Author jillrbennett

Ralfy Rabbit & Construction: Libraries for All

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WANTED! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar
Emily MacKenzie
Bloomsbury Children’s Books pbk
Meet bibliophile Ralfy rabbit, maker of book lists– those he’s read (with carrot ratings ascribed), those he wants to read and those to recommend to friends and family. Ralfy would go to any lengths to get his paws on a good book. He’d even take them from people’s homes

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and large gaps began to appear on the shelves of one small boy Arthur. Arthur too was a book lover and when he discovers the absence of his favourite monster book he decides something has to be done to apprehend the thief. Time to put in a call to the local constabulary he decides, having been laughed at by his mum and chastised by his teacher. Even the police don’t take him seriously though, not until Ralfy tries stealing a book from PC Puddle that is.
Ralfy finds himself in a line-up but it’s pretty difficult to tell one bunny from another when they’re all wearing book lovers T-shirts; Arthur is certainly bemused. But then PC Puddle starts up a conveyor belt …

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That’s not quite the end of the tale though: Arthur knows just the place for someone with an insatiable appetite for books, a place where he must make sure to take the books back for others to enjoy.
This engaging book is an unashamed plug for libraries and an amusing read to boot. I love the alliterative list of Ralfy’s book-pilfering crimes and the book lists Ralfy himself makes (these will be appreciated by adults but most will go over the heads of young children; they will be amused by the carrot ratings).
The illustrations are great too – packed with humorous touches and of course, there are plenty of books in evidence. The conveyor belt scene is terrific, as is one of Arthur’s bookshelves complete with snails and slugs

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and I love the night spotlight of Ralfy returning home with his swag bag almost bursting at the seams with his latest haul.
If you share this with a class of KS1 children, make sure they see the poster on the book’s back cover. They could have fun making their own WANTED posters for Ralfy, or perhaps a poster promoting their local library (if they are lucky enough to have one still).

Building a new library, now that really is something to celebrate and it’s exactly what we see happening in

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Construction
Sally Sutton and Brian Lovelock
Walker Books
Big machines move onto the site digging, filling, concreting, hoisting wood – Thonk! CLONK CLAP! Then sawing, measuring, hammering as the stairs, floors and walls are erected. Next come the roof, doors and windows with a Heave-ho! followed by pipes and power wires and finally a couple of coats of paint. At last it’s time to bring in the furniture and most important of all come the books – lots and lots of lovely books all waiting to be borrowed. Ready … STEADY… READ! Hip! Hip! Hooray!
Sally Sutton’s energetically rhythmic text simply throbs along in patterned form – action and then onomatopoeic words: ‘Fill the holes. Fill the holes. … Spread it fast before it sets. Sloosh! SLOSH! SLOP!’

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and ‘Build the frame. Build the frame. … Bing! BANG! BONG!

 

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(Great for audience participation this.)
It’s good to see both male and female workers on Lovelock’s construction site with some of the latter clearly directing the operation in places.

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His changing perspectives allow the audience a variety of views from beneath the action to looking down upon it, at some distance or right in close.

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The final page provides brief explanations of the machines usage and shows the safety gear of a site worker. What more can little builders as well as readers ask?

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Manners & Friendship in Black and White

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panda 5 Please Mr Panda
Steve Antony
Hodder Children’s Books
“Would you like a doughnut?” the chunky panda asks a penguin on the opening spread of Steve Antony’s third picture book. Less than impressed by the penguin’s impolite  response, panda4 he changes his mind and moves on, offering his tray of delicious-looking, colourful treats to several other animals including one who has the enormous cheek – (but then it is a whale) to retort, “I want them all! Then bring me some more.” Unsurprisingly none of the answers meet with his approval and the offer is hastily withdrawn. panda 3 It’s not until the resolute panda encounters lemur that he receives a polite answer with that all -important p-word included. So pleased is Mr Panda on hearing the elusive word being uttered (he even gets a “Thank you very much!”) that he gives the charming creature the whole box panda2 with the throwaway remark, “You’re welcome. I don’t like doughnuts.” A wonderfully stylish and witty lesson in basic manners: The sight of that solemn-faced panda sporting a tiny paper hat bearing the single word Doughnuts and remaining  impassive in the face of rudeness, is enormously endearing. With such artistry I’m sure Mr P. will quickly become a firm favourite with all who have dealings with young children as well as the book’s intended audience themselves. The latter will, I suspect feel a sense of anticipatory delight at every turn of the page, until that all-important, topsy-turvy panda/lemur encounter. With its deliciously droll illustrations, cleverly patterned text, inviting layout and memorable words young readers will want to try reading it for themselves after sharing it with an adult a couple of times. panda 1 Mr P. will undoubtedly provide a third winner for Mr A.

 

bl&w 7 Black and White
Dahlov Ipcar
Flying Eye Books
Said to have been inspired by the US civil rights movement, this stylish book was originally published in the early 60s and is now reissued by a British publisher whose hallmarks are design and production of the highest quality. The story itself, tells of two dogs, one black, the other white that play together by day and part at night to return to separate homes to sleep and dream. It is their dreams that Ipcar explores in gentle rhythmic rhyme and glorious visuals, as the black dog’s dream takes him off to a dark African jungle. A place populated by elephants, monkeys and fierce panthers, bl&w 2 where zebras and antelopes graze and ‘Black-and-white butterflies everywhere/Fill the flower-scented air.’ bl&w 3 The little white dog meanwhile is transported to the snowy, icy arctic. There ‘On the shore stand polar bears, / While arctic foxes chase arctic hares.’ bl&w 4 and seals and great whales swim in the chilly waters below which black-and-white fishes glide, walruses rest on the ice-floes and sea birds nest on the rocks. Come morning, the canine pals reunite to play together side-by-side once again and to recount to one another the details of their dream-world travels. bl&w 6 Stylish retro, yet timeless illustrations, grace every page demonstrating just how perfectly Ipcar balances form and colour. Use your local bookshop: localbookshops_NameImage-2 Don’t forget February 14th ibgdposterlarge

Over Indulgence with The Little Princess & Dave

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Dolci and Ellena enjoying The Little Princess’s antics

I Feel Sick!
Tony Ross
Andersen Press
Most adults and many children will be familiar with the stunt the Little Princess pulls in her latest story and it’s one wherein she really gets her comeuppance.
Despite feeling as fit as a fiddle, the little madam feigns sickness when asked to do something she doesn’t want to. The thought of school seems to bring on the worst attacks although the Queen takes some convincing and the doctor certainly isn’t fooled.

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Having played the sickness card on several occasions, the Little Princess is in the throes of a very bad attack of nausea when through the door comes a party invitation. An instant cure of course. Off she goes to Molly’s party where she over indulges in party food, then after games and a lot of dancing …
Serves you right, Little Princess.
As always the expressions – both child and adult – are spot on and there’s a guaranteed laugh or rather two, at every turn of the page.
A certain winner.

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Dave’s Breakfast Blast Off!
Sue Hendra and Lee Wildish
Hodder Children’s Books pbk
Herein we have a feline character who, rather than being a doer, is done to.
When an empty breakfast bowl confronts marmalade tom Dave, notorious for his large appetite and erupting rear, something has to be done. It’s fortunate then that Bug just happens along and suggests, ‘Let’s go out for breakfast!’
With assistance from Squirrel, Hedgehog, Mouse and Bird, Dave is finally over the fence and into the property next door. There he finds all manner of breakfasts intended for Budgie, Hamster, Rabbit

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and many more, all of which Dave samples. But the combination of fish food, seeds, carrots, flies, leaves and smelly socks has a rather disturbing effect on Dave’s tum. So, when confronted by an angry canine whose breakfast is latterly weighing rather heavy in said stomach, Dave can do nothing to stop the rear-end eruption: an eruption that blasts him into the air

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and back to his own territory just in the nick of time for his lunch.
This, the second story to feature Dave has a new illustrator in Lee Wildish who brings a fresh vibrancy with a variety of perspectives and provides hilarious scenes with lots of deliciously witty details.
For those who love toilet humour – and that’s most young children – this one will be a resounding success.
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Pet Problems – Sparky & Rex

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Sparky!
Jenny Offill and Chris Appelhans
Orion Children’s Books
What the endearing girl narrator of this wonderfully quirky book wants more than anything in the world is a pet. Her mother finally consents but her stipulation “as long as it doesn’t need to be walked or bathed or fed.” presents quite a challenge for our determined narrator. She turns to the school librarian for assistance and is given the S volume of the Animal Encyclopedia

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wherein she discovers the perfect minimal maintenance thing – a SLOTH.
The girl duly mail-orders one and when it arrives she names him Sparky, taking him straight outside to his very own tree. Observations of the pet begin but for two days he just sleeps; time for some games thinks the little girl but statues is the only one that works for the pet and her friend Mary Potts is far from impressed. A ‘Sloth Extravaganza’ is advertised,

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and a training regime is implemented but sleepy Sparky just doesn’t respond to commands to learn tricks and there’s no way he’ll wow his audience at the performance. Playing Dead isn’t exactly a showstopper after all.
Despite everything though, Sparky and the little girl remain close: she accepts his slothfulness and loves him for it.
‘ “You’re it, Sparky,” I said. And for a long, long time he was.’

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Beautifully told with an understated humour that is perfectly mirrored in Chris Appelhans’ watercolour illustrations. Executed in shades of brown and teal with the occasional splash of red, pink, green or yellow, every one is a delight.
This is one of those slow burning treasures that one returns to over and over with increasing pleasure at each reading. That sloth is SO adorable. Perfect for sharing or individual readers.

 

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The Pet Person
Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross
Andersen Press pbk
Almost twenty years after its first publication, we have the opportunity once more to join Rex the dog in this hilarious tale wherein the human/pet relationship is turned on its head.
Dog, Rex really wants a pet person for his birthday but his parents are against such a furniture spoiling, greedy, smelly addition to the household and his other canine relations are equally unenthusiastic. What’s a poor human-loving canine to do?
Off he goes to sulk in the park and there Rex discovers Ginger: the perfect answer to his pet-longing perhaps?

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Or perhaps not …

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At the end of the day, a disillusioned, rather wiser Rex returns home to discover his birthday present waiting for him and it’s certainly not “a tennis ball.”

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Brilliant: Great dialogue (the interplay between words and pictures is spot on), superb characterization

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and wonderfully imagined scenarios to tickle the fancy of children and adults alike.

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I’d forgotten just how good this book is.

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Playful Piggies and Penguins

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This Little Piggy Went Dancing
Margaret Wild and Deborah Niland
Allen & Unwin
This is a delightful, fun-filled, action-packed interpretation of the traditional nursery rhyme This Little Piggy. The various little piggies engage in all manner of the physical activities young children love – dancing, hopping, hula-hooping, scooting, skipping, crawling, sliding, running, jumping, juggling even.rainbow 005 (800x600)

What pleasure they exhibit in these and the other things they do at home such as watering the plants – another favourite of young children, playing with water (ditto), pushing prams,

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painting, reading (hurrah!) and teetering around in adult high-heeled shoes.
Deborah Niland’s totally endearing piggies are almost all portrayed as full of exuberance; even some of those who ‘had none’ are enjoying themselves.

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And, listeners will delight in the familiar final ‘And this little piggy went Wee, wee, wee, wee, wee …
all the way home!’
As well as being ideal for sharing with the very young, individually

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or in an early years setting, this is a great book for those in the early stages of reading to try for themselves, first joining in with an adult and then, gradually taking over the reading themselves. Both illustrations and text have a pattern, there’s a close match between words and pictures and there’s rhythm and repetition – what more can a beginner ask. Oh yes, there are lots of lovely action words too.

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Celestine and the Penguins
Penny Ives
Templar Publishing pbk
Celestine, a little duckling is eagerly awaiting the first snowfall of the year. She’s donned her warmest clothes and brought out her sledge but there’s no sign of that white precipitation anywhere. The determined heroine decides to improvise – first with cotton wool balls – too lumpy; handfuls of flour make her cough and just as she’s trying torn up paper, she spies something very surprising. There behind her in the garden is a whole host of baby penguins – lost and delighted to find some ‘snow’. They tell Celestine they were cast adrift far from their parents and carried by the waves until they landed up on the beach, a walk away from Celestine’s home.

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Celestine tries her best to entertain her guests but they won’t all fit in the freezer, the ice-lolly skates melt and the frozen pea slide soon becomes pea soup. Off they go upstairs but Mum catches them in the bathroom, and Celestine certainly has some explaining to do.
Time for Mum to take control and before long the baby penguins are safely stowed aboard an explorer’s ship bound for the South Pole. And as the ship departs, Celestine feels a cold, soft something tickling her cheek –

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but it isn’t a tear – it’s starting to snow at last.
A cute story with endearing characters, an enterprising heroine and satisfying finale.

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The Book With No Pictures

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The Book With No Pictures
B.J.Novak
Puffin Books
Giggles and guffaws galore are guaranteed when you read this wonderfully subversive book aloud to one or preferably lots of children; it really depends on how big an audience you are willing to make a fool of yourself for. Its author, TV writer and actor, is certainly accustomed to large audiences and knows just how to exploit willing players to the full.
Back to the book itself. There isn’t a plot (not in the accepted sense anyway). There’s not a single illustration in sight though there’s plenty of colour. How is this? I hear you asking. Apart from the highly colourful nature of the text itself, the whole thing is a typographic orchestration, the changing tenor of which is cleverly conveyed through alterations in font size, type and colour.
“It probably seems boring and serious. Except … Here is how books work“ Then comes the all-important proviso… “everything the words say, the person reading the book has to say. No matter what.” … “BLORK. (audience titter) … I am a monkey who taught myself to read.” (children now starting to giggle) …

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… Is this whole book a trick? Can I stop reading please? No?!!
There follows a song,

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some very mild toilet humour…

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crazy noises and much more before the final plea: “Next time, please please please please please choose a book with pictures.” Can’t see many children taking notice of that however.
What they will take notice of is the sheer silliness of the whole thing and the tacit way in which it gently leads beyond picture books to that all important next step in reading where pictures no longer play the major role in a book and text is loved for its own sake.
As someone who loves to perform with book in hand and more important to share the best of them with children, I’m off to find some more audiences.
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Keep Out & The Fox in the Dark

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Keep Out!
Sally Grindley and Peter Utton
Hodder Chidren’s Books pbk
‘KEEP OUT! ‘and ‘BEARS ABOUT!’ caution the signs on the cover and title page of this book by the duo who gave us SHHH! This brilliantly interactive lift-the-flap sequel is equally all involving.
Despite the trepidation of the narrator who is constantly urging would-be adventurers not to proceed, we cannot help but disobey all the warning signs and continue the journey through the book, deeper into the woods. Woods where creatures lurk behind stones and logs, in ponds, under bridges

 

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and in trees. Then there’s a door in the wall – definitely not to be passed through; who knows what could be waiting beyond. But through we go of course: what are all those bees doing buzzing everywhere and why the hives? We know which animals like what they provide.
KEEP OUT! says the doormat outside the cottage and BEWARE OF THE BROCCOLI! warns the notice in the garden – watch out veggiephobes! In we go however and knowing readers will quickly realize they are following in the footsteps of Goldilocks – that’s if they haven’t already. But the bears are very much in residence so there’s only one possible escape …

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There is so much to explore in every new scene (some are wonderfully mock-scary) that one reading just won’t be enough. One five year old I shared it with commented, “It’s my favourite book ever.”

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The Fox in the Dark
Alison Green and Deborah Allwright
Alison Green Books pbk
PHEW! A terrified rabbit dashes home in the nick of time, safe from the “fox in the dark.” Before long though there’s a Rat-a-tat-tat! on his door: surely it can’t be that fox, can it? No, it’s Duck followed shortly by Mouse, then Lamb

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and then – OH NO! … ‘A FOX IN THE DARK!’
Wait a minute though, this fox doesn’t look very scary:

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but what’s that shadow looming? … another knock …the tension mounts …
This is definitely one to keep young audiences on the edge of their ‘seats’ as the beautifully rhythmic, rhyming text gallops along at a pace to that final satisfying climax.

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Deborah Allwright uses contrasting dark and light to maximum effect – in the moonlit, shadowy outdoor woodland scenes and those inside Rabbit’s burrow, some of which are illuminated by lantern,

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others by the moon shining in, and also in the animal silhouettes and ghost-like outlines against the black. Every turn of the page brings a visual treat.

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BANG

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BANG
Leo Timmers
Gecko Press
I love quirky picture books and this near wordless one is certainly that. I also love that the leader of the pack (an executive deer sporting a bowler hat) is a writer and reader. The problem is, said deer is driving along in his BANG-mobile loaded with copies of his latest publication (this book) while reading one of the books, seemingly unaware of the fact that the vehicle in front has just shed part of its load right in front of him. BANG! – books in dustbin.

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The subsequent pages reveal the knock on effect as each following, tailgating vehicle runs into the back of the one in front:

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pig with his chickens, giraffe with her clothes shopping, crocodile with tyres, cat with his catch, goat with his fruit and vegetables and rabbit with her sextuplets. More observant chameleon with his load of paint, manages with an ‘eeeeeeeeeeeeee’ to stop just in time, only for penguin in his ice-cream van to plough into the back of him and shunt him into the multi-vehicle pile-up. Fortunately not a single animal is hurt.
The panoramic pull-out page reveals the whole shebang and the resulting, amazing interaction of drivers, passengers and loads.

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Ice-cream anyone?
Surprisingly everyone is happy save a single baby rabbit whose sibling has stolen his ice-cream.

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The sheer absurdity of the whole thing is irresistible.
Timmers’ wonderfully comic illustrations allow readers to fill in their own words. The amount of detail in every single vehicle, animal and load means that each double spread offers much to talk about – from the exaggerated animal features of the drivers and their snazzy attire, to the funky vehicles with their various loads and much more.

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Shiny Things with Jasper, Smiling Hearts with Lisa & Ted

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Jasper and the Magpie
Dan Mayfield, illustrated by Alex Merry
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Like many on the autism spectrum, young Jasper has a special passion, a passion for shiny metals in his case. He reads up about them and collects all manner of shiny things, sometimes going to great lengths to get his hands on something that’s caught his eye. His parents worry about the safety of their son but even more about the fact that his passion stops him making friends and even try to curb his collecting ‘obsession’. Jasper’s response causes them to have a rethink

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and so when his birthday arrives, Jasper is in for a surprise; maybe more than one surprise. First he learns from his grans that everyone, parents included, want him to be happy. Second, he receives a wonderful present wrapped in shiny paper containing all manner of shiny items and other interesting objects, showing that his mum and dad have come to accept his unconventional collecting habit and offering a novel way to share his souvenirs – a shiny magpie collage.

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Smiles all round, the biggest belonging to Jasper, collector and collage creator extraordinaire.
Essentially, this story about accepting and celebrating all individuals for their unique qualities is aimed at primary age children. Despite its, in places rather creaky, rhyming text, it’s a book that should be shared in all schools whether or not there are pupils with autism. Alex Merry’s slightly offbeat watercolour illustrations reflect Jasper’s feeling sensitively and with gentle humour.
Buy from the publisher: https://www.jkp.com/‎

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Smiling Heart Meditations with Lisa & Ted (and Bingo)
Lisa Spillane
Singing Dragon
Qigong is an ancient Chinese health care system that integrates breathing techniques, physical postures and focused intention. The practice of Qigong typically involves moving meditation, coordinating slow flowing movement, deep rhythmic breathing, and a meditative state of mind. The aim is to restore calm to both the body and the mind.
In her first book Six Healing Sounds with Lisa and Ted, the author who practices Qigong herself, showed young children how simple breathing exercises combined with sounds can help them to turn their negative feelings into positive ones.
Also with that aim, in this amusingly illustrated follow-up book, the same child characters and their canine pal, Bingo head off for a day on the beach. The children find that even there they can feel annoyed, upset or impatient.

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Narrator, Bingo steps in explaining simply to readers how both brother and sister use meditation techniques to help restore their equilibrium. He also has a special trick of his own to demonstrate.
Story is an effective and enjoyable means of introducing the techniques to young children and although not familiar with the practices herein, I use a similar narrative method when teaching yoga to young children and know it works very well.
There is a helpful introductory spread aimed at adults in which Lisa Spillane provides a succinct explanation of Smiling Heart Meditations and why they work.
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Sensory Stories

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Sensory Stories
Joanna Grace
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
That the author, Joanna Grace is passionate about sensory stories and their life enhancing power comes through loud and clear in her book aimed at those who work with children, young people  and adults who have special educational needs. Subtitled a practical guide, it is exactly that and more.
Beginning with a brief, straightforward explanation of what sensory stories actually are, she goes on to provide a five part book, the contents of which, I suggest, could become the heart of a curriculum for those with a wide range of special needs including individuals with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), those with SPD (sensory processing disorder) those who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD), communication difficulties, memory difficulties and individuals with mental health challenges and the physically challenged.
The first section gives an overview of the two key elements in the enterprise – the importance of sensory stimulation, which is central to cognitive development and the power of narrative and the storytelling space it can create for those who share a story.
The second section gives a straightforward account of how to share a sensory story and embraces practicalities and the importance of being consistent when sharing a particular story.
As well as using sensory stories with individuals, they can also be shared in a group context and the third section centres on using one context rich story with a range of learners with differing abilities. Herein Joanna looks at ways to do this effectively.
Assessment and most importantly, its use to celebrate achievement is the focus of part four –some whys and some how tos, the latter offered as suggestions, starting with questions based on the P(erformance) level descriptors.
The last part of the book presents five sensory stories and associated cross-curricular activities created with the classroom in mind; but they can equally be used at home or in other settings. The range of stories is wide: there is a traditional tale, The Selkie Wife, a cooking story Seasoned with Spice, Two People Made Me a story told in the first person from conception to birth, a science fiction adventure, To the Centre of the Earth! and finally, a wonderful reworking of the Sleeping Beauty tale entitled The Forest of Thorns which has a splendidly realistic ending: ‘He wasn’t sure he could give the sleeping princess happily ever after, but he could start by giving her a rose.’
Of course, the telling of sensory stories is not for the faint hearted; it needs a certain amount of imagination and creativity on the part of the teller; a teller who is, ideally, convinced about the power and centrality of story in human experience. With those elements in place, (if they aren’t already, this book must surely go a long way in fostering their development), and this excellent ‘resource-guide’ to hand, what further is needed? Only the story stimuli of course – the ‘props’ that evoke the essence of the story – but as readers are told, these are not difficult to obtain. Practitioners/carers and parents aware of the particular needs of their group/individuals would be able to choose other stories appropriate to those needs and the sensory stimuli to go with them.
Just do it!

Buy from the publisher: http://jkp.com/
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Snowy Worlds

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The Magical Snow Garden
Tracey Corderoy and Jane Chapman
Little Tiger Press
When penguin, Wellington, sees a beautiful garden in a picture book he shares with friend, Rosemary, he determines to grow one like it. His friends are skeptical: “… flowers can’t grow in the snow,” they tell him but then Wellington has an inspiration: instead of growing a garden, he can make one. And he does, with Rosemary’s help, a shiny blue biscuit wrapper and all manner of bits and pieces. Soon the garden is in full bloom: now his friends are impressed but then comes a storm that whirls Wellington’s garden right away. Is that the end of his beautiful creations? No – thanks to Rosemary, that blue biscuit wrapper, all Wellington’s friends, and most important, Wellington’s creativity and resolve, a wonderful new snow-sparkling garden comes into being, one that everyone wants to see.

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“You never know what you can do until you try!” Ivor tells Wellington and he’s absolutely right.
Long live determination and divergent thinking.
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Snowflakes
Cerrie Burnell and Laura Ellen Anderson
Scholastic pbk
Newly arrived from her city home, a little girl Mia arrives to live at her Grandma’s deep in a forest. Inevitably she finds her gran’s wooden house surrounded by whispering trees strange and her days become a series of one new experience after another. There’s her first ever winter coat and hat,

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feeding the hens with Grandma and the strange silvery shadows of the forest on her way to see her soon to be new school.

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But then comes a fall of snow making things feel magical and Mia too feels touched by the magic: “Every snowflake is different, every snowflake is perfect” she tells herself realizing that she too is perfect. From then on Mia is able to start to come to terms with her new life , to embrace the changes and begin to make new friends.

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This reassuring story with its important theme, that every child is special and unique, is sensitively told by C Beebies presenter, Cerrie Burnell and beautifully illustrated to bring out both Mia’s changing feelings and the atmosphere of her new home.
Showing, not telling is very much the way in this inclusive book. That much is left unsaid allows children to bring their own experience, interpretations and ideas to the story; ideas concerning why Mia had to go and live with Grandma Mitzi whom she hardly knew, why she’d never before worn a coat and only heard of forests in storybooks for instance.
Buy from Amazon
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Finally a couple of wintry books previously reviewed but now out in paperback and too good to miss are:
Max Velthuijs’ Frog in Winter an old favourite from over 20 years ago newly reissued by Andersen Press wherein Frog finds it impossible to embrace the joys of the newly fallen snow.

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And Layn Marlow’s gorgeous book from last year about a small child making a snowman, You Make Me Smile (Oxford University Press); I’m sure it will make you smile too.

 

 

 

 

Snowy Frolics

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Snow
Sam Usher
Templar Publishing
We all, adults and children alike, relish those first footsteps in virgin snow so it’s natural that when the boy narrator of this lovely story wakes to discover snow is falling, he can’t wait to get off to the park – before anyone else if possible.

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He’s ready in no time but he has to wait for Grandad who does everything in his own good time. It’s no surprise then, that despite his constant urging, “… the others will get there first, Grandad. DON’T FORGET THE SNOW”, the two are last on the scene.
When they eventually reach the park however, it becomes evident that Grandad’s throw away remark that the whole zoo was probably out there, is in fact true and they throw themselves wholeheartedly into the wintry fun and frolics.

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Was it worth the wait? ‘Definitely’ is the decision of both Grandad and small boy.
This heart-warming wintry tale, which has at its core the loving relationship between a Grandad and his grandson, is beautifully portrayed with gentle humour in watercolour paintings large and small. I see echoes of Bob Graham and Quentin Blake in Usher’s illustrative style and I love the balance of text and illustrations within the taller than usual pages, in particular the large white expanses used to depict the freshly fallen snow and the sheer exhilaration of the snowball fight spread .
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Bear and Hare SNOW!
Emily Gravett
Macmillan Children’s Books
We had the superb Bear and Hare Go Fishing wherein they shared a pastime loved by Bear. Here the friends delight in one of Hare’s favourite activities, romping in the snow. They catch snowflakes on their tongues, make footprints in the snow, create snow angels, build snow creatures – a hare

 

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and a bear …

 

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Then comes some snowball making, followed by a spot of sledging, the sheer exhilaration of which finally brings a smile to Bear’s face – YIPPEE!

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Time for a mug of hot chocolate guys …
So simple, so clever and absolutely brilliant for beginning readers to relish for themselves once it’s been read aloud again and again and …
Full of warmth, gentle humour and those wintry activities loved by young and old alike. Sheer genius for the chilly season.
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Snow Day

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Snow Day
Richard Curtis and Rebecca Cobb
Puffin Books
8.30 am: a snowy morning, a deserted London school– a scenario I recall from a few years back when I was the teacher concerned but unlike in Richard Curtis’s story, no children turned up. They’d all received the closure message that I’d left too early to intercept.
Here though one small boy, Danny arrives and finds himself face to face with his most unfavourite teacher, his arch enemy Mr Trapper, the strictest teacher in the whole school.

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Come break time, the two head outside, Danny to make a snowman, Mr T. for a puff (he wouldn’t get away with that in normal circumstances) and that’s when something totally unexpected happens. The teacher addresses Danny politely giving him advice on the construction of snowmen and together they go on to build a whole army of snowmen,

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and a fort (that’s geography).
After lunch there’s skating (courtesy of some library books – not sure I’m totally in approval but … )

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followed by skiing and a snowball fight– that’s the games lesson taken care of. Maths and French are taken up with igloo building

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and then it’s time to head homewards, two lonely people who have had one of the best days of their lives. Do they tell one another this? No they don’t and next day the usual hostility is resumed, though perhaps things have changed between Danny and Mr Trapper after all. But you’ll have to get hold of this magical story to find out …
I absolutely loved this one. It’s a great story that speaks directly to a young audience with a gentle humour that Rebecca Cobb captures to perfection in her gorgeous illustrations that are packed with delightful details. The outdoor scenes really evoke that sense of awe and wonder newly fallen snow engenders in the young (and some of the not so young) where everything is new and sparkling, as well as bringing out the humour of Curtis’ text – a text that is perfectly pitched for anyone from around 6 up. Not to be missed – buy to give and buy to keep.
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Christmas Books for the very youngest

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Five Christmas Penguins
Steve Lenton
Little Tiger Press
There’s fun and frolics penguin style in this jolly rhyming counting book wherein the polar pals prepare for the big day, wrapping, decorating, singing, baking and finally wishing “Merry Christmas, everyone!”
A sturdy seasonal board book for the very youngest: with simple, gently humorous images, illustrated in bold, bright colours.
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Santa’s Beard
Matilda Tristram, Tom Duxbury and Nick Sharratt
Walker Books
Santa complains that his fluffy beard is making him feel hot and bothered one summer’s day, so the offending article takes flight in search of a more congenial face.

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However, none of its temporary hosts is at all interested. What’s an unwanted beard to do far from home and with the snow starting to fall? Luckily, said beard decides to stop for a rest and finds himself hurtling straight towards a large red rear end protruding from the snow. A red rump that just happens to belong to none other than his original owner, Santa, who is more than happy to have his old chin warmer back, just in time for that chilly present delivery.
Sharratt’s characteristic brightly coloured, bold images thickly outlined in black are immediately attractive to young children who will enjoy moving the snow-white beard onto the various characters: I suspect it will quickly become a rather mucky beard.
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Jolly Snowmen
text by Annette Rusling
Caterpillar Books
Toddlers can enjoy joining in a chilly countdown as five little snowmen engage in a snowball fight, four go sledging, three try ice-skating – oops one falls through the ice, leaving two to go trekking till a polar bear scares off one, and the final one? He has to go searching for his friends for a Christmas ‘Snow Ball”. Anyone for a dance?
Tactile, rhyming fun, with cheery seasonal colours.
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An Animal Kind of Christmas

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Happy Hooves Oh! Oh! Oh!
A.Bogie and Rebecca Elliott
Fat Fox Books
Christmas Eve brings excitement for the Happy Hooves brigade. Galvanised by Cow’s urging to get their homes spick and span in readiness for Santa’s visit, they stir from their afternoon slumbers and set off to clean up their respective abodes. But a terrible realization soon dawns for first home, Pig: he has no chimney for Santa to come down. Sheep offers to put him up but then he too remembers he has no chimney.

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Both flee to Donkey’s abode but the same applies here. Off they go to Foal’s but once again it’s a case of a chimneyless residence. What use are sparkling clean homes if Santa can’t get in? It’s not Ho! Ho! Ho! but Oh! Oh! Oh! The despairing friends seek out Cow.
“Oh Cow, this news will make you glum,
We’ve got no chimneys for Santa to come!”
Fortunately Cow knows that Santa will deliver his gifts anywhere just so long as a mince pie is left to welcome him. However, she makes the others an offer they can’t refuse and so, panic over, gathered together in Cow’s warm barn, they hear that, now welcome, ‘Ho! Ho! Ho!‘ of Santa in the distance.

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Snow Bunny’s Christmas Gift
Rebecca Harry
Nosy Crow
As Snow Bunny snuggly wrapped in her red cape, joins her friends Mouse, Fox and Bear in the snow just before Christmas, she’s full of anticipation at the fun they’ll have. Sledging is first but the chill wind sends Mouse scampering for the warmth of her home.

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Ice-skating makes Fox shiver so he too departs, then when the snow starts falling in the forest, Bear heads off home leaving a sad Snow Bunny all alone. On her way home she discovers a coin shining in the moonlight and off she goes to Badger’s shop. There she buys something that, after a lot of hard work with her knitting needles, means that her friends need never feel cold again. Fox, Mouse and Bear all have their warm Christmas gifts but their creator has the very best present of all – their friendship.

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A warm-hearted, tenderly told tale full of the true spirit of the season and with added sparkly touches at every turn of the page.
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The Sheep that Saved Christmas
Jason Page and Adrian Reynolds
Red Fox pbk
Unfortunately for her flock-mates, Cynthia, is a sheep obsessed with Christmas, starting her anticipation of the festival in January. Fortunately for them however, maths is not her strong point so they come up with a cunning plan to pack her off on an extended holiday far away. And where do they dispatch her? – To the North Pole where Cynthia begs Santa to give her a job as one of his helpers. Seemingly though, she isn’t cut out to be a present wrapper, nor a cook’s assistant or even a sleigh puller. A disappointed Cynthia is on the point of heading home when she learns that disaster has befallen Santa himself. Christmas is cancelled, he announces but Cynthia thinks otherwise. Finally, the determined ewe gets her chance to save the day …

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Crazy, seasonal fun illustrated with Reynolds’ characteristic verve and humour. Cynthia’s changing fortunes are captured beautifully in her facial expressions and body language.
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Yikes, Santa-Claws!
Pamela Buchart and Sam Lloyd
Bloomsbury Children’s Books pbk.
Frivolous Christmas frolics dinosaur style delivered by the creators of Yikes Stinkysaurus …
Who is that green scaly creature sporting a red hat and beard and coming down the chimney as the dino-tots snuggle up in bed eagerly awaiting Santa’s visit on Christmas Eve? It’s one Santa-Claws and it seems he’s hell bent on wreaking havoc and wrecking Christmas at their and every other home too. It’s just as well then, that a sparkling tree stops him dead in his tracks

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just as the real Santa arrives to put a stop to all the mischief and mayhem caused by this imposter and making Santa-Claws to see the error of his ways.
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Reindeer Romps with Ruby, Rudey and St. Nick.

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The Naughtiest Reindeer
Nicki Greenberg
Allen & Unwin
Disaster has struck at the North Pole:
Rudolf the reindeer was lying in bed with a runny red nose and an ache in his head.
‘I’m sorry,’ he groaned. ‘I just can’t pull a sled. You’ll have to ask my sister Ruby instead.’
The only trouble is Ruby is anything but a popular choice with the other reindeers: “Not Ruby! Please!” is the unanimous verdict. But like it or not, high-spirited Ruby is what they get.

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Things go pretty well to start with but then boredom kicks in and Ruby starts getting ideas: ideas that result in mayhem at house after house and a very stressed Santa, so stressed in fact that on his return, he discovers he’s missed out one of the house.. Time for Mrs Claus to spring into action, but where is Ruby?

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Oh no! She too has been forgotten. When she finally gets to the house rectify Santa’s error, it seems that Santa had paid them a visit after all.
This hilarious rhyming tale has the rhythm of the Clement Clark Moore classic Twas The Night Before Christmas and veritably gallops along. It’s great fun to read aloud, superb entertainment for young audiences who relish Ruby’s tripping, tangling antics, particularly her drinking from the toilet at 26A and with a surprisingly satisfying ending I can see this becoming one of those favourites that’s brought out every Christmas at home or school. The magic starts right on the front cover with that sparkly, tactile tree and I just love those off beat ‘corky’ reindeer characters Nicki Greenberg has created.
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If you want an illustrated version of the classic poem try:

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The Night Before Christmas
Clement Clark Moore and Richard Johnson
Picture Corgi pbk
Richard Johnson’s illustrations are a-glow with festive magic. His interior scenes give a feeling of seasonal warmth that sharply contrasts with the beautiful snowy landscapes of St Nicholas’ journey and I particularly like the beribboned borders that frame some of the verses.
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Rudey’s Windy Christmas
Helen Baugh and Ben Mantle
Harper Collins Children’s Books pbk.
Most humans know the consequences of over indulging in Brussels sprouts: not so Mrs Claus. Santa?

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One can’t be sure; but definitely not his reindeer and in particular Rudey who sets off on the Christmas rounds with a tummy full of the little green objects. Guess who fed him those. The result? Suffice it so say, the air is polluted with Rudey’s windy emanations much to the amusement of the other reindeer. Indeed they laugh so much at the plethora of toots that they quite run out of steam. The sleigh comes to a halt in the USA. And there’s only one way to get it air bound again –

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over to Rudey and his turbo-charged rear.
Delivered via a jaunty rhyming text and comical illustrations. Those reindeer certainly have a twinkle in their eyes and on their return to the North Pole, they are greeted by Santa’s elves who have something to say about the quality of the air there too. Mufflers please…
I imagine giggles galore hereafter.
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Fairy Magic at Christmas

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The Tooth Fairy’s Christmas
Peter Bently and Garry Parsons
Hodder Children’s Books
Santa comes to the aid of the Tooth Fairy when she gets lost on Christmas Eve having answered the call of Tim Tucker’s letter.

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He gives her a lift to Tim’s house but they discover that the chimney is blocked so then it’s the Tooth Fairy’s turn to take the initiative. With a wave of her wand and a magical shrinking utterance, the two of them sail through a crack in the window and having regained their normal size, set about their respective tasks. Things don’t go as smoothly as they’d hoped but eventually they’re back safely in the sleigh heading to the fairy’s home where, once she’s safely tucked up in bed, she too receives a visit from Santa.
A jaunty rhyming text complemented by bold, bright images and at times, very funny scenes …

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complete the package of this festive escapade.
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The Fairy Tale Hairdresser and Father Christmas
Abie Longstaff and Lauren Beard
Picture Corgi pbk
Fans of the series in particular will welcome this seasonal offering from Kittie Lacey. It begins on Christmas Eve when the fairyland hairdresser leaves Kittie’s Cuts to make a special home visit to the abode of Father Christmas. While she is busy giving Santa and his team a special Christmas makeover she notices Crystal, one of the elves, is missing.
Having tracked her down she and Father Christmas learn that the Snow Queen (who had imprisoned Crystal) has stolen all the presents.

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But can the two of them, with the help of the reindeer, melt her icy heart and get them back in time for that vital evening delivery for the big day?
This Christmas morning scene says it all …

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Readers will love spotting the characters and their respective gifts on this spread but that’s not quite the end of the story. As ever, the Fairy Tale Hairdresser brings plenty to entertain, not forgetting those characteristic touches of sparkle.
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London Christmas, Country Christmas

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Katie’s London Christmas
James Mayhew
Orchard Books
Fast asleep on Christmas Eve, Katie and Jack are woken by a loud sneeze coming from downstairs: Grandma, they suppose, but when they creep down, whom do they discover busy with presents by the tree – not Grandma but Father Christmas himself. Not only does he have the snuffles, but he’s also behind with his parcel deliveries. Katie and Jack are more than ready to help and so ‘WHOOSH!’ off they all fly over the rooftops of London in the swirling snow. They see the lights of Regent Street, get a view of Covent Garden, then it’s on past that glorious Trafalgar Square Christmas tree

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to the Houses of Parliament and around Big Ben before starting the night’s work proper. And what a busy time they have delivering to all manner of houses; but there’s one very important delivery left to do involving a royal chimney, a very special family and some sleeping corgis.
With glorious paintings of some of the most famous sights of London coated in snow and bathed in starlight

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and glowing indoor scenes, this magical, charming story with touches of gentle humour, is truly wondrous.

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And Then Comes Christmas
Tom Brenner and Jana Christy
Walker Books
‘When the days barely start before they’re over again,
and red berries blaze against green shrubs.
And bare branches rake across the sky …
Then hang up boughs of fir or spruce or pine,
Dotted with cones and bits of holly, welcoming winter.’
So begins this heartwarming seasonal book wherein we share with a rural family, the time leading up to Christmas Day itself. First though there are decorations to hang up, a visit to Santa at the store, parcels to keep hidden and a tree to choose and to cover with baubles and lights. At school there is the inevitable concert, and presents to make for mum and dad. Come Christmas Eve the whole house is scented by delicious baking smells and neighbours come to visit. Then there are stockings to hang, presents to put under the tree, not forgetting a special offering to leave for Santa and his reindeer before snuggling up in bed for a favourite story. When … the whole world waits seemingly …

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Then next morning …

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Beautifully and poetically written, and portrayed in glowing scenes of seasonal wonders both inside and outdoors, this is a gorgeous book to share in the days before Christmas either at home or school. The patterned text uses the same When/Then structure right through with a general ‘When …’ statement

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followed by a ‘Then’ action for the featured family.

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Seasonal smells, sights and sounds are evoked on every spread so that each turn of the page brings sensory delight.
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No young child’s Christmas is complete without:

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Alfie’s Christmas
Shirley Hughes,
Red Fox pbk
Alfie’s Christmas
Shirley Hughes
Bodley Head
Making cards and decorations, counting down the days with an advent calendar featuring a nativity scene, Christmas cooking, buying and decorating a Christmas tree, choosing and wrapping presents, writing to Santa, carol singing, hanging up Christmas stockings and a family Christmas dinner with visiting relatives:
these are just some of the ingredients of four-year old Alfie’s Christmas so lovingly told and illustrated in Shirley Hughes incomparable style.
This is a traditional family Christmas full of warmth, friendship, love, bustle and excitement, and some secrets too. It’s Christmas as we would wish it to be for everyone, before Christmas started in October and consumerism took over.
Assuredly, a book to buy and cherish year after year.
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Demolition

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Demolition
Sally Sutton and Brian Lovelock
Walker Books pbk
This wonderfully noisy book has energy and motion in abundance. We follow a gang of workers as they don their protective gear and set to work with their monstrous machines tearing down a derelict building so a playground can be erected in its place.
Writing largely in the imperative, Sally Sutton has created a glorious, must-join-in-with, onomatopoeic rhyming text that characterises the various machines and their roles to perfection:

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The excavator’s huge jaws work in dinosaur fashion to bite and tear and slash.
Then with its basket attached it must …

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Ram the walls. Ram the walls.
Bash and smash and slam.
First they wobble, then they fall.
Thud! CREAK!
WHAM!
Next comes the process of hosing and damping the dust and dirt done by the workers with hoses (I’ve never thought about this before); another spread shows stone crushing and grinding to make new concrete from the old; there is wood shredding

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and chipping to create mulch from the sawdust and metal sorting. Each process has an emphasis on reusing/recycling materials (a great message to give children).
Once all the rubble has been cleared and the play equipment put in place, we are issued an invitation on the final double spread to join the fun and ‘Run and climb and play.’

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Lovelock’s emphasis throughout is also on the monstrous machines, which he presents in acrylics, pencils and ink. The latter he uses to highlight details such as the rivets and other elements that contribute to the motion, and to make the various machines stand out from their spatter-wash and stipple backgrounds.
There’s a final Machine Facts page giving brief information about each of the performers and their add-ons; and the end papers are appropriately rubbly.
This book is the perfect thing for an active story session with a group of preschoolers. After an initial reading children themselves can use their bodies to become the machines, swinging those wrecking balls, thumping, smashing and whacking, then biting tearing and slashing (how will they create those jaws?) ramming, bashing and slamming; whishing, splishing and squirting those hoses and more.
Then there are the noises to create – what might they use to make the various sounds in addition to or instead of, their voices. In fact you might read the story and have the children add sound effects.
A must buy for any early years setting and for machine-loving individuals.
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Two Brave Young People – Malala and Iqbal

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Malala A Brave Girl from Pakistan/
Iqbal A Brave Boy from Pakistan
Jeanette Winter
Simon & Schuster
Let us not pray to be sheltered
         from dangers
But to be fearless when
         facing them.
This quote from Rabindranath Tagore sums up perfectly the attitude of the two indomitable-spirited young people in these real-life stories. Both Malala Yousafzai and Iqbal Masih were faced with terrible cruelty and violence and by being brave and speaking out about the right for freedom and for education, are an inspiration to people the world over.

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The name Malala Yousafzai is possibly better known due to her recent (co-) winning of the Nobel Prize for Peace 2014, the youngest ever recipient.
The story here outlines how Malala stood firm against the threats of the Taliban and spoke out against their orders to her and fellow girl students in the Swat Valley of Pakistan not to go to school, and not to read. ’I have the right,’ she said and continued both to speak out and to go to school somehow. We are told how the van Malala and fellow students travel to school in is stopped and the young activist shot almost losing her life.

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After her recovery we hear of the speech she gave to world leaders on her 16th birthday,
“They thought that bullets would silence us,
but they failed …
One child, one teacher,
One book, one pen,
Can change the world.”
So said the girl from Pakistan who has really made the world listen.
Flip the book and you have the other story:

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When he was just four years old Iqbal’s parents, needing money for his brother’s wedding, took a loan of just 600 Rupees (around 12 dollars) from the owner of a carpet factory, In return Iqbal became a bonded labourer working at a loom from before dawn until after sunset, weaving intricately patterned carpets alongside fellow child workers. Despite this Iqbal’s mind remained free.

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Then one day he attends a meeting about Peshgi (the loans holding such children in bondage) and learns that the practice has been outlawed making him and his co-workers truly free. Thereafter, Iqbal studied and also continued to speak out against enforced child labour, even travelling to America so do so until eventually after receiving threats against his life, twelve year old Iqbal is shot and killed while riding his bicycle.
Both stories are powerfully and succinctly related in a text appropriate for young primary school audiences. Executed in a subdued palette, the pictures and their patterned borders strongly evoke the sense of place and make more tangible the emotions of the characters. The image of a kite, an image that symbolises both childhood and freedom serves as a link and connecting thread between the two stories – stories with one transcendent theme.
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I Want: Bernard, Mine! & The Crocodile Under the Bed

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Bernard
Rob Jones
Beast in Show Books
What would you do if you heard of a large, red-eyed scary-looking dog whose teeth were huge and his paws the size of your head? Run a mile maybe: I’d definitely keep well away. That’s certainly the reaction wild hound Bernard receives from the local villagers who are convinced he has designs on one of them as his next meal. Not so however; all this sadly misunderstood canine is after is strawberry jam and lots of it. So, watch out for any you might have.

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The rhyming text and wacky illustrations are really part and parcel of an integrated, mock-scary whole, tasty, treat. Just the thing to share on a chilly wintry day, this is a small book but one that makes a big impression. A debut for author/illustrator, Rob Jones, and for Beast in Show Books, I look forward to what they have to offer in the future.

Buy from www.beastinshow.com/books

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Mine!
Sue Heap
Walker Books
This utterly charming book about possessiveness and sharing centres on a small girl, Amy who likes to keep her treasured possessions – her blankie, her bear, her bunny and her bird very close to her. So, when the twins want to join her play she immediately tries to assert her ownership of her favourite things. To no avail though; Zak and Jack are equally determined. Then along comes Baby Joe clutching the toy bird. Amy takes possession.

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Her cries of “MINE” result in a very sad looking Joe but it takes some wise words from the twins to trigger a minor crisis of conscience on Amy’s behalf and soon peace and harmony reigns – well harmony anyway, Amy fashion.

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I love the way Amy manages to come up with a compromise solution that suits all parties while still giving her the upper hand and the way the emotions of the children are beautifully portrayed and mirrored in the expressions on the faces of bird, bear and bunny.
A must have for all early years setting and families with very young children.
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The Crocodile Under the Bed
Judith Kerr
Harper Collins Children’s Books
Young Matty desperately wants to go to the party but he’s poorly. Very disappointed, he’s left in Grandpa’s care with a party blower and the promise of some birthday cake. Suddenly he hears a voice but it isn’t Grandpa’s. No, it belongs to an enormous crocodile that emerges from under his bed offering to remedy the situation. So, with a toot from Matty’s party blower they take off to a very special destination – the King’s birthday party no less. This King isn’t the human kind though, he’s a handsome lion;

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and with Chimpy on hand to look after him, Matty is ready to try some of the rides on offer. There’s a ‘rip-roaring’ tiger ride, a bouncy chimp ride and an enormous slide

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with a surprise at the end. After all the excitement, there’s crocodile waiting to fly him home just in time before the rest of the family returns.

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We found our own crocodile to fly us to a storyland party too

Their party, he learns had been a washout but they have brought him some cake albeit rather soggy. “… you really didn’t miss anything,” dad tells Matty …
An enchanting story from the wonderful Judith Kerr who originally started this tale as a follow-up to her classic The Tiger Who Came to Tea – a superb stimulus for children’s imaginations: so too is this one.

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Milo & Mucky: In Need of A Friend

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The Really Abominable Snowman
Valentina Mendicino
Walker Books
In a high Himalayan cave resides a smallish creature, with a terrible reputation. Milo, for that is the name his mother calls him, spends his time making things, cleaning, bathing and eating, not children but his favourite cherry cupcakes. Sad and lonely, he longs for a friend to share those cupcakes with. Time for a change, he decides. A makeover perhaps?

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Maybe not.
Social media? His tweets are a resounding failure and his foray into Facebook is sadly, a hilarious (for readers) case of misunderstanding.

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Undaunted Milo keeps trying until he comes across an announcement in the paper…
Surely that must be the answer but …
He’s even misunderstood by the Society of Misunderstood Creatures.

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Seemingly Milo is to remain friendless and lonely for ever? But wait; who is that bidding him ‘hello’?

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Could it be that longed for soul mate? Without wanting to spoil the ending, suffice it to say, it’s a victory for the power of cupcakes, and perseverance of course.
Valentina Mendicino’s 3D style, subtly coloured, digitally rendered illustrations convey Milo’s changing feeling and emotions (and those of the minor characters) humorously and touchingly. And there are plenty of amusing domestic details in this unusual story with misunderstandings aplenty, that has at its heart, a search for friendship and happiness. Delicious endpapers too. All in all, a tasty debut.
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Also on the theme of friendship is

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I Wish I’d Been Born a Unicorn
Rachel Lyon and Andrea Ringli
Maverick Arts Publishing
Mucky the horse has become somewhat malodorous on account of his dirty habits so the other animals avoid him. If only I’d been a unicorn, he wishes, then others might like me more. His wish is overheard by Owl who sagely tells him that true friends are concerned with feelings, not looks. He offers to help nonetheless and flies off to find the resources to make Mucky into a unicorn. The cows give him milk for the whiteness, which Frog obligingly churns, then he heads off to the beach in search of a pointy shell to serve as the horn. After a night’s work, Mucky has been transformed and is presented to his would-be friends.

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All appears to be going well until a big black cloud appears overhead. Oh-oh …
Will the other animals think less of him without his milky white coat or will Mucky realize that friendship awaits right under his brown nose?
Told in jaunty rhyme, the delightfully expressive, digitally rendered illustrations add much to this story. Those flies hovering around the whiffy Mucky are just one example of the visual humour

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and I love the idea of Frog churning the milk by swimming around in it.
Find and buy from your local bookshop: http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch

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The Dinner That Cooked Itself and A Runaway Snack

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The Dinner that Cooked Itself
J.C.Hsyu and Kenard Pak
Flying Eye Books
This elegant retelling of a Chinese folktale (no source is given) centres on Tuan, a hardworking young man orphaned as a child and brought up by  kindly neighbours. When he comes of age, the couple seeks the services of a matchmaker for Tuan. The first suggestion has an unsuitable animal symbol, the second has a clashing elemental sign, the third seems promising but her parents reject Tuan for being too poor.
A lonely Tuan continues working hard and one evening when out picking cabbages he comes upon a large snail. The kindly young man sees this as a sign of good fortune and takes it home to care for. Indeed his luck does then take a turn for the better. The next night and for several thereafter, he returns home from work to discover a delicious meal awaiting him on the table.
Curious as to who is doing him such kindness Tuan resolves to discover the identity of the cook. Coming home earlier the next evening, he sees something most curious: from the snail’s jar emerges a beautiful woman ‘in long silk robes that flowed like water’. She tells Tuan that she’s a fairy sent by the Lord of Heaven to care for him until he marries and to whom she must now return as she cannot be seen in her true form by a mortal.
However, she leaves behind her shell and that never runs out of rice, so Tuan always has food. He does eventually find a wife and the couple live happily together in true folktale fashion.
Pak chooses a palette of muted, predominantly earthy tones

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to create the mixed-media illustrations for this unusual story, which is told in an appropriately direct manner as befits a traditional tale. Interestingly he gives all characters an angular jaw structure,

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which reminds me of the calligraphic strokes shown on the final double spread and this makes them stand out in stark contrast to the fluidity of elements portrayed in some of the scenes.

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Keep Running, Gingerbread Man
Steve Smallman and Neil Price
QED Publishing
Billed as a story about keeping active, this version has the Gingerbread Man running away from his makers, the little old man and woman, (good to hear they were both involved) dashing from the clutches of various animals as he chants his well known ‘Run, run as fast as you can … “ refrain until he encounters a fox. This vulpine character is a keep-fit enthusiast, which enables him to keep up with the escapee

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and of course he is more than happy to give the little fellow a lift across the river. The tricky hitchhiker however, manages to make his escape (this time) leaving his breathless pursuers participating in a keep-fit class, led, of course, by that fitness-fanatic fox.
This is a fun twist on the tale vividly and amusingly illustrated by Neil Price. The healthy lifestyle message is clearly evident visually and verbally within the narrative so why the need for the ‘Next Steps’ page at the back of the book. Wearing my teacher’s hat I found the suggestions unnecessary and condescending. Undoubtedly though, the book would be a good starting point for discussions about watching one’s weight and keeping physically fit; I’m all for stories across the curriculum.

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Circles, Shapes & Time with Esther,Moose & Wilfred

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Esther’s Rainbow
Kim Kane and Sara Acton
Allen & Unwin
As she sits eating her lunch one Sunday, Esther spies a rainbow tip poking out from under her stool – soft, warm and smelling like honey.
But as Esther slides her fingers over the rainbow it vanishes and thus begins a wonderful multi-sensory exploration for Esther and readers alike as she spends the rest of the week searching for it. On Monday she finds violet – in a bruise on her shin, in the velvety-feeling a couch

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and in the taste of Granny’s chocolate creams.
On Tuesday she finds indigo in ‘a wonky hat’, in shiny, hard nail polish and in the smell of the cool midnight sky. Wednesday’s visit to the swimming baths reveals blue in her brother’s ‘swim-cold lips’ and the echoing pool. On Thursday there is green of fishpond slime

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and in the mint smell as she crushes its leaves. Friday is yellow day, with sticky egg yolk and warm tasting pears and Saturday brings orange – a duck’s beak, tea stains and the feel of clay.

 

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Then it’s back to Sunday once more and there’s red in the ruby-seeds of pomegranate, in the warm bricks of the garden wall and in the smell of her Gran’s roses but still no rainbow.
Monday comes again bringing a rain shower, breakfast pancakes, a honey-hum and at the edge of the mirror– joys of joys as the hum grows louder and light is refracted by her mum’s ring – her very own special ‘rainbow to sing her own.’
There is something awesome about a rainbow to both children and adults – those shimmering hues and almost magical the way it appears. The author and artist have captured this magic in both text and pictures. Kim Kane has chosen her words so well to encourage young listeners to engage all their senses to explore the world around – to see the colours, but also to smell them, feel them and taste them.
Sara Acton’s gentle watercolours are the perfect accompaniment adding further feeling and depth to the story: a story that skillfully and unobtrusively weaves in the days of the week as well as the colours of the rainbow and reads aloud beautifully. And what a delicious ending:

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Esther’s rainbow ends not in a pot of gold, but a pile of sweet-smelling honeyed pancakes. It’s pitch perfect, this one.

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Circle, Square, Moose
Kelly Bingham and Paul O. Zelinsky
Andersen Press pbk
Having recovered from his near wrecking of an alphabet book, Moose is back on the attack; this time it’s a book about basic shapes he’s invading. Everything starts well with the introduction of a circle.

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Turn the page though and here we go …
that mischievous moose is already making his presence felt. The unseen narrator tries to keep cool: gently ticking off the intruder and moving on to the next shape – triangles. Guess who’s there (plus feline friend) to complete the didactive rhyme: “A TRIANGLE is A Wedge of Cheese/A piece of pie

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Both are told to leave but does Moose do as he’s asked – no chance; he’s even started wielding that paint brush to make his presence felt more strongly.
Enter stage right: an arbitrator, Zebra (also from the alphabet book). He’ll sort things out – err maybe.
Not before a riotous chase wherein Zebra gets entwined in ribbons, and almost frazzled. Then it’s time for Moose to step in and save the day, or try to, with one of the shapes –

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This involves the pair of them exiting through a kind of black hole thus saving the book and further forging their friendship with the help of yet another shape –

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Zebra’s favourite and, what’s more, Moose offers a rhyming finale specially for his pal …
Madcap frolics, endearing characters, all manner of fonts, speech bubbles and riotous illustrations and a few simple shapes, (yes one might argue that some of the examples such as the triangles aren’t, strictly speaking, mathematically accurate.) But hey! This book is about having fun, not learning maths, after all – what more can anyone want?

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What’s the Time, Wilfred Wolf?
Jessica Barrah and Steve Smallman
QED Publishing
Wilfred Wolf has a little problem: he cannot tell the time. So, when he receives Ella’s party invitation he has a problem – how will he know when 3 o’clock comes? He certainly doesn’t want to miss the fun. His pal Boris lends him a cuckoo clock – that should do the trick – 3 cuckoos means 3 o’clock. However the clock doesn’t survive until then, nor does the digital watch Amelia lends him. Perhaps Oscar Owl’s offer of three hoots down the chimney will work.
William dresses up for the party and waits … he hears three hoots and off he goes to Ella’s house.

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Oh dear, Wilfred; don’t you know that owls are nocturnal creatures? Back home he goes and sleeps soundly well into the afternoon. Does he ever get to the party?

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Let’s just say, he has some thoughtful and enterprising friends willing to play that well known children’s game to help him on his way.

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A B C 1 2 3

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Robert Crowther’s Pop-Up Dinosaur Alphabet
Walker Books
I’ve tried on many occasions to compile a dinosaur alphabet book with young children but we’ve always got stuck with a few letters and ended up inventing. No so, Robert Crowther. He has created a lift-the flap/pull the tag book with a dinosaur for each and every letter, even x. This is represented by Xiantingia – a chicken-sized, bird-like dinosaur discovered in China in 2011. How tiny this looks in comparison with say, Janenschia (also new to me).

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This massive, tiny-brained dinosaur was as long as two buses and its enormously long neck enabled it to graze at the top of trees. Even this one though is small compared with the longest ever land animal, our old friend Diplodocus, the adult of which was as long as one and a half tennis courts. Information such as this (as well as in most instances, what it ate) is provided under the letter flap along with the helpful pronunciation of the creature’s name.
Children will delight in particular, to learn that the final dinosaur, Zuniceratops, was discovered by an eight-year-old boy.
On the back inside cover is a silhouette of each dinosaur so readers can compare their relative sizes and make a comparison with the central human figure.

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There are also some dinosaur-related terms and information on the three dinosaur eras showing whether each one lived in the Triassic, Jurassic or Cretaceous period.
Great paper engineering, exciting and fascinating facts and an ever-popular topic with children – it can’t fail to delight.

For slightly younger dino-addicts is:

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Ten Terrible Dinosaurs
Paul Stickland
Picture Corgi pbk
This is a welcome reissue of a counting down, rhyming dinosaur romp and a companion volume to Dinosaur Roar. The vividly coloured creatures get up to all manner of lively, child-like activities such as dancing, stuffing themselves, playing tricks and more, as one by one they exit or are eliminated from the line-up (Not too sure about one sent off for being ‘too spiky’ what’s wrong with being different?) until just one dozing dinosaur remains. But then …

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Great fun, with counting opportunities aplenty and perhaps even better, a chance to let rip with that grand finale.

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The Tobermory Cat 1 2 3
Debi Gliori
Birlinn pbk
That well known, endearing ginger cat, Tobermory Cat , resident of the Isle of Mull, returns in a second story, a narrative counting book this time. Our feline friend wakes up hungry and having been given his breakfast – 1 bowl of cat food and 2 saucers of milk, sets off in search of more to fill up his tummy. So what does he find? Plenty by all accounts. 3 crab claws on the pier, then it’s time for a nap.

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Lunch is next – actually 5 lunches and still that cat wants more. Off he goes once more and by the time night falls, that cat with a seemingly insatiable appetite has consumer has feasted on 7 salmon snacks, 8 birds (in his dreams this time), 9 midges – well almost

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and for dinner, 10 delicious fish courtesy of the local restaurant all of which makes him very thirsty. Time for a drink – puddle water is nearby but this is no ordinary puddle – a whole galaxy is reflected therein. Full at last, Tobermory settles down for the night.
Debi Gliori provides gorgeous illustrations of the items that go into Tobermory Cat’s tum and other things to count, which don’t, as well as some beautiful seascapes and a fold-out puddle reflecting Tobermory Cat and the night sky with its galaxy of stars. There is a gentle humour running through the story and I particularly like the way other mathematical ideas as well as simple counting are included.

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Bears Don’t Read!

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Gracie found the perfect place to read this super-duper story

Bears Don’t Read!
Emma Chichester Clark
Harper Collins Children’s Books
George, an immediately endearing bear, is bored. Something of a philosopher, he’s convinced there must be more to life than fishing, chatting and going over the same old stories. The question is, what? One day he chances upon a book lying under a tree: a book that just happens to feature a bear. This bear however is living life to the full and that fires an ambition in George: he must learn to read.
Despite discouragement from his siblings, George (a bear after my own heart) goes to town, full of determination to discover new stories and find someone to teach him to read. Imagine the response of the townspeople to see a huge grizzly bear among them: panic ensues and before long George is surrounded by police.

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Thank goodness then for plucky young Clementine who recognizes her very own book, thus saving the day for our ursine friend. A learner reader herself, Clementine invites George to become a co-learner and fortunately for both, her mother a sensible type, agrees to the plan and thus it is that the new friends continue on their reading journey together. George becomes a resident in Clementine’s family summerhouse and every day after she returns from school, Clementine teaches George what’s she’s learned. Finally after a lot of hard work, joy of joys, George is able to read from cover to cover his very own book.

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Apart from being a wonderfully satisfying story, this book has so many positive messages about reading, the most pertinent, the vital importance of reading aloud to learners is demonstrated by the chief of police who comes to read poetry to George.

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Then there is the fact that George doesn’t find reading comes easily to him but with the help and support of an understanding, patient teacher, he eventually succeeds; that, and of course, his own determination to learn. And, what better parting message than this final line, ‘And for George – that was just the beginning.’ I also love the bookplate at the start, which hints at that final denouement.
Beautifully illustrated, richly detailed and executed in a range of shades ranging from bold and bright to slightly more gentle in the outdoor sunny scenes and there’s a gorgeous glowing moonlit scene. Emma Chichester Clark has made clever use of collage in this book – for the trees and other flora, butterflies, clothes and the frames

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for some of the smaller single page scenes, to mention just some.

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Fussy Animals – Rita’s Rhino and Alfie’s Yak

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Rita’s Rhino
Tony Ross
Andersen Press
Young Rita decides to take things into her own hands when the pets she is offered by relations prove a big let down. Off she goes to the zoo and there offers a home to a rhinoceros no less. Having suitably disguised said animal, the pair depart

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for Rita’s residence. However it’s pretty tricky hiding a large animal in a small flat especially an upstairs one and the creature proves to be a very fussy eater – no toast, only very expensive African grass will do for him.
It’s not just his sheer size or his diet that present problems for Rita; his piles of poo are pretty tricky to hide too.

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Neither side is satisfied seemingly – lifts are not the rhino’s thing and he misses his comfy bed.
And then, Rita takes her pet to school, securing him belly up by the horn in the playground and informing the teacher that he’s a bouncy castle not a rhinoceros.
Imagine the children’s reaction; out they dash for a spot of bouncing

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and that is the beginning of the end. Off back to the zoo goes the rhino leaving a sad Rita who, from then on, has to be content with annual seaside visits with her erstwhile house pet.

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The perfect combination of understated text and brilliantly comic, droll illustrations work in absolute harmony in Ross’s wry take on pet ownership.
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While on the subject of picky animals there’s another one in this story:

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YUCK! Said the Yack
Alex English and Emma Levey
Maverick Arts Publishing
The young host in this amusing book also offers his visitor toast (with jam not marmalade though) and receives an unequivocal YUCK! Poor long-suffering Alfie gets the same answer in response to his offers of freshly picked apples,

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eggs, peas, cheese and even strawberry jelly and chocolate ice-cream. So he tries his hand at baking a delicious-looking cake but this meets with an even stronger reaction.

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Poor Alfie is beside himself “I GIVE UP!” he yells and then his visitor explains… “yaks like grass!” and offers Alfie a taste of this yummy fare. No prizes for guessing what Alfie replies …
Young audiences relish the opportunity to shout YUCK at almost every turn of the page of this short, enjoyable story and be amused by Emma Levey’s hilarious, wonderfully expressive portrayal of the fussy eater and his despairing host.
With its easy to read, rhyming text printed in large type, this is a book learner readers can enjoy for themselves after an initial read aloud from an adult.
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The Wonder

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The Wonder
Faye Hanson
Templar Publishing
If you want a beautiful book and one that celebrates the imagination, then most definitely The Wonder is for you; indeed I can’t imagine many people who would say no to either of those things.
I have a good friend in Rajasthan, India, an artist, who has this written large on the wall of his studio: “ Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” Picasso. Essentially this quote is the key to Faye Hanson’s fantastic book.
The story follows one small duffle-coated boy who finds something to wonder about in everything he sees. He sets out for school through the park, onto the bus, then across the road with the lollipop lady

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and into the school building.
(Children want to know why such a little boy is going to school alone and why he wears his coat in science.) I wonder …
At every stage he encounters adults who, seemingly, want to stifle his imagination, none more that his ‘form teacher’ who barks, “No daydreaming today” in greeting and his science teacher who isn’t interested in his question about the stars (What kind of school is this? one wonders). Joy of joys though, his art teacher has written up on a board in the art room, that very Picasso quote I mentioned and she clearly believes what it says. Here in her room, the boy is encouraged to use his imagination and truly he does as his daydreams take flight across the, initially daunting, large blank page in front of him.
It’s at this point in the story that the predominantly sepia tones of the illustrations give way to glorious, coloured, intricately detailed flights of fancy. There’s a park scene with amazing subterranean animal homes among the tree roots…

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A skyscape with cloud makers creating incredible dreams …
A mouth-watering edible landscape, a glorious playground parade populated by all manner of animals

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and finally (my favourite and also hidden under the dust jacket) wherein the galaxy makers wield star-shaped dough cutters and every star is buffed and polished to make it shine.
Just like the boy in the story, Faye Hanson’s imagination knows no bounds. Not only the fantasy scenes, but every one of her spreads, including the sepia-toned real world ones, are filled with wonderful details: and, it is actually these early spreads, with their brighter coloured daydream insertions, that are harbingers of what is to come.
What a fortunate child to have adults – his parents

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as well as his art teacher -in his life who at a crucial stage, encourage the boy to use his imagination for, on the final endpapers we are shown that same boy, now wearing a much larger duffel coat standing between his parents and an amazing spiralling exhibit in a large gallery – one assumes his sense of wonder has been encouraged to flourish.
Totally immersive, inspiring and a joy to behold, this is not just for dreamers. I would love to see this amazing and powerful book as a required focus for reading and discussion on every course where teachers are in training, for every teacher in schools and for all those who design (and prescribe) curriculums. If only I had the power to prescribe … I wonder what might happen, I wonder …
The trouble is you cannot measure imagination.

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Adventures Anyone?

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Atlas of Adventures
illustrated by Lucy Letherland
Wide Eyed Editions
‘The world is full of adventures’ declares the opening line of this very large, high quality book, and what better way to invite young readers to explore our world than that; and without having to move from the comfort of their own home or classroom. There’s a world map on the opening spread followed by a contents page showing the seven sections: Europe, North America, Central & South America, Asia & the Middle East, Africa, Australasia & Oceania and Antarctica that comprise almost all the rest of the book. Each of these sections has its own introductory map followed by spreads showing exciting places and experiences to be had by visiting say, the Northern Lights in Finland where you can sleep under the stars;

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or you might try covering yourself in mosquito repellent and becoming an explorer in the Amazon rainforest.
All manner of exciting opportunities and experiences, representative of the location, await both the reader and the nameless boy and girl travellers who appear in ‘Where’s Wally’ fashion at every location. Surprisingly, they haven’t hidden themselves more in the Holi Festival scene –

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that coloured powder is an absolute nightmare to get off your skin and forget trying with your clothes! Much more gentle is the showering of cherry blossoms you might receive by visiting the spring festival in South Korea. If sport is your thing, there’s snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef, canoeing down the Zambezi or maybe a game of baseball in Central Park.
Each spread is packed with interesting facts and the illustrations themselves are full of detail, so both those who prefer to learn visually and those who prefer words are catered for. The latter will particularly enjoy the two main paragraphs on each spread and the shorter factual snippets scattered throughout the highly colourful, slightly retro scenes of the well-known and less well-known locations.
For sure this fascinating book is just the thing to inspire youngsters from, I’d say around six or seven, to find out more by travelling for real and it’s likely also to encourage empathy, excitement and endless curiosity about, and respect for, our world.
I’d definitely put a copy in every primary classroom from Y2 up.

All the characters in this story wanted was a trip to the seaside, but that in itself was packed with adventure:

 

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Happy Hooves Ta Dah!
A.Bogie and Rebecca Elliott
Fat Fox Books
Donkey and four other ungulate farmyard animals set off on a trip to the seaside. All goes well (they are on foot) until they reach a large cattle grid. No trouble for lively Donkey – he sails across but the others are less sure of themselves. However, despite their lack of confidence they do not lack resourcefulness, resolve or self-belief, so one by one over go Sheep,

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Foal and Pig leaving poor cow stranded on the wrong side of the grate. Is she to be left alone while the others continue to the beach? Of course not: friendship and co-operation save the day and eventually HIP! HIP! Hooray! all reach their destination …

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Wonderfully bright, mixed media illustrations by Rebecca Elliott (she of Just Because and Zoo Girl fame) and a jaunty, rhyming text with a repeat refrain – just the thing to engage young listeners and readers at home and in early years settings.

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Hug Me

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Hug Me
Simona Ciraolo
Flying Eye Books
It’s difficult to imagine many things less huggable than a cactus but Simona Ciraolo has made the central character of her delightful book a very spiky yet totally adorable creature. Young Felipe, who longs for a hug, has the misfortune to be a member of a very uptight family so, realizing that his longed-for embrace will definitely not be forthcoming from his un-touchy-feely kin, decides to try his luck outside the family circle. However, when he strikes up a friendship with an outsider, poor Felipe ends up feeling more unloved than ever. So, is he destined to spend the rest of his days alone and unhugged?
Despite being a tale of loneliness and a longing to belong, there is subtle humour here in abundance, largely conveyed through the expression-filled pencil and pen pictures, and the relationship between them, the understated text and what is left unsaid. We are never told that Felipe is actually a cactus and we are only shown the nature of his bouncy first friend; and that newspaper report is priceless.

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The manner in which scale is manipulated further adds to the power of Felipe’s feelings of desolation and isolation. We see for instance, his completely dwarfed, diminutive form reaching out longingly to a family member –

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your heart really goes out to him.
I love the way too that the predominantly arid earthy tones give way to a burst of brighter pinks and purples as Felipe emerges from his isolation, and that the story continues onto the final endpapers leaving child audiences space to co-create an extended narrative and possibly their own books. The front endpapers are great too – a family tree cactus style.
A great debut from Simona Ciraolo and a classy production from Flying Eye.

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Monsters and Underpants; Dinosaurs and Poo

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Monsters Love Underpants
Claire Freedman and Ben Cort
Simon & Schuster
We’ve had aliens, pirates and dinosaurs with a penchant for underpants; now it’s the turn of monsters, all manner of the beasties. We meet the howlers a-prowl in dingy dungeons and drooly swamp dwellers who fill their pants with gooey slime;

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YUCK – you can imagine what happens to those. Then there’s the spiky, spooky variety from outer space, not to mention the enormous sand dwelling monster whose bum just won’t fit comfortably into his pants. All these and more sport their snazzy underpants at the Saturday night disco and what a sight they look as they jiggle and jive …

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but they must be sure to leave on time. For as they say,
“We can’t risk being spotted!
For no one will be scared of us,
In pants all striped and dotted.”
Make sure you don’t leave a pair of yours under the bed …
I can see this one going down a storm in early years settings. The sight of those, mock scary monsters with their day-glo undies is guaranteed to have young children giggling with delight at every turn of the page and the rhyming text is great fun to read aloud. Be prepared for cries of “read it again’ at the end.
I can see lots of potential for creative work here too.

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Savouring the story?

Dinosaur Poo!
Diane and Christyan Fox
Words & Pictures (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
Poo is one topic that unfailingly seems to delight young children; another is dinosaurs: put the two together in a zany no holds barred rhyming text and add wacky, vividly coloured illustrations of dinosaurs in all shapes and sizes, plus flaps to open and reveal all manner of pongy ploppings and it seems you cannot fail to please the under sixes. Certainly that’s the case when the Pterodactyl sets out to prove the superiority of his poo to an unimpressed Velociraptor and the two embark on the biggest and best poo quest.

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Seemingly they are not the only interested ones though; there’s a ladybird that keeps popping up at every dropping site. Fun endpapers too.

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Bob & Flo, Penguin & Pumpkin, Alfie & other Little Stars

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Bob and Flo The Missing Bucket
Rebecca Ashdown
Oxford University Press
Sporting a new bow and carrying a bucket containing her packed lunch, Flo goes to nursery for the very first time. There she meets Bob. Flo is interested in painting: Bob is interested in Flo’s bucket.

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Indeed he finds all manner of uses for said bucket both practical and imaginative …

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Lunchtime comes and goes; Flo heads off to the slide where she discovers her bucket at the bottom and then, Bob. Now it’s time for Flo to make use of her bucket – for a while anyway.

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With so much of the mystery of Flo’s missing bucket being told through the charmingly simple illustrations, it’s very much a case of showing not telling. A perfect lesson of the power of pictures and indeed picture books, and their vital importance in the journey to true literacy.

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Penguin and Pumpkin
Salina Yoon
Bloomsbury Children’s Books pbk
Unlikely as it might sound, young Penguin, curious about autumn, sets out with Bootsy on a trip to a distant farm to discover what the season has to offer, leaving behind a sad younger brother Pumpkin who is just too little. Having arrived at the farm, Penguin sees pumpkins everywhere and unsurprisingly they remind him of his little brother. So the adventurers decide to harvest their own autumn surprises to take back for Pumpkin. He meanwhile, has found his own autumnal adventure but it’s not the real thing – that’s still to come, thanks to Grandpa, Bootsy, Penguin and …

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With its spare text and plethora of endearing penguin characters with their distinctive accessories, this is an appealing seasonal tale for tots.

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Alfie in the Garden
Debi Gliori
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
We join little Alfie rabbit on his flights of fancy as he helps his mother bunny in the garden. He explores the jungly vegetation where he becomes a ‘bouncing, pouncing lion’, then an elephant,

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makes a rainstorm and a swishy swashy summer breeze before his leafy wings carry him back to his nest and into Mama-Bun’s arms for a cosy, snuggly nap.
A gentle tale for the very young, the majority of whom just like Alfie, enjoy imaginative play. The muted watercolour pictures with their soft black outlines are a delight. The larger than life landscapes immediately attract tinies who become engrossed in a cosy world of make-believe conjured up by Alfie’s (and their) everyday playthings.

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My Little Star
Mark Sperring and Nicola O’Byrne
Bloomsbury Children’s Books pbk
A lovely bedtime treat, not so much a story more a gentle lullaby rhyme with gorgeous pictorial accompaniments of adult animals and their offspring. Every double spread is a portrayal of tenderness; it’s difficult to choose an outright favourite – each one provides an ‘aaah!’ moment – but I think it has to be either the nuzzling giraffes or the snuggling elephants.

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Just the thing for sharing with the very young: it draws you in and makes you feel safe, warm and loved.
‘When the day is done and sleep draws near,
When the moon’s aglow and stars appear.’

Find and buy from your local bookshop:

http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch

Sam & Dave Dig a Hole

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Sam and Dave Dig a Hole
Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen
Walker Books
Sam and Dave, along with their dog ( watch that dog), are on a mission –a mission to find “something spectacular”. They start digging, just missing a largish gemstone,

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more digging… a larger one … oops missed that one too. They stop for a snack followed by a change of direction (the boys go their separate ways) …

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still nothing is found. Back to digging straight down again and even after the last of the chocolate milk and biscuits is gone they have discovered absolutely ZILCH. Moreover, the boys have dug themselves to exhaustion; time for a rest, a sleep in fact. Only the dog continues digging; he’s after a bone though. But then all of a sudden both boys and canine companion are cascading down, down …

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to a soft landing place.
“That was pretty spectacular” comments an impassive Sam as they come to earth. Everything looks pretty much the same.

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Or does it? Look again – at the weathervane, the plant in the pot, the fruit on the tree, the cat’s collar … another dimension? A dream world? Maybe – that’s your decision though. And that’s the thing about this very clever book where every small detail counts … it’s all in the interpretation. That, and the unspoken interplay of text and earthy coloured illustrations. Then there is the overall design of the book with the, oh so careful, positioning of the words on every spread.
All in all, pretty spectacular I’d say.
Find and buy from your local bookshop:

http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch

Buy from Amazon

Over the Hills and Far Away

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Over the Hills and Far Away
Collected by Elizabeth Hammill
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
This large volume is most definitely a feast for the ears and the eyes. Containing one hundred and fifty nursery rhymes from all over the world, it ranges as far afield as India, the Caribbean, Ghana, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the four countries of the United Kingdom. Among the voices represented are those from the Inuit, Maori, Native American, Latino and African cultures. The rhymes have been selected by Elizabeth Hammill, one of the co-founders of Seven Stories, the UK National Centre for Children’s Books: www.sevenstories.org.uk
Seventy seven artists have contributed, most often a double spread illustrating one or several rhymes, some of which are well known, others may be new discoveries for you as they were for me. The majority of the artists too, are well known names in the picture book world, but again there are some, such as Laurie Stansfield who are new to me. Her illustration of one tune wonder Tom, ‘he was a piper’s son’ playing atop a windy hill beautifully catches the feeling of a blowy day and the boy’s pleasure in making music.

pets 014 (800x600) Another – to me – new name is Allison Francisco, a young native American Tohono O’odham artist whose two illustrations for spirit songs are sheer magic.

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It is impossible to choose  favourite spreads but among mine are Niamh Sharkey’s depictions of Jumping Joan and Janey Mac,

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Pamela Zararnski’s dreamily gorgeous scene ‘Bed is too small for my tiredness’

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and Holly Sterling’s tender depiction of father and daughter as he sings her two lullabies, one African American, the other Maori

 

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and, how marvellous to see John Lawrence’s wonderful London woodcuts.

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Really though I could go through the whole book enthusing, for almost every turn of the page is both visual delight and music to the ear.
Truly a fantastic way to introduce young children to the magic of the spoken word and the riches of artists and illustrators from near and far. It would make a wonderful present for any family with young (or not so young) children and I suggest at least one copy for every primary school library and early years setting. If our government really wants to encourage children’s language and literacy development then what better way to start than by giving every new mother this treasure trove of words and pictures. That, and order a daily dose of this book, rather than phonics for every child from four to seven.

Find and buy from your local bookshop: http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch

Buy from Amazon

The Big Princess & Princess Mirror-Belle

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The Big Princess
Taro Miura
Walker Books
This is a prequel to the Japanese author’s charming The Tiny King. One night in his dreams the king of a distant land is visited by a white dove telling him of a princess child he will find in the palace garden, a princess under a spell; a spell that must be broken for the princess to become his true daughter. Failure though will result in the ruination of his kingdom. When morning comes the king rushes to his garden and there discovers sitting upon a leaf, a tiny princess. Oh joy! Both king and queen puzzle over the nature of the spell and its possible consequences but meanwhile the little princess starts to grow and grow… and grow… until she is taller than the king and queen themselves. In seemingly no time she has almost outgrown the castle and that’s when the king remembers his dream. From then on he and his wife try desperately to break the spell but to no avail. With the tallest castle tower at breaking point, the king notices something through the tower window, something tiny, shiny and black

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that could just be the key to breaking the spell.
As with its predecessor, Miura has used precision, patterned cut-outs in bright, bold colours and white, to construct simple shaped collage scenes. In addition though herein he adds embellishments in the form of separate but linked smaller, mostly black and white objects – a chair,

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a toy trumpet, a spoon for example.
An unusual, quirky modern fairy tale with a longish text and glowing, sunflower- filled ending.

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Princess Mirror-Belle and the Dragon Pox
Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks
Macmillan Children’s Books
Ellen has chicken pox; she’s covered from head to toe in horribly itchy spots; and what does she want to do to those spots? Scratch them of course, especially the one right on the tip of her nose. As she gazes in the bathroom mirror, about to do the deed, she hears a voice – no, not mum’s but Princess Mirror-Belle’s. This little madam, for so she seems, leaps from the mirror, a mirror image of herself even down to the missing slipper which she claims was stolen by a goblin, and announces that it’s not chicken pox but Dragon Pox Ellen has – eeugh! She knows how to cure it too, clever clogs that she is. And the cure? It involves a bath full of water to which one must add pretty much anything and everything the grown-ups happen to have left visible in the bathroom – bubble bath (a whole bottle), toothpaste (an entire tube), dad’s shaving foam; you can see where this is going – not the loo paper bandaging perhaps …
As she concocts the cure, the princess tells Ellen all about her enchanted life beyond the mirror, a life with knights and dragons,

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fairies, magical spells and more. Ellen is then instructed to close her eyes and count to a hundred. At the final number the spell is broken: someone is beside her but now it’s her mum looking none too happy about the state of the bathroom. Over to you Ellen.

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There’s glitter galore in this funny story, delivered for a change in prose rather than Donaldson’s more usual rhyme. Lydia Monks’ sparkle-spangled, collage constructed illustrations offer readers an abundance of opportunities for visual and tactile exploration.

Find and buy these from your local bookshop http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch

Grissel Hunting, Unsuitable Pets and a Dragon Quest

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Daniel reading the story to his mum

Beetle and Bug and the Grissel Hunt
Hiawyn Oram and Satoshi Kitamura
Andersen Press pbk
Some people go hunting for rarely seen animals: Beetle and Bug decide to hunt for the never before seen, Green-Spotted Grissel but then they do have a magic rug that can carry them through the air and sea. First stop is the ocean depths where they spy something red and promising looking. Up close however, despite bright green dots and ‘terribly Grisselly wiggles and loops’, the forked tail is a giveway – “IT’S A MAWK!” cries Bug.

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Off they go again, into space this time (having first donned suitable gear and taken on some air). Suddenly Beetle spies something on an asteroid, something prickly and spiny, something with peculiar curves and lines just like a Grissel. A close encounter reveals a distinct lack of green spots and the thing doesn’t seem at all friendly – time to beat a hasty retreat guys. Back home they go, more than ready for a bite to eat. But what should they find lurking in their fridge – oh no! the dreaded G-NUZZLER and what’s worse, the creature has demolished every single morsel therein.
Hungry and Grisselless the pair go off to bed. Tomorrow is another day and tomorrow’s hunt? ‘SOMETHING TO EAT’
Completely crazy, this wildly offbeat story is such fun to read aloud, provided you can keep up the breath-taking pace of Hiawyn Oram’s somewhat Lear-like rhyming saga. Don’t go too fast though; children will want plenty of time to explore Kitamura’s wacky, surreal collage illustrations.

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Melissa’s Octopus and other Unsuitable Pets
Charlotte Voake
Walker Books
Pets of all shapes and sizes inhabit Charlotte Voake’s latest offering. There is Betty’s disappearing chameleon, Arthur’s willful warthog,

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Simon’s well-behaved worm and Caroline’s gentle giraffe to name just a few;
but watch out for Kevin and Bertrand’s new pet with its long tail, huge jaws and ‘glittering teeth’. Despite his smile, he might just be the most unsuitable of all …

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A lovely playful book. Owners and pets alike are portrayed in lively, humorous pen and watercolour illustrations; and how refreshing to have the text printed in red on a grey background almost throughout.

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The Moon Dragons
Dyan Sheldon and Gary Blythe
Andersen Press
‘Long ago, when even trees had dreams, moon dragons flew through the night sky. Their scales shone silver as stars and they filled the dark with songs as old as time.’ This is the tale a traveller tells to a king, but he also tells him that a few such dragons still hide high up atop a distant mountain. The king offers a room full of gold to anyone who brings him one. From far and wide come all manner of men but none succeeds in the dragon quest. Then comes young Alina, a peasant girl from the foot of the mountain who had heard of said dragons from her grandmother and had them visit her dreams too. Despite the king’s scorn, she is determined to seek out the dragons and off she sets with her head full of long ago songs. Finally she discovers what she seeks

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but does she take the king his dragon? Read the ending yourself to discover the answer to this magical story.

Find and buy from your local bookshop:

http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch

 

 

 

Spellbinders

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The Witch with an Itch
Helen Baugh and Deborah Allwright
Jonathan Cape pbk
When the little witch passes her final exams she cannot wait to start working her magic outside school. Her first subject is a frog – he’s destined to become a hat but, at the crucial moment, an itch comes upon our young heroine causing her wand to wobble and point instead at a flower – whoopsie! The frog’s still there but …

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A similar thing happens with the spider; this time it’s a toadstool not the arachnid that becomes a broom.
Another failed attempt follows and then a thoroughly frustrated little witch loses her cool completely hurling her wand to the ground in disgust.

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Suddenly beside her she notices a little girl with one hat, one pot, one broom plus the frog, spider and newt. And, she knows what’s been causing that aggravating itch; moreover, she knows how to get rid of that trying allergy once and for all.
Suitably spirited, wonderfully expressive illustrations and a lively, rhyming text that gives adult readers aloud the opportunity to let rip are the main ingredients of this diverting tale by a debut author.
Buy from Amazon

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Winnie’s Big Bad Robot
Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul
Oxford University Press
Winnie’s decision to wave her wand and turn her junk robot into a real one is far from clever, all the more so when the big bad creature makes a grab for her wand and starts wielding it. Before long, not only has her house has become robotic but Winnie the Witch has become Winnie the Robot.

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Now it’s left to faithful Wilbur to retrieve the wand and restore things to their natural order once more. But can he do it?
Another crazy caper illustrated in Korky Paul’s witty, exuberant style. Those robotic rabbits, ducks and frogs are superb but all the spreads are crammed with
delicious details.
Buy from Amazon

Especially for those who like to add their own creative touches of magic to a story is:

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Spells and Surprises Activity Storybook
Marnie Edwards and Leigh Hodgkinson
Nosy Crow pbk
Best friends Princess Sapphire and Emerald the Witch become pupils at St Aubergine’s School just in time for the annual Hallowe’en festivities. First though there are all manner of lessons to be learned, not to mention costumes to be made and strange noises to be investigated. So it’s just as well that the pupils are ready to help each other out. Toasted marshmallows all round, I say.
There’s lots of fun to be had herein – glue, sequins and glitter at the ready: there are opportunities for adding to every one of the forty or so double spreads.
This one is definitely more likely to appeal to girls, probably from around five but perhaps younger depending on the individual. And don’t forget those witchy hats; time to head over to Mixtopia for some magical happenings.
Buy from Amazon
Find and buy from your local bookshop:

http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch

Strange Happenings: Seen and Not Heard & No Such Thing

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Seen and Not Heard
Katie May Green
Walker Books
Go through the gate into the grounds of Shiverhawk and you feel yourself inexplicably drawn towards the large house bathed in moonlight; follow that black cat up the stairs of the stately home and your spine begins to tingle. Enter the nursery and be gripped by further frissons of fear as you see on the wall, those portraits of ghostly children imprisoned within the frames thereon.

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Notice two in particular – identical twin girls staring impassively forwards while the others seemingly glance around. Look again at those twins’ eyes – are they moving as the black cat keeps watch? Now turn the page and see closer: there’s dainty Lily Pinksweet, the oh so polite Plumseys, clever Billy Fitzbillian, kind Percy and those De Villechild twins Lila and Vila … watch those eyes.
As the night whispers so do those eyes, seemingly saying, there’s nobody watching, time to escape from our daytime imprisonment. Those all pervasive nightmarish tones begin to fade slightly as the escapees run RIOT. All except the twins who look on from the rear as the rioters make their way down the stairs for a midnight feast..
Soon the scene resembles something from Sendak’s Night Kitchen

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but that is only the start of the fun. A climax builds; then the spookiness returns with ghostly feathers floating in the silence and it’s time to return before sunlight filters into the nursery, once more illuminating those angelic children – ‘Seen and not heard’. Watch out too for the three white mice that follow the children’s every move
A debut author/artist who manages to make a mini gothic horror movie with rhyming script within the covers of a picture book must surely be one to watch.
Ideal for an unusual hallowe’en story telling session but really for any time.

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No Such Thing
Ella Bailey
Flying Eye Books
When strange things start happening in Georgia’s home one October, she absolutely refuses to believe it’s the work of anything supernatural. She knows who has smashed that vase, pinched her socks, swiped her crayons,

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stolen the pumpkins and more besides. The evidence is right there before her eyes. Even those weird noises can be accounted for with the help of her trusty torch because well, without question, “we all know … there’s no such thing as ghosts!”
The great thing about this (or one of them) is that, unlike little Georgia, young audiences will spot the ghosty tricksters lurking at each and every turn of the page and relish so doing. That final spread is crammed full of the little spooksters having the time of their lives.

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Totally involving: Ella Bailey lets her gorgeous retro-style illustrations do most of the talking in this brilliant, tongue in cheek book.

Find and buy from your local bookshop:

http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch

Starting with a Fairy Tale …

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Cinderella’s Big Day
Katie Cotton and Sheena Dempsey
Templar Publishing
It’s just one week before the wedding of Prince Charlie and Cinderella when a letter arrives on the royal breakfast table addressed to the King and Queen: a letter from Charlie, informing Their Most Marvellous Majesties that the ring he’s due to place on Cinderella’s finger has gone missing. Immediately the King’s suspicion falls on the ugly sisters. But is he right? There follow five further letters through which much of the narrative detail unfolds. The wedding does take place though with some notable absentees and all is made clear why through the final communication fired off by Cinders herself as she relaxes happily on her honeymoon – that and …

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Billed as ‘After Happily Ever After” I suspect this amusing novelty book is the first of a new series. Sheena Dempsey has used a palette of soft colours to create her scenes. Scenes that contain a mixture of contemporary items such as Cinderella’s heart shaped sunglasses, wry details like the mouse’s tail extending round the skin lotion bottle,

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as well as the more traditional fairytale paraphernalia. Children will particularly love the wedding fold-out scene that is crammed with characters from traditional tales and nursery rhymes.

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How the Library (Not the Prince) Saved Rapunzel
Wendy Meddour and Rebecca Ashdown
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
On the top floor of an inner city tower block Rapunzel languishes, ignoring callers: the milkman, the postman bearing a letter, the baker woman, Rapunzel’s aunt with dinner, even a prince bearing chocs and red roses.

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All exhort, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, please let down your hair.” But, receiving no response, and with the lift out of order, one by one they continue on their way. Later though, concerned on account of her lack of food, they have a change of heart and after a discussion, all (except the prince who is never seen again) decide to return to make amends. Back they go and up, up to the sixteenth floor where a hearty meal is cooked for Rapunzel and the letter duly delivered. The food restores colour to her cheeks but it’s the contents of the letter that really puts a smile on her face.
‘Rapunzel leapt up and she shouted with glee:
“I’ve got a new job at the library!” ‘
From then on our heroine is transformed: no longer does she sit idly waiting to be wooed; she spends her time enthusing about books at work and educating herself when she gets home – courtesy of LIBRARY BOOKS – what else?
Told through a longish, zingy, rhyming text and bold illustrations that are full of funny details and mischievous touches such as the crow tugging at a tress of Rapunzel’s wayward auburn hair, not to mention cats, dogs and birds galore.
A great plug for libraries and the delights of books and a great picture book debut for illustrator, Rebecca Ashdown.

Also told in jaunty rhyme is:

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Princess Sleepyhead and the Night-Night Bear
Peter Bently and Laura Ellen Anderson
Orchard Books
Night has fallen over the kingdom; in the castle all are slumbering, all that is except one: Princess Sleephead is wide awake. But kindly Owl at her window is determined to help so off he flies, returning soon with Fox and Mouse. Their sleep-inducing ideas are great fun but very energetic and only serve to wake her further. Owl however has promised three friends so who is missing? Ah! It’s Bartholomew Brownfur-Brown – a large friendly creature – aka the Sleepytime Ted clutching a collection of bedtime fairy tales:

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just the thing to cure the princess’s insomnia.
Exuberant illustrations littered with the princess’s ephemera, endearing animal characters and some enchanting sleepy-time scenes and a text that is a pleasure to read aloud, are the main ingredients of this fairy tale romp.

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SHHH!
Sally Grindley and Peter Utton
Hodder Children’s Books pbk
It’s great to see this book reissued; my original hardback copy was read to destruction. Loosely based on Jack and the Beanstalk, the manner in which this book draws readers in is just superb. With the entreaty to “Come inside” we enter the giant’s castle wherein we view and creep past, a huge-bellied sleeping mouse, a slumbering cat – enormous, a broody hen, the giant’s wife busy cooking dinner and then, the snoring giant.
Distorted perspectives, grisly domestic details such as an axe to slice the bread and eyeballs in the stew pot, retrospective flaps so readers can check whether those they crept past have been disturbed – reassuring until the final one, after which it’s a case of doing what we are told …

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Not for long though, I can guarantee there will be cries of “read it again” straightaway.

Find and buy from your local bookshop:

http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch

 

Bear Hug and other Ursine Delights

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Bear Hug
Katharine McEwen
Templar Publishing
A young bear wakes up and senses that winter is approaching: time to make preparations for the cold that is to come. His parents have prepared him well. Papa showed him how to use the vegetation to make a warm winter bed and mother taught him how to fish. On the cusp of winter, he meets another young bear. Together they fish and feast on ripe berries until as the snow falls harder, they head for the cave

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and snuggle down together, on a ‘shudder-cold night’, cosy, warm and sated for the long sleep, a sleep that lasts until birdsong calls them and it’s time to emerge once more. Out they come to greet the spring and before long, their very own little cub ‘soft as thistledown and lively as a sunbeam’. Then the cycle begins all over again.
With its elegant prose and stylized collage illustrations executed predominantly in earthy colours with occasional splashes of contrasting bright hues as the seasons change, this is a beautiful book.

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I particularly like the pictorial rendition of the birdsong through steamers of colour.

 

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Something About a Bear
Jackie Morris
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
There’s no doubt about Jackie Morris’s love of all things ursine: it shines out from every one of her glorious watercolour paintings in this book. We come close up to bears from all parts of the world. There’s the salmon catching, Brown Bear, the adorable-looking Giant Panda with her child from the mountains of China and the shaggy-coated Sloth Bear in what looks like the grounds of an ancient Indian forest palace.

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South America’s only bear, the Spectacled Bear is portrayed sunbathing and nursing her cubs in the tree tops; the huge watchful black Asian Moon Bear stands out starkly against the snowy mountain landscape. In contrast, the next spread reveals the Polar Bear, the largest of all bears swimming through the icy ocean. Smallest of all, the Sun Bear, despite its beguiling look and dog-sized stature, is feared by tigers and even fiercer than a leopard.
Despite the name, American Black bears can be of several different colours from black through ‘cinnamon and honey’ to white, the ‘rarest, sacred spirits of the forest.’
Magnificent every one; but as the child in us all knows, as Jackie Morris suggests, and the penultimate spread reveals, ‘the very best bear of all is …

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The final spread contains small vignettes and additional facts about each bear featured and you and any children you share this superb book with, simply MUST place your hands against those life-sized bear paws on the endpapers.
You can buy this one direct from:
http://www.solvawoollenmill.co.uk/jackie-morris-books

If you can’t get enough of bears then there is also:

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Happy Birthday, Hugless Douglas!
David Melling
Hodder Children’s Books pbk
Poor Douglas is devastated when, on his long anticipated birthday, those decidedly overbearing twin cousins of his, Felix and Mash seem determined to usurp all the fun and play things entirely their way. Upset, Douglas heads outside and before long, with a hurt leg and a dizzy head, the birthday bear declares, “This is my worst birthday ever!” It’s time for those crazy cousins to come to the rescue and put their special present into action –

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with the help of Rabbit and some not too willing volunteers. Then they all set off for a surprise birthday tea party and before it ends, Douglas has changed his mind:

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With the characteristic Melling warmth and humour, (there’s a laugh at every turn of the page) this is just the thing for sharing with under sixes on birthdays and other days.

Find and buy from your local bookshop:

http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch

Welcome to the Family & Little Sisters

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Welcome to the Family
Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Full of wit and wisdom is this look at families of all kinds; in fact it’s the book for you no matter what kind of family yours is. It offers a straightforward exploration of the many ways in which a child or baby becomes part of a family. This might be through a natural birth into a nuclear family, through adoption or fostering,

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perhaps by a same sex couple, through IVF, or maybe, as often happens, by the ‘blending’ of two families. Every possibility is explained in a straightforward, matter of fact manner; it’s the illustrations, speech and thoughts bubbles that supply the gentle humour. Having said that, the author doesn’t avoid potential difficulties – settling in,

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accommodating new siblings etc. are tackled head on as here:
‘It can take a while for children to settle down and get along together, and get used to the new person acting as their parent. They can also worry about the mum or dad who no longer lives with them.’
The message that shines through loud and clear from this totally affirming, all-inclusive book is that no matter how your family came about, it and you are special, different from all others, valued and valid.
This is another ‘must have’ for every primary school classroom and early years setting from the fantastic Hoffman/Asquith team who gave us The Great Big Book of Families and The Great Big Book of Feelings.

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A Guide to Sisters
Paula Metcalf and Suzanne Barton
Words & Pictures (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
Told from the viewpoint of a big sister this cute and funny book explores the pros and cons of having a sister and some of the things you (and she) might get up to, if and when you have one. We get right up close from the start with that new baby feel, noises and habits, then move on to toddling, tickling, TV tampering, teetering in high heels

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(only permitted to big sisters on their seventh birthdays), taking things apart – the model you’ve just spent hours constructing for instance,

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and much more. There are of course compensations; little sisters enjoy improving their skills at tidying up big sisters’ bedrooms for instance; and who better to snuggle up with if a big sister gets a bit scared in the middle of the night …

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There’s another troublesome little sister in:

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Tin
Chris Judge
Andersen Press
Tin is supposed to be minding Nickel, his little sister but becomes engrossed in his comic. Then ‘WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!‘ That’s Zinc the dog sounding the alarm: Nickel is up in a tree and before Tin can reach her she floats away, born aloft by a red balloon. Tin leaps on his bike and sets off in hot pursuit – all the way to the big city. Therein the rescue attempt continues with a cycle up a helter-skelter followed by a brave leap into the air

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resulting in Tin catching hold of Nickel and her balloon. The balloon then bursts and they hurtle downwards towards a passing animal parade heading for the safari park, Tin and Zinc landing on an elephant and Nickel, a giraffe’s neck. Once in the safari park the elephant and giraffe head off in different directions but a dramatic chase ensues with Tin and Zinc in hot pursuit. Eventually Nickel is stopped in her tracks by a park ranger and handed over to her brother. He in turn hands her a new balloon: oh dear was that a wise move? …
A pacey text accompanies Chris Judge’s action-packed visual narrative, but it’s his vividly coloured illustrations that show the setting to be a futuristic city

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inhabited solely (apart from the wild animals) by robots of various hues.
Great fun and just the thing to inspire a class of infants to create their own rainbow-hued futuristic city from recycled materials.

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Spread a Little Happiness

jillrbennett 4 Comments

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Hooray For Hat!
Brian Won
Andersen Press pbk
If, like Elephant, you ever wake up feeling grumpy then this is definitely the book for you. When said pachyderm awakes in a very bad mood he discovers a parcel on his doorstep. Perfect timing; its contents have an immediate mood lifting effect. “HOORAY FOR HAT!” he cheers and off he goes to show Zebra, but Zebra too has the grumps,

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until that is Elephant gives him a hat. Guess what they say …
There are several other grumpy animals that day and there follows a kind of cheer-spreading domino effect. Before long Turtle, Owl, Lion all have hats but why is Lion still looking glum? Giraffe is poorly, he explains. “What can we do?” Young audiences will supply the answer forthwith …
Great art work: I love Won’s slightly whimsical style. He has used contrasting light and dark to effect with animals emerging from dark backgrounds (Turtle his shell, Owl his tree trunk and Lion his cave) into brightness as they join the ‘hat-fest’. And how well Elephant chooses each time – a party hat for Zebra, a wacky broad-brimmed panama for Turtle, a mortarboard for Owl,

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a crown for Lion.
Great message – no matter how you feel – embrace the day and with simple acts of kindness you can spread goodwill and cheer.
Great ending –

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Moreover, with its patterned language, predictability and bold clear print, learner readers will soon be able to take over and read the whole thing for themselves and I’m sure they will, over and over with great delight.

Great debut; I look forward eagerly to the next book.

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Apes-A-Go-Go!
Roman Milisic and A.Richard Allen
Harper Collins Children’s Books pbk
The pristine town wherein this story is set is hoping to win the ‘Tidiest Town Competition’ for the third year running. That is before the pernickety mayor notices an oversized flower in one of the beds, complains out loud and is overheard by Fussy Great Ape. His delicate touch fixes the flower but in so doing, he trashes the whole flowerbed.

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“CUPPA COCOA! APES-a-GO-GO!” he calls and thus begins a concatenation of repair and destruction as ape after ape responds to the call: there’s Mucky Great Ape, Sopping Great Ape, Thumping Great Ape, Sweeping Great Ape. Then who should turn up but Baking Great Ape, experienced in disaster fixing and what better way to fix this particular disaster than with an enormous chocolate cake. Mmmm! Before long, the mayor and all the townsfolk are tucking in and having a great time. Meanwhile those apes are busy setting the town back to rights – well almost. But who is going to clear up after the party wonders the mayor – Smashing Great Ape perhaps?

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Completely crazy: as those apes pile disaster upon disaster, their capers cannot fail to lift your mood . I can guarantee that if you share this one with a class of infants the whole lot will soon be shouting that ape-summoning refrain with you and that call might well spread out into the playground and beyond.
Order with a slice of chocolate cake for complete satisfaction and feast your eyes on those ape-filled retro illustrations.

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The Squawks
Ruth Thorp
Raw Mixture Publishing
Meet the Squawks – a troop of birds of many different shapes and sizes, mostly blue with an occasional red or yellow feathered one. These happy-go-lucky creatures get up to all manner of crazy antics such as telegraph wire teetering, dancing

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and keeping fit. Avoid them though in squally weather and when they engage in board games; that’s when their tempers become frayed.
With a limited colour palette and a plethora of tongue tingling words, Ruth Thorp has created a playful picture book that demonstrates to young listeners that words are fun – fun to hear, fun to mess about with, fun to write and fun to invent. I love the way the print twirls and swirls across some of the pages in harmony with the Squawks. Just the thing to help foster a love of language for its own sake.
Buy from http://www.thesquawks.co.uk/

Grans are Great

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How to Hide a Lion from Grandma
Helen Stephens
Alison Green Books
In this follow up to How to Hide a Lion, Iris has a tricky problem: where to secrete her leonine companion when her parents go away and her Grandma comes to stay. When she duly arrives, Grandma brings an enormous box, so heavy that it’s a real struggle to carry it up the stairs: those hats and bits and bobs must be very heavy ones think her parents as they heave it to gran’s room just before they leave. Seemingly though Iris’s worries are unfounded: her Grandma is so short-sighted she mistakes the lion for all manner of household items from a lamp to a sofa

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and she doesn’t even notice when he accompanies them to the supermarket. So why is she buying such vast quantities of milk, bananas, peanut butter and honey (clue here)? Supposedly Grandma suffers from night time hunger pangs. Why too does she ignore Iris’s pleas to play dressing up with the contents of her trunk?
If you haven’t met Iris in How to Hide a Lion, then do make her acquaintance now; she’s a delightful character. So too is her Grandma – a really endearing, fun-loving person and just right for Iris.
With a slightly retro feel, and rendered in a somewhat subdued palette, Helen Stephens’ illustrations have an old-fashioned charm and are suffused with a gentle humour.
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There’s another funky Grandma in:

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How to Babysit a Grandma
Jean Reagan and Lee Wildish
Hodder Children’s Books pbk
Young babysitters like the little girl narrator of this companion to How to Babysit a Grandad know just how to keep a Grandma happy when it’s a sleepover at her house. The recipe is pretty much the same as before, much of the information being offered in the form of lists with vital tips on such things as how to say a silent I love you and how to make shadow foxes kiss goodnight at bedtime.
With a mix of full-page illustrations and smaller vignettes, there is much to feast the eyes on: some spreads are choc full of busy details such as the shoe shop

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and decorated gran scenes, (did I catch a glimpse of Grandad and his charge in the park pictures?) Others offer space for a more reflective lingering look like that of gazing at the first star of the evening.

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Just the thing for Grandmas to share with their charges and vice versa, especially when called upon to babysit.
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A Scarf and a Half
Amanda Brandon and Cataline Echeverri
Maverick Arts Publishing pbk
Granny Mutton just loves to knit so when Little Lionel’s birthday draws near she starts making him a rainbow scarf. The only trouble is, she doesn’t know when to stop so it just gets longer and longer and longer … Having completed said scarf, she rolls it up, makes a parcel and gives it to her grandson. Excitedly, Little Lionel looks at its bulgy shape and convinced his present is a football, anticipates the fun he’ll have with his friends. Imagine his disappointment on discovering the contents of his parcel: off he goes looking decidedly bundled up and before long convinced that “… you can’t have a laugh with a scarf” abandons his useless gift. However his friends have more imagination and it’s not long before said article is being put to good use for all manner of fun activities for, as his friends all tell him, “That’s not a scarf, that’s a scarf and a half!” His Granny’s pretty cool too.
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Worst in Show and more of Stanley

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Worst in Show
William Bee and Kate Hindley
Walker Books
Albert has a special pet, Sidney – a monster no less and to prove just how special he is, Albert is entering him in the ‘BEST PET MONSTER IN THE WORLD! COMPETITION” to be televised live from the studio. The competition has five rounds: Sidney scores a grand total of zero: he doesn’t have any warts let alone hairy ones,

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he’s unable to hover, is virtually without parasites, his farts are almost fragrant and his breath barely warms a sausage. ‘GOODNESS THE EMBARRASSMENT!’ How much can Albert take?
But listen –surely that isn’t Albert and Stanley’s names on the announcer’s lips during prize giving …

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Finally, as the two make their way home, Albert concludes that Stanley’s particular qualities are just not those appreciated by the show judges; he’d much rather have a sweet smelling, large-sized, cuddly; lovable best friend after all.
William Bee’s tale is monstrously mad and enormous fun – just the thing to appeal to children’s sense of the ridiculous. Clearly it had that same appeal for Kate Hindley too; her illustrations are wonderfully whimsical. Crammed full of deliciously disgusting details – the monsters and their hangers-on; and with delightfully droll human characters – the judges, camera crew, Albert and other pet owners, each camera shot and off-stage scene is a feast for viewers of this unlikeliest of contests. That final fold-out scene is a bravura performance in itself.
An inspired collaboration this.

More from William Bee in:

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Stanley’s Café
William Bee
Jonathan Cape
Multi-talented hamster, Stanley has donned his chef’s hat and with the help of friend, Hattie, is busy at work in his café. The first customer is Myrtle; she’s come for breakfast. Before long though it’s lunch for Charlie and Gabriel – yummy pancakes with lashings of syrup. Then Stanley has to go out for fresh supplies: he’s baking a special birthday cake for his pal Little Woo.

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Happy Birthday, Little Woo. Shame about the washing up.

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More from Stanley and friends in:
Stanley the Builder
Jonathan Cape
When Myrtle buys a plot of land she asks Stanley to help build her new house. Out comes his bulldozer to clear the ground, and then he has to dig out the foundations. Charlie’s on hand to help with the cement after which they both get on with the bricklaying, roof tiling and fitting windows.
A coat or two of paint and the job’s done: two tired workers, one happy Myrtle.

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Once again, William Bee’s Stanley is set to delight youngsters with his machines, tools and implements. As they enjoy the stories – which they undoubtedly will – preschoolers will absorb lots of information relating to Stanley’s activities both from the straightforward, descriptive texts and captivating, clear illustrations.
I wonder what he will turn his paws to next?

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Willy’s Stories

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Willy’s Stories
Anthony Browne
Walker Books
Every week Willy the chimp walks through a pair of completely normal-looking doors and into a new adventure. Wither will his adventure take him this time: perhaps to a desert island with a large footprint in the sand (it’s Friday of course);

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or perhaps into the countryside and an encounter with Friar Tuck. Or maybe to a lonely road to meet an old woman who wants him to go inside a dark tree to fetch something important to her; or there’s that fall down, down into a bookshelf-lined rabbit hole chock full of all manner of strange objects? No matter where he finds himself, Willy invites readers to participate in their own flights of fancy alongside him.
Truly a celebration of classic children’s literature,

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the imagination and, for readers, of the inimitable Anthony Browne and his amazing chimp. It’s also a celebration of books as objects for in every illustration there are books be they disguised as a tree trunk, buildings, rungs of a ladder, seagulls and sharks’ teeth

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or built into a castle wall. Look out for those drawing implements wielded by some unlikely characters in some scenes too.

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Above and Below

jillrbennett 1 Comment

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The Something
Rebecca Cobb
Macmillan Children’s Books
The small boy narrator of this story loses his ball down a hole in his garden. Thus begins a whole host of flights of fancy about what might be lurking down in the darkness. Perhaps his red bouncy ball has caused breakfast-time havoc in the subterranean home of little mouse or maybe some frogs are having fun with it. Or, might there be something much larger and more frightening – a fiery dragon or a hungry troll? Although we never do find out what, if anything at all resides under the cherry tree, it certainly gives the lad something to talk about with his friends,

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grandparents and the dog. Assuredly the dog enjoys guarding said hole and dreaming about its possible residents.
Rebecca Cobb’s illustrations, as always are a delight; in particular those underground scenes of the disaster-struck mouse-hole with the mezzanine bedroom and that little mole sitting knitting a rainbow scarf.

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Cobb’s spare rendering of the child’s voice is spot-on allowing the pictures to provide the detail of his imaginings. Above ground, the passage of time is shown through the seasonal changes to the cherry tree beside which the watch is kept – just in case…
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Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Safari
Nosy Crow
Meet lion, elephant, buffalo, flamingo, zebra, warthog, crocodile, cheetah, rhinoceros, giraffe and antelope each of which introduces itself with a jaunty, two-verse rhyme and a portrait courtesy of Scheffler. But we can also hear from a zebingo, an elephara, a wartodile

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and over a hundred other possible creatures thanks to the spirally bound, split page design of this book. The characteristic Scheffler humour is present too in the small creatures that ask “What is it” in the left-hand corner of every page, as well as in the expressions and stances of the larger beasts portrayed on the right hand pages.
I recall when I was a fledgling teacher, Penguin Education had a series of split page books and the children couldn’t get enough of them. Then there was Maureen Roffey’s Door to Door, also very popular. I foresee endless hours of fun being had with these new incarnations too. It’s as well they are printed on sturdy card and strongly bound; I’m sure they will get a lot of handling in primary classrooms and could well inspire children to try making their own split page books.
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Daisy Saves the Day

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Daisy Saves the Day
Shirley Hughes
Walker Books
Young Daisy Dobbs is sent away from home to be a scullery maid for stern, elderly sisters, the Misses Simms. She greatly misses her family and housework is definitely not her forte.

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Then one day the Simms sisters have a visitor; their niece, Mabel from America and shortly after, things change for the better for Daisy. Miss Mabel persuades her aunts to allow Daisy to borrow books from the parlour bookcase.
The story is set in London against the background of preparations for the celebrations for the coronation of King George V. When the great day arrives Daisy wants to join the other members of the household watching the procession but is told she must stay indoors. However, a determined Daisy finds her own way to be a part of the celebrations.

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Her colourful contribution most definitely does not meet with the approval of her employers. Disgraced, she is given a very hard time but eventually manages to redeem herself and in so doing is given an exciting opportunity to escape the domestic drudgery and better herself.
As ever Shirley Hughes’ illustrations draw you in and make you want to linger over each one, in this instance to explore the wealth of period detail included. Children (I suggest from around six up) can learn so much about what life was like a century ago– the clothes worn and domestic detail, by looking carefully at each and every illustration; and of course about the characters themselves – their manner, feelings and lifestyle. (You can visit http://www.daisysavestheday.co.uk where there are some related activities and Shirley talks about writing the book.)
All in all, a thoroughly satisfying book for the family bookshelf and primary school library.
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Co-operation Rules OK

jillrbennett 1 Comment

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Rex Wrecks It!
Ben Clanton
Walker Books
What are T.Rexs renowned for? – destruction and Rex, the small one in this funny fable is no exception. In fact you can probably find a human one of similar disposition in every single nursery or reception class the world over. In total contrast Gizmo (a robot), Sprinkles (a cute pink unicorn rabbit) and Wild (monster) love to build. Rex would probably be deemed to have ADHD were he human; he loves nothing better than wrecking every single thing they make so “RAWR!” smash – that’s Gizmo’s OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD rocket ruined, “RAWR! RAWR!” Bang goes Sprinkles’s MAGICAL heart; “RAWR! RAWR! RAWR!” – you’ve guessed it – Wild’s ‘wooden wonder of WOWDOM’ is no more.
Out come the drawing boards: the three decide to co-construct a block castle so big that even Rex cannot topple it.

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They build; Rex destroys. Three furious friends, one remorseful (“rawry”) Rex.
Then Gizmo has an inspiration and it’s back to the drawing board, this time with Rex’s involvement at the outset,

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to build something even bigger and better and…

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eminently more wreckable.
One cannot help but applaud Rex’s playful exuberance despite its sometimes catastrophic results. (Clearly he needs help to channel it rather than misuse it.) Clanton catpures that beautifully in his pen, ink and watercolour illustrations which positively fizz with energy.
Inclusion and accommodation are the main themes that emerge from this witty portrayal of small characters and their imaginative block play.
A must have for early years settings and families with young children.

Another story where co-operation is key is:

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Bubble Trouble
Tom Percival
Bloomsbury Children’s Books pbk
A bubble blowing bonanza leads to a bust-up in more ways than one as erstwhile best friends Rueben and Felix build bigger and better machines in their endeavours to blow bigger and better bubbles than one another. When the day of the ultimate contest dawns, their complex constructions lead to catastrophe and it’s not just the bubbles, but the machines that burst well and truly.

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Back to the drawing board chaps: it’s not technology you need but teamwork – that plus a few preparatory yoga breathing exercises perhaps.
Best friends again? It all depends on Rueben’s response to Felix’s final comment.
It’s not so much bubble talk as bubble flaps in this funny cautionary tale. There is bubble talk too and lots of other environmental print that forms an integral part of the effervescent illustrations – an additional talking point.

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The Cat, The Dog, Little Red, the Exploding Eggs, the Wolf and Grandma’s Wardrobe

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I have always been fascinated by fairy tales and Red Riding Hood has always had a special place in my affections. Indeed it was the inspiration for the title of my weblog so I was particularly delighted to receive a copy of this:

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The Cat, the Dog, Little Red, the Exploding Eggs, the Wolf and Grandma’s Wardrobe
Diane and Christyan Fox
Words & Pictures (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
I always encourage children to ask questions about stories, though I prefer questions to be saved to the end of the reading rather than during the story. The irrepressible, superhero-obsessed Dog in this tale however insists on keeping up a constant flow of questions right through the whole of Cat’s reading of Little Red Riding Hood. Here’s his first interjection on learning the story is about a little girl who wears a red hooded cloak: “Cool! I love stories about superheroes. What’s her special power?” Cat continues reading about the basket of food and ‘dainties’ she’s taking to her grandmother.
“So, kindness is her special power? Does she hypnotise bad guys into being nice? … I bet she zaps him with her KINDNESS RAY.” Cat is beginning to get exasperated. Dog too; a clear case of misunderstanding – crime fighting without a zapper?

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Exploding eggs? Whack the bad guy with a dainty? Now Cat too, despite his increasing exasperation, starts to see the story is not without its faults… ‘ “There’s NO kindness ray, NO flying basket and NO exploding eggs. She’s just a sweet little girl with terrible fashion sense on her way to see her grandmother.” ‘
The whole thing gets more and more hilarious as Dog’s imagination runs wild and Cat tries his best to keep his cool, eventually reaching his favourite part: ‘ “She arrived and said, “What big eyes you have Grandma,” and the wolf replied, All the better to see you with.” Whereupon Dog expresses disgust with the heroine. “She’s not very bright is she? I mean if there were a wolf dressed up as MY grandma, I might have noticed right away.” and then with the traditional fairy tale “And they all lived happily ever after.” finale.

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He even questions its suitability as a book for children. His summary of the whole thing is absolutely superb. But it’s his last (so he says) question that causes Cat to throw in the book – literally.
I’d be surprised if you can read this aloud without breaking into fits of giggles: I certainly couldn’t. The combination of uncrushable characters, chucklesome text and spare, brilliantly expressive cartoon style illustrations with sparingly-used splashes of colour make for an unforgettable read.
This one has a wide age appeal and is a real boon to teachers wanting to explore fairy tales with a class of older children.

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Is there a dog in this book?

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Is there a dog in this book?
Viviane Schwarz
Walker Books
Actually this book is mainly about cats –three of them: Moonpie – the sleek one, Andre – the decidedly rotund one and Tiny – well that’s obvious. Yes, they are back in their third ‘Cats book. So, what’s all this about a dog then? Seemingly this particular book has a visitor or rather an intruder; consternation all round and a plea for help to us, the readers. Time to find a better hiding place moggies. But the piano’s not satisfactory (some idiot opened it), nor the wardrobe (ditto)

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so what about that suitcase? ‘Sniff sniff’ Looks like you’ve been discovered guys.
Then comes the revelation: rather than being snappy and scary, the canine intruder seems friendly, soft and oh so strokeable, certainly to those with a feline touch. Human hands? Well, that’s another story or rather – part of this one …
Absolutely irresistible! – the cover, the book and the characters both feline and canine (oh yes that one is purple and something of a visual thinker).

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Once again this is totally interactive and involving – flaps, moggy dialogue directed straight to the reader, (and even without that, those gestures and facial expressions speak volumes) surprises galore and abundant humour both verbal and visual.
This one will be read to death – literally.
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