Author jillrbennett

The Can Caravan

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The Can Caravan
Richard O’Neill and Cindy Kang
Child’s Play

What a wonderfully uplifting and affirming contemporary story is the latest one by Romani storyteller Richard O’Neill.
Janie, an imaginative child, lives on a travellers’ site with her mother and her grandfather. Also living among them is her grandfather’s friend Mrs Tolen, whose caravan has seen better days.

At school one day Janie’s teacher announces that the class are to visit a can recycling plant and Janie is able to respond to his question about the history of recycling by relating it to what members of the travelling community have done for centuries. Back on the site, she’s eager to tell Mrs Tolen about the visit only to discover that she’s had a fall and is in hospital with a broken hip.

A couple of days later, Janie goes to see Mrs Tolen in the hospital and hears that environmental health inspectors have deemed her caravan unfit for living in. She is determined that rather than the old lady having to move out, she, her friends and other members of her community will restore her old caravan.
The visit to the can recycling plant further motivates and inspires Janie

and back home she can hardly contain herself with excitement as she tells her Mum and grandfather about her plans. The same thing happens at school next day where she receives many offers of help from her classmates on behalf of family members. The recycling plant agrees to donate recycled metal sheets and the community collect cans to raise the rest of the money needed. Then under Janie’s leadership everybody sets to work rebuilding the caravan.

Eventually Mrs Tolen has a wonderful surprise when she is able to move into her recycled trailer – her “Can Caravan” as she names it joyfully.

What this community achieves is an inspiration to us all: the loyalty, determination, resilience and ability to adapt inherent in the Traveller peoples should make those of us who are all too ready to rush out and buy new things, ashamed of such consumerist attitudes. Cindy Kang’s bright, realistic illustrations underline the community spirit and there’s a final aluminium recycling flow chart that also includes some interesting facts about this metal.

Sand Between My Toes / Covered in Adventures

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Sand Between My Toes
Caroline Cross and Jenny Duke
Child’s Play

The opening spread of this lovely book shows a little girl walking slightly behind the rest of her family as they arrive on the cliff above the beach. Immediately many adult readers will be transported back to their own childhood memories of such occasions when family seaside holidays and days beside the sea were the norm. What unfolds thereafter is the family enjoying a wealth of experiences: barefoot toe wriggling on the sandy shore, playing ball and splashing in the waves, 

discovering what’s in a rockpool, relishing a fast melting, dripping ice-cream (dog hot on the trail); there’s sandcastle constructing 

and some inevitable upsets too, as well as a sudden downpour. All ends happily with the entire family sitting together consuming chips beneath a shelter and then once the rain has stopped, wending their way back towards home beneath a gorgeously hued sky.
Caroline Cross’s spare poetic rhyming text allows plenty of space for Jenny Duke’s beautiful, almost dreamy scenes, as well as child audiences to fill in the gaps.

Covered in Adventures
Gillian Hibbs
Child’s Play

There are certain articles of clothing that we hang on to for years, unable to part with them for the memories they hold. One such is the old sweater belonging to young Sasha. Dad Greg’s comment in response to Dad Toby’s suggestion that she gets rid of said sweater is “ … at least let us wash it. Look how dirty it is!” Sasha disagrees: “It’s covered in adventures!” she asserts and together they begin to reminisce about some of what has happened to contribute to the garment’s appearance of having seen better days.

Yes, the sweater shows wear and mess from her imaginative journey on the high seas, from science experiments, 

cooking, camping, nature explorations, a game of soccer, some DIY to her go-kart and more, but all this is evidence of her many and varied adventures. 

It was even nibbled by a goat during a farm visit.
However, rather than despairing about her mucky sweater, Sasha’s supportive dads surprise her and at the same time she realises that actually it was herself rather than the sweater that made all those wonderful adventures happen. Moreover, she is now ready for some exciting new ones.

Gently humorous and uplifting, with Gillian Hibbs’ captivating illustrations this is a picture book for sharing at home or in the classroom.

Powered By Plants

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Powered by Plants
Clive Gifford and Gosia Herba
Wide Eyed Editions

How many people I wonder are aware of the wealth of cutting edge science and technology of yesterday, today and the future, that involves members of the diverse plant world found in the many ecosystems on our planet? Some of this rich diversity is being increasingly studied and copied, inspiring innovations in design, science, engineering and technology. This third book about biomimicry introduces some awesome plant inventors. Prepare to be awed for as Tumbleweed says in the book’s introduction, plants are the experts and you’ll likely never look at flowers, trees or seaweed in the same way again.

There are six main sections: Structures, Robotics, Energy, Health, Sustainability and Materials and a final look to the future. Each plant is allowed to speak for itself and informs readers about such things as how it grows and why its particular structure is or was, so useful to humans. All this fascinating information is broken up into bite-sized chunks placed in fact boxes and embedded in a funky, colourful illustration by Gosia Herba.

If you’ve ever wondered what the fastest growing plant on the planet is, no it isn’t dandelions or that pesky Himalayan balsam that seems to be choking up so many of the UK’s waterways, it’s actually bamboo and there are more than 1,000 different bamboo species. With its high tensile strength bamboo has been used to build houses in Asia and is still used to make scaffolding. Perhaps more exciting though is that some scientists in China now know how to process the hollow fibres from its stems to make a soft, breathable, very fast drying fabric that is much more environmentally friendly than acrylic, polyester and even cotton.

Five other plants present their super powers in the Structures section including the ‘earthquake proof’ coconut palm, the fruit of which has a multitude of uses including in the production coir, a mosquito repellent, coconut milk and of course, coconut water.

No matter which section you choose to dip into you’re sure to be excited: from the fast-growing cottonwood trees with wind power potential, to the slick, slippery carnivores like the pitcher plant and the super-thirsty willow tree, the bark of which has healing properties thanks to salicin – a powerful pain-relieving substance, it will be a case of WOW! that is truly amazing.

An absolute treasure of a book for both home and school use.

Choices / Bye, Car

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Choices
Roozeboos
Child’s Play

Using the backdrop of a lido on a summer’s day, this debut picture book explores some of the many decisions children will be faced with in their lives. Relatively few words and engaging playful scenes of a wonderfully diverse cast of characters and one little girl in particular, invite youngsters to consider the possible choices they might make and the consequences thereof.

Some are simple: what kind of ice-cream to buy, should I be kind and share my lunch with somebody else; or much harder – shall I take a dive from the high diving board?

But what I really like about the entire book is that the text never actually says what is happening on the page, allowing the reader/ listener to explore each illustration, discuss what the little girl is doing, how she could be feeling, and perhaps what the consequences of her choices might be.

Teaching children about choices and consequences, and causes and effects is part and parcel of the foundation stage curriculum and beyond as well as something parents are involved in – it’s a part of growing up but sometimes living with the outcomes of those choices is more difficult. This book offers a really good starting point for conversations with a very young child or class of little ones but equally could be used again later on for reflection and further discussion

The book ends with a reminder of everyone’s uniqueness not spoken this time, but hinted at in the final scene wherein the smiling little girl takes centre stage (almost!) beneath which are the words ‘and with every choice you grow!’ It’s definitely one to add to class, school, and home collections.

There are important choices too in:

Bye, Car
Naomi Danis and Daniel Rieley
Child’s Play

Whether or not they understand the green message of this book, youngsters will enjoy seeing the wide variety of cars and perhaps trying to identify some of them, as two young children bid farewell to those passing by. They start by watching from a window the ones travelling along the busy road and then accompanied by an adult, they venture out into the hustling bustling urban streets for further vehicle spotting.
Naomi Danis’ rhyming narrative includes basic opposites such as near/far, and becomes increasingly descriptive – ‘car in a hurry/ car in a flurry’, ‘howling car, growling car’

and is nicely balanced by Daniel Rieley’s alluring, unfussy illustrations that starkly remind us of the way our streets are vehicle dominated. Happily however, come the new day, the walk shows greener alternatives to the pollution-spewing cars as we see an electric bus, cyclists and other eco-friendly modes of transport.

A Beginner’s Guide to Ruling the Galaxy / Dragon Storm: Mira and Flameteller

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A Beginner’s Guide to Ruling the Galaxy
David Solomons
Nosy Crow

Gavin, a pupil at Middling High School prefers to keep himself to himself so he’s far from pleased when a new and exceedingly annoying girl starts following him around. This girl is Niki, who announces she’s a galactic princess and says such weird things as “ I claim this adequately rated secondary school in the name of the Galactic League.” and almost immediately starts tucking into his packed lunch. A boy also joined the school at the same time as Niki and is supposed to be her brother Bart, but we have our doubts from the outset. Surprisingly to Gavin, other members of the school community are ‘spellbound’ by this extraterrestrial female. But what is her secret?

After some time Gavin sees her following what seems to be a talking cat; and then Niki turns round and calls him intrusive. What on earth is going on? Suddenly Gavin finds himself entangled in a situation where the whole of humankind could be doomed unless he can fix the spaceship so Niki can escape from Earth.

Full of twists and turns, this pacy story has lots of humour – some relating to how things work on planet Earth and some I suspect adult readers like myself will appreciate more than the target audience; indeed there’s never a dull moment throughout. There are some great characters and there’s also a lot of heart when it comes to friendship, kinship and family. Gavin is a foster child and desperate to belong; you’ll likely find yourself rooting for Niki too as the tale develops.

All in all, a clever sci-fi comedy for older KS2 readers and beyond.

Dragon Storm: Mira and Flameteller
Alastair Chisholm
Nosy Crow

In this fourth book in the magical Dragon Storm series for younger Alastair Chisholm fans, Mira’s dragon Flameteller is still working out what his special power is. However they both enjoy discovering how things work so when a visit to an ancient waterwheel, The Rivven Wheel, is announced, they are excited and Mira eagerly tries to find out everything about it.

However, on their return to the city Mira hears a worrying announcement: on account of the loss of an ancient magical object – a tool of dragon magic – that was under royal protection, the King of Draconis plans to root out and destroy all dragons and those who work with them.

Then she is given an opportunity to visit a part of the caves that she’s never been to before and see how the Dragonseer Guild is powered. She even has the chance to work with Grimbal who keeps everything going there, although he is not at all enthusiastic about having two assistants. When an issue arises with the magic powering the Guild, Grimbal assures the two that he has it in hand, but they both feel something is wrong.

Can Myra and Flameteller find a way to fix things and so prevent King Godfic’s soldiers finding the Guild and the dragons? They’re certainly going to need help from her fellow dragon seers and their dragons

and they’ll need the materials to do the work required on the machinery; and maybe Flameteller’s special power can come into play too.

With plenty of excitement and superb illustrations by Eric Deschamps, this is another fire-cracking, compelling adventure that will thrill new solo readers.

The Pancake Champ / The Monster Who Was Scared of Soap

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These are new additions to Bloomsbury Young Readers: thanks to Bloomsbury Education for sending them for review

The Pancake Champ
Joanna Nadin, illustrated by Ana Gómez

A new boy at school, Manjit has yet to make any special friends but then he works with Leon and they quickly become good friends. Then comes an invitation to tea from Leon’s dad and the panic begins. He frets about various possibilities, the worst being what he’ll be offered to eat. Nonetheless he agrees to go but then Leon’s dad says it’s pancakes for tea – it couldn’t be a worse prospect. But suppose you have the opportunity to join in the making and even choose the flavour, that might just make all the difference …

An amusing tale of friendship and facing your fears by author Joanna and illustrator Ana that will go down well with learner readers at home or in school.

The Monster Who was Scared of Soap
Amy Sparkes, illustrated by Jack Viant

A very funny tale of Gerald a little monster that hates the idea of a bath and whose mother goes to special lengths to get her little one to comply with her bath time regime. Gerald in response does his level best to get out of the annual watery, soapy situation, dashing out of the house to hide. Will the promise of a special secret surprise lure him to the bathroom and if so what will be the outcome? In Ana Gómez’s bright jolly illustrations Gerald’s mum bears remarkable resemblance to something your granny might have created as a bathroom accessory back in the day. With its surprise finale Amy Sparkes’ addition to Bloomsbury Young Readers series should definitely go down well with learner readers.

Both books have the usual tips for grown-ups and fun-time activities inside the front and back covers respectively.

The Path / Why?

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These are two thought-provoking picture books from minedition – thanks to GMC Distribution for sending them for review

The Path
Bob Staake
minedition

As we follow a small character walking along on a winding path, we soon realise that this path is a metaphor for life’s journey and its challenges. ‘You will walk along a well-worn path that many others have taken before you.” we read at the outset. To start with the walk is easy; but inevitably there will be bumps and obstacles along the way, perhaps a dark forest will replace those valleys of wildflowers bathed in sunlight. You may even get lost, face terrifying dangers or encounter what seems to be a dead end. Prepare to be surprised.

Like the character, you will emerge elated and ready to forge a path of your own making head held high.
Poetic and to the point, the thoughtful narrative has a gentle lyricism but for me the real show stealers are Staake’s digitally created illustrations of the ever changing landscape through which the character journeys.

A wonderful conversation starter that could be used at various stages in a child or young person’s life from moving to KS2 in a primary school right up to a new graduate. Essentially this is a book of possibilities, perspective and an individual’s outlook on life: the message is that it’s the journey not the destination that matters.

Why?
Nikolai Popov
minedition

As this wordless story begins a frog sits peaceably atop a rock holding a flower, a serene expression on his face. Suddenly, from a hole very close up pops a mouse clutching an umbrella. They look expectantly at one another. Could Frog be anticipating making a new friend of mouse. It certainly doesn’t happen: the mouse has designs on the frog’s flower, leaps at the creature and steals it. Up come two well built frogs and see the mouse off. Very soon more frogs and mice enter the battle, the tools of which become increasingly powerful

and eventually the conflict escalates into a full-scale war; the result being the entire terrain lies wasted,: there are no winners in this war, just total devastation all round.

All this we see in the the artist’s delicate watercolour scenes with their droll animal characters against the backdrop of blasting guns and explosions that make the reality of the situation even harsher. Then there’s that final spread.

Why? Oh why? we ask ourselves. Why indeed.

With what is happening with the increasingly ugly war in Ukraine, this question and indeed Popov’s powerful condemnation of war in this allegory is particularly pertinent. Why, oh why can’t a certain despot see the utter futility of war?

Giant

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Giant
Nicola Skinner
Harper Collins Children’s Books

Nicola Skinner’s latest book is quite simply gargantuan. Actually though, nothing is simple about this utterly brilliant story.

Eleven year old Minnie Wadlow lives on an island in Quake Quarter, the gated walled city to be more precise: there’s not much wrong with said island if you can ignore the earthquakes that regularly strike, causing buildings to crumble and schools and houses to collapse. Fortunately the island’s inhabitants have come up with the perfect way to fix their crumbling walls: they use giants (one of the two kinds living in the island). These servant giants act as minders for the human children including Minnie: her giant is Speck; but when the girl turns twelve years old, she’ll have to kiss Speck goodbye thus turning her to stone forever. The stone is then used for repairs: all perfectly normal and fair – so Minnie and the other human children have been led to believe; it stands to reason they must never, ever develop any warm feelings towards their giant; nor must there be any secrets between child and giant.

Minnie and her family live in Quake Avenue, at number twelve, the least up market of all the twelve mansions, each of which belongs to an employee of the Giant Management Company and Mr Wadlow is endeavouring (unsuccessfully), to invent something that can stop the earthquakes for good. Minnie is forced by one Mr Straw, to take twice daily doses of medication – painkillers and muscle strengthener so she believes.

Not long after the Goodbye ceremony of Florin and his giant a violent earthquake strikes the island. Minnie quickly realises that despite what she’s been told, she isn’t ready to bid farewell to her giant forever. So, she runs away, thus betraying not only her parents but everyone she knows. She doesn’t remain entirely alone for she encounters first a jackal and then Robin Scragg whom she’d met at Florin’s ceremony..

Her journey becomes a race against time during which she has to face the truth about her island, Speck the giant and crucially, herself and who she really is.

With Flavia Sorrentino’s fantastic illustrations, this is a spectacular tale of letting go of all you thought right and genuine in order to remain true to yourself and your loved ones.

Cats in Chaos

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Cats in Chaos
Peter Bently and John Bond
Harper Collins Children’s Books

Moggy mayhem it most certainly is in this superb presentation from team Bently and Bond, their laugh-out-loud follow up to Dogs in Disguise.

Peter has taken the predilections of cats and woven them into an action-packed show-stopping treat with all the most entertaining circus acts you could imagine, and many you can’t until you see them in John Bond’s sensational scenes that overflow with warmth and wittiness. There are conjurors, a dog tamer, a cannonball cat, a juggling clown, trapeze artists and an amazing balancing act – look out for a friendly favourite from children’s TV among the throng;

but these are just some of the awesome artists that the mischievous mouse distracts at each and every opportunity.

Peter’s naming of the entertainers is splendidly silly and sometimes alliterative; children will adore even EVEL KATNEVEL ;

his wordplay is wonderful too; then there’s fun onomatopoeia – all this in a cleverly structured rhyming text that trips off the tongue and comes full circle to cats snoozing and snuggling – mostly anyhow.

Share this with a class or group and I guarantee there will be instant cries for an encore and pleas for further repeat performances. Give it to a single child or a few together and they will spend ages pouring over (maybe pawing over) the delicious details of disarray on every spread.

The Extraordinary Voyage of Katy Willacott

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The Extraordinary Voyage of Katy Willacott
Sharon Gosling
Little Tiger

This novel with a feminist theme is set in Victorian times; its main character is Katy Willacott, daughter of a botanical taxonomist in the Herbarium at Kew Gardens. Having spent a gap year working in the Herbarium at Kew I suspect I was predisposed to like this book and wow! I absolutely loved it.

Already Katy knows that much as she admires what her mother does and enjoys assisting her, she wants much more out of life than working with dried specimens: her dreams are of
going on great expeditions, finding new wonders and making a name for herself. However she faces a huge obstacle: girls aren’t allowed to do that sort of thing. Then a journalist, the embodiment of the spirit of adventure, Fran Brocklehurst, who is researching an article about women in the sciences tells her of extraordinary women in the world doing extraordinary things, and this acts as a catalyst for Katy.

Almost at the same time though, she learns that her brother is about to depart for Hastings accompanying their father who is leading an expedition there. The day they leave, her grandfather shows Katy a newspaper article about an expedition to Brazil to collect meteorite specimens and she makes up her mind to disguise herself as a boy, head for Southampton and join the crew of the ship Alerte, destination Brazil.

Within a few days, Katy, calling herself William Chandler, has landed herself a job as cabin boy aboard said ship and boy does she have a lot to learn: not least, what is the true mission of the expedition led by Sir Thomas Derby?

After a highly eventful voyage the ship finally reaches its destination and Katy goes her own way. She adds more wonderful friends to those she made at sea and makes some alarming discoveries, as well as having an unexpected meeting as the plot twists and turns.

Katy is a determined, strong, caring and capable character; her journey is one of personal growth too: she learns more about the impact early scientists and collectors are having on the world and she’s faced with some challenging decisions. Many controversial issues are covered that are still relevant today: colonialism, deforestation, the destruction of ecosystems and the impact on the indigenous people; there’s racism and misogyny especially related to STEAM issues.

Katy however is not the only tremendous character: this superb book has several including Fran Brocklehurst, but to meet them all I urge you to get a copy yourself; it’s absolutely full of adventure, excitement, brave people young and not so young, and some truly nasty villains too.

The Great Hamster Getaway

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The Great Hamster Getaway
Lou Carter and Magda Brol
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Bored by his life confined in a cage all the time seeing nobody and going nowhere, hamster Raffleton Grey decides to break free. He dreams of life in the great outdoors, splashing in the sea and feasting on people’s leftovers. “Tomorrow’s the day” he tells himself as he stargazes one night, a plan forming in his mind.

Next day having free fallen a fair way he lands beside a fellow hamster, all be it a rather scruffy specimen.

But freedom is much better shared with a like-minded friend so Raffleton and Puckerford spend time together running, splashing, snoozing beside the harbour, gobbling goodies and generally having a fantastic fun time. However as night falls things look rather different; pairs of eyes belonging to cats, foxes, gulls and worst of all, rats, follow their every movement however fast they try to run.

Come morning the two friends are exhausted and ponder upon their future; then Raffleton speaks up and another plan is conceived and carried out. After all, a comfy cage with company seems like the ideal solution and so it proves to be, at least when we leave the two.

Lou’s rhyming narrative bounces along beautifully when read aloud and is complemented by Magda Brol’s imaginative illustrations of Raffleton’s daring escape plan and what follows when he meets Puckerford. Her lively scenes really do capture the delights of being beside the seaside. Hamster holiday or human one, this tale is a perfect start to the summer break.

Amazing Animal Tales: Little Tiger / Amazing Animal Tales: Baby Koala and Bugs / Space

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Amazing Animal Tales: Little Tiger
Anne Rooney and Carolina Rabei
Amazing Animal Tales: Baby Koala
Anne Rooney and Qu Lan
Oxford Children’s Books

These, first of a new series, follow the survival stories of baby animals. You can use them either as narrative stories of each animal baby or, if you open the flaps (four per book) as a combination of story and information. Each has the additional interactive feature of a creature to look for on every spread and sometimes, a question which needs some investigation by the child to answer.
Little Tiger lives in the Asian tropical rainforest and when we first meet him, is snuggled up with his mother and fellow cubs in a safe warm den.
We then see the cub being suckled before venturing outside into the sunlight of the noisy habitat where there’s time for some playful fighting with the other cubs. There’s a near encounter with a noisy elephant after which Mama carries her tired cub back to the den. However this protectiveness can’t continue and Mamma Tiger must teach her cubs to hunt if they are to thrive.

That still leaves time for some playfulness and a quick dip before sleep time.

The Australian Bush is the setting for Baby Koala. This little joey, like other koalas, spends all its time in the eucalyptus trees sleeping and feeding, either suckled by its mother, or about nine months later, eating eucalyptus leaves. Dangers come in the form of hungry owls and forest fires caused by the intense heat but Mum koala still keeps a protective watch on her Baby Koala, even after it’s outgrown her pouch and instead is carried on her back.

The texts are engaging and will hold a young child’s interest and the illustrations from, in Little Tiger, Carolina Rabei and in Baby Koala, Qu Lan include lots of detail of the flora and fauna of the animals’ respective habitats to explore and talk about. Both titles would be good additions to foundation stage collections and home bookshelves.

Written in a totally different style and for an older audience:

Bugs
Space
Noodle Fuel and Rich Watson
Little Tiger

These two titles in a new Brain Bursts series are characterised by comical illustrations, simple, with quirky edge diagrams, and contained within fact boxes, a wealth of information is presented in a light-hearted style, complete with speech bubbles from the bugs themselves.

It’s incredible to read on the opening page of Bugs that insects make up almost three quarters of all animal species on Earth. Then after an introductory spread readers meet among others, bees, ladybirds, grasshoppers and crickets, damselflies and dragonflies, moths and ants. Can you believe that there are estimated to be ten quadrillion ants on our planet – 10,000,000,000,000,000 – that is indeed a ‘very big number’. I was amazed to discover that there are more than 10,000 different ant species.

Among the most bizarre facts though is one found on the ‘Top Ten Weird Bugs’ spread: did you know that honeybees have hairy eyeballs? There’s also a fun activities page, instructions on how to play Beetle – a game I’ve not played since I was a child – and a final glossary.

Space is similar in tone and covers such topics as stars and star maps, satellites, space travel, space junk (apparently there are such unlikely things as a pair of pliers and a spatula floating around somewhere in space), black holes and red dwarfs. Several space scientists and cosmonauts make an appearance and the book ends with some activities and a glossary. 

‘Boredom-free guaranteed!’ is claimed on the cover: I can’t imagine any child being bored by either of these books.

Milo’s Monster

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Milo’s Monster
Tom Percival
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

In the sixth of Tom’s wonderful Big Bright Feelings series the green-eyed jealousy monster appears.
Milo loves to spend time with his best friend and neighbour, Jay. But then a new family moves into a house opposite the boys and Milo watches a girl dashing about in her garden. That same afternoon when Milo calls for Jay he learns that he is across the road with Suzi.

Inevitably Milo feels left out and that manifests as a funny squirmy feeling in his tummy. The same thing happens the following day: suppose Jay doesn’t want to be his best friend any longer. That awful feeling gets stronger and stronger until right before Milo’s eyes is A GREEN-EYED MONSTER.

Thereafter said monster invades all Milo’s thoughts; the thing just won’t leave him be and Milo decides he will ignore Jay and Suzi. Instead he sulks and skulks away from everyone except the monster

until one day Suzi stops him. From what she says, Milo knows that it’s time to get rid of that horrible lying monster once and for all. A battle of wills between attacker and attacked ensues and at last, realising the truth, Milo apologies and is free to have fun, not just with one friend but two.

This compelling story offers a great way to show young children that jealousy can make you feel really miserable. It’s a wonderful book to start a circle-time discussion and perhaps look at ways to help deal with feelings of jealousy that everyone has from time to time.

Imagine Eating Lemons / Sometimes I’m a Baby Bear Sometimes I’m a Snail

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Imagine Eating Lemons
Jason Rhodes and Richard Dearing
Graffeg

In recent years there has been increased concern about the mental well-being of youngsters and what can be done to help reduce their anxieties. As a yoga teacher I know well how mindfulness techniques can have a positive effect on both mental and physical health, so with this in mind it’s time to introduce Chester Chestnut.

In his decidedly mucky dungarees, cheerful little chap Chester Chestnut stands at the ready to guide young children through an introduction to mindfulness. He’s a character they’ll find easy to relate to and now he’s starting school – the only one doing so – he’s feeling anxious. Supposing he’s too shy to play and so won’t make any friends? Following a tumble, Chester picks himself up sits down and begins to breathe slowly and deeply, focussing on the various feelings as he scans his body, and paying attention to the sounds he can hear. 

‘Imagine eating lemons and your mouth will think it’s real.” Now he feels much calmer, he can think about lots of positive and playful ideas.

The weeks pass; a new worry arises as he plays with his friends. Suppose when he’s participating in that talent show something goes wrong? Time to remember those calming techniques Chester. In his rhythmic, rhyming text, Jason Rhodes now describes the sounds of the trees, the bees and the birdsong and gives a reminder about those lemons,

so that in addition to Chester, readers/listeners will know what to do to conquer those fears, and why to do it, then and throughout the rest of the story. Richard Dearing’s illustrations give the story a slightly whimsical feel almost as though it’s set in a world of faerie.

The final page gives half a dozen things to remember about feelings and the practice of mindfulness. You try imagining eating a lemon and see what happens.

A book that is well worth having for home and school use.

Sometimes I’m a Baby Bear, Sometimes I’m a Snail
Moira Butterfield and Gwen Millward
Welbeck Editions

Embracing an entire gamut of childhood emotions, author Moira Butterfield uses different animals to explore and help little ones understand their feelings.

Whether it’s a bouncy puppy full of fun and wanting to play with others; a snail inside its shell ‘I’d rather be quiet and on my own. / I’m fine playing games alone.’ (I love that);

or perhaps a hug-loving baby bear, or no-hug bird, a blowfish blowing kisses instead of giving hugs; even a fearless lion expressing itself through a roar, it’s absolutely fine,

as are those scared, tiny mouse feelings about trying something tricky.

We all experience different emotions at times and it’s perfectly OK to feel that way: you can turn down a hug till another day, or feel happy in some solo play, as might some of your friends or siblings, so assures Moira in her appealing rhyming narrative. All these feelings are illustrated in Gwen Millward’s brightly coloured, equally appealing art showing the humans and animals with similar expressions and body language.

There’s a final spread giving advice to adults suggesting ways to use the book and providing helpful information about teaching children to identify, name and understand their feelings. This book developed with the support of a child psychologist is one to use in the foundation stage and with little ones at home.

Dinos Don’t Give Up! / The Elephant Detectives

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Dinos Don’t Give Up!
Smriti Halls and Richard Merritt
Little Tiger

The little dino in this rhyming tale is a darling diplodocus named Dinah. Famed throughout dino-world for her seemingly endless abilities, young Dinah is a veritable superstar. 

She’s also .kind, considerate, supportive and always willing to help others.

One day into Dino Town comes some exciting news: a surfing contest is to be held; every single little dinosaur is eager to try its luck at staying dry and thus winning the surfing crown. Now surfing is something Dinah hasn’t done before; nonetheless she’s confident as ever when she takes her place at the starting line, even anticipating treating her pals in a celebratory party after receiving the prize.

However, this is one activity at which Dinah is not destined to become top-dino; indeed no matter how hard she tries she just can’t stay atop her surfboard. 

Disaster strikes as she finds herself almost completely submerged in the sea: a veritable dino flop.

Happily though her friends are at the ready to give a tearful Dinah what she most needs when a dino-catastrophe strikes and she in return is ready to follow that ‘if at first you don’t succeed’ adage and try, try again. Vitally, in so doing, little Dinah discovers that having fun isn’t contingent on winning. An important lesson for Dinah but equally, an important one for young humans

Smriti’s narrative bounces along beautifully, tripping easily off the tongue when read aloud and Richard Merritt’s vibrant illustrations, be they small, or occupying an entire double-spread are detailed dino-delights. This is a book that’s likely to make a big splash with little dinosaur lovers.

The Elephant Detectives
Ged Adamson
Nosy Crow

This funny story of, among other things, wanting to find a friend, begins happily with Alan and his elephant anticipating having fun with the balloon they’ve just bought from the seller in the park. It’s not to be however for a sudden gust of wind whips it away to the top of the Very Tall Tree: Alan announces that he’s an ace tree climber but fails to rescue the balloon. With his mind on alternative ways of enjoying themselves, Alan reaches the ground only to find – or rather not find his elephant.

Along comes Edie who declares herself an Elephant Detective and tells Alan to follow her. Together they set off on an elephant search, first stop the library. There, they borrow a book containing elephant facts, which Edie uses to provide clues to the elephant’s whereabouts. Next stop is one of the places that’s a possibility thanks to the facts in said book.

The hilarious element of this story is that all the time Alan’s elephant is following the two searchers, doing pretty much what they do but from a slight distance. Youngsters will love this.

Ged’s tongue in cheek story is made all the more amusing by his illustrations that are full of fun and diverting happenings and from his portrayal of the elephant it’s easy to see why Alan is so fond of his hāthī, pal. On the serious side though, is Edie’s admission to Alan that she only pretended to be an elephant detective in order to become his friend, a confession he willingly accepts.

Curse of the Chosen Volume 1 & Curse of the Chosen Volume 11

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Curse of the Chosen Volume 1
Curse of the Chosen Volume 11
Alexis Deacon
Flying Eye Books

These are two bumper volumes, the first comprising (Geis) A Matter of Life and Death and A Game Without Rules, the second being the eagerly awaited The Will that Shapes the World, which concludes the trilogy.

Alexis Deacon’s first two graphic novels have held readers in their thrall since their publication. The first begins in fairly traditional fairytale style becoming progressively darker: a young woman, Io, finds herself in a room with 50 nobles; all are waiting for the death of the matriarch and thence the declaration of a new chief. They discover that the former matriarch has died but her body has been possessed by a sorceress who sends them from the Castle telling them to be back before dawn. “One alone I will spare,” she tells them. From this point on the reader watches the ordeals of some of these nobles as they try desperately to fight the “death magic” that has brought them thither.

Equally enthralling and even darker than the first book, A Game Without Rules begins by saying that the first test is now completed and only Io and a young man, Nemas know the truth of the sorceress’s plan. What follows is essentially a game of manipulations and wit within the city walls and the castle itself. Readers learn more about these characters who during the race for the crown, that at times becomes a race in a matter of life and death, we see the contestants change and develop. With the stakes raised the tension grows and it’s impossible to predict what will happen and who will succeed in the second test.

Powerful storytelling and awesomely detailed artwork once again sweep the reader away in the series finale The Will that Shapes the World. “The sorceress plans to kill us all! She has already murdered and enslaved the others!” comes a girl’s voice from behind bars, one of those remaining who are now scattered throughout the castle.

Shortly after comes an announcement from the sorceress, “Only one of you will survive … kill the others and one of you will live. I promise you that.”
Nightmarish scenes follow and awful realisations too as we head towards an unanticipated, impactful and clever conclusion.

I was astonished to realise that the creator is the same Alexis Deacon whose picture books are some of my most frequent classroom shares. What his awesome graphic novels do, among other things, is expose a different audience of older readers to challenging vocabulary, presenting it in a visually supportive context.

Peggy the Always Sorry Pigeon

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Peggy the Always Sorry Pigeon
Wendy Meddour and Carmen Saldaña
Oxford Children’s Books

Try as she might Peggy Pigeon manages to please nobody; all she succeeds in doing is getting in the way and apologising for so doing. The scruffy pigeons, the road sweeper, and a yappy dog all shoo her out of their way, watched unbeknown to Peggy, by a seagull that introduces herself as Joan.

Joan too receives an immediate apology from Peggy but she in response tells the pigeon to stop saying sorry when she’s done nothing to apologise for. She also calls Peggy’s explanations ‘Nonsense’ and goes on to explain why. She insists Peggy must stand up for herself and goes on to support the pigeon in her efforts so to do. Little by little Peggy’s confidence grows as she gives as good as she gets to the very same characters that treated her unkindly.

I love her ‘SOGGY HAT SANDWICH’ and other retorts that definitely give her bossy persecutors a big surprise.

By the end of the day when Peggy and Joan relax together on the water as the sun sets, Peggy thanks her new friend and also gives her supportive seagull pal something of a surprise; seemingly Joan has done her job even better than she thought.

With its lovely, somewhat unexpected finale, Wendy Meddour’s tale of learning to stand up for yourself, supportiveness and friendship is an empowering story to share with young listeners who will love the opportunity to emulate Peggy’s retorts as she stands up for herself and enjoy Carmen Saldaña’s splendidly expressive illustrations of the action: the looks on the faces of the various characters – avian and otherwise – are wonderful.

Turtle Bay

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Turtle Bay
Saviour Pirotta and Nilesh Mistry
Otter-Barry Books

The conservation message in this story is even more pertinent now than when the book was first published about 25 years back.

Essentially it’s a look at the breeding process of Japanese loggerhead turtles, but it’s much more too.
Taro is firm friends with Jiro-San whom in response to his sister calling the man weird, the boy says is “old and wise and full of wonderful secrets.” The two spend a lot of time on the beach where Tiro has already learned both how to care for some of the sea creatures and how to be mindful and watch what’s happening in the rockpools.
Now Jiro-San is often to be seen sweeping the rubbish and broken glass from the beach or sitting on a rock watching and listening and one day that is how Taro finds him. He’s preparing for the return of his “old friends”, Jiro-San explains to the boy.
Having spent the following day together sweeping the beach and placing the rubbish in Jiro-San’s cart, he invites Taro to meet him that evening by the big rock. He does, but that’s not when they see the particular friends the old man has been talking about.

That happens a few days later, when accompanied by his somewhat reluctant sister, Taro heads off to the usual meeting spot. Suddenly something emerges from the water: it’s a mother turtle, come to lay her eggs on the beach, which she does before heading back to the sea to let the other turtles know the beach is safe. The following evening a band of female turtles arrive and lay their eggs in holes on the sandy shore.

Some weeks later Jiro-San and the two children observe the nocturnal emergence of hundreds of baby sea turtles and see them scuttling down to the sea.

Nilesh Mistry’s gorgeous blue, yellow and lavender-hued scenes show these events and create a sense of calm and of wonder that will be shared by children who read or listen to Saviour Pirotta’s perfectly paced tale with its important messages about caring for the environment, mindfulness, patience and being open-minded about people.

(There’s additional information about saving sea turtles at the end of the book.)

The Panda on PDA / The Red Beast

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The Panda on PDA
Gloria Dura-Vilà , illustrated by Rebecca Tatternorth
Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Explaining autism and especially PDA through the lens of ursine characters is an ingenious, highly accessible, child-friendly way of doing so. Both the strengths and the challenges of PDA are explained by the Panda narrator and co-author of the book, a positive, charming and honest character. who also offers some things that might be helpful to turn a potentially bad day into a good one, (Keeping calm is key to remaining in control, we learn.)
Underscoring the idea that each Panda and thus child, is unique, are opportunities to personalise the narrative helping to make this such an affirmative book.

With her wealth of experience, Gloria Dura-Vilà is a passionate advocate for neurodiversity and her enthusiasm is apparent on every page of this book; and Rebecca Tatternorth’s illustrations are a delight as they bring her main character to life.

Maybe though, the real show-stealers are the Pandas depicted on both front and back endpapers; these were drawn by children with Pathological Demand Avoidance, their siblings and friends.

Altogether a super resource: I strongly recommend it to any parent with a PDA child, other family members, all teachers and professionals who support such children, and indeed anybody who seeks to understand PDA. Read the book and join the Panda tribe (or see things from a Panda’s perspective) is the message.

The Red Beast
K.I. Al-Ghani, illustrated by Haitham Al-Ghani
Jessica Kingsley Publishers

The main aim of this book – now in a new edition – is to help children who are neurodivergent to cope with and process their anger. It could however also work well with any child that has occasional outbursts of uncontrollable anger. But first they have to acknowledge this emotion, the ’red beast’ that lurks deep inside us all, dormant until something happens to awaken it. Said beast then starts to grow and grow and grow until it can’t be contained and out pour those hurtful words, “I hate you! I hate you!” accompanied by spiteful actions such as kicking, biting, swearing and spitting.

The story here is one of Danni and what happens when the Red Beast within him is accidentally woken up when a ball kicked by somebody in the playground hits him in the stomach. Despite Charlie’s apologies, the Red Beast rages alarmingly at him, 

until a teacher arrives on the scene to remove Danni from the situation. 

Once inside Danni is calmly given a stress ball to help diffuse his anger. Little by little with slow deep breathing and squeezes of the ball, Danni’s Red Beast grows smaller and sleepier until it’s fast asleep. Danni is then given cool water to drink, followed by some bubble wrap to pop and it’s not long before he’s ready to return to class where he apologises to an understanding, non-judgemental Charlie. Thereafter Danni knows what to do should that Red Beast reawaken.

Further helpful calming strategies are listed after the story. It’s good to see that the overarching idea in this accessible story is to deem the behaviour negative rather than the child. That is one all adults should remember to adopt when dealing with youngsters both at school and at home, so this is a helpful book for any primary school collection.

Nura and the Immortal Palace

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Nura and the Immortal Palace
M.T.Khan
Walker Books

Clever, ambitious Nura lives in the fictional Pakistan town of Meerabagh. Since her father died she has worked mining mica to help support her family – her mother, her three younger siblings and herself. In the mine too, toils her best friend Faisal, often teased for his stutter by other child workers. Nura’s mother dreams of sending her to school, but Nura is more interested in treating herself to gulab jamun from her wages and more important saving up to send her younger siblings to school so they can break free of the family’s cycle of poverty. She also wants to find the legendary Demon’s Tongue buried deep within the mines; so doing would certainly solve all the family’s money issues.

When a terrible accident happens burying among others Faisal, Nura goes to the rescue and in so doing she digs too deep causing the earth to collapse over her friend. Digging even deeper, even further to save him, lands Nula in the realm of the jinn, at the opulent Sijj Palace, a jinn hotel. There she finds Faisal, and the two face trickery from the evil jinn, who offer luxuries untold and attempt to manipulate human children into labouring for the hotel; indeed nothing is as it seems. Can Nura outsmart the jinn, thus saving herself and her friends?

Into her wonderful storyworld building, in addition to friendship and magic the author skilfully weaves observations on child labour and poverty, and systems that maintain inequality that are relevant today. The narrative is fast paced and full of action, and with a wealth of lyrical imagery, this superb fantasy shines like the mica glistening in the sunlight that Nura mentions as the story starts. The cover illustration by Hazem Asif is fabulous too. I can’t wait to see what this debut author writes next.

(In her note at the end of the thought-provoking book, she talks of both child poverty in today’s world and of the importance of education as a way of escape from poverty, discrimination and war.)

Supermouse and the Volcano of Doom / Ebb and Flo and the Baby Seal

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Supermouse and the Volcano of Doom
M.N. Tahl and Mark Chambers
Little Tiger

In case you didn’t make the acquaintance of Supermouse in his previous adventure, Peter Parmesan is no ordinary mouse. When disaster strikes, Peter morphs into Supermouse ready to save the day.
Now along with the regular news of crooks creating chaos comes news of the imminent eruption of Mount Fondue, way too big a task for our hero to handle entirely alone. So, he decides to hold auditions for ‘The League of Remarkable Rodents’ but none of the many that show up for the audition are sufficiently remarkable. Supermouse must face the volcano of doom alone.

As he starts to investigate this hot, hot mountain, there’s a sudden SPLAT that sends our hero skywards. However, refusing to be overcome he fights with all his might to fend off the fiery onslaught until disaster strikes in the form of hot molten cheese.

Is there anyone that could help rescue Supermouse and in so doing save the city? You never know: assistance sometimes comes from an unlikely source.

With its plethora of flaps to explore, speech bubbles, peep-through pages aplenty, wealth of wordplay and rodents of several kinds, this madcap superhero romp will go down well with young would-be superhero humans. They’ll absolutely relish Mark Chambers’ zany action-packed illustrations, that’s for sure.

Ebb and Flo and the Baby Seal
Jane Simmons
Graffeg

As Ebb sits listening to the pitter patter of the rain she hears a ‘Wah! Wah!’ coming from the direction of the beach. Off she dashes and there she discovers a baby seal – a playmate at last.After a day romping on the beach and in the waves, a hungry Ebb decides to head home; the little seal tries to follow. Ebb realises that it needs help, seeks the assistance of Mum and Flo

and eventually together they find a way to reunite the baby with its mother.

Jane Simmons’ misty watercolour illustrations evoke the seaside setting beautifully in this third reissue in a wonderful series that, with themes of kindness and teamwork, is as relevant now as twenty years back when the book was originally published.

Too Small Tola Gets Tough / The Princess in Black and the Mermaid Princess

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Popular characters return in two early chapter books for new solo readers: thanks to Walker Books for sending them for review.

Too Small Tola Gets Tough
Atinuke, illustrated by Onyinye Iwu

These three stories of the wonderful Tola, who lives with her siblings and Grandmummy in a flat in Lagos, show her as more determined than ever. 

In the first she makes an exciting mathematical discovery and this in turn leads her to a realisation about life itself. However her excitement about these is quickly overtaken by news of a virus and the word ‘lockdown’ is spoken in the family residence. But it’s only in places like London where that happens surely. However the following day comes an announcement: Lagos is in lockdown. Now important decisions have to be made: will Lola’s family stay together or will her studious sister Moji, and brother Dapo now employed mending cars, go their separate ways?

In the second episode the question of lack of money becomes a huge issue: food is scare and Tola and Grandmummy, like countless other folk, keep going on one meal a day. Even Tola’s Papa, earning money far away driving his taxi is unable to help as his business too is out of action. Then comes a chance for Lola to contribute some much needed cash; reluctantly she decides to take it 

finding herself working for a super-rich family. 

However she soon discovers that rich people too now have problems, especially when they’re being cheated. Hurrah for Tola’s mathematical skills, and of course her kindness, cleverness, resourcefulness and mighty determination.

If you’ve not met Lola before, this third book offers a wonderful chance to introduce her to new solo readers. Those already familiar with her will welcome this new book with its lively drawings by Onyinye Iwu.

The Princess in Black and the Mermaid Princess
Shannon & Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Now in her ninth adventure, the ever popular young Princess in Black is plunged into an underwater mission involving a mermaid princess (along with of course those elements her fans love: heroes in disguise, hungry monsters, imperiled goats, and ninja skills). 

As the story begins the three heroes are sailing in Princess Sneezewort’s ship. The Princess in Blankets wants to battle sea monsters, whereas the Princess in Black hopes to see a mermaid. It’s the Princess in Black who gets her wish for they soon encounter the beautiful mermaid Princess Posy and the creatures of her realm.

The three offer to help her protect the capricorns from the hungry kraken. However they quickly realise that monster-fighting moves aren’t much use underwater. 

The Princess in Black sends her new friend a message about assertiveness and helping others. Perhaps Princess Posy knows some new ninja moves that will help.

With appealing new characters, a totally different setting, teamwork, the wonders of the power of the imagination, links with previous episodes and a wealth of lively undersea filmic style scenes by LeUyen Pham, this is certain to be winner.

The Invention

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The Invention
Julia Hubery and James Munro
Graffeg

How do you get all the seemingly exceedingly busy people who live in the same block of flats as you do to take time to interact with one another? That’s what Fili, who lives in said flats with her caretaker Dad wonders as she watches their comings and goings with barely a ‘hello’ being spoken day in day out.

However young Fili isn’t one to feel sad and do nothing about the situation; instead she thinks further, talks with her Dad and then sets to work, making … an Invention, As yet she’s unable to explain how it works, nor what it does 

but what is evident is that it keeps getting larger and larger and everybody is interested in Fili’s mysterious creation. Eventually someone asks, ‘ … how will you know when it’s finished?’ Fili responds that she’ll need everyone’s help with that.

One day she delivers invitations to all the residents of their block, thus arousing further curiosity on their part. Needless to say the Invention party is well attended although at first the attendees are somewhat nonplussed at the Invention’s lack of action. 

Now Fili’s plan moves up a gear, “Will you help to start it?’ she asks. Immediately everybody begins twiddling and fiddling, and more importantly, giggling and chatting until finally …
There we have it: one little girl, one idea, one supportive parent, a lot of determination to build, not just her invention but a collaborative community.

James Munro’s superbly quirky illustrations are perfect for Julia Hubery’s straightforward droll telling about a child with a good idea, ingenuity and lots of determination, and the bringing together of people to form a real community.

Grow, Tree, Grow!

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Grow, Tree, Grow!
Dom Conlon and Anastasia Izlesou
Graffeg

The fifth in the Wild Wanderers series is every bit as good as the previous titles; in fact as trees are my number one thing in nature, this, with an Oak tree as its main focus is my favourite so far.

In his wonderful lyrical text Dom describes how in the forest as winter departs, an oak sapling is slowly growing to become Tree. All around minibeasts, rabbits and larger creatures are hunting for food to survive.

Many years later we see Tree has become a safe haven – ‘a canopy-guarder / a sanctuary for all to share.’ All being squirrels, woodpeckers, birds, bats, spiders and badgers. 

Growing in the forest too are other trees – chestnut, ash and beech, each helping to keep the atmosphere clean, … ‘and branch is to sky / as root is to earth so // grow, Tree, grow!’ urges the narrative.

Seasons come and go bringing changes in the form of acorns within each of which lies another potential oak, but squirrels have designs on these goodies so Tree must make more and yet more till they’re ready to fall. The ground though is shared with acorn-loving pigs but they are not the biggest danger: that is the people who chop down the precious trees to make room for towns full of houses, shops and traffic.

Is it possible that a thousand years have passed since Tree’s tiny sapling started to grow; it surely is, but nothing in nature lasts for ever. Even an oak as majestic, as awesome as Tree must eventually die and now its time has come so, ‘rest Tree, rest.’ while all around new life springs forth and the wondrous cycles of nature continue – each to each returns its need and life goes on.

The web of life that is harboured during the lifetime of an oak tree is brilliantly caught in Anastasia Izlesou’s intricate tracery of lines and shades of russets and greens. Simply gorgeous!

Princesses Break Free

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Princesses Break Free
Timothy Knapman and Jenny Lovlie
Walker Books

Timothy Knapman does a splendid job of stirring things up when it comes to princesses. Princess Tilly in this wonderful story – or rather the second part of same – not only challenges the stereotypical inactive damsel in distress ‘wait for a handsome prince to come and rescue me, then we’ll both live happily ever after’ princess image, but knocks it clean out of the court.

When this young princess is seized by a dragon she rescues herself by the creative use of some rather large knickers. But then she’s apprehended by her Fairy Godmother who admonishes Tilly and puts her in Princess Prison to learn proper princessy behaviour. That of course, Tilly is not prepared to tolerate and once again she rescues herself.

This mightily impresses another princess, one of the waiting to be rescued kind, or make that formerly of that kind. For, empowered by Tilly she makes a break for it and the two flap to freedom courtesy of two passing swans.

Before long new princess stories are spreading across the kingdom featuring mountain climbing princesses, jungle explorers and those who sailed the seven seas – the very things they’d always wanted to do. Left with nothing else to do all the dragons, witches and evil queens find alternative ways of occupying themselves and to their surprise have fun so doing, so much so that the now redundant princess-rescuing princes join them.

Indeed nothing is as before in this particular fairytale realm but taking one’s fate into one’s own hands doesn’t preclude the possibility of a ‘happily ever after’ ending, rather it does the complete opposite. Really truly it does.

With its deliciously divergent Princess Tilly showing the way, Timothy’s tale is a real winner in my book, Equally winning are Jenny Lovlie’s action-packed scenes of fairytale characters coming into their own as they decide to follow Tilly’s example and think outside their various boxes.

Hop on Top, Mouse! / Too Heavy Elephant!

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Hop on Top, Mouse!
Too Heavy Elephant!
Tony Neal
Oxford Children’s Books

The ideal way for young children to develop mathematical concepts about weight, height etc is through practical experience. Fun books such as these two help the process too, especially when there’s a simple story with vital vocabulary, and funny pictures by Tony Neal to enjoy with a supportive adult.

Hop on Top, Mouse! starts with a cupcake atop a tall cupboard and a tiny mouse looking longingly up at the object of its desire. Too high! says the text. (presumably the mouse’s frustrated comment). he calls on Monkey for help but the cupboard is too slippery for Monkey to climb. They call Rabbit to assist; his hopping skills are pretty good but even so all three are just ‘too short’. So what about a bit of co-operation. First one on top of another, but the cake is still too far away.

Happily though several other creatures are ready and willing to assist in operation cupcake. What will be the outcome – disaster or satisfaction all round?

The episode is followed by some activities for children to try both at home and out walking, and some basic key vocabulary.

The same cast of characters participate in Too Heavy Elephant! along with the titular pachyderm. Mouse and Elephant are keen to play together on a seesaw but inevitably the latter is too heavy but Mouse isn’t giving up that easily; he’s finding another way to get onto the plank but even then he’s just too light and elephant too heavy to operate said seesaw. I wonder how many of Mouse’s animal friends it will take to find the balance …

Co-operation reigns … The friends haven’t reckoned on the appearance of Daddy Elephant however …

Again the funny story is followed by some ‘heavy and light’, and weight comparing activities, and some basic vocabulary.

A thoroughly enjoyable way to support mathematical learning at home or in an early years setting.

Wishes Come in Threes

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Wishes Come in Threes
Andy Jones
Walker Books

Phyll has recently moved from London to the coast with her mum, which Dad hopes, will help with Mum find her Happy again as our soon to be twelve year old narrator tells us. Mum is a writer and has been suffering from depression for a while and so is unable to provide the emotional support her daughter needs at this challenging time.

Now Phyll has just started attending summer camp near her new home and Camp Sunshine is providing yet another challenge in the form of Hilda and her two pals, who Phyll thinks of as Hilda and the Horribles. On the positive side though, at the camp too is a friendly boy, Clark, with a seashell bracelet and he says he is going to the same high school as Phyll come the autumn.

When rain curtails outside activities, the camp leader offers the opportunity to visit an old folks home, which both Phyll and Clark accept. There she meets the rather mysterious Mr Djinn who talks of pirates, loves to play cribbage, tells her that magic is real and that he’s a genie – an idea she decides to go along with. Phyll also sets up a free dog walking service, helps a woman with a lost dog, longs for a dog of her own and is instrumental in the arrest of a dog-napper.

A lot more happens too but I urge you to get your own copy to discover what. I have to admit to having tears in my eyes as I finished this wonderful story of friendship, self belief, wishes and the possibility of magic. The characterisation is superb: Mr Djinn especially has some powerful things to say, in relation for instance, to the slave trade – ‘the greed of men is a terrible evil.’

My wish having put the book aside is that Andy Jones writes another story as beautiful and moving as this, his first for children.

The Fog Catcher’s Daughter

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The Fog Catcher’s Daughter
Marianne McShane and Alan Marks
Walker Books

Somewhere on the Irish coast (three fields away from the sea to be precise) near the enchanted isle of Lisnashee where the Good People, or fairy folk, dwell, live young Eily and her fog catcher father.
The villagers stay well away from the island, fearing the consequences, should they anger the sinister sprites known for spoiling livestock, wrecking ships, and stealing people away in the night.
However members of Eily’s family have for generations, journeyed to the island once a year in their role as fog-catchers. Their task is to collect magical beads of mist that will help grow herbs Annie uses for protection charms, and to make potions, and healing ointments in her apothecary.

With the fairy wind on the rise, Eily knows that this year her father faces a treacherous crossing to Lisnashee. So she heads down to Annie’s apothecary to choose him a journey treasure and when she leaves Annie gives the child a blessing, “A smooth way before you, child.”

By the time she reaches the shore her Papa has already loaded his boat so she bids him a safe journey, gives him a farewell hug and puts the stone into his hand. Returning home she discovers that Papa’s charm has been snatched from his grasp by the fairy wind and fears for his safety. She does as she’s bid, leaves butter on the doorstep and curls up holding the charm.

However soon after, what she finds on the doorstep prompts her to undertake a perilous journey in Lapwing, rowing out on the storm tossed sea to rescue her beloved Papa.

Suffused with folklore of the Emerald Isle, Marianne McShane’s elegantly told, powerfully atmospheric story is both haunting and timeless, made all the more so by Alan Marks’ delicate, almost ethereal, watercolour scenes. How perfectly he captures the white-capped, rolling waves, the ghostly, menacing faeries, and the determination of Eily.

Child listeners and anybody with an interest in folklore will surely love this magical tale. In a final note, the author explains what inspired her to write it.

The Whale Watchers / When Things Went Wild

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These are two adventure stories set in Scotland and both with an environmental theme: thanks to Owlet Press and Harper Collins Children’s Books for sending them for review.

The Whale Watchers
Dougie Poynter, illustrated by Amber Huq
Owlet Press

It’s the start of the school summer holidays and Finn is anything but pleased to be travelling by train to Scotland to study whales along with his marine biologist mum and younger brother Jesse who is really excited about the prospect of whale watching. Who wants to go to a cold, rainy place at the end of nowhere when you might go somewhere hot like Spain or France? But it’s part of his mum’s job to collect data on the various kinds of whales, minke whales in particular. Moreover, the thought of such creatures and ideas of plastic pollution in the oceans and endangered animals makes Finn’s stomach churn: contrary to what his mum believes Finn thinks the world is already doomed.

However when he arrives next morning things don’t seem quite so awful: the cottage where they’re to stay is right on the beach. Then while on the shore the boys meet Skye and Rain, her dog. Gradually as they spend time together sharing experiences and an adventure neither will forget,

their friendship grows strong and Finn is able to see things differently.
After all his misgivings he has an unexpectedly incredible summer holiday and has a wonderful surprise even before his train home has reached its destination.

Dougie Poynter, himself an avid conservationist, cleverly weaves information about the marine life of the Moray Firth and the impact of pollution on its waters and the wider environment into his splendid story: everyone can make a difference and although it might seem small to the individual, the impact of each person together can be huge. I was horrified at the comment from a colleague of Finn’s mum, ‘just a single one-litre plastic bottle can break down into enough tiny pieces of plastic to put a piece on every single mile of beach on the planet.’ Amber Huq’s illustrations add to the dramatic impact of the tale.

There’s also an excellent final factual section reinforcing the novel’s message that includes lots of ways that everybody can help contribute to the cause of marine animals and the environment in general.

When Things Went Wild
Tom Mitchell
Harper Collins Children’s Books

From the quote from Tennyson’s The Eagle before the story begins I knew I was going to enjoyTom Mitchell’s latest book; it even exceeded my high expectations.

With his parents and irritating younger brother Jack, Kit has recently moved from Nottingham to an old house in Granton, in the highlands of Scotland, a place he describes as in the middle of nowhere. He has a lot to contend with: the wi-fi is rubbish, he’s starting at a new school and now his mum is wanting him to join them on a walk. It’s on said walk however that pesky Jack stumbles upon an unknown object and later on when PC Lennox comes knocking on their door, the boys learn that the object they found is a tracker that has been removed from the leg of a missing golden eagle named Adler.

Then a school project is announced and everyone in Kit’s class is expected to produce an idea to investigate. Is there perhaps a chance he could become ‘Kit Brautigan, bird detective’? Apparently the killing of these awesome birds is fairly common and when the brothers realise there is actually a pair of nesting eagles under threat, they feel they must do something. Before long the school’s most popular pupil, Tamora, becomes involved as does her younger sister, Bea.

But who wants to harm the eagles and why? The main suspects are a local farmer McNab, the sinister game keeper Mosby and landowner Lord Cavendish, (father of Tamora and Bea.) Can the city children catch the killer culprit?

With mishaps and mayhem aplenty, Tom’s gently humorous tale – a whodunnit but so much more – is a timely reminder that we all need to take responsibility for protecting our precious environment and its wildlife.

Our Story Starts In Africa

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Our Story Starts in Africa
Patrice Lawrence, illustrated by Jeanetta Gonzales
Magic Cat

Paloma is visiting Trinidad, staying with Tante Janet and is eager to play with her cousins whom she’s not met before. They however don’t want to play with her; “How can you be family?” they say in response to her different way of speaking. Paloma’s sadness at her cousins’ comments is palpable in Jeanetta Gonzales richly hued illustrations, but Tante Janet is on hand to comfort her and tell her a secret.

Little by little she tells Paloma a story, one that starts in Africa. She explains how the comb the child holds is like combs found by scientists investigating the banks of the River Nile in northeastern Africa, used by people similar to the two of them, who lived thousands of years back, The conversation moves to warrior queens of yore, in particular one who fought the Romans two thousand years ago. I love how present and past come together by the visual juxtaposing of Paloma and her aunt, the comb and the historic ruler they are talking of.

This device continues to be used as their discussion turns to story telling and how African people preserved their stories on parchment, carved in stone, painted in caves and on jars, woven into kente cloth and through the beating of talking drums, not forgetting most importantly the passing on of stories orally from generation to generation. “Just like we’re doing now, Tante!” says Paloma.

Prompted by Paloma’s next question about writing books, the narrative turns to the role of libraries past and present, by which time the two decide to have a break for some refreshing ginger beer specially made by Tante Janet. This necessitates picking some limes from the yard, which is full of trees that Paloma hasn’t ever seen before. As the picking proceeds the two discuss some of Africa’s treasures; fruits, spices, precious wood and frankincense resin used in perfume making. Children will be horrified to read of jealous rulers from other lands, stealing diamonds, gold and most precious of all, African people.

Then with the limes collected, the subject of enslavement comes up :“That’s how we came to Trinidad,” Tante Janet says, leading on to colonisation,

and eventually through the wretched times of colonisation and enslavement, to the emergence of the fifty African countries comprising a thriving, present-day community of many places, faces and achievements.

That is where this superbly illustrated, engagingly and sensitively written book differs from many others about the African continent wherein the focus tends to be on (non contentious) topics like dance, music and traditional costume. How refreshing and exciting is Patrice’s approach for any adult who wants to present Black history to today’s youngsters, including this reviewer who feels increasingly ashamed of British policies and actions both past and present.

(In the final spread there’s more information about the topics discussed during the story.)

Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers

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Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers
Lina AlHathloul & Uma Mishra-Newbery, illustrated by Rebecca Green
Minedition

This is the debut book for authors Uma Mishra-Newbery and Lina AlHathloul, both human rights activists; Lina being the sister of Loujain AlHathloul, the women’s rights activist formerly imprisoned by the Saudi government for advocating women’s right to drive.

Many readers, adults at least, will be familiar with Icarus and his flight but fewer I suspect, will know of LouJain AlHathloul, the inspiration for this story. The Loujain in this story is a young girl who longs to fly like her father who talks of what her baba describes as a ‘carpet of a million sunflowers’. It’s this that fills the girl’s dreams while in the daytime she dons her father’s wings and pretends she can soar high into the sky. The problem is a big one however: girls are not allowed to fly. Nevertheless despite the taunting from her peers, she holds fast to her dream and baba’s assertion, “the only way to see the sunflowers is to fly over to where they are.”

Eventually baba relents and in the garden as he has done with his boys, he teaches her to fly. Now the possibility of reaching those ever beckoning fields of sunflowers is more than just a dream and one day the two – baba and Loujain spread their wings and …

Her baba takes a photo of his daughter in flight and next morning on the way to school Lulu is in the news.

What a wonderfully empowering story for children; they need to know that it’s important to dream big, to believe in yourself and to reach for the stars; that way will they see life’s wonders as they fly for peace of mind, for freedom and for their rights. Rebecca Green’s illustrations, with their warm hues and powerful images are show-stopping – a perfect backdrop for the words.
(Backmatter provides further information about Loujain AlHathloul and her work in the Saudi Women’s Rights movement and an inspiring letter from the authors.)

Jigsaw: A Puzzle in the Post

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Jigsaw: A Puzzle in the Post
Bob Graham
Walker Books

Such is the excitement at the arrival of a parcel containing a jigsaw puzzle of a beautiful African sunrise that the entire Kelly family is eager to get started on it right away. Dad declares, “I’ve got time on my hands …” and setting his watch to Late Autumn, they begin sorting the pieces. Unbeknown to them however is the fact that in Dad’s haste to get out all the pieces, he’s sent one flying;. it’s landed on the dog’s back and … 

As Winter comes, with Kitty and Katie’s help (and perhaps a bit from Lucy the dog), they finished the edges. Through Spring and Summer Dad is the only person working on the jigsaw: the girls preferring to play outside, but come the approach of Autumn, Dad makes an announcement: “The hippo’s swim shorts …” Disaster that piece is missing.

A thorough search ensues and then Mum has an idea about what might have happened to the vital piece. Unwilling to give up, off they go to the rubbish tip … 

where a near exhaustive search yields all kinds of interesting items but not that which they seek and eventually they make a wish and sadly return home.

That though is not quite the end of this wonderful story, but story spoiler I won’t be; it’s well worth getting hold of a copy of any book that Bob Graham creates in his signature style and this one demonstrating the power of positive thinking is absolutely enchanting.

Me, My Brother and the Monster Meltdown / Dirty Bertie: A Collection of Chaos

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Me, My Brother and the Monster Meltdown
Rob Lloyd Jones, illustrated by Alex Patrick
Walker Books

The author of this crazy, laugh-out-loud book was aided and abetted by his two sons who came up with the initial idea and some of the bonkers situations in the story. The setting is the unassuming Sussex coastal town of Rottingdean that has a lot of supermarkets and nothing else much apart from a library and a ‘Home for Ancient People’. The key characters are Otis (the narrator), his younger brother Jago (a doodler of weird images) and their four pals, Daisy, Suzie (she who attempts to burp the entire alphabet), Hardeep and Ben. Chaos reigns pretty much sums up this adventure.

When the story opens the local Tesco has just been under attack from a six-headed gingerbread man with a vicious grin or rather several. But there have been other supermarket onslaughts too and because of all this Otis and Jago’s Dad has turned the basement of their home into a survival bunker, such is his panic at the monstrous situation. Even the prime minster is involved, (not panicking in his bunker and giving daily speeches of the (un)reassuring kind); he’s amassed a team of elite scientists called the Bureau of Investigation of Giant Beasts and Unexplained Monsters. Said group have put posters around the town proclaiming DON’T PANIC! and EVERYTHING IS FINE!

Suddenly the penny drops: the Tesco trasher bears an uncanny resemblance to what Jago had drawn two days earlier on his bed frame using his clicker pen of many colours. Strangely enough some of the other giant monsters look familiar too, but none of the grown ups wants to listen to what Otis tries to tell them

so now it’s left to him and his friends to sort out this monstrous mess. On the more serious side, I love the dig at the government about libraries being shut down.

With a fair phew rear end explosions and a liberal scattering of suitably silly illustrations by Alex Patrick (shame Mr Khan appears to be wearing a Sikh pagri), this is a madcap romp if ever there was one.

Dirty Bertie: A Collection of Chaos
Alan MacDonald and David Roberts
Little Tiger

Young readers who have missed the redoubtable Dirty Bertie in his three separate books Worms!, Fetch! and Trouble! will be pleased to know that they can now find them in one bumper volume of mischief.

Any small boy who wants to avoid going to a ‘wear something pink’ party might be tempted to emulate Bertie in the first episode when he receives an invitation from the adoring Angela. Then comes the occasion when Bertie tries – unsuccessfully as you might expect – to be polite for a whole day.
Next we join Bertie as he accidentally adds his mum’s floral arrangement to the rubbish for collection; after all they did look practically dead. Serious trouble looms large so perhaps a substitute entry for the competition could save the day …

In Fetch! Bertie has a robot dog, Tiny, in tow, poor Whiffer’s status is relegated and both end up getting into all kinds of scrapes as a result. You’d expect nothing less. Then there comes an invitation to attend a garden party hosted by none other than Her Majesty the Queen. Now Bertie has to be on his very best behaviour but guess who the dogs that he offers to give their daily walks belongs to: it definitely isn’t the maid. After such an exclusive outing he’s sure to be on form for his cousin’s wedding where he’s to be a pageboy and even worse, wear a kilt …

Finally Trouble! – there’s a plethora of that for sure. First Bertie forgets he has a maths test and tries using a magic potion to make Miss Boot forget all about it; this of course doesn’t quite go to plan. Next he goes to a sleepover at Know-All Nick’s home: he’d rather sleep in a cave with vampire bats but nonetheless he is made to go. Is there perhaps a way Bertie could make this work for both boys? Finally in this hilarious collection, Bertie manages to teach Masher the school bully a lesson.

Scrapes galore, bad habits – of course – and emotions that all children will relate to; plus plethora of pricelessly funny illustrations: what more can a fun loving reader of a certain age possibly want?

The Girl Who Noticed Everything

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The Girl Who Noticed Everything
Jane Porter and Maisie Paradise Shearring
Walker Books

Little Stella is a wonderfully imaginative child who notices everything around her – clouds shaped like horses, a lonely glove waving from some railings, dustbins with faces, birds so cold they need blankets to keep them warm,

a man with upside down hair and another wearing a cat on his head. She excitedly shares her observations about all of these with her Dad as they walk to the park to meet their friends. He though is concerned that Stella’s forthright comments might hurt people’s feelings, so after a while she stops talking about what she sees.

However once they reach the park, she just has to draw her Dad’s attention to the colourfully dressed but sad looking woman walking very slowly calling, “Frankie! Frankie! Frankie?” His response is that they should play not noticing things for a while but that doesn’t stop Stella spotting a beautiful blue feather, which she picks up and tucks in her pocket.

Once at the park, Stella’s cross feelings disappear as she joins her friends in the sandpit. Even there though her eyes are busy looking everywhere especially at the nearby tree with its ‘pleated paper’ bark and toffee coloured leaves. Suddenly she spies a bright flash among the branches and shortly after comes a squawk. It’s this sound that makes her recall where she’d seen those bright colours before.

Now she knows that she really needs to speak out. What she says results in a joyful reunion, followed by a walk home during which both Dad and Stella both notice all manner of exciting things and Stella gives Dad a very special present. What he says in return should ensure that his daughter continues to speak out, and to use her observation skills and her imagination wherever she goes.

Jane Porter’s wonderfully empowering story is a must to share with young children at home and in nursery or school. Maisie Paradise Shearring’s brightly coloured scenes, expand the telling with a wealth of detail, not spoken of – small animals, birds, flowers, patterns, textures, and more. Having read the story in its entirety first, I’d like to think an adult and young child would spend ages looking at and discussing each spread.

Family and Me! / Wildflower

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Family and Me!
Michaela Dias-Hayes
Owlet Press

What a gorgeous celebration of herself, her family and her heritage, the little girl narrator of this rhyming book shares with readers. Feature by feature she presents key parts of herself starting with her eyes – these are just like her mum’s eyes, caring and true; her nose is similar to the beautiful one her Nanny has, which she puts to good use when they cook together . 

From grandad comes her glowing skin, from her aunt dazzling hair to crown her super sense of fashion. Her dad has passed on his super smile and cheeky expression, 

uncle his gentle touch and love of creating art, she has her grandma’s finely tuned ears whereas with his amazing dance moves, Grandpa has passed on his joyful sense of movement and ever dancing feet. 

Thus we see this little girl has dual heritage and she goes on to show off her framed portraits of her Mum’s family that make one half of her and her Dad’s, which provide the other half. How wonderful to celebrate such a super family – nine individuals (plus pets) – who so clearly love one another dearly.
That love shines forth from every single one of Michaela’s gorgeous warm illustrations is so evident and the shared tenderness between adults and child is unmistakeable throughout.

Wildflower
Melanie Brown and Sara Gillingham
Greystone Kids

Newly in bloom, Daisy is happy in her sunny spot in the garden. However her happiness is short-lived thanks to Rose’s hurtful words, “My mama says you’re just a weed, and you don’t belong here.” Poor Daisy’s petals droop even further each time another flower tells her she’s a weed. Sage says that she is a chef’s best friend, Sunflower towers over the garden and has seeds that are good to eat, 

Chamomile makes soothing tea that helps people sleep, and Strawberry Flower produces sweet, juicy fruits to feed people. Then, Sweet Pea shares the information that like Daisy, she wasn’t planted; she too was blown in by the wind and is sometimes called a weed. Up chimes Blackberry Vine imparting the news that despite the delicious fruits she produces, she also gets called a weed. Moreover Dandelion’s seeds are windborne but she calls herself a wild flower that grows wherever the wind drops a seed. 

By now, Daisy’s self belief has been restored. Finally there grows a Milkweed flower, meek and mild; this one introduces itself as a weed but Daisy is ready to speak out against Rose, giving her vital information, “Every plant I met today has something special about them to be proud of, no matter what you may call them.” She also warmly welcomes the newcomer to the garden they all share.

The ‘believe in yourself and love yourself exactly as you are’ and ‘stand up for others against prejudice’ messages are engagingly conveyed for young children in this beautifully simple story where words and pictures work in harmony.

Know It Owl

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Know It Owl
Emma Perry and Andrea Stegmaier
Storyhouse Publishing

Owl’s hyper-enthusiasm for passing on information causes the bird to interfere with the den building process of a weasel-looking creature, not just once but at every stage,

even down to the snacks to put inside once the project is finished; and as for reading material, no prizes for guessing what all the books must be about. Is that strigine ever going to stop poking its beak into another creature’s business one wonders.

The answer happily for all, is yes, and having seen the error of its ways Owl is off to fashion something with which to save this whole sorry situation once and for all. Or should that be just the once. And as for seeing the error of one’s ways, well that’s rather a different story …

With some fun puns, Owl’s teacherly mode with way, way too many don’ts for this reviewer/teacher’s liking but perfect for the character, and a funny finale, this tale of learning to play and work with others will make for an entertaining story session. Make sure that you allow plenty of time for young children to explore every one of Andrea Stegmaier’s wonderfully droll illustrations – there’s a wealth of delightful detail at each page turn; the final double spread is full of stories and make sure not to miss the very last page – what a hoot – it’s brilliant!

(If you buy a copy of this book 3% of the cover price is donated to children’s mental health charity Place2Be.)

It’s Tough to be Tiny

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It’s Tough to be Tiny
Kim Ryall Woolcock and Stacey Thomas
Flying Eye Books

Being tiny is tough, so the title of this book would seemingly have readers believe; but then it proceeds to show that this isn’t always the case. The reason being that some tiny creatures are able to keep safe or indeed get their food by means of a superpower. This can be anything from a protective armour to the gross use of poo some beetles use. There’s the horse mint tortoise beetle that carries a poo umbrella with its bum. Said umbrella is likely to be filled with toxic chemicals from the plants the beetle has eaten. Then there’s the palmetto tortoise beetle; this clever creature spins a protective thatch covering of dry poo threads to hide beneath. 

However, if you are a water scavenger beetle that has the misfortune to be consumed by a hungry frog, this clever bug makes use of its legs and on reaching the frog’s bum, it’s ejected in the amphibian’s poo just minutes later. 

Other tiny creatures have a secret weapon that is very useful when it comes to obtaining something tasty to eat. Tiny cone snails hunt speedy fish as big as themselves. They lie in wait, then out shoots their venom-filled harpoon tooth, which paralyses the fish which the snail then swallow whole. Velvet worms too, have a secret weapon, a sticky goo. Readers can find out how that works in this fascinating book. 

There’s an interesting spread on microscopic creatures that make no effort to get their food, they merely wait for it to come to them; these include the stretchy stentor and hydra, which are also very stretchy.

A super book for budding zoologists or anybody with an interest in small creatures.

Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: Pirates Ahoy!

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Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: Pirates Ahoy!
Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton
Nosy Crow

Ex-criminal canine cupcake baking duo, Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam, embark on a wonderfully madcap adventure at sea when they’re summoned to the good (actually pretty awful) ship The Leaky Lobster by Captain Chucklebeard. He wants to reward his crew for unearthing some treasure by throwing a celebratory party.

Shifty and Sam quickly set to work baking some delicious treats, their pièce de résistance being an octo-cake. Suddenly however the party band troops through the kitchen, taking with them, Sam suspects, one of his iced buns.

When the party kicks off with wild abandon Captain Chucklebeard is foolish enough to show off the pirates’ newly won spoils. Games follow and during that time Shifty and Sam creep off to fetch their octo-cake, but on the way they come upon a truly alarming sight …

Suddenly the penny drops – these guys aren’t musicians at all; they’re criminals of the dastardly kind and they’re escaping with Chucklebeard’s prized treasure. Can Shifty and Sam possibly catch those wicked thieves and bring back the booty? Perhaps with the aid of Captain Chucklebeard’s feathered friend and a huge sacrifice …

Another sure-fire winner for team Corderoy and Lenton. Tracey’s rollicking rhyming narrative is a brilliant read aloud and Steven’s wackily cheery illustrations that almost leap off the page at you, are the perfect combination for a lively story session.

The Offline Diaries / How to Hide an Alien

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These are two stories about friendship and its challenges

The Offline Diaries
Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené
Harper Collins Children’s Books

Presented mainly through the diaries of the main characters, Shanice and Ade both in Y8, this funny, fresh contemporary novel follows the ups and downs of the friendship of the two girls.

Ade is about to start at a new school; she has just been forced to move with her mother and sisters to be near her stepdad’s new job and he’s somebody she definitely doesn’t get on with. Shanice.something of a loner, has been at Archbishop Academy for a year, lives with her dad and irritating brother, and to help her cope with her mother’s death, has mostly been spending a fair bit of time at her dad’s salon where she loves to people watch. She has an older brother James who seems to get away with everything. The salon is where the two girls first meet; they appear to have a fair bit in common and decide to chat online.

Things go well at school too until Ade gets involved with the popular, mean, Double-A girls and Shanice feels increasingly left out. Meanwhile Ade attempts to juggle the friendships, but before long she realises she needs to make a decision: who is a real friend? And then what? …

Can Ade and Shanice’s powerful friendship survive if Shanice refuses to have anything to do with Ade: online doesn’t work, Shanice avoids personal contact with Ade; but could a letter help work things out?

This is a captivating and effective combination of diary entries and online chat that will resonate with readers around the age of the two main characters, both of whom are hugely likeable. There’s a feeling of authenticity about the entire thing: it’s relatively easy to make a friend but making up requires the ability to see things from another person’s perspective, and strength of character: these two girls with their distinctive voices, have the latter in bucketloads.

How to Hide an Alien
Karen McCombie
Little Tiger

Star Boy crashed into the school playground and thus the lives of Kiki and Wes in How to be a Human and is now named Stan.

After being on earth just ten days he’s trying hard to learn the rules of being human and understand about emotions, the latter being discouraged among his species. Kiki and Wes too are having to learn quickly – hiding and training an apprentice human’ is far from easy even with the help of Eddie, the owner of the Electrical Emporium. There’s an urgent need to be able to pass their alien pal off as human so that they can all go to the funfair that’s arriving very soon. Bothering Star Boy at the same time is that he’s started experiencing pings and pangs. Equally those electrical surges are hard to hide first from Kiki’s dad but soon they’re causing a growing problem for Wes and Kiki as they create electrical disturbances all across town.

Add to all that, the family situations of Kiki and Wes continue to be challenging, so that makes three characters struggling to find where they belong in this world. But then by accident Star Boy channels his true form onto the interactive whiteboard, not only in Wes’s class but that in every single classroom at Riverside Academy.’ How much of a catastrophe have I caused? he wonders. The school is temporarily closed for starters. Time for some breathing exercises to calm things down a bit.

Before long though come reports of an alien sighting, trending on Instagram and soon Star Boy has gone viral. Another possibility raises its head too: is Star Boy being tracked from whence he came?
Now friendship, empathy and all they mean, are even more crucial than ever if Kiki and Wes are to keep their friend safe. Can Kiki’s mum do anything to help?

Told with gentle humour, this is another totally gripping story that I read in a single sitting: it could be read as a stand alone but it’s even better if you’ve already read How to be a Human.

A Day That’s Ours

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A Day That’s Ours
Blake Nuto and Vyara Boyadjieva
Flying Eye Books

With normal life more or less resumed, post pandemic, for many of us that means back to dashing around trying to pack way too much into our days and forgetting those leisurely lockdown days when there was plenty of time and opportunity to slow down and appreciate just being together, savouring the simple things. The kind of little things the father and small child do in this gorgeous book, such as tucking into an enormous pile of pancakes at breakfast time, walking hand in hand discovering tiny treasures waiting to be seen on the way to the park.

The sounds too – they, just like Vyara Boyadjieva’s exhilarating illustrations – are captivating and need to be savoured.

There seems to be all the time in the world to notice the seasonal changes – those small signs like the leaves turning golden or orange, then not long after drifting down;

as well as to rest beneath the spreading branches of a tree before the day begins to fade.

Lyrically written in gentle rhyme, Blake Nuto has captured that magical window of time before even the quite young have their lives packed with worries about school grades, tests and exams, as the parent here knows all too well loom on the horizon for his child, a time all to soon over and one to celebrate.

A perfect fusion of words and pictures that adults will definitely want to share with young children over and over and over …

Passionate About Penguins

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Passionate About Penguins
Owen Davey
Flying Eye Books

Spending their time between land and sea, penguins are amazing creatures: I knew this, but I didn’t know that there are so many different kinds. Owen Davey talks of this on the opening spread of the eighth of his superb series. There are way more penguin species than that though, possibly as many as twenty it’s suggested here, and they are divided into six groups. Examples from each group show off their heads on the first page.

Ask a child where penguins live and they’ll likely tell you Antarctica; however that only accounts for some. Galapagos penguins might be found living north of the equator and there are lots of other kinds of terrain inhabited by penguins – beaches, rocky areas and coastal forests being some. Being carnivorous, they’re always fairly near the sea where they hunt, preying on such marine creatures as jellyfish, eels, crabs and tiny krill. 

On account of their ‘aquatic’ lifestyle, penguins have become specially adapted. Owen uses the example of a Humboldt penguin to zoom in on the special features – webbed feet positioned towards the rear of its body, countershading, making them tricky to spot, streamlined body shape to facilitate effortless swimming, wings – used not for flight but balance, thick blubber for warmth, a special gland to filter excess salt from their blood, dense skeletons for ease of swimming and diving, hooked beaks to catch and hold prey. This they swallow with the aid of fleshy spines on their tongues and inside of their mouths. There’s a spread further entitled Making a Meal of Things giving lots more information on food and feeding.

Other spreads are devoted to plumage, locomotion, self-defence, surviving in extreme conditions, the rearing of chicks – fancy having to eat partially-digested food regurgitated by a parent. Put it another way the adult throws up into the chick’s mouth and surprisingly the little ones love it.
There’s also information about love life, 

social life, size comparison – Emperor penguins can be as tall as 1.2 metres vs ‘Little’ penguins, two antipodean species being only just over 30 centimetres.

As with previous books in the series, there’s an ‘And the Award Goes To’ feature with six award winners, one each for swimming speed, the deepest divers, those that hold their breath longest (that’s two medals for Emperor penguins), the most aggressive, the most private and wait for it – the most fashionable – the feathery crowned Macaroni.

This fascinating book ends with a look at conservation, a vital topic since most penguin species are becoming endangered on account of human action and here you’ll find too what can be done to protect these creatures and their habitats. Finally there’s an index.

Imbued with Owen Davy’s gentle humour, and with a wealth of his signature style illustrations that make each page opening a treat, this fact-packed book is another must have for wild animal lovers, budding zoologists and classroom collections.

No Sleep For Bear

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No Sleep For Bear
Duncan Beedie
Templar Publishing

Duncan Beedie’s staring Bear returns in another droll, diverting episode.

With signs of the approach of winter, Bear is eagerly anticipating his long period of sleep, a very long one he thinks. Bear has a proclivity to make lists so the very first thing he does is list requirements for the perfect sleep and having written and ticked off same, he closes his eyes and … stays awake.

That’s not right he thinks as he spends a restless night till bird song reminds him it’s morning. Maybe a long walk might make me sleepy wonders Bear. He walks from sunrise till almost sunset and suddenly notices a Blackbird preparing to sleep by chirping tunefully. Could that work for me, Bear thinks. Soon, from the top of a tree comes a “GRROOWWOO!” followed by a great deal of fidgety fussing until morning comes.
Off goes Bear once more and noticing Badger busy burrowing into his sett for a cosy snooze, our ursine friend decides to try burrowing along behind. Talk about a squash and a squeeze.

Morning comes around again and Bear returns to his cave where he starts another of those lists. While so doing in flutters Bat and hangs itself up head downwards. It’s not one of Bear’s best ideas to try emulating Bat.

Out into the moonlit night he creeps, heading for the pond deeper in the forest. That’s where he comes upon Frog. Bear explains his plight and Frog comes up with an important point, the gist of which he proceeds to demonstrate. Bear copies Frog to the best of his ability, mindfully contemplating the sights and sounds of the darkness until finally he falls fast asleep. Great for Bear but not of course for the other forest dwellers that had been asleep too. Now what?

That would be telling, and Duncan’s last three superb spreads do it to perfection, about these I’ll only say, there’s another list and the need for some patience.

A terrific tongue-in-cheek offering with some fun alliteration to treat young listeners; but equally, adult readers aloud will relish Bear’s bodily contortions and expressions. Oh! those eyebrows – and not just those of Bear.

Fish, Llamas and a Visit to the Zoo

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1 2 3 Fish in the Sea
Luna Parks, illustrated by Gareth Lucas
Little Tiger

There’s tactile fun along with the counting and number recognition between the covers of this brightly coloured, textured, rhyming board book. We start with one three coloured little fishy swimming in the ocean, that one meets a speedy friend, and then another. The three explore inside a cave where they meet fishy number four, followed soon after as they dash around by fishy number 5. But then as they swim 5 abreast a scary shark gives chase. Time to hide little fishes …

Be Calmer, Llama!
Rosamund Lloyd and Gareth Lucas
Little Tiger

In her rhyming, counting down narrative, Rosamund Lloyd starts with five llamas frenetically rushing around. They decide that it’s time to slow down for that way lies more greater happiness so they hope. Each one finds a different way to become calmer: the first does so by means of water, the next gives himself a bit of self-love, leaving three giddy creatures. A wise one does some relaxing exercises, leaving two females; one undertakes some deep exhalations and as the last is anticipating some solo relaxation, back bounce the others. I wonder what happens …
Counting fun set against Gareth Lucas’ five calm-inducing natural backgrounds, each bursting with wildlife that adults and toddlers can talk about together, in addition to trying out some of the llamas’ ways to slow down.

Not really a board book but offering a wealth of language possibilities is

Lola Loves Animals
Imapla
minedition

In this wordless picture book illustrated with brightly coloured digital art, readers join young Lola and her mum on a trip to the zoo. Its clever concertina construction shows the red path they take against a white background on the walk to the zoo and as Lola enjoys her encounters with in turn an elephant, a gorilla, a moose, giraffes and a hippo. (I love the changing emotions on the faces of the characters). Her toy duck meanwhile enjoys making a new friend. 

During this time the weather has changed from sunny to rainy, and as they head homewards, it’s dark.

At the end is a lift the flap door; this gives readers entry to the second part of Lola’s adventure on the other side of the page. Here, a black background shows her dream of flying through the air and having an exciting adventure with the animals she met at the zoo.

The clever accordion fold means that the book stands up easily enabling it to act as a backdrop for a child’s imaginative play (thus fulfilling the cover boast: ‘Book & Playset in one!’) There’s a wealth of storytelling potential between the covers of this clever book, especially if you add some small world characters and objects.

Little Bee / Little Lion

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Little Bee
Anna Brett, illustrated by Rebeca Pintos
Little Lion
Anna Brett, illustrated by Carmen Saldaña
QED

These are the first titles in the new Really Wild Families series, each book being narrated by the titular Little animal.

Little Bee is a bumblebee, just a few days old that’sfreshly emerged from its cell in the nest ready to introduce its entire family. We meet first a few little brother bees and more than a hundred sisters (the workers) and the Queen, their mother. The babies’ first task of the day is to clean the wax cells in their nest: their very first lesson. They also help look after their mother so she has sufficient energy to lay more eggs. However their role changes as they age, the elder ones caring for the queen and her eggs; in addition they go out collecting pollen and nectar for food. What stories they have to tell about the wonderful aromas of some of the flowers they visit. In contrast, the young drones leave the home fairly soon and go off in search of young queens to mate with.

All the female bees need to be on the alert for intruders such as birds or small mammals that like nectar and if necessary they’ll defend themselves with venom-covered stingers.
The queen prepares the young females for the time they too will lay eggs and set up their own nests, giving them step-by-step instructions.

Our narrator tells readers about the nurse bees and the larvae that they feed with royal jelly and once they’ve grown sufficiently, seal them in separate cells by means of a wax cover and there each will pupate, eventually transforming into new queens. After that she talks more about nectar and pollen collecting.
A considerable amount of information is included in this chatty narrative but further spreads contain more ‘fun facts’ about pollination, a quiz and some other fun activities.

Little Lion works in a similar way with a cub reporting on life in the grasslands of the African savannah. We meet the pride that comprises mother, father, siblings and many relations, learning of the roles of the adults and how the cubs spend their time in a playful manner that helps prepare them for hunting in the future. She also says that lions are territorial creatures, explaining what that means and how lions keep safe; she tells readers about surviving through the dry season

and introduces some very young cubs belonging to another adult female. On this particular day, night brings a storm which serves to make hunting easier but after so much talking, our cub narrator is ready to curl up with other family members for some sleep.
Again there’s a ‘fun facts’ spread, information about white lions as well as the need to conserve lions, now classed as a vulnerable animal species, and other activities for little humans.

Both illustrators make the creatures they portray more endearing than realistic, but there are some photographs of bees and lions after the main narratives. Attractively presented, basic scientific information embedded in a story form easily absorbed by young children make this series written by Anna Brett, one to share in foundation stage settings or at home.

Queen of the Classroom

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Queen of the Classroom
Derrick Barnes and Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Scallywag Press

In a similar manner to their King of the Classroom author Derrick Barnes and illustrator Vanessa Brantley-Newton follow a young child through the first day of school. Now though it’s an endearing little girl, MJ and for sure, thanks to her mum placing a crown on MJ’s head, and priming her on the appropriate behaviour of a classroom queen, as well as her father’s supportive hand holding all the way to the school door, together with his farewell hug, she’s ready to face the world of school.
Her teacher too is warm and friendly, initiating each newcomer into classroom life and allocating them a role apiece. That given to MJ ensures that she fulfils one of those queenly duties her mother spoke of. An opportunity to demonstrate another – “Queens are caring and kind” – is presented by Rayna who is sitting beside MJ, looking very miserable and saying that she wants to go home.

Straightway MJ takes Rayna’s hands and gives them a friendly, empathetic squeeze – helping hands indeed. Chances to show helpfulness crop up several times during the day and always MJ steps up to the royal mark.

It’s a tired but very happy MJ and her fellow classmates who finish their perfect first day with some ‘wind-down” music that Miss Lovingood plays on her stereo before home-time. However, MJ’s true queenliness continues at home when she presents little brother Samson with the picture of him she created in the school art room,

as well as at bedtime when she recounts her day to Mama.

In his entertaining, wonderfully heartwarming prose, Derrick Barnes creates a delightful, can-do protagonist with nurturing parents (if only every child had the same). His text is perfectly complemented by Vanessa Brantley-Newton’s vivid, energetic, gently humorous illustrations of one stylish child and the diverse supporting cast.

A book that’s empowering and full of softly spoken lessons for all young children whether or not they are experiencing their first day at school.

Scientists are Saving the World!

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Scientists are Saving the World!
Saskia Gwinn and Ana Albero
Magic Cat

In this comic strip format book a little boy (with special interests in time travel and dinosaurs) and his mum spend time together talking about scientists and some of their amazing work.

First come the palaeontologists, one of whom was Mary Anning who inspired many others to search for dinosaur remains; another was Louis R. Purnell, an ex-fighter pilot who looked after fossils in, among others, the Smithsonian museum in the USA.

Their discussion then moves on to astronauts; it’s great to see Leonid Kadenyuk, the first Ukranian citizen to blast off into space, as well as Liu Yang who flew to a space station to undertake experiments to find out if it was safe for other astronauts to live there. Did you know though, that it takes thousands of scientists to launch a rocket?

Next up are the meteorologists and we’re introduced to two women, Joanna Simpson who discovered how hurricanes work and June Bacon-Bercey whose knowledge of Earth’s atmosphere meant she could predict when very hot weather was on its way.

The talk then focuses on acoustic biologists. It’s clever how this entire discussion is advanced by the boy’s question and his mum’s response at the end of the previous topic. In this instance the two biologists we meet are new to me: Deepal Warakagoda, an expert in bird sounds who, when walking in the Sri Lankan rainforest, heard an owl noise never before recorded. The other is Katy Payne, recorder of elephant sounds but not only that, for when out on the ocean with her husband, she discovered that humpback whales sing songs.

They move on first to robotic engineers, then in turn marine biologists, geologists, botanists, arthropodologists (scientists who study many-legged bugs), conservationists working tirelessly on save the world: Sir David Attenborough being one, another is Wangari Maathai who started a famous campaign to help more women plant trees in Africa.

Unsurprisingly there’s a spread devoted to those life saving inventors of vaccines including Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci two of those behind the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that protects against COVID-19.

We return to the boy’s thoughts about time travel: Mum talks of astrophysicists, introduces Neta Bahcall who studies dark matter, and the bedtime part of this awesome exploration brings the focus right back to the child who falls asleep thinking of the idea that all those incredible people were once small children like him who asked lots of questions, had big dreams and followed them.

What a wonderful way to inspire the next generation of scientists: this collaboration between author Saskia Gwinn and illustrator Ana Albero works really well, making this a book that can either be read right through, or with pauses at the end of whichever spread one chooses, so cleverly is it put together.

Five Bears

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Five Bears
Catherine Rayner
Macmillan Children’s Books

With every book I see by Catherine Rayner, I think to myself, this is her best, but now staring out at me from the cover of her new one are five absolutely wonderful bears and I know this is going to be my favourite ever.
It begins with just one Bear, a nice one by all accounts; but then he finds himself face to face with Other Bear, a shaggy one. Bear’s initial reaction is guarded, even a tad antagonistic so Other Bear calmly continues walking, followed now by Bear rather more slowly, each thinking different thoughts and looking in different directions, but both moving the same way towards a new bear.
Slightly suspicious, Grunty Bear asks what the other two want and seems rather embarrassed by their placatory response, so decides to tag along.

Soon before the three, looking right down at them stands the far from friendly Very Big Bear. “Go away” he says immediately. The other three ask “Why?” “Because I don’t know you,” comes the response.

Their calm, friendly “… good to meet you. Have a nice day” disarms Very Big Bear. Feeling a trifle lonely he follows the others. They now, we learn, are starting to think similar thoughts and to enjoy one another’s company. Of course they’re all looking in the same direction and consequently all spot a bear in a very large tree. A Stuck Bear but one that eschews their company and indeed their help, for its evident that Stuck Bear needs help.

So there we have four like-minded bears co-operatively and gently encouraging their fellow bear safely to the ground.

The now Unstuck Bear wants to know why the others helped and is calmly told, “Some things are hard on your own”

There follows a crucial life lesson for Unstuck Bear that is equally applicable to humans, for we too tend to be wary of those whom we perceive as different. Many of us know however that superficial differences are easily transcended and strong friendships can be built by kindness and empathy.
With her utterly delightful ink and watercolour illustrations, Catherine’s story is a brilliant one to demonstrate this to young children, though perhaps it’s not they who need the story so much as their parents and grandparents. Share, share, share wherever you get an opportunity.

The Perfect Rock

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The Perfect Rock
Sarah Noble
Flying Eye Books

I’d just finished reading another Flying Eye book, Curious Creatures: Working With Tools, when I picked up this one, little realising it too involves tool-using otters.
However, Sarah Noble’s narrative is a story about three busy young otters, Ollie, Bea and Ula that on account of their busy schedule, don’t generally have time to consider rocks. Nonetheless their shellfish feasting cannot happen in the future unless they can open the shells for themselves; so say their Papa and Mama. They go on to explain the qualities the opening tool – the Perfect Rock of the title – needs to have concluding with, “Most importantly, … something you hold dear, something you’ll hold tight and never lose.”

Off swim the little otters through the seaweed forest searching both high and low tides until at last … 

However a squabble ensues as each states the case for taking possession of this perfect finding and their squabbles lead to a scrap and chase resulting in the loss of the vital object and angry feelings bubble up. Then a scary storm blows in, delivering an important life lesson that changes everything. 

With gorgeous illustrations of both the otters and their environment, and words that are a delight to read aloud, this is such a lovely book offering as it does life lessons on sibling rivalry and finding your independence for the young otters, that are equally applicable to little humans. The otters’ changing feelings are so well expressed in Sarah’s scenes of their search, squabbles and final serenity.

The World’s Most Ridiculous Animals

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The World’s Most Ridiculous Animals
Philip Bunting
Happy Yak

This is another of Philip Bunting’s playful, punning but highly informative books about animals, some of which, with their unique adaptations, you may never have come across before. Those adaptations, in case you’ve not guessed, are what make them ridiculous.

That Wattle-cup caterpillar (courtesy of the author aka Oucheus ouches) almost leapt off the page at me. It’s fortunate that it didn’t however for it has eight branches covered in pin-sharp spikes and that’s an awful lot of potential ouches. The moth stage (we’re shown all four stages) is by comparison a pretty dull specimen.

Also new to this reviewer is the Zombie snail (Zombie discofaecum). Now any child bonkers enough to contemplate tasting a morsel of bird poop will dismiss the notion instantly having read the concise paragraph giving graphic details of this snail’s life-cycle. On the other hand some youngsters like to set up snail races and this species would make a good participant in such an event as, so we learn, zombie snails tend to crawl a little faster than healthy ones. The very notion of having those eyestalks invaded by Leucochloridium, (a parasitic flatworm) and then being mind-controlled is enough to turn anyone’s stomach.

Turning to a sea dweller, well maybe I wouldn’t relish turning to this one were I swimming in the shallows around Northern Australia, but anyhow this shaggy shark (Eucrossorhinus dasypogon, or Beardus weirdus if you prefer), has facial fronds that are thought to assist in camouflaging the creature and also sense its surroundings as the woebegone waits for its next meal.

No matter your preference among the world’s fauna – fish, insects, mammals, birds. molluscs or whatever, you’ll likely discover something new in this highly humorous book that makes learning terrific fun as well as an educational activity. With its funny but anatomically accurate illustrations, eyes notwithstanding, this is a book that will appeal to a wide age range and is definitely one to add to home and school collections.

Neon’s Secret Universe

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Neon’s Secret Universe
Sibéal Pounder, illustrated by Sarah Warburton
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

This is a splendiferous, fantastically funny take on unicorns by the deservedly highly popular writer Sibéal Pounder.

Nine year old Neon Gallup has just moved with her parents to the town of Brunty. Her first impressions leave her far from impressed but little does she realise what adventures are in store. 

Exploring in her new cobwebby bedroom, she comes upon a very sticky, goo-covered envelope bearing the words ‘SECRET! DANGEROUS! DO NOT TOUCH! Needless to say she ignores this and tips out a luminous green lipstick and within the lid is another message, an intriguing one. Now not long back Neon had decided to be as normal as possible and has taken to dressing in black but this changes everything, for that night using the lipstick, she draws a green line from her room to the bathroom, thus opening the portal to UNIverse. This is a secret place where unicorns live: real ones not the fake horse-like kind you imagine with a horn and rainbow mane. These are inventions to put humans off the scent thought up by Greg, whereas those in UNIverse are just people like all of us except for one thing. This clever ruse has worked well for goodness knows how long but now by accident, into this secret realm has stepped young Neon Gallup.

Almost immediately she finds herself facing Moya McGlow who tells the visitor that she’s actually a real unicorn with magic and that they are in Lumino, UNIverse’s capital city. This zany world has
magic made with goo, Gooheads and other oddities. 

Pretty soon Neon is told she has until her imminent tenth birthday to learn how to command goo or she must remain forever in this weird world. Thus begins her unlikely quest.

A magical mix indeed, with its endearing resourceful, albeit somewhat impulsive protagonist, an evil villain on the loose, a degree of scariness and a satisfying conclusion, this madcap laugh-out-loud romp, illustrated in suitably zany style by Sarah Warburton, the first of a new series, is a wonderful tribute to friendship, teamwork, nonconformity and being yourself. Moreover the scene is cleverly set for the next Neon adventure.