Author jillrbennett

Blue, Barry & Pancakes: Mount Choco Meltdown / Supersize Squirrel and the Attack of the Zombears

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Blue, Barry & Pancakes: Mount Choco Meltdown
Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson
Rock The Boat

In this third instalment featuring three best friends, worm, Blue, is excited to show Barry (frog) and Pancake (rabbit) a poster about an ice-cream sundae contest. They take some persuading but eventually agree to participate but they have just one hour to create the sundae and win the much coveted trophy – something to put in Barry’s empty trophy room. He decides that the way to win is to get a tub of chocolate ice-cream from Mount Choco. The trouble is its location is closely guarded by a giant, razor-toothed yeti.

There are obstacles in their way – the Sea of Sea Sickness to cross, sunglasses to extricate from a very tricky place, not to mention performing some funky dance moves to impress the yeti and each of the three friends is key in overcoming an obstacle. But will they make it back in time to present their creation to be judged and if so what will the outcome be?

Absolutely absurd but young fans of graphic novels will gobble it up and enjoy the ingredients that comprise the back matter.

Supersize Squirrel and the Attack of the Zombears
Luke Séguinn-Magee
Oxford Children’s Books

Despite being billed as a supersized hero of the forest and starring in two previous books, this is my first literary encounter with Sonny aka Supersized Squirrel and his sidekick Blaze Bunny.

Their third mission is full of action and we see the two facing a very spooky zombear mystery in the middle of a storm in the dark dark woods: surely their most chilling challenge ever. Squirrel calls it the Zombi-pocalypse. Scary as it is after an unexpected encounter, he insists they plus their old enemies the F.A.R.T. ‘march into this challenge with our weird superpowers and our heads held high.’

Can they together get rid of the poisonous pollution unthinkingly dumped into Bear Pond that’s at the heart of the trouble, restore the zombears to ordinary bears and put everything back to normal? And what of that movie in the Warren: can they catch the ending?

Silly, satisfying and fast moving with friendship and super-heroic feats at its core..

Heave Ho

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Heave Ho
Sally Anne Garland
Sunbird Books

After a bad night, Cub is so full of big feelings that there’s no room left inside his mind and body for anyone or anything else. As a result he lets fly at his friends and classmates refusing to allow them to participate in activities and even tosses Mo’s teddy bear way up into a big tree when she offers it to him to cuddle. Then having stamped and stomped around he begins to swing on a bendy tree branch that is even stronger than his feelings.

Gradually as he does so, with each pull and push, Cub’s big angry feelings begin to get smaller and smaller and he starts to feel he’s going to a good place. Eventually his friends Ossie, Flick, Rhu, Mo and Nook feel able to come and swing with him on the branch and they set off on a flight of fancy to an imaginary world far from their classroom: joy and happiness have replaced Cub’s inner turmoil and all is well once more.

A story that young children can relate to as they watch and hear how Cub responds to his big feelings that push him over the edge. If shared in a nursery setting or EYFS classroom, it could be followed by a circle time discussion.

Bad United Fast As Lightning / Guardians of the New Moon: The Year of the Ox

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These are both additions to popular series from Little Tiger – thanks to the publisher for sending then for review.

Bad United Fast As Lightning
Louise Forshaw

Having achieved two wins, Bad United are starting to attract a fair bit of attention, so much so that Hoof the unicorn declares ‘We’re famous’.
When manager, Serena Winter announces a visit to the spa, it’s no surprise that one team member is far from enthusiastic: Bolt (cheetah) considers yogic breathing a complete waste of time; he’s the best striker so why bother, he thinks. But whether the experience has had the desired effect of bringing the whole team back together ready for anything as Hoof hopes, we’ve yet to find out when they begin training for the next match, which is against Storm. Pretty soon though, it appears that it’s not the case with Bolt.

On match day Serena reminds them all to focus on their happy places but with all the other players waiting on the pitch, team Storm hasn’t shown up. What happens thereafter is I suspect, the strangest ever match that commentators, Waffle and Cyclops have ever witnessed, so much so that Serena immediately asks for a rematch. Will Bad United emerge victorious, this time? And has Bolt finally learned about team play? If so, fans will be cheering extra loud.

Guardians of the New Moon: The Year of the Ox
Eric Huang, illustrated by Phùng Nguyén Quang

Shocked that his son Xiao Nioh has been wasting his time working on a dance he was going to perform to usher in the Year of the Ox, Lord Chiyou is finding it very difficult to understand his son’s creative performance involving a sword and a long coloured ribbon. Frivolities is what he calls it and in an effort to make his son brave, at the suggestion of the Jade Emperor sends Xiao Nioh off on a quest accompanied by the Guardians of the New Moon, Ming and Miaow. They must deliver a message about farming techniques and one more matter – the crops and the whole valley must be protected from the nian, a fierce magical one-horned beast with a massive appetite. With the help of the Guardians, can Xiao Nioh prove himself without having to abandon his dancing dreams, or will the Year of the Ox be a huge let down?

With plenty of action and humour too, this third book in the series is as exciting as the previous Guardians stories.

Shoot For the Stars

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Shoot For the Stars
Danielle Brown, illustrated by Jayde Perkin and Filigrana de Ideas
Little Tiger

Both empowering and full of information, this is written by double Paralympic gold medallist and five times world champion in archery, Danielle Brown MBE. She hopes to encourage girls from around twelve years old on to keep participating in sport instead of dropping out of physical activities, which often coincides with the onset of puberty when among other things, girls start menstruating and they sometimes see this as a barrier to sporting activity.

This and other perceived barriers are discussed in a matter of fact manner, be it feelings of discomfort in school PE kit, ideas of body image or worries about controlling one’s temper when one’s performance is adversely affected by hormones. It’s particularly good to see the spread featuring Chinese swimmer, Fu Yuanhui, who openly discussed the impact of starting her period on her performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The dress code of bikini bottoms for women’s beach volleyball was not altered until 2021 when he Norwegian team took action by wearing shorts instead. They were fined for so doing but public outrage precipitated the change. It was not until 2023 that the all whites rules for underwear for women players at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships was changed.

A stand was also taken by Kulsoom Abdullah, a weightlifter. She was invited to compete in the national championships, but against her religious beliefs, wasn’t allowed to cover her limbs or to wear a hijab, so she didn’t participate. However she did take her story to the media with them behind her to the International Weightlifting Federation. The outcome was that the rule was changed and so Kulsoom represented Pakistan that year at the World Championships.

Accepting feedback and applying what you’ve been told is vital for making progress and improving in any sport, and indeed other aspects of life and a chapter is devoted that topic: all those who brief biographies are included must certainly have done that.

I was listening to a discussion on the radio this morning about the increased number of people who are over weight and how this can lead to ill-health. Food was the subject under discussion but I couldn’t help thinking that being physically active is equally important and Danielle’s book encourages readers to do just that whether or not they end up going further and becoming sporting competitors.

Illustrations by Jayde Perkin and Filigrana de Ideas and colour photos of renowned women sports stars add to the enjoyment of the book.

George and Lenny Are Always Together

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George and Lenny Are Always Together
Jon Agee
Scallywag Press

George, a brown bear and Lenny, a grey rabbit, are inseparable friends, something they discuss as they play on the swings in the playground. George seems one hundred per cent enthusiastic about this whereas Lenny wonders out loud what it would be like to be alone. ‘what if being alone is just as much fun as being together?’ he suggests but George feels this is impossible, saying so as he zooms down the slide. However, Lenny is determined to find out and tells his playmate that he’s off to find somewhere quiet to be alone.

When George offers to accompany him, he gets a flat refusal and eventually decides to try going it alone as well. Off goes Lenny to test his plan

and savvy George allows his friend sufficient space to practise some solitude. It’s fun, decides Lenny: ‘I can draw! I can build! I can blow bubbles! … Read a book! I can even just sit and think.’ He can also think about George and wonders if he’s found a good place to be alone: but where is his bestie? Has he too found the perfect place and if so where is it?

Told entirely in dialogue and through Agee’s characteristic images outlined with bold black strokes, this portrait of togetherness and a little bit of that vital me-time, is a powerful demonstration that it’s possible to have too much of a good thing, but that’s something everyone needs to discover for themselves.

A Box Full of Murders

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A Box Full of Murders
Janice Hallett
Puffin

Janice Hallett adopts a similar style for this, her first children’s story, as she does for her adult crime/mystery books, making clever use of letters, diary entries, press cuttings, police reports and emails.

Siblings Ava and Luke live in different homes with parents who have separated; Ava lives with Mum and Luke with Dad. Both children keep in touch via their mobiles and when Luke discovers a box marked ‘Top Secret’ in Dad’s loft, he shares its contents by means of text messages, quickly realising that it tells the story of a crime that took place at a Scout and Guides’ summer camp in 1983 – the last to be held at that location as the campsite land has been bought for questionable reasons. Because of this the leaders of each tent group have been asked to write diaries about their experiences. These groups have names like The Fun Girl Three, Hunky Dory, Ventures, Duran Spandau – apt for the times.

As the siblings read through these diaries they are introduced to the campers, the Scout and Guide leaders, some mysterious strangers lurking in the forest and rumours of a shrieking ghost. Along with Ava and Luke, we readers see events at the camp playing out and every so often there’s a Progress Report summarising the information so far to help in solving the case. Things become very dangerous for the campers when two bodies are discovered, one of a botanist, the other his assistant, and even more alarming when one of the guides goes missing.

Luke and Ava work diligently through the clues and it becomes clear that this whole mystery is not something left in the past; the murderer is still at large and perhaps nearer than they think.

A pacy, gripping read with a multi-layered plot, some humour, two terrific characters in Ava and Luke and an ending that hints of more to come. I can hardly wait.

Netta Becker and the Timeline Crime

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Netta Becker and the Timeline Crime
Jennifer Claessen
uclan publishing

Combining adventure, friendship of an unusual kind and a Greek myth retold feminist style, this is an intriguing story.

Netta Becker, eleven, is spending the holiday with her younger, history obsessed brother, Remy and their parents. It was his turn to pick the destination – a rather run-down villa in Crete near King Minos’ palace – but it’s definitely not the kind of place Netta anticipates enjoying at all. Moreover she’ll miss an important swimming gala.

However, soon after arriving she starts having very realistic dreams that drag her back four thousand years to Ancient Greece and the palace of King Minos. In one she’s seen by Princess Ariadne (Ari) who thinks she’s some kind of spirit that’s she’s called up – ‘tricky muse’ she calls her.

As she spends more time in the distant past, her connection to the present begins to weaken and she gets increasingly distant, sulky even, something her parents fail to notice. Soon she starts to question her own reality: why has she been drawn way back to ancient times and is it possible she can alter the course of events in history? The more time Netta spends with Ari, the more she gains insights into the king – his arrogance and murderous nature.

Others have stories that may well be worth telling – those of the children and women – that appear to be of no significance to the powerful males. This belief is about to be challenged by Ari and Netta who want to show that ‘being unseen in history doesn’t mean life wasn’t worth living.’

A hugely engaging book: I love the way the author has looked at traditional stories in a completely different way: you don’t need to be familiar with Greek myths to enjoy this, though there are explanatory notes giving more detail about some of the references included after the narrative.

Board Book Trio

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Hank Goes Peck
Maudie Powell-Tuck and Duncan Beedie
Little Tiger

If you’ve read anything about Hank, then you’ll already know that he likes to make trouble for others. Now he’s not honking but pecking and at the request of a small rodent, little humans are immediately involved in the story by keeping an eye – preferably both – on what he gets up to on the farm. Oh dear! The first thing he does is to stick his beak into the trampoline on which the chicks are bouncing. What a pesky creature. As you might expect though he just cannot keep that beak to himself: next he sticks it right into the limo holding a trio of pigs. Surely that’s enough sticking his beak where it’s not wanted so he’ll leave the old sheep in peace to get on with her knitting. Oh NO! spoke too soon, but Mouse has said he must take time out and consider the error of his ways. Apparently temptation gets the better of him however as he struts past the bull without heeding Mouse’s warning. Has he learned his lesson at long last? I wonder …

Hank’s preposterous behaviour is wryly depicted by Duncan Beedie and Maudie Powell-Tuck’s text offers plenty of opportunities for sound making and action from young listeners who will enjoy emulating Hank’s pecking and the sounds made by the animals he upsets.

A is for Apple
illustrated by Georgie Burkett
Little Tiger

With flaps to lift and tracks to finger trace, this alphabet book clearly illustrated will immediately get little learners involved. They can trace the capital letters with the help of the arrows and then lift the flap on each page and discover something else starting with the same letter, this time written with a lower case starting letter. Better still, children can try to guess what is hidden before opening the flaps. Simple, playful interactive learning and on the back cover are some hints for parents/carers.

Banana, Banana, Banana!
Sarah Finan
Post Wave Publishing

This is the second in a series of board books encouraging healthy eating from new publisher Post Wave.
Sturdily built to stand up to numerous readings, it’s told through a simple, jaunty rhyme and bold, bright illustrations with a clever die-cut on each double spread. The small children we meet in the book love to eat bananas in various situations and forms including as a smoothie slurped through a straw, sliced up for breakfast or lunch, to fill a hungry tum during a car journey or as a pre-bedtime snack. It’s good to see that even such young children know that the skin from a banana needs to be disposed of properly – in the bin, not tossed aside onto the pavement as a potential slip-hazard.

The Lucky House Detective Agency

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The Lucky House Detective Agency
Scarlett Li, illustrated by Sian James
Knights Of

Living in Leighton-on-Sea, eleven year old Felix and his best friend Isaac absolutely love detective stories and both boys spend a lot of time helping in Felix’s family’s Chinese takeaway, called Lucky House Takeaway.

One evening during a specially busy time the family’s lucky money plant brought from Hong Kong – Optimus Prime they call it – crashes to the ground. Mum is devastated and so the boys decide to use their detective skills to find out who knocked over the precious plant and prevent bad luck from befalling the Lee family. Their initial list of suspects comprises everyone in the takeaway at the time, including regular customers and Felix adds Nina Ding his cousin and nemesis ‘know it all Nina’ they call her.

As they’re repotting the plant, the boys find an old coin with Chinese characters and begin asking around about it. Could the accident by any chance have anything to do with a long lost Chinese treasure? They ask Mr Tsui, who tells them about an old box linked to a visit from Li Hung Chang, a Chinese diplomat from the 1800’s. A vital clue or a red herring?

With an interesting cast of characters, a wealth of information about British-Chinese culture and incidents aplenty, this well-plotted, exciting story is a fun mystery for KS2 readers that will certainly keep them guessing. With Felix’s final “The Lucky House Detective Agency is open for business. Let’s roll.” I wonder what mystery will come their way next?

Go Go Dodo!

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Go Go Dodo!
Huw Lewis Jones and Fred Blunt
Little Tiger

This is one of those “look out he’s behind you’ stories and I can almost hear children’s voices shouting out from the moment Dodo decides to take that evening stroll through the ‘gentle jungle’ with a big cat hot on his trail. His perambulations take the bird across the ‘friendly swamp’ tip toe, tip toe,

then up the ‘peaceful hill’ and right down to the ‘soothing sea’, from where having been suitably soothed by its waves, Dodo proceeds into the lovely long fairly dangerous grass. Therein he suddenly becomes aware of the presence of a human with a net and a pith helmet – very dangerous for sure. That’s when realisation dawns

and our Dodo decides to beat a hasty retreat and then make his way back home to the safe haven of his bed. “Absolutely nothing to worry about.” we read on the penultimate page but there comes a delicious final twist …

The interplay of words and pictures as the drama unfolds is what makes this book such a winner.
Not only is it a terrific, suspenseful read aloud but with its short, patterned text, it’s also ideal for beginner readers to try for themselves, once they’ve heard it read aloud of course.

The Hug Button

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The Hug Button
Naomi Jones and Rebecca Ashdown
Oxford Children’s Books

On Matilda’s first day at The Meadows she wakes up excited at the prospect of starting school and her upbeat mood continues all the way to the school door as she and her Mummy sing together, jump over bubbles and count birds. However when they arrive Matilda’s tummy feels ‘all squirmy’. Her mum gives her a reassuring hug but Matilda finds saying goodbye very difficult. Moreover, she’s at a loss to decide what to play when her teacher, Miss Cartwright, asks. Eventually she plays with small world dinosaurs with Ana and draws pictures beside Leo but nothing stops her missing her mum.

The following day Matilda is anything but excited as she leaves home to walk to the Meadows and clutches her mum’s hand tightly at the door. When asked what is wrong, she tells her mum that she doesn’t like saying goodbye and misses her when she’s in school. Her understanding mum finds a pen in her bag, draws something on Matilda’s wrist and the same image on her own. “This is a hug button,” she tells her daughter and explains how they work. This helps her feel better as she goes into class. There are times during the day when she needs to use her special button and it definitely helps with her tummy wobbles. She even forgets the button as she has a fun time at the water tray

but then needs it at story time only to discover that it’s washed off. Tears start welling up but Matilda remembers that her mum had said that love is always there, even if the person you miss isn’t. Can she send her Mummy hugs without that button and will her mum know? And will that help button continue to work its magic until it’s no longer needed. When a new boy starts and Matilda sees him clinging to his dad at the gate, what do you think she does?

Starting nursery or school is often a tricky, anxious time for young children and the idea of a special hug button is definitely worth trying. The story is one that will help a beginner feel confident as they take those first big steps

Pernickety Boo

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Pernickety Boo
Sally Gardner, illustrated by Chris Mould
Harper Collins Children’s Books

Let me introduce Pernickety Boo, an umbrella, not an ordinary one, though he started out that way. Then an absent-minded sorcerer used him to stir a magic potion, the result being the umbrella acquired magical powers. However his creator left him on an underground train and at Baker Street station he was handed in to the lost property office where he stayed for five whole years.

One day he’s taken, along with other interesting items, to a sale and there he meets young Sylvie Moonshine and a life of adventure ensues. Pernickety Boo can understand cat, has a particular predilection for gloves, especially those made of soft leather, and an ability to time travel, all of which make him extra special.

Totally delightful are his time travels with Sylvie as are those with Jimjam her cat; so too are the encounters with the pushy journalist Ada Moore who is desperate for a scoop.

What an absolutely wonderful, innocent character Sally Gardner has created in her inimitable way. Equally wonderful are Chris Mould’s pen and ink illustrations and together they make a book that exudes humour and is a joy to read from beginning to end. I truly hope that with Pernickety’s ‘See you soon’ on the final page we’ll hear more about him. Read aloud or read alone, you can’t get better than this.

The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate

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The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate
Joy Cowley and Miho Satake
Gecko Press

In days of yore there lived a fierce little woman in a house at the end of a jetty. She spent her days knitting woolly socks to sell to sailors, or walking along the jetty playing her bagpipes or swimming beneath the jetty. Winters were more restful and she’d sometimes sit by the fire fishing through the trapdoor in her floor.

One day a storm blows in and with it comes a pirate who taps at the window of the woman’s house as she sits knitting. She spurns his persistent demands to be allowed to enter and he retaliates with threats

several times over.

Eventually as darkness falls he tries a different approach and admits that’s he’s very frightened of the dark. Seemingly this pirate is more scared than scary; the woman relents, lifting her trapdoor and allowing him to come through into her cosy abode. As they talk, it becomes clear that each in their own way is vulnerable and they have things to offer one another.

After an initial refusal of his hand in marriage, the woman agrees, they get wed and raise a family together.

With her scenes from various perspectives Miho Satake skilfully brings out the quirkiness of Joy Cowley’s text and the battle of words that takes place between the two protagonists.

Riverskin

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Riverskin
Mike Edwards
Walker Books

Green-yeller skinned Tess lives in the turns, beneath the River Tees with her guardian, darker green-skinned, spine-finned Aunt Peg and her Unkle Darkwater. So dangerous is he that he’s chained up in a pit and her aunt gives him slumber mix to keep him under control, but he’s an-ever present threat. Tess feeds on raw fish in a home furnished with ‘dry-folk stuff’ such as a ketul and other bits and pieces salvaged from the water. However Aunt Peg is getting older, becoming mind-slippy and mood-swirly so Tess can’t any longer rely on her for protection. Moreover, she starts having doubts about her true origin.

When Unkle Darkwater breaks free Tess is helped by Chris, a dry-folk boy she saved from drowning as well as extricating his bike from the nook. Now at last she begins to learn more about both herself and her true origins. When she finds out the truth though, what will she do?

I took a few pages to get used to Tess’s unique lyrical manner of telling her story but once I’d done so the drama and the world of the turns sucked me in and swept me along as I became more and more fascinated by her character and her fate.

With its roots in Teeside folklore, Mike Edwards’ debut book is exceptional and I eagerly await what comes next.

UNICO Hunted

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UNICO Hunted
Osamu Tezuka, Samuel Sattin and Gurihiru
Scholastic

In the second episode based on the work of Japanese cartoonist and animator Tezuka, the little unicorn finds himself in a grim abandoned city with no memory of how he got there. He’s rescued by a kindly mouse, Garapachi that takes him home to meet his wife and family. There he learns of Chiko, a blue-eyed little girl living in the house who is desperately ill; she and her grandfather, Yoji, are the last two remaining humans in the city and Garapachi takes the unicorn to see them. He also shows him the massive factory that is dominating and polluting the entire town while armed drones patrol the streets. In the factory lives Mother, a controlling robot and when Unico is summoned to meet her, he learns of her origins and real albeit, now warped, purpose: what a sad story it is.

Underground, where Unico finds himself after a tumble. he finds Garapachi again and they discover the beautiful home of the fey and soon after, the prince of the underground fey. He with the other fey have been driven underground by Mother but can Unico persuade Prince Halian to help them despite his misgivings?

In the meantime, Venus, the evil goddess, coveter of Unico’s horn summons from the ‘deathly garden’ Iver, an interstellar hunter of the reptilian kind, with instructions to find Unicorn and cause suffering to him and those around him.

Ending once again on a cliff-hanger, this exciting story, with lots of weird settings is another winner that will delight fans.

Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody: The Hat of Great Importance

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Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody: The Hat of Great Importance
Patrick Ness, illustrated by Tim Miller
Walker Books

At the start of this second in Ness’s wry series, when Zeke the monitor lizard’s best friend Daniel turns up at the school bus stop wearing a large pink hat, Zeke is deeply disturbed. Surely it’s only birds – the top of the pecking order – that wear hats.

However, things get stranger still with the very tall tower – the Death Ray of Death – so Daniel surmises, is being built exactly where Pelicarnassus and his mum live. Does she intend to melt the school or focus it on Zeke exclusively? Plus Zeke learns that his buddies, Alicia and Daniel are visiting the Guidance Counsellor and have been told to spend their time exclusively with one another. Poor Zeke feels alienated and persuades himself that someone is out to get him.

Then the bus doesn’t turn up the following morning, melted by the Death Ray of Death and replaced by a van driven by a shrew. When the same shrew arrives on a bike after school, saying that the van was melted in his driveway, Zeke is certain it’s not the shrew that’s the real target of the Ray of Death, (rather it’s himself).
With the focus on the dynamics of friendships and themes of mental health and the willingness to share emotions, the author also further explores social inequality especially that between the lizards that live in the poorest part of town and other creatures in the school.

Once again Tim Miller’s illustrations are as droll as the words and are sure to bring plenty of smiles to readers’ faces.


The World’s Worst Alien

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The World’s Worst Alien
Alice Primmer, illustrated by Fred Blunt
Walker Books

This is a slice of life as lived and narrated by Sky, an alien student who has somehow created planet Earth for her school project. However, rather than the dinosaurs she hoped to find living thereon, it’s the age of humans and they appear to be doing a very good job of ruining the entire planet. Bang goes the good grades she’s desperately wanting. Sky decides to change her form and spend time on Earth, in in order to sort things out, without she hopes, having to do too much work before returning from whence she came.

On arriving in London, she experiences cold for the first time and the attire she’s wearing is modelled on the gear worn by YouTube influencers and so totally inappropriate for the climate. But as well as having no name and no place to live, she has no clothes to change in to and off she goes to school straight to a year six classroom where the other pupils are led to believe she’s from Antarctica There she makes friends (kind of) with a girl named Zana to whom she confides that she wants to be an influencer on You Tube without having the first clue about the topic of her videos. Zana invites her new friend to stay the night with her, telling her mother that she’s an exchange student but the school forgot to book her accommodation.

From then on things get progressively more crazy and chaotic: there are unfair doings going on around her (giraffes to release from the zoo) as well as local environmental causes to become involved with.

A funny story that looks at humans from the perspective of an outsider: what though will Sky’s impressions of we Earthlings be by the time she’s completed her project? Alice Primmer’s debut children’s novel gives readers plenty to ponder on, laugh at and talk about, and there’s a plethora of Fred Blunt’s zany illustrations to accompany the silly situations Sky et al find themselves in.

Feel Your Happy

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Feel Your Happy
Emily Coxhead
Walker Books

Emily Coxhead has created another uplifting book overflowing with positivity. Its narrator is a small, very endearing sloth that offers lots of practical strategies to use when things get too much. ‘When I hear a noise that hurts my ears, I find somewhere quiet to be still and calm’, is one. ‘When the world seems too bright, ‘I ask someone to read me a story’ is another

and ‘when somewhere new smells different or strange, I take my softest teddy to snuggle so it smells of home.’ – all of these will appeal to young children and help them to ‘feel their happy’. I love the reassurance given at the end of the book: ‘Your feelings are part of what makes you, YOU! Just remember to be proud, be yourself …”

Using the five senses to manage feelings really helps to make things accessible to very young children, especially when the text is accompanied by warm bright, joyful illustrations with humorous details that are as positive as the words and enable little ones to feel involved.

All children find it difficult to manage their emotions at times, so this is a book to have in home and early years/foundation stage collections.

Our Pebbles

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Our Pebbles
Jarvis
Walker Books

The young narrator and his Grandad loved going to their favourite place. They’d make their way through Wonky Woods, , stop briefly to wave to people on passing trains and to chat with spotty dogs, then climb over the stile when ‘Silly old Grandad’ would always say, “Careful you don’t hit your head on the sky.” Eventually they would arrive at the a place called Pebble Beach and here they’d spend the best of times together. The narrator recalls seeing a seal, playing pirates, eating ice cream while fending off marauding gulls and on every visit before leaving they’d each pick a pebble,

sit themselves in an abandoned boat – The Jolly Dancer – take out their paintbox and decorate their pebbles. These they’d add to those they’d already amassed (we see the collection depicted from above).

One day though Grandad moves away and inevitably the narrator misses his ritual, which becomes evident to his mother. She suggests the narrator takes her to see Pebble Beach and once at the favourite spot, the child selects two pebbles to take to Grandad when they visit him in his new home. There Mum gets out the paints and next time the narrator visits The Jolly Dancer there are two new pebbles to add to those displayed therein.

A beautiful, poignant demonstration of how joyful experiences can eventually become abiding, treasured memories. Jarvis’s illustrations are the perfect complement to his wonderfully warm words.

The Sun Thief

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The Sun Thief
Alice Hemming and Nicola Slater
Scholastic

Team Hemming and Slater’s Squirrel is back and as the season is changing he’s once again confused about what is happening. When his friend Bird declares that it’s bedtime Squirrel disagrees, professing that he could never fall asleep when it’s still light. What he says and what he does though are two different things.

Then come bedtime a few weeks later there’s further confusion when he brushes his teeth as it’s dark when he expected it to be light. Squirrel insists to Bird that the dark is due to there being a sun thief, especially as he heard a peculiar “Hoo’ sound. This he’s told was merely an owl and the following morning just as Bird explained to him, joy of joys, the sun is back shining.

A similar thing happens as Squirrel is languishing in his bath the next evening but he tells himself it cannot be the sun thief. Venturing outside onto a branch with a torch he gives Bat a bit of a fright. “The sun thief just crashed into my tree” he shouts to Bird who explains about Bat being nocturnal.
Still unconvinced that a sun thief isn’t lurking somewhere Squirrel sets an early alarm that only serves to further convince the rodent that there IS a thief,. he wakes his friend before sunrise

and the ever patient Bird explains yet again. At last, Squirrel understands.

The final spread takes elements of the story – why the hours of darkness change throughout the year and the difference between diurnal animals including Squirrel and Bird, and nocturnal ones such as Bat.

Funny and gently educative,. Young children will thoroughly enjoy Squirrel’s over-reacting to a seasonal happening and delight in Nicola Slater’s close-ups that serve to enhance his verbal histrionics.

Nature Heroes

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Nature Heroes
Lily Dyu, illustrated by Jackie Lay
Nosy Crow

The author’s follow-up to Earth Heroes, published in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, is an inspiring collection of twenty short stories that celebrate pioneers who are working with nature to save the world.

‘Biodiversity – the rich variety of living things on earth – is being eaten away by habitat destruction, climate change and pollution. ‘ So says Lily Dyson in her introduction wherein she issues a challenge ‘Together we can rewild the world.’ But is this an impossible task?

Not so think lots of individuals, men and women, from all over the world who have dared to stand up for nature; their amazing efforts related herein show that change definitely is possible. A photograph/illustration and an inspiring quote introduce each of them.

Heroes new to me include Titouan Bernicot

who at sixteen years old, when out with his brother, was so horrified by the ghostly whiteness of the coral in his favourite surf spot in the Pacific Ocean near the island of Mo’orea in French Polynesia that he was unable to ignore what was happening. Having been introduced by his father to a marine biologist who had started coral gardening, Titouan offered to help, eventually launching ‘Coral Gardeners’ an organisation he hoped would save their island’s reefs. Today they have seven coral nurseries across French Polynesia and their team of fifty, many of whom are his childhood friends, have planted tens of thousands of corals.

It was great to learn of Elizabeth Wathuti. Liz, as she prefers, was shocked to see that after several years, the trees she and her seven year old classmates had planted had been cut down.

Her mum told her that sections of the forest were felled for timber and new tea plantations. Devastated, she had to do something and ended up with an award, the money from which she founded the Green Generation Initiative aiming to give every child in Kenya the opportunity to plant and care for a tree.This and much more resulted in her appointment as a United Nations Water Commissioner.

These are just two examples of ways in which when we stand together, we can start changing the world. What can you do?

The Woodland Badger

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The Woodland Badger
Holly Webb
Little Tiger

Poppy loves to visit her mum’s allotment very close to their home where there are butterflies and bees aplenty. One day after school she accompanies her mum who is hoping to collect some strawberries for their tea later that evening. However Mum discovers that most of them have been nibbled, most likely by slugs. Fred, another allotment holder, offers them some of his strawberries and also tells them of his pre-bedtime method of keeping the marauding slugs at bay. During their chat he also mentions that hedgehogs eat slugs and they and other wild creatures live in the nearby woods. Mum suggests they stay a bit longer and see if any show themselves. At dusk, first a fox appears and then a badger; the two watch the badger, spellbound.

The following day Poppy talks excitedly about the badger to her teacher, Mr Finch and he responds enthusiastically. Then Poppy and her friend Grace use the school library to do further research and that night Poppy is allowed to sleep out on their balcony in the hope she can get another sighting of Diamond, as she names the badger. She is excited to see not one but two badgers, Diamond and another smaller one she names Ruby.

But then comes some alarming news from Fred: the woodland has been sold to developers and they plan to clear it and build houses, which put the badgers’ home at risk. Poppy and her mum know they must do something. In collaboration with their neighbours, they launch a campaign showing everybody the importance of protecting natural areas and the wildlife residing therein.

Empowering and gently educative, this story shows readers how food chains work in addition to giving information relating to the diet, habitat and behaviour of badgers. A great story for lower KS2 readers.

Gordon Wins It All

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Gordon Wins It All
Alex Latimer
Oxford Children’s Books

Another honker of a tale about a goose – the meanest goose on earth – who continues with his endeavours to be a good goose. The trouble is he starts to fantasise about being so good that he becomes Mayor of Grover Gardens. As a result it only takes a kind deed by Mrs Elephant, followed by the unexpected appearance of one of his old cronies from the Meaneest Goose Society to make him start to regress. He organises the first ever Grand Tournament for Grover Gardens residents, planning to win every single event and maybe, just maybe, helped by Anthony’s training schedule, if things go as he hopes, he’ll soon have that mayoral chain of office round his neck. The trouble is the other contestants in the events are rather better at their respective sports than Gordon anticipated.

Has the goose got the prowess at long jump, sprinting and javelin throwing to win, or will he fall victim to temptation and cheat his way success?

With a vital message about honesty, this is a very funny story with Alex Latimer’s superb illustrations adding greatly to the humour: Gordon’s facial expressions and laugh-out loud eyebrows are simply splendid.

A Natural History of Bums

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A Natural History of Bums
Bertie Williams, illustrated by Inga Ziemele
Wide Eyed Editions

If you’ve been to Margate (Kent) in the last three or four years then you’re probably aware of its most unusual and popular tourist attraction, the award winning Crab Museum.. As well as giving visitors an insight into the lives of crabs, it also examines vital topics such as climate change and evolutionary history and it does all these things with humour. This same humour is present in this book written by one of the museum’s co-directors, Bertie Williams aided and abetted by illustrator Inga Ziemele and two crab narrators that act as guides for readers, taking us from the ancient patooties of around 800 million years ago to the mud chutes of modern times.

Having cleared up the matter of the role bums play, the author moves to the tricky question ‘But what is a bum?’ and thereafter that vital word evolution crops up and we leap into the bum Time Vortex at the invitation of the crab duo and are taken on a fascinating journey from bumbles’ prehistory through the many billions of years of life on Earth, following the changing shapes and functions of patooties. Said patooties are, we read, ‘pretty recent inventions and as the narrators retrace the 560ish million year story through to the present ‘Age of the Anus’ heaps of fascinating snippets emerge.

One some readers may be familiar with is that a wombat uses the plates of bone in its bum to protect itself from predators and a wombat’s poos emerge from said bum in cubes, and – wait for it – ‘in relation to body size, humans have the ‘biggest bums on Earth. Moreover, ‘if a blue whale was shrunk down to the size of a human, the human would win in a big booty bum-off.” Plus, human bums allow us to walk on two legs, thanks to the muscles found in our bum cheeks.

As you’ve probably gathered, animals have a vast variety of bottoms but possibly none so interesting as the human one; it makes the glowing bum of a fungus gnat pale into insignificance.

This is bound to be a winner.

I Hear The Trees

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I Hear The Trees
Zaro Weil, illustrated by Junli Song
Welbeck Children’s Books

From her opening words, ‘when I walk/ wide-eyed/ through today/ yesterday is forgotten/ tomorrow faraway’ Zaro Weil asks readers to be in the moment and to immerse themselves in the natural world as they join her in this poetry extravaganza.

It’s impossible to do anything else in the opening poem, I Hear The Trees which involves engaging several senses – hearing ‘I hear the trees / gather in sunbeams’ , smelling ‘I smell the orange / crinkle of leaves\ and feeling ‘feel the brushes of tiny beasts burrowing inside swells of / rough bark.’ looking ‘ I watch autumn glow / through still warm trunks’.

A number of different feelings and emotions are evoked, from utterly joyful to sad; there’s humour aplenty and lots of alliteration and other word play. I can almost taste the Bamboozled Berries, those ‘bunches of bounteous berries / brimming bright balls’, which get gobbled up by birds.

Zaro writes about a wide variety of subjects from snakes to space, frogs to fungi and flowers as well as dinosaurs and a play wherein some cultivated flowers at Kew Gardens gang up on a Dandelion calling it a ‘good-for-nothing weed’ and Dandelion goes on to explain to them the benefits of having it in their community.

There’s sure to be something that will appeal to almost everyone herein and the author ends with a vital message, ‘hold tight to your world / for your world is my world / your planet my planet.’ – conservation in a nutshell.

With Junli Song’s print style illustrations throughout and some activity suggestions for educators, parents and children from the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, this is a book for both class and home collections.

Naeli and the Secret Song

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Naeli and the Secret Song
Jasbinder Bilan
Chicken House

Naeli’s passion and her greatest talent is playing her treasured violin given to her by her father. An English doctor, he returned from India to his homeland years back when his own father was seriously ill, since when nobody has heard from him. So when her mother dies from malaria, Naeli is left completely alone, except for her ayah, Vanya, and spends her time playing her violin and learning the sitar.. After a year, she still misses her mother every day,.

Then one day her ayah brings her an unsigned letter with the name Naeli Harwood on the envelope. Inside the envelope is some money, a ticket to travel to London and instructions to bring her violin. Has her father made contact at last? Determined to find out she knows she must undertake the three month long journey from Calcutta port. As she boards the ship, she encounters a boy who introduces himself as Jack; he’s on his way to his hated boarding school and soon becomes Naeli’s friend.

On arrival Naeli is hoping to get a carriage with Jack but she’s met by a man saying he’s been instructed to take her to a lodging house and she’s put to work in a pie shop. Eight days later Naeli is sent to her Uncle Daniel’s home and on his return he tells her that her father went missing some time back and is presumed dead. This uncle, she discovers, was the person who sent her the ticket and he’s extremely interested in her violin and even more interested in hearing her play it. over and over and over. until she can’t play any more. Naeli is very frightened by his behaviour; she flees her uncle’s home and goes to Westminster School to seek out Jack.

She persuades him to go with her to her ancestral home in Northumberland. What they discover there is almost unbelievably shocking but they’re determined to try and get sufficient evidence to prevent a terrible miscarriage of justice from prevailing. The problem is that it’s exceedingly dangerous especially when Uncle Daniel appears on the scene – a real-life adventure – as Jack says in the penultimate chapter of this utterly compelling historical novel.

With its themes of identity and grief, it will surely appeal to older readers with an interest in history, adventure or music; and with lots of personal connections with India, I absolutely loved it and read it in a single sitting.

The Best Jollof Rice Ever!

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The Best Jollof Rice Ever!
Onyinye Iwu
Otter-Barry Books

Meet Kamsi and Kwame, best friends, each of whom declares that jollof rice is their favourite food and that their respective mums make the best jollof. Jollof is a yummy, spicy rice and vegetable dish that originated in West Africa and is now known and enjoyed all over the world. To settle the matter Kamsi has a suggestion. “Let’s each make our own jollof and see which is really the best … “ Off they dash into the garden to start collecting ingredients. They both like playing tricks and each chooses judiciously, selecting items with that in mind. Kamsi adds some nettles to Kwame’s mix and Kwame puts a bright green caterpillar into Kamsi’s pot and both continue adding other ingredients – muddy puddle water, ants for spice and dried-up chewing gum.

A mess they each create for certain. Did they forget what the competition was supposed to be about – not the worst jollof assuredly.

Meanwhile the mums have been busy in the kitchen creating the boys’ favourite dish and invite them to come inside and assist.

This they do and then everyone sits round the table to share a meal. Mmmmm! It’s the best ever jollof. “See, alone we make good jollof …” Kwame’s mum says. “But together we make the best jollof! declares Kamsi’s mum. The boys agree – working together is THE way to go; even though playing an occasional trick on one another is fun.

Vibrantly illustrated, this is a truly tasty story cooked up by Onyinye Iwu for whom it’s her first book as author/ illustrator. My mouth’s watering at the thought of that collaborative dish. I’ll have to try the recipe on the final page.

Welcome

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Welcome
Axel Scheffler and Alison Green
Alison Green Books, Scholastic

Try to imagine what it would be like if you’d had to flee your home and look for another country to live in.

The animal characters in this book do their utmost make the three new arrivals feel welcome and wanted. Their intention is to make sure that nobody is left out because everyone helps to make a happy world. Axel’s illustrations show very different characters playing together, painting together, strolling together hand in hand, having tea together and much more. They communicate visually with the newcomers who speak a different language and allow them to choose games to play.

Equally, allowing the newcomers to be the helpers makes them feel part of the community,

as are shared games and stories. Of course there will be occasions when somebody gets upset and cross but if everybody apologises, these friendships become stronger.

‘Now, imagine if the whole world was like this book – if everyone was kind and helpful and welcomed everyone else. Doesn’t that sound good? “

It most certainly does but sadly it isn’t the case for all humans yet: would that they could all feel like that animal community – kind, open-hearted and ready to make a difference.

An uplifting celebration of empathy, kindness and togetherness. Anyone who buys a copy of this book is helping to make a difference because a donation is made to Three Peas charity (www.threepeas.org.uk) for every copy sold. Teachers and parents, get a copy for your class or family, enjoy sharing it and then talk about possible ways to be as open-hearted as Axel and Alison’s characters.

The Summer Puppy

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The Summer Puppy
Jackie Morris and Cathy Fisher
Otter-Barry Books

This truly beautiful book was inspired by memories of a real and much-loved dog that belonged to Jackie’s daughter and tells the story of Rosie and her first summer spent at their Pembrokeshire home. Cathy Fisher, the illustrator lives in Pembrokeshire too and it’s evident how much they both put into creating the tale. Jackie’s lyrical descriptions of the countryside: ‘The scent of sweet clover filled her nose / as the flowers towered over her. // So much to see, so much to find / in this emerald world.’

and in complete harmony with the words are the magnificent illustrations of the dog exploring its environment with its child owner. Through the changing seasons from early summer to autumn and the onset of winter, they investigate the woods, fields and beach.

Every turn of the page brings fresh delights for readers and listeners, including this reviewer who is cynophobic (but also a lover of the natural world) and likely to encourage lots of people to embrace the great outdoors and explore the joys of nature.

Ava Spark: Hello I’m Here!

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Ava Spark: Hello I’m Here!
Alex Field, illustrated by Joanna Bartel
New Frontier Publishing

Ten year old Ava lives with her mum and twin sister, Flo, in London. One day she’s sent for by the deputy head of her school and Ava wonders why. She learns that she has been given a very important job. A new girl is coming from Australia (staying with her granny to start with) and Mrs Taylor wants Ava to be her buddy and show her around and generally make her feel comfortable in her new surroundings when she starts school the following day.

Ava, who uses a wheel chair and speaks by means of a communication aid she calls Swiftie, is concerned these may prove problematic to her befriending the new girl. To help matters, she decides to give Swiftie an Australian accent, which gets the approval of Mrs Taylor.

After school Ava’s best friend Jack comes round to her home clutching a toy koala bear, saying it’s for Liv, which surprises Ava who thinks they’re a bit old for such toys but doesn’t actually say so. She suggests they should think of something special to do with Liv, and Flo suggests it should be on the upcoming Sports Day. They agree to make two teams, England and Australia to make Liv feel at home. Jack says they can use the koala as a mascot for the Australian team if they kit it out in the appropriate colours – green and gold, maybe having made a trip to the charity shop to find something suitable.

After school Liv is invited to Ava’s house and to their surprise she comes and Sports Day is one of the topics they talk about. Clearly organising the event will take a fair bit of work, particularly who should be in which team. Eventually they sort it out, but will it all go to plan and most important will Liv have a good time?

A warm=hearted celebration of family, friendship and being yourself that shows the importance of communication by whatever means is appropriate for you.

Shadow Thieves

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Shadow Thieves
Peter Burns
Farshore

Born in a desolate workhouse, Tom Morgan has managed to escape and since then by using his wits, observation skills and fleet of foot, he’s survived on the London streets. When his friends from the street are taken by child snatchers, Tom promises himself that he’ll rescue them. He meanwhile, is approached by the Corsair, a man who offers him an opportunity not merely to survive but to thrive. Tom accepts and is taken to become a student at Beaufort’s School for Deceptive Arts or Thieves School, an elite international boarding school shrouded in secrecy.

From the outset he faces challenges – bullies, the amount of work he has to catch up with having joined mid year and making new friends. He learns about the Shadow League, which comprises four guilds – spies, thieves, assassins and politicos – that supposedly keep the balance in the world, and he’s taught to scam, practice deception and tackle tricky obstacles of the physical kind. In so doing he keeps alert, realises that not everyone is to be trusted and puts together some vital clues that will help his friends new and old.

Then, when he goes to the International Shadow Cup with the Corsair, Tom’s skills are tested to the limit.
What exactly is the threat that is constantly lurking as the plot twists this way and that?

Set in an alternative world where the major powers are la Grande République de France, the Japanese Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, with action aplenty, an amazing brave, quick-witted protagonist in Tom and superb world building, this splendid story is one where you keep telling yourself, I’ll just read one more chapter before I stop and then you find you’ve finished the whole book. Now I’m eagerly awaiting the second in the series coming next year.

Dragon Dave The Not So Brave

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Dragon Dave The Not So Brave
Alex Latimer and Phillip Cullen
Scholastic

Stuck in a storybook with an ending he really dislikes, dragon Dave the Brave desperately wants to get out.

One day as he sits beneath a bridge tinkering with some of the letters from the title page, along comes Prince George. The prince notices that Dave looks sad and on learning the reason, he shows Dave that his story words can be rewritten. Starting from the first page, they identity the unsatisfactory parts

and proceed to make substitutes till they reach the end.

Then back to the start they hurry

and the dragon in particular is thrilled with “the Best ending Dave had ever had.’ As you might expect, Dragon Dave is hugely thankful to the prince. He offers him a turn with the writing stick but it’s already in use …

An empowering story that shows we can all rewrite our own stories and that it’s fine to ask for and accept help – Dave and Prince George are both endearing characters and the witty final twist is great fun.
Captivating too are Philip Cullen’s bold, bright scenes and the expressions on Dave’s face especially show so much about his changing feelings.

Daring to be different is the way to go: let these two protagonists show young children the way.

Flember: The Secret Book

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Flember: The Secret Book
Jamie Smart
David Fickling Books

Flember is a mysterious island, the setting for this story: it’s also the life force on which the island is dependent. On this island in a village called Eden lives Dev, who loves to invent things. We first meet him as he’s jumping from a steep cliff face wearing wings made of chicken feathers and cheese powered boots. He’s only sixty-three per cent sure these inventions will work, but work they do sufficiently well to enable him to chase and catch a flemberbug and land in the market place to the relief of his mother. (It’s from her that we discover that books are banned in Eden).

Further experiments ensue and following a carrot incident and its resulting chaos, the Mayor bans Dev from Flember Day, instructing him to clean out the antique shop he wrecked. In this shop Dev comes upon lots of books, in particular an ancient volume containing information about Flember, the life force and its titular Island. Excited by his discovery, he persuades little Mina, owner of a teddy bear to allow him to bring the bear to life to help clean up the mess and this he proceeds to do in true Frankenstein fashion.

This turns out to be his greatest invention in size at least. But despite Boja the robot bear being built to protect the village, with its unrestrained impulses, it ends up causing mayhem instead, and giving grief to both Dev’s mother and his elder brother Santoro, a member of the Youth Guild who has big ambitions. Moreover Dev and said Boja Bear with his Flember consumption have used up almost all that’s available. Now what? Can the village be fixed? Think waffles …

With crazy village characters aplenty, this story is overflowing with ideas, incidents and weird humour but equally important is the message concerning taking responsibility for your mistakes. I look forward to the next adventure of Dev and Boja.

As the World Goes By

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As the World Goes By
Jonny Lambert
Little Tiger

As Buttons the dog watches the world through his window he notices a blue butterfly, its wings catching the sunlight. Fascinated, he rushes outside to share this delight with others but is puzzled to find that nobody else seems to have noticed, so involved in their run of the mill daily lives are they. As Buttons continues on his way he encounters two other friendly creatures; they too are fascinated and join him in pursuit of the butterfly all the way to the park.

There the three sit enthralled as the winged creature dances for a short while then takes off again and enters an art gallery. Once more nobody notices until Buttons calls loudly STOP! At last the crowds do just that momentarily and enjoy the blue beauty.

Finally the world’s humans take time to watch the wonderful butterflies and one hopes the rest of the beauty all around.

In today’s world where so many people spend their time rushing everywhere, this is a reminder to slow right down, stop and take time to appreciate the natural environment. With its charmingly quirky illustrations, this book is a gentle reminder to encourage adults – be they parents, carers or teachers – to provide regular mindfulness

The Rock Family Band

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The Rock Family Band
Robert Tregoning and Laura Brella
Oxford Children’s Books

Using an appropriately jaunty rhythm Robert Tregoning tells readers of the Rock family. There’s Dad, a rock guitarist, Pops the singer, young Liv the drummer and Bo the keyboard player and writer of hit lyrics, not forgetting Nana who play the tambourine, and poodle Ziggy with her canine cacophony. With those platform boots, funky hair and more, it’s certainly a glam-rock family. There’s also the youngest of all, Sam, a flautist who loves peace and quiet and classical music; he feels he doesn’t really fit in.

With the school concert just a couple of days away, Sam is desperate to find a peaceful spot where he can practise but wherever he goes his family’s loud playing disturbs him.

On the concert morning he pleads with his family to stay still and quiet and listen o what he has to say just for three minutes but even that is too much. In a temper, Sam storms off to school feeling just a tad guilty about his outburst.

When it’s his turn to perform, Sam has an attack of stage fright.

Could it possibly be that at the vital moment his jamming, jiving grooving family is exactly what he now needs?

A celebration of individuality, family love and feeling validated – amore and amina at last. Laura Brenlla’s visual portrayal is brimming over with energy and funky style.

Unity Street School Saves the Planet

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Unity Street School Saves the Planet
Sheena Davies
Otter-Barry Books

The Green Team – Fern, Verdun, Jade and Silas, not forgetting Selva their toucan puppet assistant visit Unity Street School. They talk about climate change, explaining how our planet is getting too hot and how bad that is for wild life and for humans. The children come up with a great idea: they will create their own wild, green space to look after at school. It’s to be situated in the old playground behind care-taker, Mr Moss’s tidy grass.

A fortnight later the Green Team return with litter-picking equipment, Mr Moss clears the playground, the children collect all manner of rubbish, most of which can be recycled and then comes the planting. Beans and hedge saplings are supplied by the Green Team, the children plant the beans in jars and Mr Moss plants a cherry tree. They also make a pebble pond.

Then it’s the holiday, after which the work, (including a fund-raising yard sale), continues through to spring when wildflower seeds are scattered and the beans and hedge saplings planted in the earth.
Weeks pass and eventually —- hurrah! Later that summer Unity School community’s hard work has paid off: something really exciting has happened.

An inspiring story of conservation and rewilding. that one hopes, will inspire others to think of ways to help our precious planet, having been shown the way by Unity Street School.

The Unicorn Who Came to School

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The Unicorn Who Came to School
Lucy Rowland and Mike Byrne
Scholastic

Like many young children, the little girl narrator of this story has first day nerves when she starts school. On arriving at the gate though, what should she see but a unicorn who introduces himself as Sparkle and asks politely if he can come to school. The girl agrees and they go in together, talking of things they might do and they sit beside one another when the teacher tells everyone to “Find a friend.” The register is called and all goes well until the class has to line up for assembly. Guess who takes the lead.

During the art session paint flies every which way, music is very noisy and story an opportunity for Sparkle to do some chomping.

When it’s time for outside play Sparkle assists the narrator in making some new friends, but at lunch time his manners really let him down.

At hometime Sparkle waves goodbye to everyone but as he nears the gate, the teacher has a suggestion that might just make him change his mind …

Assuredly Sparkle has given the children their best possible first day at school and I’m sure young listeners, especially those moving from playgroup to a school setting, having heard Lucy Rowland’s rhyming narrative and giggled at Sparkle’s antics shown in Mike Byrne’s bright, zany scenes, will agree.

Punch!

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Punch!
Michael Hall
Greenwillow

‘GRRRRRR!’ goes Badger showing that he’s on the lookout for trouble as he sets off for the forest.
Before long he’s tripped Frog, shoved Moose, kicked Elephant, and given Bear a poke with a shovel.
Bear draws up a plan to teach their friend a lesson. Badger is to receive a punch from Bear,

a belt from Frog and not one but two socks from Moose and as he plants some flowers,

a slug from Elephant.

Then, all of a sudden Badger plants a smack right on the pachyderm’s nose.

The following day when Bear is stung on the paw by a bee, and is in need of some comfort, Badger reciprocates showing that he’s back to his normal self.

What we’re shown but is never mentioned in the words, is the reason for Badger’s behaviour: he’s grieving for his pet, Snaily. Fortunately he has friends that realise he’s upset and in need of support. What we’re also shown is that words can be deceptive; in this story their true meaning is conveyed in Michael Hall’s blocky collage constructed visuals.

With its message about the need to show kindness towards someone who is hurting, this book is a fine demonstration of how important it is for children to develop visual literacy.

The Bear Out There

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The Bear Out There
Jess Hannigan
Harper 360

Of fractured fairytale versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears there have been a fair few. Now Jess Hannigan gives a child voice as she speaks directly to we readers, who have come knocking at the door of a cottaage. Straightway the child informs us that outside lurks a scary thing of an ursine nature. She reveals the three signs indicating the Bear’s proximity – ‘The hair on your arms stands straight up. You feel a pair of great big eyes watching the back of your head. Your feet get suuuuper itchy’. and even goes so far as to draw a picture of said bear.

The girl then invites readers to a game of cards during which something disturbs her; they continue playing with various other noises outside until there’s a crunching followed by a rattling at the front door.

This, the young ‘host’ insists on answering. The result is the throwing into question everything the host has said thus far, is and the throwing of herself through the window.

The rest of the narrative is delivered by the real owner of the house who offers tea like a good host

and makes it clear in an accommodating fashion that this isn’t a one time occurrence. “Believe it or not, break-ins happen all the time . Not to worry. I understand the woods can be quite frightening for non-bear folk…”

Frightfully and frighteningly good fun is this subversive rendition illustrated in bold cut paper scenes of the drama as it unfolds: I love the somewhat sardonic manner of the loquacious child narrator energetically portrayed. Making the entire thing even more subversive are the final endpapers showing that the original narrator hopes to make a mint out of her encounter, with her best selling memoir, ‘I Survived a Real Bear.’

Escape Room: Game Zero

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Escape Room: Game Zero
Christopher Edge
Nosy Crow

Absolutely overflowing with thought provoking ideas, this seems to be more complex than the author’s previous Escape Room books. It begins with Eden who has received an invitation through an online gaming forum from someone with the username AMI, setting off excitedly to play a new game, The Escape. Making her way to where she thinks the creating tech company is situated, and followed by her cat, she’s suddenly distracted by a bird entangled in a football net. Having freed the bird and watched it join others flying in a murmuration, things become weird as she’s swept upwards and transported to what she realises is the game landscape and that she’s now entered the game. Looking around there’s no sign of cat, Molly, but she sees almost immediately, a boy, Ted.

It transpires that he’s the son of the CEO of Escape Systems and is playing the game through a virtual headset from the safety of his own home and therefore doesn’t fear facing a wolf or falling off a cliff. Moreover, he refuses to believe that Eden is anything other than an element of the games, (an NPC) rather than a participant.

To get through the game it’s necessary to solve three tricky clues and find three keys. Despite finding it progressively hard to remember anything that went before the game, it’s down to Eden’s determination, competence in puzzle solving and ability to reman calm that they are able to work in tandem through the levels of the game even when things go wrong.

And go wrong they certainly do leaving Eden to complete the game. But will she remain trapped forever or will she be able to return to reality?

A terrific, thrilling read,

Kerfuffle Bird

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Kerfuffle Bird
Helen Docherty and Gwen Millward
Oxford Children’s Books

Meet the Hushlings, they’re quiet, polite and always keep their feelings under control. It suits them to be thus, all except Maeve.. She really wants to let some of her Big Feelings out but does her utmost to keep them tamed.

One day there appears a large blue egg that. after three days, cracks open and there emerges a flamboyant and very noisy Kerfuffle Bird that shatters the peace of the Hushlings sending them dashing for cover. Not so Maeve however; she accepts the bird’s offer and they take to the air in party mood, coming to land in front of Maeve’s parents. Shock horror! The bird flies right into their abode, gobbles the food on the table

and proceeds to test the patience of Hushville’s residents to the limits. They said nothing until one night the bird’s powerful snoring releases something in them and it’s only Maeve who understands. So alarmed is the Kerfuffle Bird (what a terrific name) that it decides to leave Hushville.

Can any of the Hushlings do or say anything to make the bird change its mind? Seemingly it’s now not only Maeve that appreciates the importance of expressing one’s feelings: so can they all find a way to live harmoniously together?

A lively fun story about expressing your true feelings, acceptance and learning to live together. Gwen Millward captures so well the chaos that ensues with arrival of Hushville’s lively endearing avian in her energetic scenes.

Nelly the Very Different Bird

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Nelly the Very Different Bird
Alex Macdonald
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

Nelly can’t fly so when the other birds migrate for the winter, she is left behind. However, she’s eager to join them and so being a determined, resourceful little creature, she learns ‘to do things differently.’ She orders an inflatable boat, an outboard motor, a map, climbing gear and other items and then begins her steepest learning journey yet but the great thing is she can travel far from the woods, scaling heights, sailing the seas,

traversing the desert, without the need to fly.

Eventually, thousands of miles away Nelly finds her flock. Unfortunately though, the next morning, they take off from whence they’d come, leaving her all alone. But not quite, for one bird remains; he like Nelly has discovered he can’t fly and appears far from happy about it.

He hasn’t however, expected to encounter Nelly who proceeds to teach him ‘how to do things differently.’

Before long they’re ready to embark on adventures together and in so doing they discover that ‘life’s a lot more interesting when you do things together … and a lot more enjoyable too.

An empowering, absolutely charming tale of doing things differently. It celebrates independence, perseverance, individuality, co-operation, creativity and friendship and is a great book to share with young learners. They’ll delight in the acrylic and gouache illustrations of the endearing Nelly and her lateral thinking achievements.

We Love Veggies! / I Really Really Need A Wee

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These are two recent board books from Little Tiger: thanks to the publishers for sending them for review.

We Love Veggies!
Becky Davies and Ailie Busby

This is in the same style as We Love Fruit and again gives young children permission to play with food, albeit of the card variety. Having set free the double-sided veggie characters from the sliding tray inside the front cover of the book, child participants need to follow the clues given on each page and then select the appropriate cardboard piece. Can they work out which vegetable grows underground and is liked as food by rabbits? Or can they decide what vegetable is mostly made of water, has a purple, glossy skin and pale flesh?

A fun interactive guessing game with gently humorous illustrations by Ailie Busby and text by Becky Davies. Once you’ve shared the book a few times with toddlers it’s a good idea to introduce them to the real vegetables and to talk about how important it is to include ‘yummy’ veggies in a healthy diet.

I Really Really Need A Wee
Karl Newson and Duncan Beedie

From the body language and facial expression of the bush baby on the cover of this one, you know you’re in for a tricky time, one that will surely be familiar to adults who have been out with little ones
Here, the creature narrator’s attempts to distract himself make things worse and his efforts to find a place to relieve himself are disastrous. Eventually however, the object of bushbaby’s intense desire is in sight but almost inevitably, there’s an extremely long queue. When finally the little room is at last vacant, ‘woohoo!’ what a huge relief . But very soon after … you’ve guessed it …

Little humans will find this wee-ally funny. They’ll delight in Karl’s rhyming telling and Duncan’s side-splitting scenes; together they’re almost enough to make them wet themselves.

Robin and Pip

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Robin and Pip
Margaret Anne Suggs
Graffeg

A touching tale about a Robin that worries. To ease those worries the little bird asks his patient pal, Pip the apple tree, lots of questions; first about the blossom. Does she miss the flowers when they float away? Now as Pip, a mature tree already knows of her naturally occurring life cycle she is fully aware of the series of stages she’ll undergo each year. Through Robin’s continuing questioning and Pip’s responses, readers share these natural changes.

The little bird and young listeners learn that the tree is able to provide stability through her roots and strength and flexibility through her branches to grow and hold up the fruits until they’re ready to fall or are harvested. Finally Robin nestles into Pip’s welcoming.comforting branches and reassured, the bird’s questioning ceases.

A gentle blend of story and information, this is a book to share and talk about with early years children who will be helped to understand that it’s okay to feel worried about things, but by far the best way to cope with their worries is to find someone to talk with. The author’s pen and watercolour illustrations are a delight and really bring out the feelings of the little worrier and the reassurer, while also including some amusing details of seasonal happenings and minibeasts.

The Old Forest Path

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The Old Forest Path
Jamie Catto and Kanako Wakabayashi
Ragged Bears

This story is the first for young readers by musician Jamie Catto.

Once upon a time, deep in a magical forest lived fairies: delicate, graceful and ballerina-like is how Kanako Wakabayashi portrays them. The fairies delighted in dancing among the flowers and shrubs and were mindful of doing as their elders had taught them – to stay on the path and return home each evening. However, there was one fairy who was so captivated by the forest music that she would stray from the path, unaware of the concern of the other fairies.

One afternoon a piper arrived playing tunes so enchanting that all the fairies were completely enthralled;

but there was one fairy who was so completely transfixed by his music that she stepped forth, the two joined together in a dance that lifted them high, high above the forest canopy never to be seen again. Meanwhile the forest path disappeared completely leaving the remaining fairies free to go wherever they wished in the forest.

A demonstration of the power of music to transform, lyrically told and beautifully illustrated in delicate watercolours, this unusual book with its echoes of Arthur Rackham and Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies sent me back to my childhood days.

For older picture book lovers I suggest.

Pirate Academy: Sword Echoes

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Pirate Academy: Sword Echoes
Justin Somper, illustrated by Teo Skaffa
uclan publishing

The third book in this terrific Pirate Academy series is the most breath-taking and action-packed so far. The three young buccaneering students find out more about one another and equally important, about themselves.

As the story opens Neo is sailing with Captain December Wilde and Pickle, her pet boar, following a trail of clues left for him by his legend mother, Captain Doll Darkwater. Neo’s formed a bond with Pickle but misses his Academy friends, Jasmine and Jacoby most of all, even more so as he has no idea when he will next see them.

Meanwhile, Jasmine and Jacoby are horrified to discover something unexpected about their much-loved teacher, Captain Victor Molina; he has defected to LOT P (the League of True Pirates). Whilst endeavouring to make sense of the betrayal, Jacoby discovers some evidence that one of his classmates could be the next target for LOT P : now Ocean (Jasmine’s best friend) falls under suspicion.

Then just as Jasmine, Ocean and Jacoby are preparing to head out to sea on a maverick mission, for Jasmine to reunite with her father, they’re stopped in their tracks by Captain Mayday Salt. Ocean is told she must stay at the Academy and that Mayday will join the voyage along with Cheng-Li, a voyage that takes them into extremely dangerous waters.

And there I’ll leave them and merely say that there’s intrigue aplenty and that Neo’s journey sees him receiving an awesome gift – a sword with as yet undisclosed powers which, in the right hands could change everything.

With a new journey awaiting, I can’t wait to see what unfolds in book four.

Reggie Rabbit: Robbery at the Masqued Ball

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Reggie Rabbit: Robbery at the Masqued Ball
Swapna Reddy and Becka Moor
Oxford Children’s Books

A warm welcome back to a young detective duo intent on keeping their city safe. Young detectives Reggie Rabbit and partner Pipsqueak are in attendance at a very special event and that’s because Auntie Hibiscus has been asked to do the catering. The event is the Masque family’s Masqued Ball – the grandest event in all of Bearburgh – and Reggie and Pipsqueak are to be waiters despite Reggie’s parents not being keen on the idea. However with famous pop star KITTY QITA set to perform, it’s too good an opportunity to miss.

Suddenly though, in the middle of Kitty Qita’s act, the lights go out and a jewel heist takes place.
Despite Kitty telling Reggie and Pipsqueak that the case is a lost cause, they’re ready for action right away. Kitty directs them towards Dog Lane (the meanest, most dangerous place on earth) and leaves them to it.

However it’s easy to jump to conclusions and the solution to this puzzling mystery may well come as a surprise.

With its madcap adventures and warm friendships, this charming series is a delightful blend of graphic novel and fiction and Reggie’s third case will surely be a winner with younger solo readers.

The Wish Switch

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The Wish Switch
Lynn Painter
Scholastic

Emma Rockford’s beloved Nana Marie had instilled in her granddaughter a belief in a magical faerie portal that supposedly grants wishes. Now Emma and her classmates are on a class field trip on the very day the magic portal is giving out wishes, its location being less than a mile from the portal. The plan is to steal away with her best friends Allie and Kennedy, find the magic spot in the forest and each make four secret wishes, wishes that would start coming true in four months time. While they’re so doing, Emma’s brother Noah and new boy, Jackson appear on the scene, seemingly for the very same reason.

Exactly four months later wishes have come true, one each for both Allie and Kennedy but not for Emma. Instead it appears that Jackson has received her first wish. And so it continues, leaving Emma endeavouring to cope with intense disappointment.

Could it be that in order to make her wishes come true she’ll need to team up with Jackson …

For older readers, this is an amusing tale of friendship, family and self-discovery laced with magic.

Diggers, Dozers & Dumpers

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Diggers, Dozers & Dumpers
Ole Könnecke
Gecko Press

Translated from the original German by Melody Shaw, this contains fourteen mini stories each of which features a different construction vehicle. Every story but one unfolds over one spread and all show realistic pictures of the vehicles and their amusingly portrayed animal drivers.. The vehicles include a dumper truck driven by Roberta Elephant, a telescopic crane that concert pianist Cordula Cow uses to carry her piano to give a free concert in the pasture to her ‘less successful sisters’. I think my favourite and probably that of young children, is J.J. Wolf’s mini-digger story. Having dug a small hole in the sheep paddock he’s surprised to find that the following morning some sheep have fallen in. The cunning guy invites the sheep to dinner at his house. Err …

The cement mixer story spread is a recipe for pancakes that requires more than two thousand litres of milk, s two thousand plus tons of flour and over thirty two thousand eggs and there’s a tale of grass mowing one-upmanship entitled ‘combine harvester’.

Each tale has additional information in italics about how the vehicle is used. The countless young vehicle loving children will probably most enjoy seeing the machinery whereas adult sharers will have a good giggle over the animals’ actions.

A fun amalgam of story and information; it’s great to see several of the machines have female operators.

Won’t Go! / Not Tired!

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Won’t Go!
Not Tired!
Sumana Seeboruth and Fotini Tikkou
Barefoot Books

Both books are part of the publisher’s Feelings & Firsts series and with their bright expressive illustrations and simple words told from the featured child’s perspective, are worth having if you have a very young child.

Won’t Go! shows a small girl busy playing at home and protesting about being told she must stop and go elsewhere. Eventually though, after some playfulness on the part of one of her dads, it’s off to the ballet class. There however, all the other pupils are wearing blue, but fortunately the teacher has a pink dress and shoes in a similar hue to those of the little protagonist. This makes all the difference both during the lesson and afterwards when her dads arrive to collect her with the baby.

Not Tired! presents another situation that the majority of parents/carers will be familiar with. A small child wants to continue playing and certainly isn’t ready for bed. There follow a plea for another book, another snuggle and some shenanigans over a missing teddy bear until at last the little one has tired herself out and is ready for that goodnight kiss before falling fast asleep. In this book the mother is differently abled but this is shown rather than spoken of in the text.