alone a perfect one, any longer. All they’re obsessed with is ‘likes’ and pleasing their million subscribers, not real life. Real life is not just about freebies and having fun. Ethan has Fidget, a toy monster with a zipped mouth that he keeps in his pocket. He writes all his worries on paper and feeds them to Fidget and it’s no surprise that Fidget is nearly full.

Then Mason posts his first video on his own channel showing Ethan reacting to a ridiculous prank he’d set up concerning news of an alien invasion. Some days later Mason posts another video entitled Secrets From My Brother’s Anxiety Toy’. It’s time for Ethan to retaliate.

Add to all this the fact that Mum and Dad Lacey have been arguing a lot for some while and have decided to get divorced. That’s an awful lot for anybody to cope with and that’s without visits to Grandad at Sycamore Village when it’s likely as not he won’t even remember who Ethan is.

With cracks appearing all the time Ethan is set on persuading his family to focus on fixing the real world and not so obsessively on the online one. Can he do it?

Funny and full of heart, this is a hugely moving story about the importance of making the most of real, everyday life and its highs and lows. With children becoming ever more screen obsessed, it’s a timely book showing the adverse effects social media can have on people, whatever their age.

Ribbit Rabbit

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Ribbit Rabbit
Philip Ardagh and Gareth Conway
Scholastic

Bob is a frog and the rest of his family are rabbits so Bob does things rather differently from the others.

He’s smaller than the others, far greener, his manner of eating is slurping whereas the rabbits chew, and his diet is insects – carrots bring him out in spots. When it comes to hopping, they’re all good but Bob out hops all the rest; he also out swims them and at lily pad leaping the rabbits are no competition at all.
However, if any of the woodland creatures bully Bob, they have to face up to his entire family.

Certainly not something to be recommended.

The combination of Philip Ardagh’s bouncy rhyming text, which is the perfect fit for the movements of his characters and Gareth Conway’s splendidly expressive illustrations make a thought-provoking, funny, heart-warming story of family, difference, acceptance and love. It’s a book that is rich in potential for Foundation stage/ KS1 discussion after a class read aloud. 
Definitely one to add to your collection be it family bookshelves or a class library.

Tomorrow I’m in Charge!

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Tomorrow I’m in Charge!
Jörg Mühle
Gecko Press

When Weasel comes home he’s surprised (and a tad annoyed) to find his pal Bear playing with Badger. “We’re in the middle of a game,” says Bear. “Would you like to make us something to eat?” So begins a long row between Bear and Weasel about who should be friends with Badger, what games they should play – house,

football, memory, hibernation or hide-and-seek, as well as what role each should play in each one.

It’s no surprise when a thoroughly disgruntled Badger, announcing that it’s time to go home, decides to leave them to it and not return the following day; tomorrow will be a play day with Fox.

A story showing a battle of wills if ever there was one. Jörg Mühle’s straightforward, direct text is very similar to what a child’s emotions and exchanges would be. His watercolour and pencil illustrations of the characters stand out against the white background and are in prefect harmony with the words.

Negotiating social interactions is an important life lesson and young children still working out when they should be assertive and when to acquiesce will surely relate to Weasel and Bear. It won’t surprise them that Bear is jealous of Badger and empathise with Badger and his dilemma.

A sharing of this book with Foundation Stage/KS1 children will surely lead to a lively circle time discussion

Don’t Do It, Doug

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Don’t Do It, Doug
Maudie Powell-Tuck and Duncan Beedie
Little Tiger

Doug is a hamster with insatiable curiosity. Nothing wrong with that you might think, but with Doug, the result always seems to land him in trouble. Lacking self control, he does things such as shaking cans of fizzy drink, disturbing a nest of bees – ouch!

and touching a tall pyramid of canned beans, causing an avalanche. (I seem to remember my partner being similarly tempted by a tall stack of bean bag seats in Habitat with similar catastrophic results, causing the floor staff considerable angst.)

Having pressed the lever on a reclining chair that his insect friend has taken him to for relaxation purposes, he ends up flat as a pancake, between the halves so his pal takes him skydiving, followed by wakeboarding and lastly, roller-coaster riding.

After these experiences, Doug appears to have gained control of his impulses. He slurps his drinks, ignores red buttons and handles the tiny saucepan with surprising care. His friends even award him a rosette.

Could it be a case of no more temptations for Doug? Errr! What do you think? The last we see of him he’s wielding a stick …

Duncan Beedie’s illustrations are absolutely bursting with humour and are an ideal complement to Maudie Powell-Tuck’s to the point narrative. Young listeners will delight in admonishing Doug by repeating, ‘Don’t do it, Doug!’ when an adult shares the book.

You Can Do It, Bert!

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You Can Do It, Bert!
Ole Könnecke
Gecko Press

We meet Bert on his big day. Having prepared himself both mentally and physically he’s going to jump out of the tree. He’s ready, well almost, though he needs to check everything … just once more. Yes, got it! He’ll do a running start but … hang on, he’s going to snack on his banana first. With that finished, surely he’ll jump. Maybe some loud encouragement from the narrator and little humans will do the trick.

Yeah! Off he goes dashing along the branch and wheee! After worrying on the way down, into the water he plunges and there to greet him are his other avian friends. Time for another jump: Who’s going first?

A spare text, which makes a great read aloud and simple. bold illustrations that show so well Bert’s feelings throughout, provide a story that contains a powerful reassuring message about overcoming your reluctance to try something new. Young listeners will certainly relate to Bert’s internal struggle and the book offers a great starting point for discussion on risk taking.

One for both home bookshelves and class collections.

Stop the Ball!

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Stop the Ball!
Susanne Strasser
Gecko Press

Duck kicks the ball at the goal but it misses and goes sailing over the bar. Duck gives chase as it bounces … BAMM right into and off the large tree, startling Owl out of his hole. Owl then joins the chase as the ball hurtles through the bushes WHOOOSH! dislodging a spider from its web. Spider joins the chasers and the ball, now on a downward trajectory, thumps onto a dog’s head. Somewhat stunned, Dog too pursues the ball: that’s four animals running after the ball as it splatters into a muddy patch surprising Rat before rolling under a bench.

Now ‘Duck runs. Owl runs. Spider runs. Dog runs. Rat runs.’ BOING BOING BOING down the steps goes the ball and splash it lands in the water. Therein we see a pair of crocodile eyes. The crocodile moves towards the ball … Errr… But that’s not the end of the ball, and not quite the end of the story.

This slightly larger than usual board book is great fun and will stand up to lots of re-readings with little ones who will delight in joining in the repeat patterned text with its surprise final twist.. There’s lots to enjoy in Susanne Strasser’s illustrations; they flow from one spread to the next, and sometimes include details not mentioned in the text.

The Chase

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The Chase
Jenny Bloomfield
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

What starts as a straightforward game of chase on the beach involving a child and her dog quickly escalates. The girl tosses a red ball and as she says chase, a plethora of pooches of all kinds join in. The chase that takes the ever increasing number of canines dashing through a museum creating mayhem in their wake. After the elusive ball they go, to a construction site and onto a beam that gives them a free ride to the top of a tall building, then down they dash again racing, chasing and CRASH! through a bandstand

and splash splash into some moving water narrowly missing cascading over a waterfall.
Eventually they end up right back where they started on the beach, where stands the child with her ball ready and waiting to start all over again.

Jenny Bloomfield’s jaunty rhyming text imitates the rhythm of the bouncy ball and the chase: ‘It’s a hustle, a bustle, a running tussle’. A playful pooch story that works really well as a read aloud but make sure you give your audience time to peruse each of the illustrations with their amusing details.. They’ll enjoy seeing one dog caught up in a tuba and removing it from the bandstand. Which breeds of dogs do they recognise from the many in the chase? Who can spot the one with wheels assisting its hind legs?

Tickets for Murder

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Tickets for Murder
Niyla Farook
Piccadilly Press

This story is told from alternate viewpoints: Ani’s and Riri’s. It’s about six months since twins Ani and Riri solved the Mrs Kossas murder mystery, and have now become good friends as well as siblings. However with Riri and her mum living in LA and Ani and their Dad living in Yorkshire, staying close is anything but easy, particularly as Ani appears to have lost interest in sleuthing.

Now though, it’s the summer break and they’re all together in LA to enjoy an exclusive holiday in Deadwood Manor theme park but from the outset tension between the siblings starts building. Why Ani wonders has Riri’s best friend, Adora, plus their elder sister Valentina and her boyfriend Simon come on what is supposed to be a family trip. Then there’s the issue of Riri being on her phone so much: who is she calling? And why has Ani stopped sleuthing?

On their first evening everyone is to meet Finn Glynn, their personal VIP tour guide for Deadwood Manor Park so that he can set up their personalised itinerary, but for some reason he’s late to arrive and when he does so, he seems preoccupied.

The next day as the twins are in the maze they hear a scream, followed by glass shattering and having run out they see before them a body: it’s Finn and he’s dead. Accidental death or murder? That is the question. Riri and Ani think it’s murder and so begins their next investigation.

There are so many twists and turns in the story that like the twins, readers have to keep their wits about them all the time until the murderer finally is unmasked.

With humour, great characters and surprises aplenty, this is terrific sequel to Murder For Two.

My Friend, Billy Whiskers

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My Friend, Billy Whiskers
David Litchfield
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

Patrick is shy and as a consequence doesn’t join in with other children’s play. However, Patrick has Billy Whiskers, an imaginary lion friend that nobody else can see. They cycle together, read stories together and Billy listens as Patrick talks about all kinds of things. Billy’s a great listener; he listens as they play games and use the swings; he encourages Patrick when he kicks the ball up in the air over and over and when he climbs his favourite tree, watching the other children as he does so.

Patrick worries more and more about making friends and that’s when Billy takes him on extraordinary adventures through the air, through magical forests, eventually reaching a stadium where the boy scores the wining goal in a soccer game. Their adventures together make Billy ‘feel big and brave.’ Now he has the confidence to say hello to other children and at last he’s invited to play with them.

Patrick has a great time until he falls from a tree and back come all those worries. making him long to fly away with Billy Whiskers once again. That’s when something truly magical happens …

That’s not quite the end of the story, for Billy remains a part of Patrick’s story throughout his life, but he only appears now and then.

David Litchfield’s watercolour scenes are every bit as magical as the adventures Patrick and Billy Whiskers share, particularly those of the two characters flying through the starry skies and wandering through the forest.

Bear’s Perfect Dance

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Bear’s Perfect Dance
Rachel Tilda Wolf
Scallywag Press

Bear loves dancing so much that he spends all day practising his moves until they’re perfect. He touches his toes, works on this balance and even masters the splits. However, something bothers our ursine dancer; he’s always dancing solo and there are some dances that are better with two.

Bear decides to find himself the perfect dance partner. To that end he makes a checklist and several ‘wanted’ posters advertising auditions; the latter he puts up on trees all around the forest.

The following morning Bear wakes full of excitement. He dons his favourite tutu and best ballet shoes, then begins some warm up moves. Concerned in case nobody comes to audition, he opens the front door

to discover his garden is full of woodland creatures waiting to demonstrate their favourites moves.

Crow is first to audition – she won’t do as her Can-Can is chaotic. Beaver’s boogie lacks ‘Woogie”; Snake’s Shimmy is much too slithery; Fox’s Flamenco lacks fandango, Wild Pig’s waltz is much too awkward and Stag doesn’t move at all. All the other animals have got bored waiting and gone away leaving Bear thoroughly miserable. Back indoors he goes telling himself he’ll never find he perfect partner. Suddenly there comes a knocking at the door. Outside Bear discovers a child performing all manner of twists and twirls. Could this joyful dancer be the one?


With themes of connection and friendship, this charming tale is told and illustrated with gentle humour and a lot of warmth.

Enola Holmes and the Clanging Coffin

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Enola Holmes and the Clanging Coffin
Nancy Springer
Hot Key Books

It’s February 1891 and in London, Enola Holmes, (a Scientific Perditorian), the younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft is attending a funeral when she hears the faint sound of a ringing bell in the distance. Not one to ignore such strange a happening she goes to investigate and discovers something horrific: the bell is attached to a tombstone over a recent grave and somebody inside it is pulling the string and making the bell ring in alarm.

Enola and her companions unearth the coffin and discover inside a young woman named Trevina Trairom clad only in a white dress. She cannot remember much at all, not who she is nor who buried her and definitely not why. Enola takes the girl in, learns from a doctor that she’s been drugged and takes it upon herself to solve the mystery. Her investigations result in her being involved in one of Sherlock’s cases.

Little by little, with the help of friends, Enola works out that the person at the root of all the terrible happenings is the master criminal of all London, none other that Professor Moriarty. No wonder Sherlock had warned her not to get involved. Now she’s even more determined than ever to keep digging until the secrets surrounding Trevina are unravelled.

I’d not read any of the previous Enola Holmes stories but thoroughly enjoyed this one, finishing it in a day. I loved Enola’s determination and caring attitude and the plot is intriguing. With themes of friendship, family, lifestyle, abuse and the expectations and treatment of women, this will keep older primary readers turning the pages eager to find how things are resolved.

Rising: A Shabbat Baking Story

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Rising: A Shabbat Baking Story
Sidura Ludwig and Sophia Vincent Guy
Walker Books

An expectant mother – Ima – and her young child wake up early and begin preparing to make challah for the sabbath. Mum has a bowl of yeast bubbling in the warm water into which the child stirs the ingredients and they then knead the wet, sticky dough forming it eventually into a large round, shiny ball. They place a towel over the bowl and wait while it rises. Then it’s time to divide the dough into six parts, roll them like snakes and interweave them into two challah loaves. Once cooked they’re left too cool allowing time for family members to get ready to honour Shabbat.

All the family then sit together to eat but first they bless the candles, say a blessing and share the challah: ‘We add a sprinkle of salt for the times we’ve cried, sometimes a dab of honey for the sweet times to come.’

One sweet time is coming soon for on the final spread we see a new baby in its mother’s arms as the sibling and father prepare to make challah.

Yes, this book is about making challah and the rituals surrounding it, but it’s also about family, love and the beauty of taking time to rest. Sophia Vincent Guy’s mixed media illustrations in pastel shades are perfectly in-keeping with the gentle lyrical nature of Sidura Ludwig’s narrative. The author includes a recipe for challah and a glossary of Hebrew terms after the story.
A book that should definitely find a place in primary school collections.

The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood: School Inspectors

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The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood: School Inspectors
Farhana Islam, illustrated by Simran Diamond Singh
Farshore

Mina Mahmood and her best friends Reema and Mobeen are back for further misadventures and mayhem in the second book in the series. Mina and her class are super excited when they hear from their class teacher, Miss Khan, that 6K’s post-exam ‘Party Bonanza’ will include such things as a school disco, a water balloon fight and best of all, a trip to Fisbo’s Circus. Suddenly however, all this changes when Mr Aku, the headteacher announces that inspectors are coming to the school.

Tension rises at the news, even more so for Mina and her buddies who are selected to act as school ambassadors to show the inspectors around and are under strict instructions from the head that they mustn’t embarrass him. This in itself is a huge challenge but then, Barney’s pet tarantula (actually his brother’s) escapes just as the announcement comes from the school office of the inspectors’ arrival.

With Miss Kahn having said they might still be able to go to the circus if they impress the inspectors with their ‘EXCEPTIONAL behaviour’, this somewhat sweetens the pill, giving terrific incentive to the friends but putting a huge weight on Mina’s shoulders.

Chaos follows as you might expect if you met Mina et al in the first book of this hugely entertaining series. This one is even more hilarious and like the author, I’ve spent many years in primary education mainly in multi-ethnic schools, so recognise much of what’s written herein. I strongly recommend this for KS 2 readers and it would make a terrific class read aloud.

Watts & Whiskerton: The Great Glacier Hotel Heist / Dream Keepers: Song of the Midnight Meadow

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Watts & Whiskerton: The Great Glacier Hotel Heist
Meg McLaren
Piccadilly Press

The third in this series sees the two detectives and best friends on holiday with no thought of any detecting whatsoever. However, things don’t quite turn out as they’d planned./ the best laid plans of dogs and cats. Watts’ parents have been hired by the hotel after a string of robberies had taken place at nearby ski resorts and it’s thought that the Ice Crystal, a priceless necklace might be the thief’s next target.

Soon to Watts’ horror, the necklace is stolen and his parents have become the prime suspects. That can’t possibly be right, so who is the robber? It looks as though Watts and Whiskerton have their toughest case yet and it turns out an advantage that the latter has hurt her paw and so is confined to the hotel. She spends her time speaking to the other guests and making notes about everything with the aim of solving the mystery. Cut off by thick snow their objective is to recover the stolen jewels and find the important guest who has disappeared. Can they do so before the snow melts and guests and any suspects depart along with the necklace? Could it be an inside job? A terrific adventure for the young detective duo.

Visual storytelling is a vital element of the tale with the illustrations adding much to the drama, making this book one that will also be enjoyed by younger graphic novel fans.

Dream Keepers: Song of the Midnight Meadow
Rebecca Lewis-Oakes, illustrated by Anastasiya Kanavaliuk
Piccadilly Press

Moon Wood is the magical night-time version of Mai and her friends’ town, Sunny Wood. Having banished the Queen of Nightmares, Mai and friends have become Dream Keepers; they have to craft the sweetest dreams for their sleepy town. Now though, Mai has just become a big sister and however much she loves baby Cam, the cutest most adorable thing ever during the day, she’s having problems sleeping on account of her baby sister’s all night crying. She feels a bit left out: being an only child was much easier, Mai thinks to herself. She even misses out on having one of her parents reading her a bedtime story.

With a solo performance in the upcoming show in Sunny Wood, Mai is set on becoming the centre of attention once more.
However on the night of her first performance, after promising to be in the audience, Mai’s Mum has to stay at home to look after Cam. Then during the show Mai’s prop- an umbrella – malfunctions and later on when she goes to meet her Dream Guardian, Crystal, in Moon Wood, the creature is missing. Has she done something to annoy her, Mai wonders. Everything appears to be going wrong: is the Dark Queen of Nightmares meddling with their dreams again?

Can Mai and her friends get to the bottom of things and prove that there’s power in kindness before it’s too late and Moon Wood’s magic fades away?

With magical moments aplenty, fantastical creatures and characters, this latest in the Dream Keepers series will be a winner with young fantasy fans.

The Map of Me

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The Map of Me
Nicola Davies and Olga Shtonda
Templar Books

The little girl narrator has just moved to a new home in a new country and inevitably everything feels strange and unfamiliar. ‘… the streets outside were like a jumble of spaghetti. I got lost every time I went out. The world seemed big and much too scary,’ she tells readers. Her thoughtful Mum helps her draw a map to help her navigate her way around: included are such things as the roads, the supermarket, the school, even the flowers by the traffic lights on the corner. However, some important things from before aren’t included – Granny and Joe-Dog for instance.

Mum’s comment that the map isn’t large enough prompts her daughter to extend the map so it fills the entire wall.

Now she can add new things as she found them – the swings in the park, the free lending library and her new friends for instance. On seeing the girl’s map those friends add things of their own and gradually the distance between everyone and everything seems to shrink. Her new house finally begins to feel like home. But then two sad things happen: Joe-Dog becomes poorly and dies and the girl’s favourite tree is cut down: even though they’d been on the map they weren’t safe.

That night the narrator cries herself to sleep but the following morning there on the kitchen wall is another map – a large one drawn by her dad – and it shows how things were once. Both the narrator and her friends like this map and go to find out more about the past and then add other places where their families have lived in the past.

The girl then ponders upon how things change – some are for the better but not all. She draws a map showing a future with trees on every street, parks not car parks, Granny now living close by and a puppy. This is a world without fear, without wars; yes it’s massive but it’s ‘full of love and wonder’. That’s the world we all long for and should be working towards.

With its empowering message, this is a story both for children experiencing big change in their lives and for sharing with a primary class to encourage discussion on belonging and relating to others.

Where The Dragon Waits

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Where The Dragon Waits
Tom Moorhouse
David Fickling Books

When out sailing, twelve year old Ed and his dad are involved in a crash. When the boy comes round, he’s on an almost deserted beach but his dad is nowhere to be seen. The only person anywhere around is a rather bossy girl named Steff. There’s also a white butterfly that perches on his thumb. “There’s weirdness afoot,” Steff tells Ed as they sit together under a strangely white sky.

It’s not long before the two of them are are fleeing from a swarm of butterflies. They find themselves in the Realm on a curious quest in search of a dragon that rules this magical land and lives at the top of a rocky spire. Protecting the Realm is grumpy, armoured pangolin named, Astolpho.  The creature informs the children that in order to return home, they must obtain the tears of the dragon. Further danger in their quest comes in the form of bloodthirsty wolves. These wolves are on the hunt for Ed and Steff as their presence in the Realm draws butterflies that the wolves are deathly afraid of, so Astolpho tells the children.

Meanwhile we readers realise that Ed’s parents are waiting anxiously by his hospital bed as he lies in a critical condition. With further perilous situations to contend with, will he ever return to them. And Steff: what is her fate to be?

Utterly engrossing, this twisting, turning amalgam of fantasy and reality is hugely thought-provoking, exploring as it does the importance of courage, loyalty, ingenuity and family There’s humour too and plenty of excitement and intrigue. Who could ask for more?

The Night I Borrowed Time

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The Night I Borrowed Time
Iqbal Hussain
Puffin Press

Eleven year old Zubair is a seventh son, his sextuplet elder brothers are often a pain but he loves them all the same. His parents’ marriage is falling apart so when his Gran from Pakistan arrives to stay and gives him a strange black velvet pendant that allows him as the seventh son of the family, to travel back in time, he decides to use it to try and change things in his parents’ pasts that will mean that they’re happy in the present. Once Gran is settled in she begins regaling the family with amazing stories every night. After one tale something weird happens to him; this he tells his best friend, Fozia, and in so doing comes to think about how best he can use his new, powerful gift.

Convinced that the failed relationship between his parents has been caused by his father’s accident while driving a cab and if that hadn’t happened all would be well between them, he fails to stop and consider whether his perception of how things are is based on what he wants to be the truth or the evidence that is right before his eyes. So when his attempts to change things fail to have the desired effect, he tries something different. However, each trip back in time affects something else and Zubair’s ever more desperate actions threaten to eradicate the life he knows. Is it possible to put things right, or has he not only destroyed the present for himself and his family, but their futures too.

This amazing and gripping tale of family and friendship is hugely thought-provoking, seamlessly weaving in as it does information about Partition and arranged marriages in Pakistani culture. (Further information about these comes after the story).

Iqbal Hussain is a very exciting new voice in children’s books this book being the first title published under Puffin’s new list, Puffin Press and I look forward to his next novel.

The Good Deed Dogs

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The Good Deed Dogs
Emma Chichester Clark
Walker Books

Bodger, Billy and Betty are very good dogs, always eager to do good deeds: they’re constantly looking out for those who might be in need of help.

First they decide to help an old lady carry her shopping. However they end up scattering the contents of her bags all over the place because she keeps a firm hold of the bag handles. Fortunately she takes it in good heart and requests that they clear up the chaos they’ve created. Later the same day their efforts to assist a man on a ladder watering hanging baskets also has calamitous results and same is true of their attempts to help a girl hanging out washing. Both the man and the girl merely ask the pooches to clear up after themselves.

At the end of the day as a thoroughly despondent Bodger, Billy and Betty make their way home there comes a loud scream for help coming from the direction of the river. On the bank stands a little girl pointing to where a kitten in a saucepan is bobbing up and down in the water. Without a moment’s hesitation in dive the dogs with an almighty SPLASH! What will be the outcome of their efforts now?

The repetition element works really well and young listeners will love joining in with “We’re here to help!” and “Leave it to us! and shouting CALAMITY at each disaster but it’s Emma’s dramatic, detailed illustrations that really steal the show. A real winner this.

Star. Moon, Zoom

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Star. Moon, Zoom
Moira Butterfield and Ro Ledesma
Happy Yak

Moira Butterfield is adept at presenting complex subjects in such a way that they appeal to relatively young readers. She certainly does so with this space science book. Herein she uses a lively group of children and their brainy dog, Charlie (a space expert) to introduce readers to big scientific questions, making the content approachable and thought-provoking. ‘Is space smelly? Is it noisy?’ she asks to introduce an early spread; that’s sure to grab children’s attention from the outset. This reviewer was amused to read that ‘NASA has a team of top smellers to test everything they put in a new spaceship. Anything that’s too pongy gets taken out.’

Have you ever wondered what trash astronauts have left behind on the moon? Apparently there are a dozen pairs of boots, a falcon bird feather, two golf balls, three space buggies and about ninety six bags of sick, wee and poo – delightful. Let’s hope all this was left in the moon’s dark patches.

Do you know what a comet tail is made from? Or rather a comet’s tails – it has two, one a gas tail, the other a dust tail and some comet tails can stretch up to a million kilometres.

The final question: is there any life in other parts of space? is one that has yet to be answered. Questions like these are sure to encourage discussion, critical thinking and prediction all of which are vital skills that children need to develop.

With its lucid explanations, a playful tone and gently humorous illustrations by Ro Ledesma, this is likely to encourage many youngsters to become space experts. A valuable addition to a KS1 class collection or home bookshelves.

Sportopedia

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Sportopedia
Adam Skinner, illustrated by Mark Long
Wide Eyed Editions

If you want to find out about the enormous variety of sports people participate in, then look no further than Sportopedia, a compendium wherein there must surely be something for everybody. In all some sixty different sports are included some familiar such as football (the world’s most popular sport), cricket, tennis, sprinting and swimming, to those less well known such as kabbadi, a team combat sport that requires no special equipment. It originated in India where I’ve seen it played and is now popular throughout South Asia.

The book is divided into nine sections- ball sports, racket sports, athletics, gymnastics, water sports, motor sports, target sports, combat sports, and finally sporting events (the Olympics Games, the Paralympic games and the Winter Olympics. Each sport is engagingly outlined with such things as kit, rules, pitch diagrams and interesting facts about the game/sport in a ‘facts of the matter’ box in the top corner of each right-hand page. The spreads are brightly coloured and visually engaging with plenty of labelled diagrams, sometimes one of the pitch/field or court. Also included are some historical facts – did you know the first Olympic Games took place she 3000 years ago in Greece?

A great book to have in a primary classroom as well as a home collection.

The Man Who Wore All His Clothes

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The Man Who Wore All His Clothes
Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Katharine McEwen
Walker Books

The Gaskitts are a pretty normal family. Mr Gaskitt gets up in the morning, dons three pairs of socks, three vests, three pairs of pants, three shirts and two pairs of trousers and four jumpers plus a tie. After breakfast he adds four coats, After that, this very bulky person heads outside, squeezes into his car and as the snow starts falling, off he goes.

At school Gus and Gloria’s usual teacher has had a fall and is replaced by a rather out of practice curmudgeonly supply teacher who has it in for the siblings.

By this time, Mrs Gaskitt, who drives a taxi, has picked up a suspicious-looking character who left the bank in a hurry carrying a large bag. And so it goes on with all manner of craziness until eventually the robber is apprehended, in no small way thanks to Mr G. who eventually drives off to be Santa in a department store. Oh and I forgot to mention Horace, the Gaskitt’s cat who’s fond of comfy chairs from where to watch movies and cat food ads.

All this unfolds in eleven short chapters after which there are a further three action-packed stories about the family to laugh over: The Woman Who Won Things, The Cat Who Got Carried Away and The Children Who Smelled A Rat.

Perfect for new solo readers and equally great for reading aloud but adult readers aloud, make sure you let listeners see Katharine McEwen’s liberal scattering of black and white illustrations that add even more humour.

Seven Babies

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Seven Babies Forest Xiao Walker Books

One Thursday morning there’s a ring at the bell of number 14 and a box of seven babies appears – self-delivered one supposes.

A man and woman open the door looking somewhat bemused and invite the infants in. The babies quickly make themselves at home and for the reminder of the day, enjoy themselves. They play in the park, take a bath together and do some quiet investigating.

They help with hanging out the clothes on the washing line and come the end of the day, they snuggle up with their hosts to share the storybook they’d brought with them.

The exhausted couple then fall fast asleep and the exuberant babies depart with their box plus a few items they’ve appropriated – a sock, the woman’s sleeping mask, and the man’s spectacles. With them too are the ladybird (this can be spotted on every spread) and the seven little peas in a pod book that that came with them. The story concludes with a question for readers/listeners, ‘What will they do next?’ – A great opportunity for children to do their own creative storying about the adorable babes.

With a minimal text and scenes that are bursting with gentle humour, this light-hearted, playful tale is irresistible and certain to be requested over and over by little humans slightly older than those endearing visiting babies.

The Secrets of Wild Hill: Lottie’s Dream

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The Secrets of Wild Hill: Lottie’s Dream
Olivia Tuffin
Nosy Crow

I first came across Olivia Tuffin’s horse stories when I was sent a copy of The Horse Who Danced and absolutely loved it, so I expected a lot from this one. The author has a great deal of knowledge about horses and eventing and she carefully knits together factual information and fiction, the result being another terrific book – one that I couldn’t put down.

The protagonist, Lottie has deliberately failed the entrance exam to an elite school in order to spend more time at Wild Hill, the livery yard belonging to her grandparents; it’s there that her beloved pony, Patch, lives. However, her father, still set on his daughter going to Telsteads instead of the local comprehensive where’s she happy, has appealed for her to be allowed to retake the entrance exam. He also hopes that with support from Lottie’s mother, he can persuade her aging parents to sell Wild Hill, something else that deeply troubles Lottie.

On a visit to her Granny, Lottie takes Patch out and she has an encounter with another rider , slightly older that herself who introduces himself as Felix McCavendish and they have a short talk. Felix is the grandson of Ralph McCavendish, her family’s enemy, owner of the adjoining yard. A tentative friendship forms between the two – something that horrifies her gran – and Felix encourages Lottie to join the local pony club, her main aim being to compete at Badminton Grassroots. Then comes news that her grandad has been involved in a serious accident and is in hospital. Lottie’s parents call her older brother Harry to return from Florida where he’s pursuing his own riding career and instead help at Wild Hill. Unfortunately for Lottie, Harry agrees with their parents that it’s a liability and they should put it on a firm footing and then sell it.

Lottie makes it onto the Pony Club team, participates in a riding competition and Patch amazes everyone when he sails over the advanced jumps. In the meantime her brother has come under they influence of Ralph McCavendish who has promised that he can ride one of his horses, something that greatly troubles Lottie. She’s determined to work out what exactly is going on before it’s too late; but can she? And can she completely trust Felix? What happened long ago between her family and the McCavendish family that is threatening her future? So many questions …

An absolute cracker of a story and the final page sets the stage nicely for the story to continue in a sequel. I hope we don’t have too long to wait to see Lottie continuing to follow her dreams. There’s no need to be a horse fanatic to enjoy this, it will appeal to those who enjoy a good mystery story.

Zamzam for Everyone

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Zamzam for Everyone
Razeena Omar Gutta and Bassent Dawoud
Barefoot Books

Mariam, the narrator and her parents are among the throng on their Hajj, a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to Makkah. “Mariam, Hajj is a time to do good, share and be thankful. …” Mama tells her daughter. After filling her bottle with Zamzam water, Mariam ponders upon what her good deed could be. Eventually she decides that sharing the Zamzam with others is the best idea and she proceeds to do so cup by cup. Each sharing is a learning experience for Mariam: having helped an old lady find a seat and given her some Zamzam, the lady responds by saying “Shukriya”, giving her some dates and telling her that she’s from Pakistan. Next Mariam asks two sisters if they too would like Zamzam: “Terima kasha,” comes the reply. The sisters are from Indonesia and they share some sweet pandan cookies.

Besides them, an Uyghur family say, “Rahmat”, when they receive Zamzam from Mariam and share with her some crunchy fried dough, sangza.

Throughout Mariam’s umrah, she learns ways to express thanks in different languages and samples tasty foods like syrupy koeksisters from South Africa in return, as the pilgrims she meets from many different lands each respond in their own language and share some traditional food, mostly sweet.

Eventually it’s time for the journey to begin and off they set. Mariam is concerned whether or not she’ll have sufficient Zamzam for everybody. What about their bus driver?

Kindness, generosity to others and thankfulness are key in this heartwarming story, which together with Bassent Dawoud’s digital, collage images show the rich cultural diversity and comradeship of those undertaking Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam.

One to add to primary school book collections.

Grandad’s World

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Grandad’s World
Michael Foreman
Scholastic

It’s the beginning of the summer holidays and city dweller, Jack is off to stay with his Grandad in the countryside. Jack’s favourite thing is to walk in the woods with Grandad who points out all kinds of interesting wild life. Grandad’s favourite place is the stream running through the woods to a pond on the village green and he reminisces about taking a similar walk when he was a boy.

Having watched the otters building a den, Jack is eager to build one too and so they do, staying inside it watching the animals until darkness creeps upon them. The following day is stormy so Grandad and Jack spend their time in the shed where there are lots of exciting model boats about which Grandad tells stories and they construct a nesting box for blue tits. Once the storm has passed the two venture out to the stream, which looks very peaceful.

However that night the screech of tyres and shouting wake Jake and through the window he sees Grandad chasing a van that’s driving from the stream. He’s horrified to discover a large pile of rubbish heading down towards Grandad’s special pond. Immediately the two fetch a wheelbarrow, buckets and a torch and return to start clearing the rubbish the fly-tippers have dumped

and come morning lots of other villagers join them in their task. Can they clear it all before it’s too late?
A lovely portrait of the special intergenerational bond between Jack and Grandad with a powerful message about caring for the environment.

Goldilocs

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Goldilocs
Ella McCleod and Rochelle Falconer
Scholastic

Readers of this blog will know that I’m a fractured fairytales enthusiast and this one certainly fits the bill. It’s Goldilocs narrating her own story and as you’ll notice from the cover, her hair is black. Her name comes from other golden attributes – her style, her beads and her smile. She’s a resident of fairyland and being a girl, she has only three options: she can be a wicked witch, an evil power mad queen or a royal princess. The last Goldilocs considers the worst as a prince’s kiss is needed to break an evil curse. What to do?

First she concocts a spell to make her hair grow, with disastrous results. So Goldilocs resorts to cooking her Grandad’s cornmeal porridge. As she stirs the pot there comes a growly sound – time to hide from the three ursine characters that have appeared. However, no need to panic: they consume the porridge with relish.
Next Goldilocs tries being an evil queen and using all manner of bits and pieces she creates three thrones for royal sitters.

It’ s not royal sitters that try them but the three bears and they deem them just right.

Finally Goldilocs switches to princess mode but soon falls asleep. Back come the bears and terrified of being their next meal Goldilocs declares herself a total failure and tries to run away. To her surprise Baby Bear’s carefully considered words of encouragement make her feel empowered. Her decision? “ … the only rule is that I just be ME. As long as I’m kind and try my best, I don’t need to worry about the rest.” The most important thing to remember is that despite being an imperfect person, she has made three new and very supportive friends.

Told in rhyme with just the occasional glitch in the rhythm, this feminist version of the classic story with Rochelle Falconer’s vibrant, expressive illustrations makes for a tasty story time treat.

It’s Not My Cookie

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It’s (Not) My Cookie
Kael Tudor and Ben Sanders
Scholastic

Imagine strolling along and suddenly finding a cookie: what would you do? That is exactly what happens to Bear, the story’s narrator. and he’s now in a quandary. Who does it belong to? It must be lonely sitting there surely and it certainly does look yummy. Bear persuades himself it’s not right to pick it up if it belongs to someone but then changes his mind: a quick feel won’t hurt surely. With the cookie in his paw, Bear delights in its crumbly texture and delectable chocolate chips.
Along come some other creatures and they too like the look of the cookie. A tortoise lumbers up with an apple and what it says might prick the cookie claimer’s conscience, or will it?

Then there arrives a distressed-looking animal looking for a cookie: what happens then? Well that would make me a story spoiler so I’ll leave it to author Kael and illustrator Ben to finish the tasty tale.

I love the dry humour of both words and pictures that capture so well Bear’s temptation. I’m pretty sure both young listeners and readers aloud will be salivating before the story is finished and the former will request second helpings.

The Terrible Trio: The Day the Mac ’n’ Cheese Ran Out

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The Terrible Trio: The Day the Mac ’n’ Cheese Ran Out
Swapna Haddow, illustrated by Minky Stapleton
Scholastic

When Zeb the zebra, Barry the lemur and Margarine the penguin first discovered they had the worst superpowers in the world, Zeb was sure they would never ever have another day as terrible. Now though, disaster has struck the Terrible Trio, one of them in particular. On arriving for his shift at the Superhero Cafe, Zeb finds that it’s closed. Nothing is wrong with the cafe but Margarine has lost her power of making mac’n’cheese. Surely that isn’t so terrible? It may not have been, had Zeb not upset a lion and rashly promised that if he came to the cafe bringing his pride of sixteen plus twenty eight cubs along too, they could all have mac’n’cheese. The Trio realise they must do everything they can to fix Margarine’s problem before the Lion and his family arrive for one of the cub’s cheesy birthday party, if not they may be barbecued instead …
A deliciously silly and madly melodramatic combination of words and pictures presented graphic novel style that younger readers will likely gobble up.
For slightly older readers

The Donut Squad: Make a Mess
Neill Cameron
David Fickling Books

Cameron’s confections return for another round of crazy shenanigans. Now, the Donuts are off on a camping expedition, hiding from bears no less. However those bagels are lurking with a dastardly plan – to kick the Donut Squad right out of their own book. Will they succeed? That would be telling and I’m sure you’re eager to know, so head off to a bookshop and treat yourself to a copy. Mine’s already been appropriated by a young fan of the series.

Clem Fatale Has Been Upstaged

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Clem Fatale Has Been Upstaged
Eve Wersocki-Morris, illustrated by Honie Beam
Little Tiger

This story is set in London in the summer of 1951. Twelve year old Clem Fatale, the city’s youngest crook, and her best friend, Gilbert, eleven, now at an upmarket boarding school, are excited as they’re going to see their favourite singers Betty and Judy Wade in their first UK performance at the London Palladium. But then suddenly the two friends are ‘picked up’ and told that Betty, one of the sisters has gone missing. Clem and Gilbert are hired to find Betty.

This proves to be much more problematic than Clem first thought. It’s almost impossible to know who can be trusted as their investigation sees them encountering the dark side of the theatre scene, crossing paths with some very dodgy actors, visiting all manner of establishments from The Ritz with its ‘cream of London society’ clientele to the decrepit abandoned warehouse building bearing the sign Rumple’s Red Tomato Sauce. Add to that a motorbike chase courtesy of Konrad who is like an older brother to Clem and drives them there.

I don’t know about Clem and Gilbert but my head was spinning by the time I got to that point; however with less than twenty four hours to go before the curtain goes up on the sisters’ show, the two friends are absolutely determined to get to the bottom of what is going on. Can they do so and perform an astonishing rescue before a terrible accident takes place?

With humour aplenty, and a fair sprinkling of dramatic black and white illustrations by Honie Beam, this is a cracking, fast paced tale crammed with action and heart, wherein the bond of friendship between Clem and Gilbert grows even stronger. I can’t wait to see what they get involved in next.

Jake in the Middle / My Happy Life

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Jake in the Middle
Michael Catchpool, illustrated by Shanarama
Otter-Barry Books

This is the first of the new Maple Street series and what a delight it is.

Meet Jake, who is the central character of four short stories. His family comprises his mum and dad, older sister, Ellie, younger brother, Sam and Grandpa who has his own flat downstairs. The stories are interlinked and are in order Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!, Catch of the Day, The Class Museum and All Fall Down!

In the first story Jake is excited about his new trainers, but Sam also loves them and this causes upsets on both sides. When Grandpa discovers there’s a shoe issue, he comes up with a plan. Will it work?
Catch of the Day takes place on a Saturday: Jake, Grandpa and Sam visit the city farm and Sam’s soft toy, Coco ends up in the wrong place a couple of times.
In the third story, Jake’s teacher asks class members to bring items for a class museum – something old and special to them. Jake borrows something without asking and then it disappears …
In the final story, the discovery of Grandpa’s old cricket bat in his shed leads to some family fun.

There’s an illustration by Shanarama on every spread; her depiction of the characters enhances the author’s sensitive portrayal of the relationships between the characters.
Ideal for new solo readers.

My Happy Life
Rose Lagercantz, illustrated by Eva Ericsson
Gecko Press

This reissue of a story was first published over fifteen years ago and is translated from its original Swedish by Julia Marshall. Herein we meet young Dani and read of some of the ups and downs of her life, a vital one being when she starts school, something she has been eagerly anticipating. On the way with her Dad, she suddenly becomes scared: What if she doesn’t make any friends? Happily though, on the second day Dani meets Ella who quickly becomes her best friend.

However at the start of her second term Dani’s happiness turns to unhappiness when she learns that Ella is moving away. Things will never be the same again despite her father’s best efforts, his daughter still feels sad and shows it by becoming angry at school. Fortunately though things improve and one day Dani receives a letter. She responds and soon after happiness returns and a new chapter is about to begin in Dani’s happy life.

A gentle tale full of emotion that is brought out even more through Eva Eriksson’s black and white illustrations. There’s a lot to discuss after sharing, this with an individual or class and it’s also ideal for new solo readers. I loved the idea of children counting their happy times but was less happy to read that one parent bribed her child with money to get him to school on the first day.

The Big Green

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The Big Green
Ken Wilson-Max
Otter-Barry Books

It’s another hot day in Mali and there’s excitement in the air in the village where Maryam and Issa live. As their Mum and Dad are busy poking and shovelling the parched earth, Uncle Cedric pulls up with a truck full of plants. “What are those plants?” Issa wants to know. “Your future,” replies his Uncle, smiling, a response that puzzles the siblings. Creating this future is actually a community task. Neighbours balance buckets of water on their heads, the children help carry unplanted seedlings into the shade, the grown-ups dig holes and put in the seedlings and everybody waters them, over and over and over again. 

Everyone knew that ‘they were making a difference to their world.’ Then comes the waiting.
The final spread shows the siblings, somewhat bigger, enjoying walking through green grass under spreading trees, appreciating the flowers and butterflies, while knowing that they now have both a place in which to play and a place to look after.

This story is an example of the enormous work that is being done in the Great Green Wall, a project that involves eleven countries across sub-Saharan Africa. Ken Wilson-Max provides further information about this on the book’s penultimate page, which is followed by a ‘Plant Your Own Tree’ activity to inspire youngsters to make a difference in their own part of the world.

Young listeners will love joining in with the various sounds – Clap Clap’s, CHAs, DUMs, and Ulululu… included in the narrative as they listen to the upbeat story with its vibrant illustrations.

The Spectacular Space Loop

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The Spectacular Space Loop
Javi de Castro
Flying Eye Books

‘It’s the best day of my life!’ announces young Cosmo as he’s about to test a jet pack prototype. However, immediately it’s activated things start going wrong and he finds himself spinning into space. Fortunately though, he’s discovered by a creature that resembles an inverted light bulb, a creature that turns out to be kind and offers Cosmo nachos and a rest in his spaceship’s cabin. However, annoyed by the bright light therein, Cosmo, pushes a button assuming he can turn it off but sends himself hurtling into a jungle.

Therein he discovers a blobby creature resembling a fried egg; it introduces itself as an Esparabian. The creature is searching for its family and has found a spaceship. The two then set off, the ship’s engine is fired up and they land in a city, meet a guide – Pili – and plunge into a sewer. Therein they come face to face with a large green sewer mutant but evade the beast and meet Rhino, a pink magician who offers to send them home to their families, for a fee. However, his spell just flips them topsy-turvy and so does the story.

Readers must then flip the book upside down and read it from back to front. This offers a new way of looking at things, some positive others definitely not, but all turns out well eventually.

A very clever concept presented in graphic novel style by debuting Javi De Castro; the result being a fun adventure with a weird and wacky cast of characters.

The Last Egg

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The Last Egg
Sofie Laguna and Jess Racklyeft
Allen & Unwin

One day as a Mother Bird sits on the nest, she tells Father Bird that the eggs within are soon to hatch. That night she’s woken by a screeching sound and the following morning there’s a fourth egg in the nest. Despite Father Bird’s doubts, Mother Bird insists that they must now take care of that one too, so they do. After some days the eggs start to hatch – one, two three. The parent birds teach the chicks how to feed themselves, how to sing and how to fly; but the fourth egg remains an egg as the days become colder and the time to fly to somewhere warmer approaches. “All eggs hatch,” Mother Bird assures Father Bird. When the three fledglings are able to care for themselves, Mother and Father Bird know they must remain until that final egg hatches and they start to struggle as the days shorten, becoming ever colder.

Then the day comes when Father Bird is too weak to fly and the two, their wings covered in ice, sit silent over the egg. That same night the egg finally hatches and Mother Bird comes face to face with the newborn creature. That is when something unexpected and amazing happens …

A truly heartwarming story of love, commitment and revelation with a fantastical ending, beautifully illustrated in watercolour and collage by Jess Racklyeft.

Live Like a Victorian

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Live Like a Victorian
Claire Saunders, illustrated by Wesley Robins
Button Books

The Victorian age was a time when, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, inventions, new technology and ideas, great changes took place that transformed people’s lives and work. A timeline early in the book shows some of the main events and changes: try imagining life without bikes, electric street lights, cars, railways, movies and aeroplanes – all of which were invented during Victorian times.

We meet two Victorian children, eleven year old Will from a poor family, and nine year old Dora from a much wealthier family. These two help show how very unequal society and hence life was for those with money and those without. Readers get an insight into the difference between the rights and opportunities men and women had, the contrasting grand homes of the rich and those of the poor, life in the workhouse, the work poor children had to do, education,

fashion, food, entertainment, law and order and more.

The book also has some hands-on activities – recipes and crafts – particularly useful if a class is studying this period of history and there’s a detailed map showing the British Empire and trade routes. It’s a shocking thought nowadays to see how in 1910 a quarter of the world’s population lived under British rule.

Claire Saunders’ engaging text and Wesley Robins’ fascinating illustrations combine to bring the Victorian era to life. The book ends by asking children, ‘Could you live like a Victorian?’and there’s a final glossary. One to add to KS2 class collections.

The Tiny Baker / I Took the Moon for a Walk

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These are two books from Barefoot Books – thanks to the publisher for sending them for review

The Tiny Baker
Hayley Barrett and Alison Jay

A wonderfully whimsical, tasty picture book told in rhyming couplets by Hayley Barrett and illustrated in oils by Alison Jay.

As the story begins the titular tiny baker is listing on a chalkboard the sweet treat she has on sale that day. Outside her establishment is a long line of ant customers elegantly dressed waiting to try her ‘lemon tarts, / Her sugar-sprinkled cookie hearts, / To sample her pecan pralines / And nibble lacy florentines.’ Meanwhile inside, the baker ensures all is ready and with her team of ladybirds busy whisking and mixing the clock approaches opening time.

At three on the dot, the door opens and in come the ants to be ushered to the table ready to enjoy a treat or two.

But in the kitchen the ladybirds have downed tools and are leaving the kitchen through an open window. Disaster! When the baker re-enters the kitchen she’s aghast at what she sees. Every single worker has flown away leaving chaos in their wake and a baker ‘slumped amidst the mess – / Bewildered, flummoxed, in distress’ …

Having heard the to do, cricket sounds a call to action and the ants respond by cleaning, moving, clearing and mending until very soon order and the tiny baker are restored. Overcome by the wonderful gesture of her customers, the baker is even more surprised to learn of the prime reason they make their daily visit to her establishment. As a way of showing her immense gratitude she offers them a tray of her goodies.

As endearing tale of kindness and community that will surely make readers’ mouths water at the yummy pastries and delight in the period flavour provided by Alison Jay’s portrayal of the customers in fashionable Victorian clothes in her detailed scenes created on a craquelure background.

I Took the Moon for a Walk
Carolyn Curtis and Alison Jay

Mysterious and enchanting is this story of a nocturnal walk taken by a boy narrator. With the moon following behind him like ‘a still summer kite’ he has a variety of small but significant adventures. For instance, unused to accompanying a boy on a walk, the moon very nearly gets hooked on a church spire. It’s also serenaded by a canine chorus and later on hand in hand, the two tiptoe through the grass ‘where the night crawlers creep / when he rust-bellied / robins have all / gone to sleep.’ They enjoy a swing flying up high and more before crossing the bridge and returning to the narrator’s home where the Moon shows its thanks by providing a ‘sweet sleepy light’.

Lyrical and rhythmic, Carolyn Curtis’s text reads aloud well and complemented by Alison Jay’s gorgeous scenes of a world bathed in moonlight, would make a comforting pre bedtime tale.
At the back of the book, the author includes information about ‘The Mysterious Moon,’ and ‘The World at Night’, which gives facts about some fauna and flora.

There is a QR code on the back cover of each book: scan them to bring the stories to life with narrations by Teresa Gallagher.

A Tree For Everyone

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A Tree For Everyone
Kathy Urban and Rosie Butcher
Little Steps Publishing

Jake, Aiden and Pip absolutely love the tree they have discovered. Indeed they’ve made it their own through their creative play. First it’s a castle, reaching high into the summer sky. Thereafter it becomes a pirate ship sailing the high seas searching for lost treasure and then a rocket bound for space. No matter what, it’s a place to laugh, share dreams and do all the things best friends do together.
However, one morning to their surprise, their place of play is no longer theirs alone: three other children are there. Seeing them as a threat to their private world, Jake et al tell the newcomers to go away. Despite knowing it’s not a kind way to behave, things escalate and the tree house is broken into pieces and silence prevails in their special place.

The children disperse and begin finding other things to do and other children to play with. No so Jake though; he stays near to home and can’t stop his mind wandering back to his special friends and the exciting things they’d done together. Eventually he returns to the tree but he’s not the only one who has done so. Lily too has drifted back and, after apologising to one another, little by little a fresh understanding and friendship develops.. Finally, joy of joys, there’s a new treehouse that, as the title says, is for everyone.

This heartwarming tale celebrates children’s creativity but even more important, being willing to offer apologies and accept second chances. Kindness, empathy and inclusivity are key when it comes to resolving differences. Rosie Butcher’s detailed illustrations show how the natural world and the oak tree in particular inspire the children’s imaginations: would that all youngsters had easy access to nature.

Stop! Gangster Koala! / Barking Bake Off!

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Stop! Gangster Koala!
Barking Bake Off!
Jenny Moore, illustrated by Berta Maluenda
New Frontier Publishing

In the first of Jenny Moore’s Pawprint Productions series for younger readers, cuddly koala actor Archie has landed the role of gangster Hoodlum PIE Claw in the popular drama series Squeaky Minders. His big concern is that he won’t be sufficiently scary to give a convincing performance as the town’s meanest menace. However during the filming of the opening scene, Archie trips and knocks himself out. Upon waking, he believes he’s a real gangster and he rampages through the studios hurling squidgy lemon meringue pies at anyone crossing his path. Having stolen all the fresh pies from another series and sending patients leaping from their beds in fear on Emergency Vets, Archie ends up storming into a live recording of Beastly Buzzers. Will he stop at nothing to procure all the prizes?

Who doesn’t enjoy a baking show so Barking Bake Off! is sure to be loved. The contestants facing one another are Poppy Seedcake and Corgi Joe. Whatever the secret ingredient in Corgi Joe’s barkwell tarts is, it’s not what the contestant intended. Indeed it’s an absolute calamity. The same is true in the second round. Seems Joe has lost his touch: maybe not as week three sees a vast improvement and a score of ten barks. But then disaster strikes in the form of the poisoning. Something decidedly unsavoury is surely going on behind the scenes of Pawprint Productions. It’s a bizarre mystery but can Meek and Squeak in police guise discover a culprit and save the whole series? Now that would be telling …

Berta Maluenda’s amusing black and white illustrations are a vital ingredient in the stories, making them even tastier.

Kids Can Cook Around the World

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Kids Can Cook Around the World
illustrated by Esther Coombs
Button Books

With its enticing cover, this sturdy hardback introduces children to dishes both sweet and savoury from around the world.
Before the recipes there’s a short ‘Before You Begin’ section that talks about safety, equipment and basic techniques. Thereafter come the recipes themselves, the world in this book being divided into five areas: North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia, and Australia and New Zealand, each of which has an introductory spread with interesting facts about the food. I was surprised to read that ‘Coca Cola was invented in North America, originally as a medicinal drink’, that there are over 350 different kinds of pasta and that there are more than 1,000 different types of cheese in France.

A fair few of the dishes will be familiar depending to some extent both on how open you are to trying cuisine from various parts of the globe and how well travelled you are. You will certainly find some mouth-watering selections including madeleines, a vegetable tagine

and I’m eager to try making koshari. All recipes have step-by-step instructions with visuals alongside each step and the number of servings each makes.

My only quibble about the book is that there aren’t many vegan recipes but that’s a personal thing and doesn’t stop me recommending it as a very useful one to help youngsters develop their cooking skills.

Hot Food: Nice!

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Hot Food: Nice!
Michael Rosen and Neal Layton
Walker Books

This is Michael Rosen’s hugely popular poem ‘Hot Food’ to which a prelude has been added wherein the narrator tells readers, “When I was a boy I thought my dad knew everything.’ However the day dawns when a discovery destroys that belief. This is what happens: It’s dinner time and the family – mum, dad, the narrator and his brother are sitting around the kitchen table, plates piled high with dinner. It’s evident to the narrator that the potato’s a tad on the hot side and so with just a small amount on his fork, he blows on it – whooph whooph – ‘until it’s cool, / just cool, / then into the mouth: nice!’ His brother and mum do a similar thing. Dad however acts, let’s say, rather rashly. Into his mouth goes a large amount of potato:

YIKES! You can almost feel the skin inside his mouth blistering in Neal Layton’s scene of Dad as he flaps his hands, blows and puffs and a whole lot more until he ejects the potato in small pieces back onto his plate. His family are obviously dumbfounded, perhaps even more so when he states, “Watch out everybody – the potato’s very hot.”

A paragraph from the publisher at the back of the book includes a couple of amusing facts concerning ‘nice’ the meme in both China and the USA.

Neal Layton’s illustrations capture the potato incident splendidly so it becomes a scrumptious slapstick visual story too, full of fantastic facial expressions. A unmissable read aloud for class and family sharing.

Snow

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Snow
Meera Trehan
Walker Books

This story is set in Mistmir, a kingdom which is empty save for the Princess Karina who spends all her time digging Snow. This snow is not the ordinary precipitation, rather it has been scientifically modified to be self-replenishing in response to her wish for ‘perfect’ snow on her thirteenth birthday. As a consequence the Princess has been continually labouring and now she and her father, the King, are the only ones who haven’t fled.

One day as she shovels, the Princess discovers her precious fluttery toy, made by the strangers who created the Snow. A sign of hope surely, but before she’s been able to show her father, she encounters a girl, Ela, who has accidentally entered Mistmir from our world. Ela can hardly believe that this is the Princess from the Snow Princess book that her mother used to read to her every night.

Princess Karina realises that the unexpected visitor is key to saving Mistmir and invites Ela to her castle. Ela travels with Karina, hoping that she will discover the truth that lies behind the Book and the strange mental memory-like images it conjured. As they travel on the look out for menacing hounds on the prowl, the girls form a bond of friendship and work together to find answers and save the snow-immersed kingdom.

Combining magic and science, Meera Trehan has crafted a story with themes of loneliness, belonging and forgiveness that is perfect for the chilly winter months. The world building is throughly convincing and the climax of the tale satisfying. Altogether a thoroughly enjoyable, haunting read.

Protecting the Planet: The Secret World of Seahorses

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Protecting the Planet: The Secret World of Seahorses
Nicola Davies and Lou Baker-Smith
Walker Books

This immersive addition to the Protecting the Planet series is written in an accessible narrative style by zoologist,, Nicola Davies with impressive mixed media illustrations by Lou Baker Smith.

I’m fortunate to have seen live seahorses off the coast of Kerala but I doubt many readers of this book will have been so lucky as to see these graceful, fascinating, almost magical creatures. This is due in part to the 70+ million that are caught annually by humans who then make them into pills and potions or items such as key-rings to sell them as trinkets. Others of them meanwhile become the victims of pollution and dragnets. It’s still not too late however, to save these wonderful animals from becoming extinct: readers will discover how seahorses have adapted to their environment through movement and by means of camouflage and diet changes.

Furthermore on the positive side, they’ll read of innovative conservation schemes in the UK,

and in Malaysia and Cambodia to protect seahorse habitats.

Did you know that seahorses perform a ritual dance? You can discover why from the book and what makes paternal seahorses unique in the animal kingdom.

Certainly worth adding to family bookshelves and KS2 class collections; make sure children’s attention is drawn to the final spread ‘Seahorses and Climate Change’.

Molly, Olive and Dexter: Who’s Afraid of the Dark?

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Molly, Olive and Dexter: Who’s Afraid of the Dark?
Catherine Rayner
Walker Books

Friends Molly the hare, Dexter the fox and Olive the owl return in a tale of nighttime nerves. It begins with the three enjoying watching the sun setting, but as darkness descends, Molly hears a rustling sound that troubles her. It’s only Dexter cleaning his whiskers. Next Dexter feels something brushing against him and before long, Olive too is spooked though it’s merely shadow shapes. (They are made by Molly’s long leporine ears.)

Then comes rain whooshing down accompanied by thunder – another alarming experience – but eventually the friends realise that their sensory experiences are created by harmless things. The story ends with the three woodland pals enjoying something together before resting beneath their massive oak tree at the forest edge.

Young children too have night-time fears and this fun picture book, with Catherine Rayner’s watercolour scenes where the friends’ expressions – Molly’s in particular – show superbly their growing panic as the tale progresses, is perfect for sharing as a pre bedtime tale.

Molly, Dexter and Olive are endearing characters and their evening episode is ultimately reassuring. Add this book to early years collections and family bookshelves where there are young children.

Flember: The Golden Heart

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Flember: The Golden Heart
Jamie Smart
David Fickling Books

Jamie Smart brings his superb Flember series to a close with a spell-binding adventure, full of inventiveness surprises at almost every turn of the page, as well as illustrations of characters and diagrams that add to the story.

On account of the heinous Iola Gray and her sinister plans, Flember Island is in grave danger. Can Dev P. Everdew and his lovable red giant robot bear, Boja possibly save the island and restore it to a place of peace and magic? Assuredly he will face numerous challenges, both physical and mental. Imagine having an angry wolf standing over you glaring with its red eyes, and baring its sharp black teeth with strings of spit glistening between them.

Yes there are scary moments aplenty but also lots of humour, not to mention a fair few farts courtesy of Boja. Add to all this, that the book is great for empathy building; and what Jamie Smart has done yet again is to create an unputdownable, thought-provoking book with a hugely satisfying conclusion that Flember fans will love.

Dev. his brother Santoro and Boja will be greatly missed but you can always go back and start reading the entire series over again.

Murder At Christmas

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Murder At Christmas
Fleur Hitchcock
Nosy Crow

Having been at boarding school in England while her mother (a diplomat), father and younger brother, Billy, have been living in Australia, Grace is excited to be spending Christmas in Bath, staying in her Aunt Mollie’s hotel with Mum and Billy. (Aunt Mollie is mum’s twin sister.)

Mum goes to visit their Gran who lives nearby in a residential care home but after several hours she hasn’t returned so Grace and Billy start worrying and their aunt isn’t around either so the siblings are left on their own. To add to their worries, a body is found on the hotel stairs: something is definitely wrong.
On the positive side, Grace and Billy make two new friends, Olive and Doug; but with each passing day, Grace suspects something terrible has happened to their mum, especially as Aunt Mollie is acting strangely.

Determined to find their mum as well as solving the murder before Christmas, the siblings, working with new friends,Doug and Olive, start searching for clues.

Eventually they discover where their mum is but getting her free safe and sound, plus finding out the truth behind her disappearance is a real challenge.

Superbly plotted with lots of twists and turns, several red herrings, suspense and two young protagonists who really prove themselves, this is a compelling seasonal adventure at the heart of which is family and its importance.

Snuggle up and read this as you drink a cup of hot chocolate in the run up to Christmas.


A Welly full of Christmas

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A Welly full of Christmas
Attie Lime, illustrated by Nadine Licence
Tiny Tree Books

I loved Attie’s Blue Jelly and Strawberries and so was eagerly anticipating her new seasonal offering, which is subtitled ‘Poems for Festive Fun’ and fun is what is contained herein.

There are forty poems, just over half of which actually contain the word Christmas; others focus on wintry weather, snow and there’s one, The Concert that took me way back to my very first reception class Christmas concert. This talks of a boy who wanted to ‘strum’, ‘hum’ and ‘drum pa-rum-pum-pum’ but was allocated a triangle to play. In my class two boys side by side were energetically playing maracas when one accidentally knocked the other’s instrument and the result is summed up in the delicious onomatopoeia of the final verse: ‘BASH CRASH THUMP and THWACK and SMASH … WALLOP, WHACK and CLASH … SMACK and BANG and THRASH’ that ensued as the boys started whacking one another with their maracas. Fortunately the audience thought it hilarious while I, thoroughly embarrassed, was endeavouring keep things going.

My two favourites don’t mention Christmas; both have a weather theme. There’s one describing a Sunday walk: I love the idea of sending ‘ pebbles skittering over ice clatter rattle, clatter rattle, clatter rattle’. I’ll try that at the next opportunity.

The other is Snowflakes, which describes these amazing forms as ‘sparkling icy glow-flakes / putting on a show-flakes’.

With a variety of poetic forms and moods, and an abundance of wit and warm-heartedness,.plus black and white illustrations by Nadine Licence, these offerings are a joy to read aloud to foundation stage/ KS1 children in the next few weeks.

Flipped!

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Flipped!
Philip Caveney
Fox and Ink Books

This story takes inspiration from both the COVID pandemic and Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Set in 2020 during a COVID lockdown, its main protagonist is fifteen year old Flip. His mother is a nurse practitioner at the local hospital and after on-line lessons undertaken with no enthusiasm during the summer term on Flip’s part, the school holiday has begun. He can neither spend time with his friends, nor enjoy a week or two abroad with his mum. He’s not a keen reader and so with little else to occupy him, Flip has taken to walking out onto the nearby North Kent Marshes.

On one of those walks, he comes upon a derelict house and curious, he decides to investigate. He heads inside and to his surprise a strangely dressed girl, seemingly of a similar age to himself, speaks to him. She says this, “So here you are at last. It’s about time. I’ve been waiting for you for ages.” Flip learns that her name is Estella. Estella is bemused by the mask he has and Flip is concerned that she has no awareness of social distancing nor any of the other rules introduced to stop the spread of the pandemic, though she does mention that there’s no cholera where they are. Estella leads Flip to a room where he must work on listing and ordering a collection of books, a task set for him by a Miss H. However Flip causes some chaos, escapes and goes home. There he does an online search for the name Estella, a search that leads him to the book Great Expectations. Rejecting that the strange girl in the house is part of the story, Flip returns, only to discover that he too seems to be a character in the story.

Unintentionally, his actions start affecting Dickens’s narrative: Flip really needs to find a way to set things right and leave the book once and for all: either that or remain forever trapped within its pages.

In addition to coping with this problematic situation, Flip is at the same time coping with consequences of his parents’ break-up, so many readers will find plenty to relate to in his story. It matters not that most will be unfamiliar with Great Expectations as Philip Caveney’s explanations of the Dickens’ characters are so well done. So too is Flip’s character who is utterly believable and easy to empathise with. A mystery story, with witty touches; strongly recommended for upper KS2/KS3 readers