Author jillrbennett

All Manner of Board Books

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Hello You!
illustrated by Stephen Barker
Campbell Books
With its die-cut cover, this is a smashing book for adults to share with their babies. Herein they can meet familiar family faces : mummy (being funny), daddy doing a wiggly dance, a snoozing grandad and a snuggly grandma.
The final spread is a gatefold guessing game that’s just right for developing early language and there is also an additional peep hole to play peek-a-boo.
Stephen Barker’s alluring captioned images stand out from the brightly coloured backgrounds.

Lizzy the Lamb
Axel Scheffler
Campbell Books
Lizzy the lamb is a lively creature. As she frolics and cavorts in the fields, she sometimes gets splashed by the geese so she shakes her fleece dry before moving on to chase the bunnies, but they’re too quick for her. It’s a tired but happy Lizzy that ends the day bleating her satisfaction, with a “Baa, baa!” to her farmyard pals.
Accompanying the rhyming narrative are Alex Scheffler’s droll illustrations – the full page ones capturing Lizzy’s joie de vivre perfectly and the vignettes that focus on some of the other animal characters. Little ones will enjoy working the sliders and wheel, joining in with the relevant animal sounds and perhaps, adding some leaping, shaking and hopping actions. In so doing they’ll be developing their fine and gross motor skills, and sound/symbol awareness.

Honeybee
illustrated by Teresa Bellon
Campbell Books
A honeybee acts as the narrator of this ‘eco-friendly’ natural history book, introducing little ones to her world through a rhyming text and labelled scenes.
The latter offer a look inside a beehive and a close up of a honeycomb while the bee describes simply, the processes of pollination, the collection and use of nectar in the making of honey, as well as how little humans can help the honeybees that live close to their homes.
Teresa Bellon’s illustrations of bees at work are engaging and playful; most have moving parts to add to the fun. Aimed at encouraging preschoolers to become nature lovers, this is one of a new “My Little Green World’ series that are sustainably made with FSC paper and printed with vegetable inks.

Goodnight Farm
Carmen Saldaña
Little Tiger
Peep-through pages enable little ones to discover a wealth of farm animals and bid them a “goodnight” as, accompanied by a collie dog, and guided by Becky Davies’ brief rhyming narrative, they visit a hillside, a grassy pasture, hen house, a pond, the stable, a flock of sheep in the field as the moon shines bright above.
In addition to the main rhyme, simple farm related facts are scattered throughout Carmen Saldaña’s starlight scenes offering simple snippets of information such as ‘Ducks can sleep right on the water.’ or ‘Pigs sleep a lot – up to 11 hours a day!’ (something even this adult reviewer didn’t know.)
Just right for sharing with sleepy humans just before bed.

Let’s Go! On a Plane
Let’s Go! On a Digger
Rosalyn Albert and Natalia Moore
Catch a Star
Whether they prefer the excitement of boarding an aeroplane and jetting off to a holiday destination in the tropics or keeping their feet firmly on the ground and watching the digger driver hard at work on a construction site, the very youngest children will find plenty to interest them in these new additions to the popular Let’s Go series.
In both books children act as narrators of Rosalyn Albert’s simple text which takes the form of rhyming couplets, while Natalia Moore’s strikingly coloured spreads fill in the detail.

When We Went Wild

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When We Went Wild
Isabella Tree and Allira Tee
Ivy Kids

This is prize-winning author, conservationist and rewilder, Isabella Tree’s first book for children. Herein she describes what happens when farmers Nancy and Jake decide to convert their failing farm (the animals and even the trees look sad), and whereon they use chemicals for crop growing and machines for milking and harvesting, for something totally different – a haven for wildlife.

Nancy’s idea so to do means they can sell off all the machinery and pay off their debts. Then it’s a waiting game: soon the bare earth is covered in wild flowers, brambles and bushes,

and their animals now roaming free seem much happier.

Their neighbours though, are far from pleased and write to the local paper complaining about the messy vegetation spoiling their view.

Will Nancy and Jake have to abandon their plans and return to conventional technology-led, intensive farming? Happily not. When a storm and torrential rain hits the village everyone prepares for the worst as flash-flooding strikes across the country but that messy vegetation helps to slow and absorb the rainfall and the village is spared. A lesson learned thanks to a near disaster,

and soon everyone is going wild.

Allira Tee’s digital illustrations for this thought-provoking, important book are beautiful and from the alluring cover, every page full of engaging detail.

On the final spread, the author explains what rewilding actually is and talks a little about its importance and her own experience. (The book itself is sustainably produced).

Create Your Own Kindness

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Create Your Own Kindness
Becky Goddard-Hill, illustrated by Clare Forrest
Harper Collins Children’s Books

Kindness – especially towards other people, is something that we’ve all focussed on during this past pandemic year and I’m sure that with so much time spent away from school and friends it’s taken a toll on the mental health of many youngsters. Indeed, it’s likely that all children could benefit from knowing ways to be kind to themselves, in particular.

As well as being a well-being and lifestyle blogger and writer, the author of this book is a children’s therapist and mother, so she definitely knows the importance of children’s emotional well being.

This the third title in the Create Your Own series is absolutely bursting with practical ideas that will help youngsters to develop the life skills necessary to be kind to others, to the planet and crucially, to themselves.

The activities are wide-ranging and presented in an engaging style, the first section being devoted to self kindness. Herein readers can find out about such things as how to use the breath to calm the mind, how to make a kindness cake and I especially liked the idea of creating an emotional first aid box. Each of these would work equally well if used by children in the classroom or individuals at home. This is true of the ideas in the other sections and there’s even a great suggestion relating to World Kindness Day (13th November) and how it can be celebrated by schools as a whole.

If we want children to be resilient especially after all they’ve been through this last twelve months, then this book, invitingly illustrated by Clare Forrest, is well worth putting their way.

Chicken Come Home!

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Chicken Come Home!
Polly Faber and Briony May Smith
Pavilion

Dolly is a free range chicken who likes to tease her owner and best friend by laying her egg somewhere different every day.

One morning she discovers a new place that seems very comfortable although rather dark and strange; but then all of a sudden she finds that her roosting spot is on the move.

However, she’s not keen to see the world from so great a height – it’s her boy she wants – so instead, she opens her wings and down she plummets, crashing through the trees and ending up in a fast flowing river – ideal for ducks but certainly not for Dolly.

Having managed to haul herself out onto dry land, she’s faced first with a snorting cow and then a noisy, dangerous road to get across.

Meanwhile on his way home from school, Dolly’s owner suddenly hears a lot of beeping as the bus he’s travelling home from school on is held up by something in the middle of the road … What could it be?

Readers share a bird’s eye view of Dolly’s unexpected journey in Briony’s superb visuals that are both wonderfully detailed and the ideal complement to Polly’s dramatic text with its ‘perfect’ ending.

Hard Times for Unicorn

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Hard Times for Unicorn
Mickaël El Fathi and Charlotte Molas
Tate Publishing

Unicorns are all the rage with young children nowadays but how many have wondered what happened to the very last of them. Here’s an absolutely absurd story that offers a possible explanation: it begins in a forest in Siberia. There a young explorer captures this one-horned rarity but rather than keeping her safe, the very next day the hunter loses her to a fisherman in a card game.

A failure at fishing, the fisherman sells her to a knight who quickly passes her on to an athlete. The partnership of pole vaulter and unicorn is highly successful and the two become world famous.

A robber sees how useful the creature might be and so his gain is the athlete’s loss but before many weeks have passed, the police catch the guy in action, seize the ‘safe-opener’ and leave her in the circus and she becomes a star act … until the circus closes and the creature changes hands again … and again …

until eventually the kind narrator of this story decides that the long-suffering unicorn deserves a happy ending …

To call this book quirky is probably an understatement; it’s decidedly different from the usual sparkly unicorn kind of tale. With its twists and turns this one sees the creature serving purposes ranging from curious to practical, but always innovative. It’s likely to appeal to divergent thinkers rather than lovers of fairytale magic.

The Forgettery

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The Forgettery
Rachel Ip and Laura Hughes
Egmont Books

Memory loss and dementia are ever increasing and although adults are well aware of this challenging topic, it’s not easy to open up a discussion with young children about why a much loved grandparent for instance, is unable to remember things. Sharing this beautiful book is a wonderful place to start: it never once mentions the word dementia during the story of Amelia and her Granny and their adventure together.

From the outset we’re told that Granny is forgetful, sometimes being unable to recall where she’s put the marmalade or where she keeps her socks but sometimes forgetting important things like special moments. Amelia is a daydreamer and explorer and this means that she too is apt to be a bit forgetful.
One day while exploring in the forest together they stumble upon a strange place called The Forgettery and decide to investigate.

They receive a warm welcome and Amelia explains that they’ve forgotten their way home. The kindly Memory Keeper invites them aboard a hot air balloon and off they go

eventually arriving at a door labelled with Granny’s name. Inside it’s enormous on account of all the memories it’s storing: ‘Moments of delight, lost and forgotten, fluttering in the room like butterflies.’ Sensory experiences including the smell of fresh bread, the crunch of autumn leaves underfoot and the giddy joy of cartwheeling. Granny chooses her very favourites from among them all

and then they move on to Amelia’s Forgettery. This is a small room and while Amelia is delighting in its contents, they receive a message reminding them it time to head home to dinner.

Back indoors Amelia decides to make an illustrated book of all the memories Granny had collected at her Forgettery and henceforward Amelia would take a photo of each fun thing they did together, to add to the book as a special reminder; a book they could always share.

Granny then adds a final item to their list of special things but it’s one neither of them will need to be reminded of …

Both new memories and all the lost, old ones are stored in The Forgettery so the book can equally be shared as an unusual fantasy adventure showing the special relationship between Granny and Amelia. This is highlighted both in Rachel Ip’s warm-hearted telling and Laura Hughes’ gently humorous, equally warm illustrations reflected in her choice of colour palette and the wonderful details in each of the scenes.

The Good Germ Hotel

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The Good Germ Hotel
Kim Sung-hwa and Kwon Soo-jin, illustrated by Kim Ryung-eon
What on Earth Books

What an unusual and entertaining way of presenting information is this dialogue between the main narrator – Colon Bacteroides – and the nine year old girl – the hotel within which it lives. This bacterium describes its role and those of its fellow bacteria explaining the various tasks they perform in the body. I wonder how many children realise that there are microbes all over the body, many good – the superheroes – and some bad too.

The narrator takes readers on a journey through the digestive system talking about what happens when food is eaten and how gut bacteria help provide energy by removing nutrients from the food consumed, and thus helping the body work and grow.
Protection from bad germs is another job for the ‘good’ bacteria but if those baddies do invade then the hotel’s army of immune cells are called into action.

At this point in the narrator’s explanation there comes, (along with the likes of stomach bugs, strep throat and cold, a brief, timely mention of the virus Covid-19.

Next is an explanation of the role of antibiotics and a discussion of how important it is that they are only prescribed when absolutely vital in case all those good bacteria are destroyed too, or the nasties learn how to become antibiotic resistant.

Alongside such examples of serious scientific topics, young readers will definitely enjoy the references to farts and poo, especially that farewell final spread from the narrator so graphically illustrated.

Indeed all the illustrations are comical and huge fun to peruse, helping to make the entire topic accessible to primary school age readers. Who ever would have thought that talking with a bacterium could be so enlightening. There’s a final glossary in case readers need to check the meaning of any of the terms used during the conversation.

The Little Pirate Queen

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The Little Pirate Queen
Sally Anne Garland
New Frontier Publishing

Meet young Lucy who makes a weekly voyage on her rickety raft in search of Far Away Land, a place where nobody before has ever set foot.

Over the weeks her raft has become increasingly dilapidated, despite her efforts at repairing the damage; but nonetheless, Lucy’s sailing skills have improved. Even so her craft is no match for the speed of the other children’s boats and that makes her a little downcast. To lift her spirits, she imagines herself a brave ‘Pirate Queen’ which helps, but only sometimes.

One morning a strong wind blows up and an enormous wave leaves Lucy lost and alone on stormy waters.

Alone that is until she spies four other children clutching pieces of wood and rope, desperately trying to keep afloat. Lucy succeeds in hauling them aboard her frail raft

and proceeds to give them lessons in rowing and sail repairs. Come nightfall they’re all able to enjoy Lucy’s tales and songs of lost treasure and pirates.

But will they ever reach that Far Away Island? …

An enjoyable tale of a resilient adventurer, with themes of resourcefulness, empowerment, friendship and more. Young would-be voyagers around the age of Lucy especially, will love this, particularly those wonderful dramatic seascapes.

The Great Paint

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The Great Paint
Alex Willmore
Tate Publishing

Meet Frog, he’s an artist and hence tends to see things somewhat differently. He finds his own swamp dull and uninspiring, and so decides to seek some stimuli elsewhere. With materials amassed,

he sets out, first stop Bear’s cave.

Out come those brushes and colours and he sets to work. The trouble is, not everyone wants their place of residence adorned by a Banksy style work of art; certainly not Bear. Far from loving it, he’s horrified and sends Frog packing.

Next on the receiving end of Frog’s creativity is Snake – literally – and he is not impressed.

Undaunted, Frog continues his journey using his talent at every opportunity, his excitement mounting at each new piece of art.

However one animal’s ‘wonderful’ is the other animals’ ‘real mess’ as Moose informs him in no uncertain terms.

Feeling totally misunderstood Frog beats a grumpy retreat but then on pausing for a spot of thinking, he suddenly comes up with another terrific idea.

Could this be his most creative yet? Moreover will his friends appreciate his efforts this time? …

I absolutely love the playfulness in Alex Willmore’s illustrations: how she manages to get so much personality into that froggy character when he looks little more than a finger print, is amazing. The eyes say it all with every one of the cast in this hugely enjoyable tale of misplaced creativity.

The Princess Rules: It’s a Prince Thing

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The Princess Rules: It’s a Prince Thing
Philippa Gregory, illustrated by Chris Chatterton
Harper Collins Children’s Books

A princess who subverts all the established fairytale conventions is definitely one for me. I’ve not read her first three adventures but am pleased to make her acquaintance in the three in this second book of the series.

The rule flouting Princess Florizella acquires a baby brother unexpectedly when a stork makes a delivery to her parents’ palace one night. Shock horror! This infant, who grows to the size of a four year old in a single day and is christened Courier, is now first in line to the throne and he, not the rebellious princess will inherit the kingdom one day. Apparently, in addition to not being intended for Florizella parents (they were only acting as the safe place for delivery) the baby was meant to be a Baby Belling (cooker).

Off goes Florizella to see her best friend, Prince Bennett. He agrees to help her teach the babe not to use his ‘prince permit’ and thus almost immediately, begins the adventuring of the three – on horseback of course.

During adventure number one that involves a run-in with some would-be kidnappers, Florizella learns of her brother’s particular expertise in peppermints.

The second story starts innocently enough as a day trip to the seaside to which Florizella invites pretty much everybody in the kingdom, and on arrival turns into a rip-roaring adventure on the high seas that includes an encounter with a Sea Serpent,

three pirate ships and the discovery of the meaning of the word ‘recoil’. Courier learns something important too.

In the third episode Courier turns inventor with some interesting results, a Mammoth makes an appearance and an agreement is reached.

Philippa Gregory’s terrific storytelling sweeps readers along and Chris Chatterton’s illustrations too, are a treat. It’s a Prince Thing does work on its own although I’d suggest youngsters who haven’t read the first book start with that and then move on to this one, which is just out in paperback.

Eugene the Architect

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Eugene the Architect
Thibaut Rassat
Prestel

Eugene the architect is obsessive about order, liking only things that can be arranged in a neat and tidy fashion in his tall, dark home. he is especially proud of his latest creation – a tall building with not a single curve in sight. “All the buildings in the city should be like this,” he tells himself.

Fridays are his day for visiting the site to check on the progress of his new construction, but on one such Friday Eugene arrives to discover that a beautiful tree has been blown over during a gale and now lies across the centre of what is to be his third floor living room.

Despite everything he’s believed in for his entire life, to the astonishment of the workers, the man orders that the tree, with its wealth of curves, angles and elegant proportions, be left exactly where it is.

Not content with that, from that day on, Eugene begins to look differently at everything around him, especially the natural world which he discovers, has a perfection of its own kind.

Ideas flow thick and fast and even the building site workers start getting creative.

Before long there’s been a total transformation, not only of the building, but also of the architect himself. And even better, Eugene has considered the entire town in his magnificent masterpiece.

Superficially fairly simple as this story with its delightfully quirky illustrations, might be, it is an invitation to readers to think about aesthetics, the built environment, and its impact on everyone and everything.

First Nature: Caterpillar / Little Hen Little Hen What Can You See? / When Mummy Goes to Work

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First Nature: Caterpillar
Harriet Evans and Bryony Clarkson
Caterpillar Books (Little Tiger)

By means of a lovely playful, descriptive rhyming text – ‘Caterpillar chomps and caterpillar crunches. // Caterpillar chews / and caterpillar munches.’ and clever cutaway pages with flaps, author Harriet and illustrator Bryony present the life cycle of an eponymous butterfly.
Additional information snippets are hidden beneath the flaps making this fun for little fingers to explore, as well as little ears to enjoy.

Little Hen Little Hen What Can You See?
Amelia Hepworth and Pintachan
Little Tiger

Little humans will love accompanying the little hen as it wanders around the farmyard and in response to the titular question posed on each spread by the friendly little bee, discovers the various creatures hiding in plain sight and named when the flap is lifted to reveal in turn Mouse, Cow, Horse, Sheep. Beneath the final flap is a mirror so tinies will come face to face with their own image.
The simple, repeat pattern text and Pintachan’s bold bright images of the animal characters offer a hide-and-seek game for toddlers and adults to enjoy together, probably over and over again.

When Mummy Goes to Work
Paul Schofield and Anna Terreros-Martin
Templar Publishing

This is a cleverly crafted little book, the first in a new series and it’s ideal for a parent just returning to work after the birth of a child, to share with a little one.

Having breakfasted together, Mum dons her paramedic’s uniform and bids farewell to her child, leaving Nan and Grandad in charge.

Events from her working day are then chronicled in a first person rhyming narrative illustrated with small images on each verso – driving the ambulance,

tending a patient in bed, pushing a wheel chair, examining someone’s ears.

These are mirrored in full page, detailed scenes on the recto, showing the child playing out similar scenarios.

As if speaking directly to the little one, author Paul Schofield uses the mother’s reassuring voice for the sequence of verses; illustrator Anna Terreros-Martin’s visual interpretations are an absolute delight and full of wonderful details to pore over.

The Stuff between the Stars / Get Up, Elizabeth!

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The Stuff Between the Stars
Sandra Nickel and Aimée Sicuro
Abrams Books for Young Readers

This is an inspiring picture book biography of brilliant astrophysicist Vera Rubin, from the time when she was a star-gazing eleven year old who, despite opposition and ridicule

and being ignored during much of her lifetime, became, thanks to her dedication and an opportunity at the Carnegie Institution, a recognised and leading light in the field of astronomy. For it was while working at one of the Institution’s observatories that Rubin made her seminal discovery that “dark matter” explains the phenomenon that stars on the edges of the galaxy move as quickly as those at the centre—and that this dark matter makes up 80 per cent of the matter in the universe.

I love the Rubin quote at the end of the story,: ‘Each one of you can change the world, / for you are made of star stuff, / and you are connected to the universe.’

If the main body of this hugely engaging book hasn’t inspired youngsters, those words surely will. So too will Aimée Sicuro’s gorgeous watercolour, ink and charcoal illustrations that cleverly reflect Rubin’s spiralling ideas in this well researched, enormously engaging account.

An author’s note on Vera, a timeline of her life and a select bibliography conclude the book. It’s one I’d strongly recommend for primary age readers.

Get Up, Elizabeth!
Shirin Yim Bridges and Alea Marley
Cameron Books

The Elizabeth of this rhyming narrative is in fact, the child who later became Queen Elizabeth 1 of England.
It’s her morning routine we share as we hear her being roused from her slumbers. She’s then ordered by the rather impatient-sounding lady-in-waiting to submit to donning her smock, having her stockings laced, her face scrubbed and her teeth rubbed (with soot no less!). All this she tolerates with a degree of meekness but then having been laced into a petticoat,

and acquiesced to sleeve pinning, the young miss attempts to assert herself by stashing a mouse in her skirt. It’s no go though; and with her ruff duly stitched in place, there’s still that mop of unruly hair to be tackled.
Finally, she’s set to go and we watch as she stands, still seemingly meekly, before a throng of waiting subjects.

Shirin Yim Bridges’ rhyming narrative falters slightly on occasion during this chivvying regime and in this small slice of history, it’s Alea Marley’s visuals of the shock-headed miss with her radiant tresses that are the real show stoppers.

There’s a final page giving some extra details on Elizabethan fashion and routine ablutions, as well as a cheeky message from that mouse asking ‘Did you find me on all the pages?’ which adds a search-and-find element to the book. It certainly takes a bit of finding on one or two spreads.

Where is the Dragon?

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Where is the Dragon?
Leo Timmers
Gecko Press

Oh dear me! The king is having dreadful dragon nightmares, so much so that he’s scared to got to bed. He dispatches his three trusty knights, One, Two and Three out into the dark night to save the realm, and more crucially, him.

The three have a slight problem however, they’ve never actually set eyes on a dragon, although the king has given them a few clues as to what such a creature might be like. As they venture forth Knight One and Knight Two take turns to share snippets of information, each of which seemingly appears in shadowy form. Then when Knight Three (the small one) illuminates the scene, something completely other is revealed. In the first instance it’s a harmless group of long-eared rabbits munching on carrots.

However Knight Two then drops in ‘Well the king alleged their teeth aren’t used for fruit and veg!”

but again Knight Three shines his trusty candle.

Knight One’s third comment talks of long necks and flaring nostrils as they approach another dark dragon-like form, and so it continues with each silhouette being a close fit for the king’s description and the revelation being something innocuous and wonderfully daft.

What about the last shape though? Following another tumble, all three knights are ready to return and inform his highness that there’s no such thing as dragons.

No cause for alarm at all. But are they correct? I wonder …

Translated from the original Dutch by James Brown, the rhyming text has an occasional blip, but for me it’s the illustrations with the superb characters, skillful use of dark and light, clever details (small and large), textures and rich colour palette, that are the real show stealers. Zimmers has a wacky sense of humour that is evident at every page turn, especially the final one.

Little ones will relish this as a storytime read aloud, delighting both in guessing and knowing. Ensure you give your audience time to look closely at the revelatory spreads so they can appreciate Zimmers’ transformations of the imagined into the real.

Museum Kittens: The Sleepover Mystery / Mort the Meek and the Ravens’ Revenge

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These are 2 new fiction titles from the Stripes Publishing imprint: thanks to Little Tiger for sending them for review

Museum Kittens: The Sleepover Mystery
Holly Webb, illustrated by Sarah Lodge

The Museum Kittens, Peter, Tasha, Bianca and Boris are proud of their new guarding duties though they’re finding it pretty tiring work. Tired as they might be, they’re all eagerly anticipating the museum’s latest enterprise to bring in extra visitors. A group of sixty children are to visit and stay overnight in the Dinosaur Gallery. Bianca above all the others is mega excited, so much so that she does something which causes a furore in the Costume Gallery and then, following a spat with the other kittens, wants to spend all her time with the children, even keeping them company during the night – the time when the nasty rats are on the prowl. It’s during the night that her siblings realise that Bianca is missing.

The search is on. Come morning they still haven’t found her:

surely she can’t have been intending to run away and got on the coach with the children …

There’s plenty of furry fun, frolics and frights as those who are familiar with the series will know. However, Holly’s latest book is an enjoyable read even if this is your first encounter with these lovable felines; and there are plenty of Sarah Lodge’s black and white illustrations to break up the text for less confident readers.

Mort the Meek and the Ravens’ Revenge
Rachel Delahaye, illustrated by George Ermos

The only Rachel Delahaye stories I’d read before this were her Little Animal Rescue series so this came as something of a surprise. It couldn’t be more different.
For starters it’s set in the kingdom of Brutalia – an island community – where violence is the way of life. Ravens circle overhead, dreaming of eating eyeballs or brains. With its motto LIVE OR DIE, this certainly isn’t a place to book your next summer holiday.

Its chief protagonist is young Mort the Meek who inherits the role of Royal executioner when his uncle dies. Mort is the kingdom’s only pacifist so imagine his horror when he learns that his first victim is to be his good friend Weed.

Nobody has ever dared to stand up to the heinous queen of this realm and survived. Could Mort possibly do so and perhaps even find a way to save his friend’s life?

It all sounds pretty horrifying but Rachel Delahaye’s narrative is often very funny and the tale is full of unexpected twists and turns, so if you can cope with the violent punishment regime (I share Mort’s pacifist principles) you will laugh a fair bit, especially at the ravens. that open each chapter. And, the ending is hugely satisfying …

George Ermos has done a terrific job with the illustrations that are littered with small humorous details.

Veggie Power

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Veggie Power
Olaf Hajek and Annette Roeder
Prestel

Award-winning illustrator, Olaf Hajek serves up a veritable feast of deliciously inventive visual stories to relish alongside author, Annette Roeder’s taste-bud tingling verbal platters of mind-boggling textual information. Just the thing to satisfy this vegan reviewer despite her aversion to several of the root vegetables that grace the pages of this large playful book. One of them being the parsnips that along with carrots, are the subject of the first spread. I was amazed to discover that members of the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra make use of these (as well as quite a few others featured herein) as musical instruments: imagine playing a carrot recorder or flute, for instance.

Over twenty vegetables are included in this culinary offering, but the author produces more than mere cooking related information: there are garnishings of historical and botanical tidbits, as well as sprinklings of health and healing- related facts.

One of my very favourite veggies is broccoli and I was vastly amused to read that it’s celebrated on not just one but two days: there’s St. Broccoli Day on March 18th and National We Love Broccoli Day just four days later on 22nd. 

I’m also extremely partial to both spinach and chard which share a spread, as well as a place in our garden. My mouth is watering at the prospect of those yummy leaves that take centre stage in Hajek’s energetic illustration of same. 

If being strictly accurate, there are a few interlopers at this veggie fest. for the tomato, as well as the peppers and chilli are botanically classified as fruit. However why exclude them when they’re usually served as vegetables?

A bountiful harvest is assuredly the result of this collaboration, albeit a lusciously quirky one. Food fun for everyone.

Gaspard’s Foxtrot

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Gaspard’s Foxtrot
Zeb Soanes and James Mayhew
Graffeg

Gaspard the Fox returns for a third adventure and it’s a totally unexpected one.

While chatting to his friends Peter the cat and Flinty the dog he learns from the latter that his owner Honey is taking him to a concert ‘about London’s wildlife’ in Hyde Park that very evening and suggests that Gaspard should come along.
So when Honey and Flinty head for the number 38 bus-stop Gaspard tags along behind.

As Honey boards the bus she drops her scarf. Gaspard catches it and jumps aboard intending to return it when they get off.
Then follows a journey through London – we’re given the fox’s eye view in James Mayhew’s exquisite illustrations- that takes them through Islington with its iconic war memorial,

past China Town, into the heart of theatre land, passing Piccadilly with its famous statue, all the while the recorded voice announcing where they are. Suddenly he hears “Hyde Park Corner’ and off pile the passengers. In the crowd, Gaspard almost loses sight of Honey and Flinty but just in time he makes his exit and follows the masses to the centre of the park

where he finds a suitable spot to stop, wait, hope and listen to the music.

Onto the stage walks a man Gaspard recognises as living close to his den and he’s holding what looks like a white stick. He tells the audience that the next piece of music is so new it’s yet to have a title.

What happens thereafter is truly amazing, but I won’t spoil this eventful, gently humorous story at the heart of which is friendship.

It’s full of lovely details about nature, London (Peter talking of his peregrinations makes me miss it all the more at present) and of course, the music; the map endpapers are terrific too.

How exciting to learn that the story has been adapted by composer Jonathan Dove and is due to be performed with Zeb narrating and James as illustrator.

Sunny-Side Up

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Sunny-Side Up
Jacky Davis and Fiona Woodcock
Harper Collins (Harper 360)

The little girl protagonist always looks on the bright side of life, but after breakfast (sunnyside-up eggs) when the blind is lifted to reveal a grey rainy day, her reaction is to throw a tantrum at the prospect of being stuck indoors all day – perish the thought.
After a mollifying hug from dad

she decides to make the best of things with imaginative play, block building and some creative pursuits; she even opens a cafe for her soft toys serving muffins and pies.

And all the while the rain ‘drip, drip drops’. Lunch follows and then another paddy, again placated by dad following which the girl agrees to have a rest.

By the time Mum comes home, thanks to some painting and lots of calming reading, her daughter’s inner sunshine has returned just in time for the clouds to part and reveal something bright peeking through the clouds. At last, with the rain gone mother and child visit the park for some fresh air and a reminder ‘that rainclouds always pass.”

Jacky Davis’ first person rhyming narration conveys the little girl’s desire to be in control and find her own way through a difficult day ‘I found fun inside when it was grey’ she tells us as she snuggles down in bed after stories and warm milk.

Equally perfectly, Fiona Woodcock’s mixed media spattered illustrations executed in warm pastel shades portray to perfection the changes in the protagonist’s mood, as well as her irrepressible energy both indoors and out. 

Ideal for sharing with little ones and not just on rainy days.

Swim, Shark, Swim!

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Swim, Shark, Swim!
Dom Conlon and Anastasia Izlesou
Graffeg

In the second of this Wild Wanderers series we join Shark – a blacktip reef shark – in an exploration that takes him on a long, long journey through the oceans of the world searching for a home. Seemingly it’s an almost circular swim that starts and finishes in the waters around Australia.

On his journey he encounters all manner of marine creatures including penguins and a tiger shark off the southern Cape of Africa,

and an angel shark in European waters.

There are blue sharks, octopus and squid in North American waters while off South America lurk Hammerheads. In the Pacific he sees dolphins, humans and in the kelp forest a Great White shark. Off the coast of Hawaii manta rays and green sea turtles dive and dance; 

then finally there is the Great Barrier Reef and a host of other blacktip sharks all of which help the reef in its struggle to survive.

Totally mesmeric is Dom Conlon’s poetry of motion, which cleverly weaves a sub-aquatic non-fiction story that is ideal for sharing with children either in KS1 or KS2. Anastasia Izlesou’s visual images too, transport readers and listeners to an underwater world of wondrous richness and beauty.

As well as the factual information contained in Shark’s odyssey there is a map tracing his path and a double spread of facts about sharks and the other marine animals.

The Long Way Home / Dirty Bertie: Bees!

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These are 2 new Stripes Publishing books that are just right for newly independent readers: thanks to Little Tiger for sending them:

The Long Way Home
Corrinne Averiss and Kristyna Little

Baby elephant Otto likes nothing more than adventuring with Nanu and he’s thrilled when Nanu announces they are to spend a day climbing right to the top of Lion Mountain. Old she might be, but Nanu is extremely wise; she’s also brave and bold and shares Otto’s enthusiasm for exploration.

As they prepare to set out Nanu reminds the little elephant what an explorer needs to remember at all times but from the outset, Nanu seems to be having a forgetting kind of day. First she leaves the fruit out of the backpack and then she forgets the name of their destination and once they reach the top of the mountain it transpires that she’s actually left the backpack behind.

All those things are relatively easy to remedy but then as they start back down, it’s evident that Nanu has forgotten the way home and instead has been taking them into the depths of the forest.
Now it’s up to young Otto to remember everything his Nanu has taught him about being ‘a great elephant explorer’ and endeavour to get them safely back home.

Corrinne’s story is a wonderfully warm one that demonstrates pachyderm style, the importance of both family relationships and memories. A warmth that is brought out beautifully in Kristina Little’s gorgeous illustrations: who could resist falling for Otto and Nanu?

Dirty Bertie: Bees!
Alan MacDonald, illustrated by David Roberts

There’s never a dull moment when young Bertie is around and if you were to collect every one of the books regaling all his misdemeanours, they would fill an entire shelf.

This one presents three more. The first relates what happens when Bertie’s taste for the delicious honey he splurges onto his breakfast toast leads him to entertain ideas about becoming a bee keeper like his neighbour, Mr Monk with whom Bertie has previously had the odd run in. That sounds like trouble to me … and sure enough it is.

Story two sees Bertie and his Gran doing a spot of Great Aunt Morag sitting while his parents are otherwise engaged.

Surprises come thick and fast when the three of them head for the park where a nerve-wracking day unfolds.

In the third episode Bertie’s mum wins a journalism award with dinner and an overnight stay for two at a four-star hotel hotel as part of the prize. Just imagine the potential for trouble when Mum manages to bag another couple of tickets for Bertie and his sister Suzy to accompany them. But why does Bertie insist on taking his own duvet? A lively occasion really doesn’t describe it …

With its hilarious illustrations liberally scattered, new solo readers will devour this in a sitting; the episodes make fun short reads aloud too.

The Perfect Fit

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The Perfect Fit
Naomi Jones and James Jones
Oxford Children’s Books

This is a story about what happens when a triangle that feels different among the circles decides to embark on a journey to find a community wherein she feels she belongs.

The squares are welcoming and invite the newcomer to play with them. With high hopes she joins in their building but then despite encouraging comments from her fellow builders, Triangle feels she must move on …

The hexagons are similarly accommodating though still Triangle worries about being different and continues her search. Increasingly despondent she begins to feel that perhaps she’s the only triangle there is, but then a star speaks and hope returns. On goes the search till finally there before her …

However there are limits to the games that triangles can play – no rolling for instance. Triangle remembers the fun she had with all those other shapes and …

A smashing celebration of difference and diversity showing that to fit in, doesn’t mean you have to be like everyone else: a variety of experience leads to a richer community. Life is much more enjoyable when people welcome those who are different, enabling everyone to feel comfortable about themselves. The key is to go beyond the confines of your perceived identity.

This seemingly simple story inspired by author Naomi and illustrator James son’s struggle to fit in when he started nursery, is a perfect foundation stage book for fostering personal, social and emotional development. It’s also rich in mathematical potential.

Planes

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Planes
Jan Van Der Veken
Prestel

Whether or not you are an aviation enthusiast you can’t help being wowed by Jan Van Der Veken’s retro, futuristic style illustrations in this absorbing book that takes a look at the design (and much more) of planes from the tiny Wright Flyer of 1903 to the giant Airbus A-360-800 of 2005.

The first section – Aircraft Design, explores the principles of flight, the forces at work and the aircraft’s power and controls,

making reference to a number of specific planes as exemplars such as the Northrop YB35 Flying Wing.

Then follow, sections on Atmosphere and Weather, Communications and Navigation and The Future of Flight, which includes the prospect of the flying car.

If, like me you’ve ever sat in a plane and wondered about the flaps and ailerons on the wings that suddenly go down or up, there’s a whole spread on how each of these function complete with diagram.

I’ve been a lifelong flier, short and long haul, and have been a passenger in some small planes in weather such as dense fog, that caused me to be concerned we’d ever land safely anywhere when all we seemed to be doing was going round in circles using up precious fuel. I learned from this book that thanks to GPS, pilots can use global positioning equipment and/or radio beacons to find their way in difficult conditions.

With so much information packed between its covers, it’s pity there is no index. A great many pilots and designers are mentioned and it would have been good to have a roll call of them all; and perhaps the fact that the book’s creator is Belgian might explain the omission of such iconic planes as the Spitfire and the Harrier Jump Jet. Nonetheless this is a smashing book for older readers both at home and in school.

How Do You Make a Rainbow? / Finney’s Story

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Positivity shines through in both these recent picture books:

How Do You Make a Rainbow?
Caroline Crowe and Cally Johnson-Isaacs
Macmillan Children’s Books

Rainbows have always been symbols of hope but during the last year have come to symbolise not only that hope of better things to come, but also our appreciation of NHS staff and other key workers with children everywhere creating their own rainbows to say thank you.

This book starts with a little girl and her grandad looking out on a grey rainy world and the child asking for his help to create a cheering up the sky rainbow. Rather than offering a scientific answer, Grandad explains that rainbows aren’t really painted; rather they’re created from kindness and hope, love and thinking of others.

Then, taking one colour at a time,

he goes on to give examples of small, everyday things that bring and give cheer both to others and ourselves.
Told in Caroline’s jaunty rhyme and through Cally’s playful, vibrant illustrations that exude positivity and kindness,

this is a hugely heartwarming book (with two final spreads of activities), for sharing both at home and in foundation stage settings. Definitely one to reach for if you’re feeling a bit down; it will surely act as a reminder of focusing on the positive things in life.

Finney’s Story
Alana Washington and Charlotte Caswell
UCLan Publishing

Finney the fox is an aspiring book author but he has a lot to learn about the whole process of authorship. Fortunately however, he has a moggy friend that is ready and willing to offer some helpful advice, or should that be, criticism. The trouble is, does Finney really have any ideas of the original kind,

let alone an understanding of what that word actually means.

Cat’s suggested visit to the library …

leaves him even more dispirited “All the original stories are gone,” he reports. Finney does notice something else however, something that might just be of assistance. But will this ‘ideas machine’ as he calls himself ever actually produce the goods?

Listeners will love being in the know with Cat as Finney puts forward his proposed storylines from traditional tales in this dialogue between the two friends. They’ll love too, Charlotte Caswell’s bold illustrations with their silhouettes depicting the fairytale characters Finney mentions in his story openers.

There’s a QR code inside the front cover which when scanned gives access to a free Sarah-Ann Kennedy audio reading of the book.

Eyes that Kiss in the Corners

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Eyes that Kiss in the Corners
Joanna Ho and Dung Ho
Harper Collins

There’s a pleasing circularity about Joanna Ho’s lyrical tale of self awareness, family love and tradition that is narrated by an un-named schoolgirl.

At the start, having described the eyes of some of her schoolmates – ‘ like sapphire lagoons / with lashes like lace trim on ballgowns’ she says, ‘I have eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea. / My eyes are just like Mama’s.’
She then goes on to tell us that the other women in her family have similar eyes. Her Amah has eyes filled with stories; her younger sister Mei-Mei uses her eyes to watch at the window for the return of big sister from school when they can be together again.

We then share in the delights her own eyes discover. With Amah beside her she sees ‘Guanyin with the Money King / sitting on a lotus, serene, // baubles of lychee on trees, / and mountains that reach for the sea.’ … ‘I see kingdoms in  the clouds. ‘

Throughout, the vibrant digital illustrations of Dung Ho with their swirling patterns and beautiful flora, are strongly evocative of Chinese culture and stories; and there are some unmentioned additions such as the jade bangle worn by Amah.

(my mother had a similar one she bought in Hong Kong) and the upside-down Fu (happiness arriving) symbol on the front door.

A lovely celebration of being who and what you are, with an uplifting final statement ‘My eyes … are a revolution … They are me. And they are beautiful.’

Foundation stage classes often explore ‘myself’ and ‘family’ as part of the curriculum: this is a book to share as part of either topic.

Antarctica: A Continent of Wonder

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Antarctica: A Continent of Wonder
Mario Cuesta Hernando and Raquel Martin
Prestel

If you’ve ever wondered about taking a trip to Antarctica, then now is your chance if you accept a once-in-a-lifetime invitation from the United States Antarctic Program to accompany a research team on an expedition to the continent of penguins and the world’s lowest temperatures. You’ll sail on an oceanographic research vessel – the Polar Star – bound for the McMurdo Research Station. The subject of this large format book truly is a continent of wonders and it’s exciting to spend time with the researchers and discover what happens during their six month stay.

Many children will have heard about work being done studying the penguins, 

seals and whales that are able to thrive in the harsh climatic conditions, but are less likely to be aware that scientists are also investigating the fossil record of the continent and the secrets of life locked in the ice of its glaciers. There’s also an observatory for astronomers and research continues into the impact of global warming.

Did you know that one of the few open lava lakes is to be found at the heart of this continent, in the crater of Mount Erebus, an active volcano some 12448 feet high? I certainly didn’t. 

There is mention of the first known individuals to make landfall on Antarctica as well as details of the explorers including Amundsen and Scott who tried to reach the South Pole. 

Who owns this incredible area, you might be wondering; the answer is that it belongs to nobody, or rather no country can claim it as theirs; it belongs to everyone, including readers of this book. Thanks to the Antarctic Treaty (1959), this should ensure that international teams of scientists can continue their research for the good of all.

The book’s author, Mario Cuesta Hernando, a journalist with a special interest in adventure and nature, has himself, visited Antarctica and his enthusiasm for his subject is evident in this narrative. Raquel Martin’s dramatic land- and seascapes as well as the animal portraits capture the awesome nature of the continent.

Ideal for budding scientists and school collections in particular.

Meet the Oceans

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Meet the Oceans
Caryl Hart and Bethan Woollvin
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Like Caryl and Bethan’s previous collaboration Meet the Planets, this one is both full of fun and informative. Speaking in rhyme, Caryl’s young narrator invites youngsters to participate in an underwater adventure to visit the seas and oceans of the world.

The first destination is the decidedly chilly Arctic Ocean that like the other marine locations tells us directly about itself, mentioning such things as giant jellyfish, narwhals, beluga whales and walruses, as well as polar bears that pad on the ice floes.

Next to introduce itself is the Atlantic – a huge ocean so we hear, full of undersea caves, subaquatic mountains and teeming with salmon and silver swordfish, while less easy to spot, swimming among the sea grass are occasional wild manatees.

If warm waters are more to your taste, then you might decide to have a longer float around the tropical islands of the Caribbean Sea. Beneath its surface you’ll encounter all kinds of wonderfully patterned fish, as well as myriads of starfish. We can’t spend too long counting them though, for six watery worlds remain to be seen.

There’s the Pacific with its plastic pollution problem, the South China Sea with its plethora of ships and seabirds, the wonderful coral sea around the Great Barrier Reef, the Indian Ocean alive with gloriously coloured creatures waiting should you have time to step ashore …

before heading down to the Southern Ocean of the Antarctic. BRRR! Watch out for biting gales if you plan stopping at one of the research stations.

Much more frequently visited is the final watery wonder, the Mediterranean Sea: a great place for a spot of snorkelling as I recall.

With pops of day-glo colour Bethan’s distinctive visual style successfully personifies each of the watery worlds that Caryl has given voice to on this splooooshing, whooshing foray aboard a submarine.

Great for pre-bathtime sharing with youngsters as well as for foundation stage storytime sessions.

Alone!

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Alone!
Barry Falls
Pavilion

Living in a little house atop a hill, young Billy McGill is a reclusive individual. “This is my hill, … I live here alone! Always have, always will” he asserts and so it is.

Down below the town is a bustle with traffic and people but none ever venture near Billy’s abode.
Sheltered within he barely hears a sound until the fateful day when he detects an unwelcome, indeed unacceptable, intruder …

It’s an occasion that calls for a visit to town to purchase a moggy that will chase the creature away and peace will be restored.

That’s not quite what happens however and before long Billy’s residence is accommodating a host of creatures large and small including a stripy one that develops a cold – so the vet informs Billy. She offers to knit the sneezer a warm fluffy coat but for that yarn is required. Hmm.
But although things go from bad to worse, to downright terrible, through all the trials and tribulations,

the up and downs, Billy McGill continues repeating his “This is my hill … “ litany.

Just when it seems the situation might be about to improve a terrific storm blows up whisking away an all important pacifier and Billy is almost at breaking point; but he’ll do pretty much anything to find peace and quiet, even embarking on a journey across land and sea, and scaling another high hill.

It’s there that as young Billy ponders on the possibility of solo living once more, something drifts into sight.

Now he’s faced with a decision – should he or should he not stay?

In addition to the pleasing circularity – almost – of the rhyming tale, there’s much to enjoy about this book. Barry Falls’ quirky illustrations are a wry delight as they depict the catastrophic concatenation of crazy events involving the growing cast of characters both animal and human.

Funny Bums, Freaky Beaks

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Funny Bums, Freaky Beaks
Alex Morss & Sean Taylor, illustrated by Sarah Edmonds
Welbeck Publishing

Here’s a clever idea for presenting animals to youngsters: the authors of this alluringly titled book have grouped them by their distinguishing features. In addition to bums and beaks however, there are plenty of other creatures with something special that makes them stand out from the crowd. Moreover those strange features all have a purpose and a story behind them. Those are recounted herein.

Facial features – noses – of the odd kind, extraordinary eyes, ears – weird ones, terrific teeth, so chosen for their size, shape or function, as well as tongues (the stranger the better) are explored. Sun bears, ( they’re the smallest of all bears), have dangly tongues the length of which is a quarter of the creatures’ height. Why? you might wonder. As well as it being essential for obtaining food, a sun bear uses its tongue for grooming purposes.

So what do a blue bird of paradise, a luna moth, a scorpion rattlesnake, a Willani sea slug and a young hoverfly have in common? They all have ‘stunning tails’ – I certainly would never have guessed that. Strictly speaking though, the baby hoverflies’ ‘tails’ are actually breathing tubes used during their early underwater lives.

Necks (perplexing) and toes (puzzling) are also presented. We probably all know about the very long neck a giraffe has but I was amazed to know that it has the same number of neck bones as a mouse; and imagine having toes that you can stretch wider and longer than your entire body like a jacana – very useful if you want to appear to be walking over water.

The authors have found at least ten creatures to include in each of their ten groups and every one has an explanatory paragraph and a gently humorous illustration – some of them are downright alarming-looking.

Compelling reading for wild animal enthusiasts, as well as for budding zoologists and celebrators of difference.

Sunday Rain

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Sunday Rain
Rosie J. Pova and Amariah Rauscher
Lantana Publishing

Recently moved, little Elliott is in his bedroom reading as the story opens. Hearing noises outside he gets up looks through the window at the coming storm, returns to the bed and continues reading about a little princess and her adventure, ‘ … the sea kept swallowing the royal boat as the night pushed the day down the horizon.’

Once the rain has stopped he returns to his window and sees other children outside enjoying playing in the puddles. Encouraged by his Mama – “Sunday rain is the most fun” – to venture out and make some new friends, Elliott takes his toy boat and sallies forth.

Then, drawing on the story in his book, he play-acts a scenario involving a little boat, a dragon and a princess that sail on the high seas and land on a desert island, an adventure the other children are only too happy to participate in.

Beautifully written and illustrated in watercolour and charcoal, this sweet story immediately draws readers in, immersing them in the sights, sounds and smells of the events – imagined and real: ‘Outside smelled like wet grass and flowers and the pages of a new book.’

With its themes of stepping out of your comfort zone, overcoming shyness and making new friends, it’s perfect for sharing in a family setting or foundation stage story time. Equally important is its celebration of books, reading and the power of the imagination.

Doctorsaurus / It’s So Quiet (A Not-Quite-Going-To-Bed Book)

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Doctorsaurus
Emi-Lou May and Leire Martín
Little Tiger

When Doctorsaurus is summoned to the aid of young Triceratops after a chasing accident, little does the Doc. know that it’s not just a broken horn she’ll need to treat when she arrives at the their picnic spot. Stegosaurus has a septic toe;

T-Rex is suffering from an allergic attack and is all stuffed up and as for Brontosaurus, a blocked belly is the problem there and Doctorsaurus has just the thing – a dose of prunes.

Having done the needful, Doctorsaurus receives an invitation to stay and partake of the picnic and while they’re all tucking in there comes an earth moving rumble from a certain direction. Those prunes have worked rather more effectively than anticipated.
Oh the relief!

Time for a boogie, with some special guests to join the party …

Dinosaurs never fail to amuse little ones and I have no doubt Emi-Lou May’s rollicking, prehistoric picnic flavoured with poo – another of youngsters’ favourite topics – will hit the mark in story time sessions.

Leire Martín’s dinosaur depictions are a comedic delight – suitably silly and hugely expressive.

It’s So Quiet (A Not-Quite-Going-To-Bed Book)
Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tony Fucile
Chronicle Books

Subtitled A Not-Quite-Going-To-Bed Book, this could equally be dubbed ‘A Not-Quiet-Going-To-Bed Book for as soon as sleepy mama mouse has turned off the light and instructed her little (very sleepless) one to settle down, listen and allow the ‘small sweet sound of nighttime’ to whisper her offspring to slumberland, than a veritable outdoor symphony ensues. It begins relatively softly with the ‘crrr-oak’ of the bullfrog singing, the crickets chirp chirping and the dog’s tail tip-tapping. But this is soon joined by a veritable gamut of increasingly loud sounds both natural and otherwise causing the little mouse to get up, open the window and investigate.

As it reaches its crescendo, the, by this time sleep-deprived little mouse, gets out of bed again, re-opens the window and yells.

Peace is finally restored or … is it?

Guided by the increasing size of the print, little humans will relish joining in enthusiastically with all the onomatopoeic sound effects, as an equally enthusiastic adult sharer reads the rhyming narrative and shows the energetic nocturnal scenes.

I am a Fish / Birch Trees, Bluebells and other British Plants

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I am a Fish
Isabel Otter and Fernando Martin
Little Tiger

This is a companion volume to I am a Bird from the same team. Using an un-named fish, youngsters are introduced to the general characteristics of a fish and then dive underwater to discover a variety of aquatic habitats and learn something of fishes’ habits (we meet both herbivores and carnivores),

shapes, size and distinguishing features. Mention is made that ‘rays don’t have bones’ but that they and the sharks illustrated alongside, are cartilaginous fish is not stated.
If you’ve ever wondered whether or not fish sleep, this subject is discussed on another of the vibrant spreads while another spread introduces seahorses, which some little ones might be surprised to discover are actually classed as fish.
The chatty narrative and arresting subaquatic scenes make this a book for early years audiences and foundation stage topic boxes.

Birch Trees, Bluebells and other British Plants
Nikki Dyson
Nosy Crow

Here’s a gorgeous ‘Nature Sticker Books’ to lift the spirits. Published in collaboration with the National Trust, it contains eleven beautiful scenes by Nikki Dyson that are brimming over with the bounties of nature whatever the season.

It starts with spring and its gorgeous insect-attracting blossom and wild flowers aplenty. Summer scenes show gardens are full of bright flowers and butterflies, as well as meadows of poppies, daisies and other composites. Summer’s a good time to visit a pond or perhaps the coast: those locations too, have a wealth of beautiful wild plants and birds. Come autumn ripening berries are waiting to be gathered and the deciduous trees take on their yellow, orange and red hues while in gardens and allotments there are vegetables aplenty as well as herbs to pick and you’re likely to come across lots of minibeasts that also like to have a nibble.
Finally winter comes around when there is much less colour but there are still wonderful flora and fauna to discover when you brave those chills.

Each spread has a couple of introductory factual paragraphs as well as suggestions for adding some of the relevant stickers provided in the centre of the book. There’s also a checklist of the plants in the book so young naturalists can enjoy an additional I-spy element.

Omar, the Bees and Me

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Omar, the Bees and Me
Helen Mortimer and Katie Cottle
Owlet Press

One of my favourite weekend walks takes me past a goat willow or pussy willow tree that my partner and I call ‘the buzzing tree’. In spring it’s alive with bees and you can hear them busily working long before you reach the tree. You can almost hear a similar buzz emanating from the cover of this new picture book.

Said buzz is set in motion when newcomer Omar takes a slice of his mum’s special honey cake into school for show and tell. He talks of how once upon a time back in Syria his grandpa who grew apricot trees and jasmine, was a keeper of bees.

This sets teacher Mr Ellory-Jones thinking and before long the members of his class have decorated the entire corridor outside their classroom with paper jasmine flowers and the children are pretending to be buzzy bees. He also tells his pupils about the importance of bees and of growing bee-friendly flowers for them to feed on. The children’s questions prompt further explanation and during playtime, having observed the greyness of her surroundings, Maisie (the story’s narrator) comes up with a wonderful idea. “We should make a REAL bee corridor … All the way from our school to the park next to my grandad’s garden. He’s got a beehive!”

With the backing of their teacher, the class order packets of wildflower seeds. Seeds they sprinkle into envelopes with growing instructions, requesting recipients to put the pots on their windowsills.

Next day operation delivery is carried out and then the waiting starts.
When spring finally arrives, there’s evidence that people have done as asked …

and by the time summer comes two good things have happened. Maisie and Omar have become best friends and there are wild flowers in abundance stretching from school to park. Grandad too is thrilled to have an abundance of bees in his garden.

A new school year starts and now it’s Maisie’s turn to talk at show and tell: her chosen object – a jar of honey from her grandad’s bees. Hurrah! Can you guess what Omar brings into school to share the following day … (There’s even a recipe included).

With themes of sustainability, the environment, intergenerational relationships, and connectedness, this is a smashing book to introduce young children to the importance of protecting and enhancing the natural world, in particular our precious bees.

Katie Cottle’s inclusive, mixed media illustrations complement the story beautifully: she captures the mood and feeling of the classroom, street and garden perfectly.

So You Think You’ve Got it Bad: A Kid’s Life in the Aztec Age

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So You Think You’ve Got it Bad: A Kid’s Life in the Aztec Age
Chae Strathie and Marisa Morea
Nosy Crow

This the latest in an excellent fun history series written by the award winning Chae Strathie and developed in consultations with British Museum experts, reveals what it was really like to be a child in the Aztec age..
Covering the topics one’s come to expect of the series – clothing and hairstyles, education, diet, the home, family life, health and medicine as well as some you might not, such as human sacrifice (it could happen just for being a member of a losing team), this truly is horrible history made highly visual.

Imagine – or preferably don’t unless you want to puke – being fed maggots, tadpoles, lizards and the like, or a cake made with blue green algae containing masses of water fly eggs – gross! It wasn’t all revolting though; there were occasional tomatoes and beans. This vegan reviewer would surely have gone hungry much of the time.

Can you contemplate being stretched by the neck in a special ceremony every four years – a very strange way to demonstrate parental love but it happened; and then being likened to jade, a precious gem stone: talk about mixed messages.

As for schooling, modern youngsters might love the idea of not starting school until you’re in your teens, but it happened to Aztec children, who were home schooled up until then – sounds familiar! As does the dual system of one kind of school for the rich, another for the poorer families.

When I taught KS2 classes, children were always especially fascinated by the Aztecs and I have no doubt if I’d had this book there would have been a queue of eager readers waiting to get their hands on it. Marisa Morea brings all the gory details to life in her wealth of illustrations that illuminate the text.

Chicken Little: The Real and Totally True Tale

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Chicken Little: The Real and Totally True Tale
Sam Wedelich
Scholastic

From the outset Chicken Little insists that she’s a plucky creature, fearless in fact. Nonetheless, when a mysterious object falls from above, landing BONK! on her head, she is a tad perturbed. There must be a logical explanation: the sky can’t be falling surely. Determined to discover the truth, she climbs a ladder and interrogates said sky.

Along comes a hen and bemused by what Chicken Little is doing, misunderstands and rushes off to stir up her fellow farmyard fowls with the news, “The sky is falling! RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!”

Back on the ground, Chicken Little is left accepting responsibility and proclaiming, “This is clucky chaos! Utter hen-demonium!” before proceeding to set matters straight about what really happened. This results in sympathetic clucking all round and some frantic fowl first aiding.

With a nod to Mo Willems, debuting picture book author Sam Wedelich delivers a fractured folk tale of the comedic kind. Its mix of straightforward commentary and deliciously dramatic speech makes for a hugely enjoyable, STEM-flavoured read aloud for both presenters and audiences.

Little Tiger Board Books for Little Humans

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Day and Night
Harriet Evans and Lirios Bou

There are five different locations – a temperate forest, a desert (wherein I encountered a hyrax for the first time), marshes, a savannah and a steamy tropical jungle – to visit in this ’switch-a-picture’ book, both during the daytime and then, by means of a series of tabs on each recto, at night. Thus for example in the marshes rather than the seeing “Bright dragonflies swarm through blue sunny skies,’ if the tab is pulled, these disappear from the window and are replaced by a much darker sky wherein fireflies make looping patterns. While in the jungle instead of the monkeys climbing trees that are visible in daytime, a pull of the tab reveals bats.
Innovative, and engaging, with attractive illustrations by Lirios Bou and Harriet Evans’ brief rhyming text and additional facts hidden until the tabs are tugged, this is a fun book for day or evening sharing with the very young.

I Can Learn: Dinosaurs
Lauren Crisp and Thomas Elliott

New in the publisher’s I Can Learn series, Dinosaurs has both cutaway pages and flaps. Starting at the Triassic period, then moving to the Jurassic and finally the Cretaceous period, little ones can meet a host of dinosaurs both large and small. Lauren Crisp provides the brief rhyming text and questions that accompany Elliott’s enticing illustrations of the prehistoric animals set against different colour backgrounds.
There are lots of new names to learn (pronunciation provided) and the occasional surprise such as the erupting volcano, the lava of which is only revealed when you lift the flap.

Also illustrated by Thomas Elliott is

How Many Beads?
written by Nicola Edwards

Here’s a book that offers both measuring and counting fun with the aid of the string of ten beads inserted in the back cover.
Collections of items at home, in the sea, in a garden, around town,

‘my things’ and ‘at night’ are each allocated a double spread that contains guiding questions and a wealth of labelled objects. So, little ones can try counting oysters, clownfish, rocks and starfish beneath the sea as well as finding out which of the underwater creatures is the longest. (Once they get used to using the beads for measuring, an adult might introduce the idea of estimating first.)

Plenty to engage little hands, eyes and minds here.

Magnificent Mabel and the Egg and Spoon Race / Aisha and Silver

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These are the latest titles in two of Nosy Crow’s series for younger readers kindly sent for review

Magnificent Mabel and the Egg and Spoon Race
Ruth Quayle, illustrated by Julia Christians

No matter what life throws at her, young Mabel is MAGNIFICENT. But for Mabel Chase, the book’s narrator things are sometimes not fair – at all. Seemingly however careful she is about things like being a worthy partner to Edward Silitoe on school sports day, the two just don’t see eye to eye or even arm to arm, let alone egg to spoon. No matter, somehow or other her magnificence always shines through – eventually.

Next, there’s the class play and this term for a change, Mabel really, really wants to get a leading part, William Shakespeare, preferably. But then who is she asked to play but Titania. No matter, magnificence rules, and where there’s a Will, there’s a way …

Then comes the Dermot episode. It comes about when Mabel’s family finally agree to take her to a dog show one weekend. It’s somewhere you can only go (so her Dad says) if you have a dog, Time to start training for the agility event.

As always, our narrator comes out on top.

These latest comical slices of mischief of the Mabel kind with spirited illustrations by Julia Christians, will appeal to the slightly mischievous side of young children be they those readers just starting to fly solo or story time listeners in the foundation stage.

Aisha and Silver
Julie Sykes, illustrated by Lucy Truman

The Unicorn Academy series has captured the hearts of many young solo readers with its mix of sparkling magic and the kind of issues concerning friendship, loyalty and overcoming problems that most primary children have to contend with.

In this latest slice of enchantment Aisha faces problems: first the likelihood of having to repeat an entire school year as she hasn’t yet discovered Silver’s particular magic or bonded with him. Secondly, there’s been a spate of terrible hailstorms that have been causing damage to their beloved school and worse, might endanger the life of anybody caught out in one. That’s the reason for the early closure of the school leaving Aisha just five days to bond with Silver and to stop the storms.

It’s crucial to find out who or what has been causing them: with Aisha also intent on perfecting her music for the dorm’s display ride, she’s under a lot of pressure. It looks as though teamwork will be required to take on the mysterious LT.

Another engaging read with plenty of lovely illustrations by Lucy Truman to break up the text.

The Song for Everyone

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The Song for Everyone
Lucy Morris
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

This story starts high up in a tiny window one morning when a sweet sound issues forth. A boy on his way to school stops to enjoy the music and in so doing his loneliness is forgotten. He though, isn’t the only one affected by the beauty of the tune: an old lady is enlivened and filled with joy,

and gradually as the music continues to float on its way, all the townsfolk receives something that has been missing from their lives. Most important though, is that they start to feel a sense of connectedness as they ‘share food, stories and kindness.’ It takes just one small thing to change an entire perspective.

Then one day unexpectedly, the music stops: total silence fills the town.

Dispirited, the townsfolk come together to discuss the absence of the magical music and the lonely schoolboy takes it upon himself to climb up to the window and investigate.

Two days pass and then joy of joys, a sweet sound drifts out through the window and once again the townsfolk are transported by the beauty of music flowing through the streets and through their lives : truly a song for everyone. And the identity of the singer? It’s revealed on the penultimate spread, but story spoiler I won’t be.

A gentle tribute to the power of music, of community and of loving kindness, all of which are more important than ever in our lives at the moment. Without actually using musical notation, Lucy Morris has created a wonderful representation of music as it flows across the pages and over the story’s characters on its transformative way through the town There’s lyricism too in the words Lucy has used in this lovely debut picture book.

When Jelly Had a Wobble / Ceri & Deri: Get Your Skates On

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When Jelly Had a Wobble
Michelle Robinson and Tom Knight
Scholastic

Should you or should you not let others know how you are feeling? That dilemma lies at the heart of this story.

Jelly, the main protagonist definitely has some feelings of self-doubt he’s not eager to share when he’s expected to tag along with all the other dinners heading to the Kitchen Hall of Fame keen to discover which of their number will receive the golden crown for “Best in Show’. He’s the only one showing any reluctance to participate in this culinary extravaganza.

In fact he’s all of a wobble, unable to ‘take the tension’ despite the enthusiasm and determination of fellow foodies that he be there for the big announcement.

So determined are they that some are even ready to offer some calming techniques to help with his wibble-wobble nerves …

Imagine Jelly’s surprise then, when the announcement is made.

With its repeat ‘jelly on a plate’ refrain to join in with, and plenty of speech bubbles along the way, Michelle Robinson’s jolly rhyming narrative reads aloud well. Tom Knight’s foodie characters are a whacky lot with their googly eyes that clearly express how they’re feeling in his bright, funny scenes. The combination of words and pictures provides a taste bud tickling tale about being yourself to share with foundation stage children and little ones at home.

Ceri & Deri: Get Your Skates On
Max Low
Graffeg

In the latest of Max Low’s gently educational series featuring striped moggy Ceri and her spotty pooch pal, Deri, the two help Dai Duck learn some important life lessons.

Dai is absolutely determined to be the best at anything and everything he tries and wants it to happen straightaway. So when he tries his hand (s), feet and brain at skateboarding, spelling, music making, DIY and rugby

and a host of other activities, the result is disaster. The trouble is Dai just isn’t prepared to put in all the hard work, perseverance and positive thinking that’s required when you want to be successful at something.

Until that is, Ceri and Deri step in and introduce him to Barbara Bear, ace skateboarder. She explains how her success is down to all the tumbles she’d taken as a learner acting not as a deterrent, but a motivation and an opportunity to spend time having fun with her friends. Can a similar attitude work for Dai? You bet …

The inherent humour and Max Low’s distinctive, bold illustrative style make for another enjoyable Ceri and Deri experience.

Kitty and the Twilight Trouble / Mirabelle Breaks the Rules

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Oxford Children’s books do some cracking series for new solo readers: here are the latest books in two of those – thanks to OUP for sending for review: 

Kitty and the Twilight Trouble
Paula Harrison, illustrated by Jenny Lovlie

This is young Kitty’s sixth adventure and as the story opens she’s super excited at the thought of visiting the funfair with her cat crew. One of the crew, Pixie is super excited too for she has a cat new friend, Hazel. An introduction is arranged with Kitty for that night but it’s Figaro that turns up with a message from Pixie and Hazel, the latter claiming that she’s a Cat Superhero with her own special powers and important work to do.

It’s a rather dispirited Kitty who looks through her bedroom window into the velvety, moonlit sky contemplating the funfair. Suddenly into view come two cats skipping across the rooftop sporting matching scarves, and Kitty’s encounter with them leaves her feeling even less upbeat.

The following afternoon though, her parents keep their promise and take her to the funfair but once there, what should she see but Pixie and Hazel. As she watches them Kitty sees not superhero behaviour but feline foolishness and nastiness. Suddenly however, Kitty has other important things to attend to. Figaro reports that he’s seen a nest of baby birds that are in great danger. Guess who almost sabotages the entire rescue effort?

But that isn’t all, for back in bed that night Kitty receives another urgent message from Figaro. The supposed feline superheroes are stranded. Now it’s up to Kitty to use her own superpowers.

Yet another magical nocturnal story from team Paula and Jenny that will enthral young new solo readers. There are a considerable number on my radar who eagerly await each new Kitty story.

The same is true of another young character, Mirabelle who is also delightfully different and stars in …

Mirabelle Breaks the Rules
Harriet Muncaster

Mirabelle, cousin to Isadora Moon, is half witch and half fairy. and as a new term starts at Miss Spindlewick’s witch school, her parents are hoping to receive better reports than before.

Mirabelle’s best friend, Carlotta has brought her a present from her holiday abroad – a bottle of shimmery multi-coloured magic dust which Mirabelle puts into her pocket. The snag is that its label is printed in a different language.

As the first lesson gets under way, Mirabelle volunteers to collect the ingredients for a colour changing potion from the store cupboard; most of these too she puts into her pocket. The potion mixing gets under way but before long something very untoward starts happening in the cauldron the two friends are sharing. Pretty soon the entire room is in chaos. Uh-oh! trouble again for Mirabelle.

She does her upmost to stay on the right side of Miss Spindlewick right up to the last lesson of the day with happens to be some loop the loop practice in the forest. Looping the loop is one of Mirabelle’s favourite things to do and she can’t resist flying over, rather than under the trees per the rule. Could she be heading straight for another disaster …

Mirabelle is a character whose mischief is the result of her struggle with rule keeping, rather than wrong intentions. Her first person narration endears her to readers right from the start and Harriet’s portrayal of her in those purple and black illustrations ensures that she looks every bit as enchanting as she sounds.

The Lipstick

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The Lipstick
Laura Dockrill and Maria Karipidou
Walker Books

This is a hugely entertaining story of what happens when the small child protagonist gets hold of one of Mum’s lipsticks.

Having used it for its intended purpose, our young narrator gets his creative juices flowing as he ‘takes the lipstick for a little walk.’ Actually not such a little one as his enthusiastic doodles and oodles are soon adorning various walls,

playthings, the floor and more. And that’s only upstairs. Down he goes guided by the mark making stick, jazzing up the bathroom,

things in the kitchen, big sister’s bedroom and more until …
DETECTION!

Apologies attempted (not by the smug lipstick needless to say) and then it’s time to let operation clean up commence. Were any parts left unscrubbed? What do you think?

I absolutely love the mischievous spirit of this infant who reminds me very much of an even younger relation of mine whose cheeky doings are equally let’s say, experimental. I must make sure I keep this book well away from her or I’m sure it will give her ideas …

The combination of Laura Dockrill’s text and Maria Karipidou’s rib-tickling storytelling pictures with that all-seeing moggy, make for a smashing story to share with an early years class or group just past the stage of the little boy narrator.

Bears Don’t Wear Shoes

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Bears Don’t Wear Shoes
Sharon Davey
New Frontier Publishing

Not only have Suzy and her family just moved house, they’re in a new country too. Inevitably there’s a lot of unpacking and locating things in various rooms to keep them busy. Watching all the adults frantically working, Suzy is desperate for someone to play with, but nobody has any time for her.
The lonely little girl decides to look elsewhere and so she puts up a sign on her back gate and waits… and waits all day.

Nobody comes.

The following morning one applicant shows up so she takes him inside and proceeds to interview him. Mr Bear fits all the criteria

until having dressed him up in Dad’s bermuda shorts, Grandad’s fishing hat, Grandma’s bra, a woolly scarf and armbands, Suzy hands him a pair of shoes. Uh-oh!

Bear voices his aversion to shoe wearing in no uncertain terms. Try as she might Suzy meets with a flat refusal when it comes to footwear.

Now she has a dilemma. Her applicant is suitable in all respects except this one. What should she do? What would you do?

Sharon Davey’s book ticks all the boxes when it comes to a book to share with young children: an engaging story with themes of friendship and problem solving and splendidly expressive, funny illustrations. Each spread has a wealth of visual jokes to make readers and listeners giggle, even the contrasting end papers offer plenty to enjoy and talk about.

Rabunzel

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Rabunzel
Gareth P. Jones and Loretta Schauer
Egmont

Totally crazy but enormous fun is Gareth P. Jones’s reimagining of the Grimm fairy tale Rapunzel with a rabbit, Rabunzel – she of the massively long, lop ears. The forest dwelling character gives her mother cause for concern on account of said ears, for this parent like other inhabitants of Furry Tail Hill are mighty fearful of the hungry-eyed beasties that lurk deep in the dark forest.

To keep her offspring safe, mum bun incarcerates Rabunzel in a very, very tall tree. Each morning she’d arrive at the bottom of this tree with her daily ration of carrots, lettuce and water, call out, “Rabunzel, Rabunzel, let down your ears!” and wait for the ears to unwind allowing her to ascend.

No matter how much her daughter pleads for release, mummy bunny remains resolute, ‘there you must stay’ she insists.

After months of utter boredom Rabunzel receives the surprise of her life. Who should climb up her long ears but Flash Harry the Hare.

He’d spotted the whole ear-dropping procedure, fallen head over heels in love with their owner and resolved to rescue her.
Weeee!

With her paws on the ground Rabunzel however, has her own ideas about how to proceed thereafter. You’ll be happy to learn that the whole thing ends hoppily ever after.

The text has some lovely wordplay and occasionally breaks into rhyme. It’s a read aloud romp that will be enjoyed whether or not little ones are familiar with the original story. With their zany details, and some clues concerning Rabunzel’s hidden talent, Loretta Schauer’s dramatic scenes burst with energy and humour.

The Giants’ Tea Party / Lottie Luna and the Giant Gargoyle

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The Giants’ Tea Party
Vivian French, illustrated by Marta Kissi
Walker Books

In the kingdom of Little Slippington, the royal coffers are empty and with the bills unpaid the king and queen are in desperate need of some gold.

Rather than marry a wealthy princess, the anything but heroic Prince Max reluctantly embarks on a mission to the valley of the giants who, according to legend, are rich beyond imagination and might (or might not) be persuaded to part with some of their gold. First though the prince needs a steed of some kind and the only one available is Horace a rather grumpy old donkey. Deal done, off they go, first stop the abode of the Wisest One. She tells him his journey will mean having to cross the Hungry Marshes.

Meanwhile in Golden Hollow, Glom king of the giants also has a problem. Two actually, one being the need for some Papparelli roots (the only food that will make the geese lay their golden eggs), the second the constant interruption from his grand daughter Hamfreda reminding him of the first while he’s trying to put the finishing touches to his flying machine.

Wonderful weaver of words, and fashioner of neofairy-tales, Vivian French, includes a talking cat, marshes hungry for stories, a blank book and some decidedly unsavoury characters, the Crimps in her enchanting narrative: but will Max succeed against the odds? That’s the key question and to discover the answer you’ll have to read this cracking book. Marta Kissi’s illustrations bring out the humour inherent in the telling,

making this whole immersive world even more enjoyable.

Here’s another treat from Vivian: her 4th in the smashing Lottie Luna series:

Lottie Luna and the Giant Gargoyle
Vivian French, illustrated by Nathan Reed
Harper Collins Children’s Books

Young werewolf, Lottie Luna, she of super strength, super speed and X-ray vision , is concerned about all her Shadow Academy classmates discovering her special skills when an end-of-term talent show is announced,

and worse, she hears that all parents will receive a personal invitation from the head teacher. Her close friends, Marjory and Wilf are determined to help her keep her secret, but with ‘Awful Aggie’ always on the lookout to make trouble, she’s going to have more difficulty than she’s faced before convincing the other students she’s just like everyone else. No wonder she’s in no hurry to give her parents their invitation to the big event.

In the meantime Lottie wants to help Wilf and Marjory polish their magic act, as well as deciding what she’s going to do in the show. They certainly don’t want Aggie taking the prize gargoyle.

With Nathan Reed’s splendid black and white illustrations, this latest Lottie adventure will delight her many fans and likely win her some new ones too. Despite its setting and main protagonist, the pupils in this otherworldly story face challenges similar to those struggling to fit into a typical school, making it all the more easy to relate to.

Just Like You

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Just Like You
Jo Loring-Fisher
Otter-Barry Books

The nameless little girl narrator is just like other children everywhere. ‘I’ve got two eyes. / I’ve got two ears. / I’ve got one mouth. / And one nose.” she tells us …
‘My feet can take me a long, long way.’

Like other children too, she sometimes feels happy

and sometimes feels sad. She loves cosy cuddles and has dreams when warm and safe.

However, as the penultimate spread shows, this little girl is going on a journey and as we see at the end, as she speaks she’s living in a refugee camp and that is what makes her different from most others. Nevertheless, ‘I am just like you.’ this brave girl concludes.

This simple, beautiful, moving story with its surprise final spread exudes warmth and empathy. Equally important though, it is infused with hope.

Jo’s compelling images ensure that the feeling of togetherness is indisputable as the narrative takes us towards its final revelation.

If you are looking for a powerful picture book to introduce the theme of refugees or displacement to young children, this is one I’d strongly recommend.

The King with Dirty Feet

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The King with Dirty Feet
Sally Pomme Clayton and Rhiannon Sanderson
Otter-Barry Books

This is a retelling of a folktale from India and Bangladesh. It tells of a king in India who hated to wash until so malodorous does he become that even he can’t stand the stench. Off he heads down to the river, closely followed by lots of his subjects who want a good view of their ruler performing his ablutions.

After a hugely satisfying scrub, complete with his bath toys, the king emerges squeaky clean and calls for his Royal Towel. However once he sets foot on the ground this is what happens …

and even after a rewash and scrub of those tootsies they are still muddy.
Furious, the king summonses his trusty servant Gabu, ordering, “Get rid of all this dirt, so my feet stay clean.” His ultimatum gives the poor Gabu just three days so to do or lose his head.
A frenzied two days go by with first a dust-swirling sweeping and then a washing of the land.

Finally on day three, some swift stitching yields a huge patchwork covering of cloth. Fine, so far as keeping the king’s feet clean but now the kingdom has another problem. Nothing will grow if the entire land is covered, as a little old man points out.

Happily that same man has the perfect solution

and thus a wonderful invention is created …

Folktales have a timelessness that offers both simplicity and profundity: Sally Pomme Clayton’s lively version retains the essential inherent humour and directness making it great for reading aloud. Rhiannon Sanderson’s beautiful traditional style illustrations capture both those qualities making this a book that deserves a place in family and primary classroom collections

Eco Craft Book / The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself

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Eco Craft Book
Laura Minter and Tia Williams
GMC Publications

In their latest book, Laura and Tia offer some cool ideas for using bits and pieces that might otherwise end up being thrown away.

Instead of consigning that old T-shirt or other no longer worn garments to the rubbish or recycling bin, why not suggest your children try a project like the T-shirt friendship bracelets here.

Alternatively, if the T-shirt is white, it can be dyed using a natural plant dye and refashioned into a ‘no-sew tie-dye bag’. Those are just two of the fabric projects.

Getting even closer to nature, youngsters can make a collection of interesting shaped leaves, grasses or perhaps feathers and use them to make some printed cards (or perhaps wrapping paper)

and if you want to attract more wildlife into your garden, there are instructions for creating a bug hotel using for example, old tin cans.

Each mini project is succinctly explained with step-by-step guidance and clearly illustrated with colour photos. In addition there are spreads that talk about climate change, what youngsters can do to help protect the environment and why it is important to immerse children in nature.

This book would be a boon to parents who are coping with home schooling, but all of us who work with children have a duty to nurture their creativity and to encourage them to think about the impact on the environment of all they do.

The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself
Susan Hayes & Penny Arlon, illustrated by Pintachan
Red Shed ((Egmont)

If you’re looking to engage a child or children in some environmental projects here’s a book to try. It’s packed with eco-projects – thirty in all – and each page (as well as the cover) is cleverly designed to be used in an activity – hence the title.

It’s amazing just how much difference simple everyday actions such as turning off the lights when you leave a room, and at night can make, not only for the safety of animals but to reduce electricity consumption. Ditto, saving water by turning off the tap while brushing your teeth or using your bath water to ‘feed’ your plants (of course that takes a bit of effort but every drip and drop counts). There’s a Make a Difference in your home’ page with additional suggestions .

One of my favourite projects is Throw a seed ball to rewild a built-up area, something I’ve never tried, although I have scattered plenty of packets of wild flower seeds. This is really clever though and all that’s needed in addition to wild flower seeds are water, flour and soil to make your mixture. Can’t wait to have a go at this.

(The reverse side suggests making seed paper for writing a message on – another clever idea.)

Whether or not home schooling continues, this is certainly worth getting hold of.

The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau

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The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau
Jon Agee
Scallywag Press

In Paris, The Royal Palace is holding its Grand Contest of Art. All the famous painters are showing: there’s Gaston du Stroganoff with his The King on His Throne, Felicia Caffay Ollay with The King on Horseback and Alphonse LeCamembair with The King in Armour. However an unknown painter, Felix Clousseau has the utter temerity to roll up with an entry.

Having been scorned by the judges for its simplistic style (not a king in sight), something truly unexpected and amazing happens. The painting emits a ‘Quack!’

Guess who becomes an immediate sensation? Having been dubbed a ‘genius’, Clousseau’s art is quickly in great demand with the rich. Not so however, the general public for his realism is way too real – disastrously so.

The unfortunate Clousseau is thrown into gaol and his paintings locked safely away – all except one that is. A single image of a dog remains on the wall of the King’s Palace. Now at that time an infamous jewel thief is at work in Paris and when he decides to try his luck with the royal crown, he gets the surprise of his life.

So too does his highness the next morning. He issues a royal pardon and a Medal of Honour to Clousseau who as the final page shows, ‘returned to his own painting’ …

the ambiguity of which will surely delight readers of all ages.

Deliciously droll, this is a reissue of one of Jon Agee’s earlier picture books: it’s certainly stood the test of time and great to see Scallywag republishing it now some thirty years on.

If you’re looking for a book to use as a starting point with an arty theme for a community of enquiry session, this one will definitely fit the bill.

One Little Bird

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One Little Bird
Sheryl Webster and Helen Shoesmith
Oxford University Press

Rosa the robin isn’t one to stand by and do nothing when a man chops down the tree in which she’s nesting. Rather than finding another tree as the fellow says, she snatches up his hat, flies to his chimney and proceeds to nest therein.

She doesn’t leave things there either. Instead, she issues a rallying cry, “Animals, everywhere! We must stop people from taking our homes!”

Before long, Rosa is the talk of the forest, the tropical jungle, the grasslands, and the animal residents thereof, having lost their own homes, move into those of the destructive humans who have made them homeless.

Needless to say this infuriates the fellers, the jungle clearers and the road builders and eventually both animals and humans are incensed. The news gets back to Rosa and she realises that things have to change: surely a harmonious co-existence is possible.

Again Rosa sends her words over land and sea, summoning both animals and humans to a meeting and having heard both sides say exactly the same thing, she delivers a stark reminder to the destroyers of the animals’ homes.
From that day on, things begin to change for the better …

Sheryl Webster’s Rosa certainly had the courage of her convictions in this fun cautionary tale that might well serve as a call to young humans to become environmental activists too. Helen Shoesmith’s cover illustrations definitely depicts her as a bird with attitude, while her scenes of Rosa’s actions and their results are amusingly portrayed with a wealth of diverting detail on every spread.

Beauty and the Bin

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Beauty and the Bin
Joanne O’Connell
Macmillan Children’s Books

For Laurie Larksie things seem to have improved since she started at secondary school. It’s sufficiently far from their home not to invite her new friends around, something she’s anxious to avoid as her eco-warrior parents are, despite their best intentions, an embarrassment to her. Their house is also a hydroponic growing farm, and her mum and dad involve both Laurie and her younger sister, Fern, in salvaging food from supermarket bins despite Laurie’s determination not to become as she says, ‘Garbage Girl’. While she’s happy to go along with most of what her parents do, they refuse to listen to how she feels about this particular activity. After all she just wants to fit in – buy herself some new clothes, have hot chocolate after school with her friends Zainab and Emilia, and use social media.

When an inter-school competition for young entrepreneurs is announced, Laurie sees it’s a great chance to showcase her homemade skin and beauty products that use only natural ingredients – Beauty in the Kitchen – and before you can say ‘enterprise’ she finds she’s been approached by Charley (the school’s uber-cool girl) as her partner.

Before long though, conflicts of interest begin to arise: Laurie’s family want her to be fully involved in the fast approaching March4Climate protest, so she has to try and juggle family commitments with the competition, while not losing her two best friends.

Can Laurie manage to stay true to her principles and continue working with somebody who thinks she’s always right? And who will eventually win that competition?

The author’s inspiration for her thought-provoking, humorous debut book came after spending a year as a journalist writing about food waste, so she really knows and feels strongly about waste and sustainability. Alongside these themes though she explores the personal journey of her chief protagonist, Laurie, as she learns what real friendship means.
(Also included are some beauty recipes, and ‘top tips’ from Laurie on how to avoid wasting food.)

Strongly recommend for upper KS2 readers and those around Laurie’s age just finding their feet at secondary school.

What Did the Tree See?

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What Did the Tree See?
Charlotte Guillain and Sam Usher
Welbeck Publishing

Oak trees are wondrous things. With its spreading branches to climb and a resident owl, I was endlessly fascinated as a child by the large one growing in our garden. They’re also well known for their exceptionally long life spans.
Not primarily a natural history book but rather, using the oak as a chronicler of the landscape wherein it grows, Charlotte Guillain has written a sequence of verses telling how an unnamed place somewhere in the UK has grown from a small village in the days of yore

to a vast industrial coastal city.

From its beginning ‘I was first an acorn, so tiny and round, / I fell from a branch and sank into the ground. / Then as I grew up, I turned into a tree … / over hundreds of years! So what did I see?’ Sam Usher’s fine illustrations make evident what it did see, showing just how much a landscape is altered by the action of humans,

in stark contrast to the oak, the life cycle of which we witness both in words and pictures.

The final few pages chronicle significant events in world history and their dates occurring during the life span of our narrating oak, the life cycle of an oak tree and suggestions for children to investigate the history of their own locality, as well as finding out more about trees and the life they might support.

With its unusual approach, this is an engrossing book to share and talk about with primary age children. I particularly like the way the oak’s own story comes full circle.

Moreover it could be an absolute boon for home-schooling parents (COVID even gets a mention in the timeline.)