Audrey the Amazing Inventor

June 20, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Audrey the Amazing Inventor
Rachel Valentine and Katie Weymouth
Words & Pictures

Hot on the heels of Ada Twist, Scientist and Rosie Revere, Engineer comes another young girl character with a passion.
Meet Audrey, inquisitive and an inveterate fiddler with things, who, having declared to her teacher, her intention to be an inventor, sets about achieving her ambition.

She starts with items to make life better for her dad and Happy Cat but after a very rocky start

and even more disastrous next efforts, Audrey miserably declares herself “the world’s worst inventor!”

Luckily for her, her dad, far from making disparaging remarks, encourages his daughter to learn from her mistakes and carry on trying. Wise advice.

It works too, for it isn’t long before Audrey is inventing again, but this time she’s extra careful at the planning stage, the constructing stage and the testing stage. Dad cannot wait to see the new invention.

Will it work to the satisfaction of all though? It’s certainly wildly inventive, and sophisticated; but will it deliver?
Crazy, but enormously enjoyable and an inspiration to young female would-be scientists, technologists and engineers: Audrey demonstrates just how much enjoyment the STEM curriculum offers and Rachel Valentine’s narrative reminds children of the importance of persevering, and of following your dreams.

There’s a slight touch of the Heath Robinsons about some of Katie Weymouth’s zany scenes of Audrey at work on her inventions, and she also adroitly captures the close and supportive relationship between father and daughter.

Don’t Feed the Bear

June 19, 2018jillrbennett 2 Comments

Don’t Feed the Bear
Kathleen Doherty and Chip Wass
Sterling Children’s Books

Teachers of young children know what appeals when it comes to story time; they certainly ought to or they shouldn’t be in the job. Not all of us though can use that knowledge to produce super book texts that make great read alouds like Kathleen Doherty has in this, her debut picture book.

There’s been a plethora of picture books featuring beary characters this year, in fact I’ve featured quite a few on this blog, but none with such wonderful endpapers as this one.

Now what about the story? First there’s that Bear, resident of a forest frequented by campers, a large creature that particularly relishes the tasty offerings left by same. There’s also a ranger, short of stature, seemingly a jobsworth kind of character, equally keen on the food left behind and partial to erecting signs such as the one that gives the book its title.

When she does just that, she triggers a veritable sign-writing skirmish …

lasting much of the day …

until a détente is reached and the signs are amended one last time.

Will those signs have the desired affect now? Here’s a clue …

However, if you want to know who has the final word, then get your paws on a copy of the book and find out for yourself. It’s brimming over with wonderfully join-in-able onomatopoeia – here’s a taster : ‘SMACKITY! SMACK! WHOMP! CLOMP … CLOMP … CLOMP’, there’s the occasional rhyme and a thoroughly satisfying finale, not to mention the understated message that two heads, or rather pens, are better than one.

Then of course there are Chip Wass’s funky, bold scenes of the arboreal antics that are guaranteed to delight.

This is a sure fire story time winner: Kathleen’s short sentences allow the reader aloud to create maximum impact with each one and the illustrations are delectably droll.
Having said all that, the nature of the text is such that after a couple of sharings, children may well feel they’d like to try the book themselves.

We’re Getting a Cat!

June 19, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

We’re Getting a Cat!
Vivian French and Salvatore Rubbino
Walker Books

Vivian French does narrative non-fiction beautifully and so it is in this book about a family that have recently moved into a flat in an old house. A flat that’s overrun with mice.

Dad is no cat enthusiast but he likes small furry rodents even less, so a decision is made. It’s off to the cat rescue centre and that’s where they meet big, strong Kevin. His skills as a mouse-catcher seem certain and so a week later, the girl narrator and her sister are thrilled by Kevin’s arrival at their home.

With the help of cat-owning neighbour, Mrs Harris, the family help Kevin settle into his new home. He learns how to use his litter tray

although he does use the family toilet for his own purposes.

He also discovers the best place for a good old scratch – certainly not Dad’s favourite chair – and gets used to the feeding time routine. In short he makes himself comfortable but as for mouse catching, it’s a great big No. It looks as though Dad might well decide to send him back to the Rescue Centre.

“Isn’t that what cats do” the narrator asks their neighbour on the mice-catching topic, the answer isn’t exactly what she’d hoped though.

But then Kevin takes himself off to explore the great outdoors and vanishes. Has he read Dad’s mind perhaps?

Up-beat in style, with additional captions that provide information on feeding, grooming and cat care throughout the book and a final ‘If you’re getting a cat’ page at the end, along with an index and some helpful websites, this is an ideal read for potential cat owners.

Even this cat-phobic reviewer was charmed by Rubbino’s scenes of the trials and tribulations Kevin puts his new family through, and the manner in which he establishes himself as an essential part of their household.

Ocean Meets Sky

June 18, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Ocean Meets Sky
Eric & Terry Fan
Lincoln Children’s Books

Everything about this, the second Fan Brothers picture book, is absolutely superb: the jacket, the cover, the endpapers, the paper used and of course, the story and illustrations.

It’s a magical tale of young Finn who, inspired by memories of his grandfather’s sayings, his voice, and his stories – stories of a far distant place where ocean and sky meet – on what would have been his ninetieth birthday, builds a boat in his honour.

Then, imagination fuelled by those stories, the boy sets off on an amazing dream of a voyage. A voyage aided by a huge golden fish that tells him it knows of the place he seeks: “It’s high and low … It’s up and down and very far.” and offers to show the way.

The journey takes Finn through such wondrous places as the Library Islands populated by bibliophile birds; (love that there’s a copy of The Night Gardener tucked in one of the piles of books)

then, after landing to explore an island of giant shells, they travel onwards crossing a sea of dancing jellyfish until eventually they reach their destination, perhaps,

whereupon the boat lifts towards the sky (or had the water fallen away?) and the boy drifts through starry, steampunkish spreads whereon hot air balloons, zeppelins, submarines, a giant whale, float following the fish towards the full moon. There, a transformation takes place.
Smiling back at him benevolently, illuminating his farewell, is a face Finn knows so well.

Then comes a voice summoning him home from his dreaming. It’s his mother calling him (with echoes of Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are) for dinner– Grandpa’s favourite dumplings.

The Finn Brothers vision of eternity is, in this affecting story, one that offers a bereft boy some healing from his sadness, leaving him able to face forwards, full of wonder. ‘It had been a good day for sailing.’

Elegant scenes grace every spread providing much to explore: observant readers/listeners will notice that an early picture of Grandpa’s room is filled with treasured objects that become part of the dream sequence.

Spot the Difference in the Park / Dinosaur Adventure Activity Book & Pirate Adventure Activity Book

June 17, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Spot the Difference in the Park
Naomi Wilkinson
Lincoln Children’s Books

Five scenes show in turn, a host of playful dogs some accompanied by a walker; animals engaged in various sporting activities such as soccer, tennis, skate-boarding, badminton and cycling; a boating lake;

the flower beds; the playground and finally a downpour that sends all the animals homewards, with each offering five spot the differences per spread. The answers are found by looking beneath the flaps on each recto.
Set against subtle background colours, each busy scene, with its rhyming introduction, provides young spotters plenty of detail to peruse and enjoy, in addition to identifying the differences.
Also available is Spot the Difference on the Beach.

For slightly older children are:

Dinosaur Adventure Activity Book
Pirate Adventure Activity Book
illustrated by Jen Allison
Button Books

Following on from her Space Activity Book, Jen Alliston has two new eye-catching titles.
Each of the chosen themes have an enduring allure for young children and in both are to be found games, dot-to-dots, mazes, crafty things, word puzzles, riddles, spot the difference, colouring in, the odd joke or two, even a little bit of maths, as well as 4 pages of stickers (pictures and some labels).
Entertainment is the main focus, although users will likely acquire some new vocabulary and the occasional fact too, as well as developing their skills in observation, manipulation and concentration.
(The answers are supplied at the back of the books for those inclined to check.)

Little Guides to Great Lives: Nelson Mandela

June 16, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Little Guides to Great Lives: Nelson Mandela
Isabel Thomas and Hannah Warren
Laurence King Publishing

Nelson Mandela is one of my all time heroes so I was particularly pleased to see this little biography aimed at children around the age of the class I was teaching (7/8) at the time he was released from prison in 1990. I remember we all got up and cheered and jumped around. Yes, we were quite political and had already done some work on apartheid and Mandela in class.

One of a new series, the book is written by Isabel Thomas in an accessible style for young readers.
It begins with a look at his village childhood when the young boy was named Rolihlahla (pulling the branch of a tree’ or perhaps ‘troublemaker’) and includes a local game.

After the death of his father, the teenage Nelson lived with the acting king of the Thembu people and became great friends with his son, Justice.

Brief details of his time as a university student lead on to running away to Johannesburg and, set against factual information of socio-political happenings, the events that took place up to and after he obtained his law degree; his work with the ANC against apartheid in particular, and his time (27 years) in prison, mostly on Robben Island.

The final pages tell of Mandela’s release from gaol, his leadership of the ANC, the scrapping of apartheid laws, his winning of the Nobel Peace Prize and his becoming the first president of South Africa to be elected by all the country’s people, ending with his death at 95 years of age in 2013.

There’s also a timeline and a glossary.

Hannah Warren’s retro style illustrations executed in a limited colour palette, using mainly the ANC colours, add to the book’s appeal.

Also in the series and equally worth seeking out is the story of aviation super star and women’s right pioneer:
Amelia Earhart
Isabel Thomas and Dàlia Adillon

The Misadventures of Winnie and Wilbur / Get Me Out of Witch School!

June 15, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Misadventures of Winnie and Wilbur
Laura Owen and Korky Paul
Oxford University Press

It’s good to have the ever-popular picture book duo, Winnie the Witch and her cat Wilbur, in another chapter book format edition.
This one has eight short stories, each one profusely illustrated by Korky Paul in his distinctive zany style.

In the first, Winnie gets her knickers in a bit of a twist when her new enterprise isn’t quite the resounding success she’d hoped, but then Winnie doesn’t exactly employ the kind of sales talk that will have her new products whizzing off the shelves.

No matter: the ingenious uses she finds for her unwanted wares are bound to give readers a good giggle.

The second story has Winnie cooking up a feast for her interfering sister Wilma. It’s not the special fresh batburgers she originally planned – she hasn’t the heart to serve up relations of her ’diddly bat’ friend – but, thanks to some timely assistance from Wilbur, Wilma leaves after supper thoroughly satisfied with her meal.
That should suffice to give you a flavour of the hilarious escapades within; the others being concerned with bothersome bubbles, a whopping great whale and other fishy findings, a car boot sale with a difference,

some high drama in a big top, extraordinary doings at a soccer game involving the odd bit of knicker elastic zapping and finally, a spot of excavating.
Sheer hilarity from beginning to end, and perfect read alone fare as well as a hoot to read aloud.

More witchy shenanigans in:

Get Me Out of Witch School!
Em Lynas, illustrated by Jamie Littler
Nosy Crow

In the second book of Daisy Wart’s adventures at Toadspit Towers, Witch School of Conformity and Strickness, the reluctant young witch is now known as Twinkle Toadspit.
She’s yet to gain full control of her witchy powers and still holds ambitions to be an actress. But when she determines to rescue a ‘cute, cuddly kitten’ Twinkle inadvertently sets off a chain of chaotic happenings.
It’s down to Twinkle and her pals to save Toadspit Towers. Can they do so, and in time for the would-be star of stage to tour her “Bottom”?

Bursting with wonderful characters, this is total spellbinding fun to keep readers in suspense throughout. Equally it makes a thoroughly enjoyable read aloud for those not quite ready to fly solo. However it’s read, Jamie Littler’s illustrations add to the enjoyment.

Moth

June 15, 2018jillrbennett 1 Comment

Moth
Isabel Thomas and Daniel Egnéus
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Interestingly this is the second picture book introducing adaptation and natural selection to children I’ve seen in the past few weeks – could a new trend be starting. I was first taught about these scientific ideas with reference to the Peppered Moth, the particular example used in this story, when doing A-level zoology donkeys ages ago, and now they’re part of the KS2 science curriculum – quite a thought.

‘This is a story of light and dark. Of change and adaptation, of survival and hope.’ So says science writer, Isabel Thomas in the opening lines of her narrative, a narrative that seamlessly interweaves both science and social history.

In the nineteenth century almost all Peppered Moths had light grey patterned wings that blended with the tree trunks and branches it frequented.

With the coming of the Industrial Revolution also came air pollution blackening buildings, monuments and trees alike.

In this new environment, the light-coloured moths became easy to spot and were gobbled up by birds.
Darker forms of the insect were less conspicuous and more likely to escape predation and to breed whilst the lighter form became extremely scarce.

With the advent of the Clean Air Acts in the mid-twentieth century air pollution from smoke and soot was greatly reduced, trees and buildings were no longer stained. Now the dark moths were more conspicuous and less likely to breed successfully, though both forms of the moth can still be found.

All this, Isabel Thomas recounts in her dramatic, sometimes lyrical text that ends with hope. A hope which, as we hear in the final explanatory pages, might lead to other living things being able to adapt to the changes, including climate change, that we humans inflict upon our planet.

Daniel Egnéus’ illustrations are as lyrical as the text, embodying at once arresting beauty and veritas, and instilling a sense of awe and wonder. It’s rare to see such an eloquent science-focused book that also embraces the arts side of the curriculum.

Baby’s First Bank Heist

June 14, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Baby’s First Bank Heist
Jim Whalley and Stephen Collins
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Utterly crazy, but equally hilarious, is this tale of an errant infant with an overwhelming desire for a pet.

Let me introduce baby Frank, ardent animal lover who decides to take the law into his own tiny hands in order to procure the necessary wherewithal to make his dream come true.

The trouble is, this tiny lad isn’t content with just one animal and before long the whole house resembles a menagerie;

but still he wants more and there’s cash aplenty to fund his passion so there’s nothing to stop him. Until, one afternoon, Mum makes a discovery …

Eventually Frank’s deceitful doings are uncovered and it’s time to make amends. Without any of his loot left what can they do to raise the money to repay the bank? And, what can they do with all the animals?

There’s only one way to put everything right. I won’t say what ensues but merely add that it entails Frank spending some time behind bars.

Tongue-in-cheek text from debut author, Jim Whalley coupled with Stephen Collins’s retro-style illustrations make for a corker of a book.

Pet-related preposterousness to make both children and adults splutter with glee; I’m sure this will quickly establish itself as a story time favourite.

The Little Green Hen

June 13, 2018jillrbennett 1 Comment

The Little Green Hen
Alison Murray
Orchard Books

Alison Murray has reworked the original Little Red Hen traditional story giving it an environmental slant. Herein her main character resides in the hollow trunk of a large apple tree growing atop a hill.

The Little Green Hen cares for the tree and sows the apple seeds to grow more trees. Before long an orchard has sprung up and she’s in need of some assistant cultivators.
“Who would like to help me tend the apple trees?” she asks. Peacock is too busy preening himself but Dog offers his help as assistant pruner.

Requests for assistance with bug control and seed sowing are turned down by Fox and Cat respectively but she finds willing helpers in Sparrow and Squirrel. Throughout the year the new friends tend the orchard and all are rewarded by its bounties.

As autumn turns to winter, down comes the rain, day after day, week after week.

The industrious friends are safe, warm and dry in the old apple tree but Peacock and Fox are flooded out of their homes and seek refuge on Cat’s log.

Fortunately for the trio, The Little Green Hen is big-hearted enough to offer them a place of safety and together they wait for the flood waters to recede.

When the sun finally reappears, it’s time to clean up.

How will the Little Green Hen’s call for help in cleaning up the mess be received by her guests?

Fortunately for all the animals and of course, the orchard, the word is now teamwork.

Thanks to this and the thirsty roots of the new young trees, a new orchard grows up providing food and shelter for all to share.

Alison Murray’s crisp, clean-cut illustrations have a pleasing freshness and the body language and facial expressions of her characters capture their changing feelings eloquently.

Great for individual or story time sharing.

Brothers Forever

June 12, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Brothers Forever
Claudia Boldt
Puffin Books

What do you do when your brother and best friend starts school leaving you to spend a long, gloomy day alone doing the things – cake baking, drawing and playing hide-and-seek – you’ve always done together?

That’s what happens to the small ursine narrator of Claudia Boldt’s new picture book. But that is only the beginning.

Big brother Barney, now calling himself Barnaby, has so many new and exciting ways to pass his time, and interesting new friends to play with, that his little brother is side-lined.

Life just isn’t fun any longer.

Enter new friend, Podgy. This cuddly creature participates in the activities previously shared with Barney,

but the new friendship makes boy narrator and Podgy the object of amusement to big bro. and his pals.

When Barney declines his favourite food one day, our narrator senses something is wrong

and that night he discovers what’s troubling his brother – it’s the thought of his first school trip away from home.

Brotherly love and understanding come to the rescue as both bears realise that no matter what changes life brings, one thing – or rather two – are forever.

Warm, realistic and imbued with gentle humour, this story will strike a chord with siblings especially.

Holes

June 12, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Holes
Jonathan Litton and Thomas Hegbrook
360 Degrees

According to the Oxford English Dictionary Jonathan Litton quotes at the beginning of this large format book, a hole is ‘a hollow place in a solid body or surface’. It then goes on to say ‘they are both something and nothing” – paradoxical hmm?

All manner of hole-related topics from caves to nostrils, and phloem to philosophical ideas are covered, the information being gathered under five main headings: Natural Holes, Manmade Holes, Animal and Plant Holes, Philosophy of Holes and Ordinary and Extraordinary Holes – the result, author Litton tells us in his introduction of ‘squirrelling and hoarding’ lots of kinds of hole ideas in a huge hollowed out hole. I like that notion.

The rest of the text is equally engaging as well as highly informative. I learned a new word – spelunker – meaning people ‘who visit caves, but without proper training’ – on the second spread.

The second theme, ‘Manmade Holes’ includes mines, wells and boreholes, tunnels and subways

as well as subterranean living, secret holes and buried treasure.

I enjoyed too, the idea of earth being like a ‘Swiss cheese under our feet!’ and I know many children will giggle at the mention of ‘bottoms’, which are included as an example of the location of holes within animals.
The topic of plant holes particularly fascinates me and there’s a spread devoted to some of the ways plants use holes.

Thomas Hegbrook has done a sterling job in providing illustrations for all the themes making every spread an invitation to delve deeper.

With its die-cut cover, the whole is a veritable treasure trove of holes, to be dipped into and rooted around in: you never know what you might find, but as the author says in his finale, what he’s covered herein is just a small sampling of a ‘hidden wonderland’; the rest is awaiting our discovery. I know I’ll never take a walk and think about what I see in quite the same way, having read this book.

Happy hole exploring.

If all the world were …

June 11, 2018jillrbennett 1 Comment

If all the world were …
Joseph Coelho and Allison Colpoys
Lincoln Children’s Books, First Editions

Be prepared to shed tears when you read this first person narration by a little girl who takes readers on a journey through four seasons and a whole life’s experiences shared with her beloved Grandad.
Starting with spring, she talks of long exploratory walks hand in hand and then takes a seasonal flight of fancy: ‘If all the world were springtime, / I would replant my grandad’s birthdays / so that he would never get old.’

In summer Grandad buys a wooden racing track (second hand with bits missing) and together they play, sometimes zooming the cars up into space. This action triggers the narrator’s second imagined scenario to make her granddad happy.

I love the notebook with handmade paper, bound with Indian-leather string Grandpa makes for his granddaughter in autumn, wherein to write and draw her dreams with a special rainbow pencil.

That suggestion leads to her third loving musing:
‘If all the world were dreams, / I would mix my bright Grandad feelings / and paint them over sad places.’

Come winter it’s time for cosying up by the fire and listening to Grandad’s tales of his boyhood of Indian sweets and homemade toys, and hear him tell of ships, snakes and tigers. Now though Grandad is ailing and the little girl supposes a world of stories and making her grandad better merely by listening to his every tale.

One day though his chair is empty; Grandad is no more. From the ephemera she finds in his room, the narrator creates a beautiful mandala of memories; memories she wishes could be rooms where she could visit her granddad.

On Grandad’s chair she finds a brand new notebook made by him with her name on the cover, the perfect thing in which to record all her precious memories.

I’m sure that like me, you’ll find yourself reaching for that box of tissues as you read this beautiful, lyrical book. Joseph’s Coelho’s poignant text in combination with Allison Colpoy’s tender illustrations infused with nostalgia and love, are a celebration of life as well as a perfect starting point for a conversation about loss and dying.

Soul music in a picture book, this.

Sea Star Wishes / Ocean

June 10, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Sea Star Wishes
Eric Ode and Erik Brooks
Sasquatch Books

Singer, songwriter and author, Eric Ode shares the sights and sounds of the seashore in his twenty poems, some tightly rhyming, others more free, and some such as Wrinkles and The Sea Lion sans rhyme altogether; but all painting wonderful word pictures.

I love for example, those closing words of his The Sea Urchin where he describes the creature as ‘that thistly / bristly / hedgehog of the sea.’ as well as Wrinkles and The Stunt Kite. The latter rather than fly, ‘swoops / and loops./ … circles / and lunges, / lurches, / dives, / climbs / and plunges.’ Text and illustration work particularly well together in this one.
Moods range from comical

to contemplative

and there’s certainly much to discover and enjoy whether or not a seaside trip is planned. No matter, herein without getting sand in your sandwiches, you can construct a sand castle and perhaps encounter a sandy royal family.

I have to admit I’ve never heard of a geoduck – the subject of one of Ode’s more insouciant poems, perhaps because it’s native to waters around the coast of northwest US and western Canada, although geoducks are apparently available through a shellfish trader in London’s Billingsgate Market.

From barnacles to boats and fishing to footprints, you’ll find something to stimulate children on a visit to the coast, to search for some of the wonders captured herein.

Ocean
Ricardo Henriques and André Letria
Chronicle Books

Billed at “A Visual Miscellany’ this book takes the form of a digest. There’s a wealth of information about a wide variety of ocean-related topics starting with a look at the major oceans themselves.

Then follows several spreads on ‘watercraft’ – the various kinds of sea vessels; the parts of a ship, the use of stars as guides for seafarers and other means of navigation. There are several practical activities including making a paper boat and a submarine.

Historical facts too are included, from a look at some famous explorers, to the kinds of food eaten and illnesses that might trouble sailors of yore, as well as mention of mermaids, the kraken, Neptune and superstitions; and there’s a spread on some famous tales from the deep.

Fishing, waves, safety at sea and marine wild life have also seeped between the covers;

there’s even a recipe for Portuguese fish stew, although as a veggie, I won’t be trying that.

With its eye-catching blue, black and white illustrations by André Letria, this is an enticing book to include in a primary school library or classroom topic box.

My Stinky Dog

June 9, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

My Stinky Dog
Christine Roussey
Abrams

A boy narrator talks about his best friend and faithful dog, Alfred, always on hand to bring cheer to his owner and a great soccer player to boot.
If we take a closer look at this hero of a pet we discover that despite his wonderful character, there’s a problem with Alfred: foul odours emanate from every part of his body; in short, HE STINKS!

And he does so morning, noon and night and everywhere that Alfred takes him which is pretty embarrassing.
There’s an even bigger issue though as the boy’s family is soon to move to New York and a malodorous dog is not something they’ll be keen to take with them.
Time to pay the problem some attention. Aftershave (dad’s) perfume and air freshener only make matters worse so something more serious must be done. Into the bathtub goes Alfred. He’s thoroughly lathered and bubbled until hurrah!
No more stink! Alfred is positively sparkling

Uh-oh! All of a sudden the dog appears to have undergone a complete personality change. He starts cavorting around in welly boots and raincoat and is obsessive about his oral hygiene. Perhaps this destinkifying thing wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Out into the mud goes the boy who rolls around until Alfred follows suit. Soon his characteristic canine pong is well and truly restored and with odour issue resolved their whole stinky normality can resume.

But what about that New York move? Will both boy and dog make it to the new home?

A wonderful tale of love, acceptance and individuality is given a delightful carefree spin by Christine Roussey’s distinctive illustrative style, which will surely cause readers to smile at every turn of the page.

What Does an Anteater Eat?

June 8, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

What Does an Anteater Eat?
Ross Collins
Nosy Crow

Ross Collins will certainly have audiences spluttering with delight at the finale of what is essentially an extended joke of a book. That’s getting ahead of things though, so let’s go back to the beginning.

Surely any self-respecting anteater, even one that wakes up hungry, should not need to go around asking the various creatures he encounters one morning what he ought to be dining upon but that’s exactly what happens here.

The responses he gets range from an indolent “I’m very busy. Don’t bother me.” through some recommendations …

and helpful advice about thorough chewing (that’s from snake)to a lip-licking contemplation of the anteater’s own potential as a meal

until Anteater arrives at a large nest. Now surely the penny will drop so to speak at the sight of this …

It does, but perhaps not in quite the way we might have been anticipating.

This tongue-in-cheek tale is delivered with panache: the expressions on the faces of the animals – anteater’s and all the others’ are wonderfully droll as is the dialogue throughout.

Be sure to watch out for the tiny insects crawling through almost every spread clearly intent on a spot of nest building.

Julian is a Mermaid

June 7, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Julian is a Mermaid
Jessica Love
Walker Books

Here’s a picture book that transcends so many boundaries seemingly effortlessly delivering a powerful punch, or rather several, through a wonderfully empathetic affirming story and richly coloured, heart-stoppingly beautiful, watercolour and gouache illustrations.

On a ride home one day with his Nana, Julian sees three mermaids, or that’s what he considers them to be. When they enter his carriage, the boy is totally transfixed – he LOVES mermaids.
We then join him in a wordless 3-spread daydream that shows the boy becoming a mermaid swept along in a mass of sea creatures.

Once back home, while his Nana showers, Julian sets to work: he adorns his hair with palm fronds and flowers, applies some make-up and fashions a flowing tail, transforming himself into a fabulous mermaid.

What will his Nana’s reaction be though? His anxiety is palpable when she returns and we’re left momentarily, as unsure as Julian. Is he in trouble? Shamed perhaps?

Then comes her reaction and it’s truly what we’re longing for …

With the boy’s transformation complete, Nana leads him to a place filled with other people like him.
(I must add here that it’s not only the main characters that are so ‘real’: just look at the people they pass: their portrayal is genius).

An awesome unforgettable tale of non-conformity, understanding, acceptance and belonging; it speaks to the desire for love and understanding in us all, no matter who we are.

A book to be shared and celebrated by anyone and everyone, young or not so young and amazingly, this is Jessica Love’s debut picture book – wow!

Creatures of the Order

June 6, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Creatures of the Order
Jules Howard, Fay Evans and Kelsey Oseid
Weldon Owen (Twenty Watt)

Have you ever wondered what a lion and a meercat have in common, a quali and a peacock, or a lemur and a gorilla?

If so, or if you have a mind that likes things ordered, or merely have an interest in animals, then this book is for you.
It groups together creatures belonging to the same taxonomic order, Kelsey Oseid illustrates them beautifully, and Jules Howard and Fay Evans provide essential information about each one.

Before all that come an introduction to taxonomy, a spread on animal classification with some examples, and another spread on the evolution of the orders.
The sixteen orders embrace the enormously diverse animal kingdom and it’s fascinating to look closely at the members of each order to discover their common feature/s.

Beginning with the Carnivora, each order is allocated two double spreads, the first of which includes an introductory paragraph, a small illustration of every animal and facts about same, the others being covered on the following spread that also provides further information about particular features.

I was most fascinated by the Odonata and had no idea that there were so many different kinds of these beautiful insects (dragonflies and damselflies) one of which has a wingspan of nearly 20cm.

A book to include in a family collection, as well as to add to the primary or secondary school library.

Am I Yours?

June 6, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Am I Yours?
Alex Latimer
Oxford University Press

Alex Latimer certainly keeps his audience guessing in this rhyming tale concerning an identity issue.
If you’ve never heard of an egg that speaks, you’re about to in this review.
Said egg, having been blown from a nest and spent a cold dark night at the foot of a hill emits a gentle ‘Excuse me, please, but am I yours? I’m sure I am a dinosaur’s.’
Yes it’s another dinosaur tale with lots of children’s favourites making an appearance.
First to come along is Stegosaurus but the egg doesn’t fit its specifications, says so, but remains upbeat.
Nor does it fit those of Brachiosaurus, Triceratops, Corythosaurus

or Tyrannosaurus, by which time an entire day has passed and the egg, feeling lonely begins to cry out ‘… I can’t stay out in wind and storm! / I’ll freeze alone! I must stay warm!’
The sun sinks and in so doing renders the eggshell translucent allowing the five concerned adult dinosaurs a view within.

Now they know what to do with the lost egg: back it’s rolled up the hill from whence it came, and there, to the sound of heavy feet, it makes a final plea:
‘One last time – I must be sure – / Are you the ones I’m looking for?’ …
In addition to the enjoyment of meeting some of their favourite prehistoric creatures in the story, with its invitation to join in the telling through the rhyming repeat refrain, ‘What do you look like inside that shell? / I can’t see in so I can’t tell.’ children will love becoming co-inquisitors of the egg,
(There’s lots of potential for small world play here once you’ve shared the story.)

For dinosaur enthusiasts who like to colour:

Fuzzy Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures
illustrated by Papio Press

This is a touch-and-feel book with 7 spreads to add colour to, featuring animals of the prehistoric land, sea and sky, set out in chart-like form with brief snippets of information relating to each featured (numbered) animal one side of the spread, opposite which is the colouring page on a dramatic black background with the numbered creatures and other flora and fauna.
The book is written in association with, and fact-checked by, the National History Museum.

Welcome to Our World

June 5, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Welcome to Our World
Moira Butterfield and Harriet Lynas
Nosy Crow

To open this book is to get lost in a world of children, children from 97 different countries and when you finally emerge having spent a considerable time immersed in its riches, you’ll be a whole lot wiser and probably happier too. I certainly was!

Covering such topics – I love the choice of headings – as greetings, homes, food, drinks, transport, animals, family names, school uniforms & classrooms, clothes, play – games …

and toys, musical instruments, as well as specific words for ‘happy’, ‘hooray’ …

and sneezing, customs (relating on one page, to losing a tooth), this book truly celebrates children, human diversity, language and world cultures

I was amused to learn that both in Brazil and Hungary children celebrating birthdays get their earlobes pulled. Ow! In Brazil it’s one pull for every year of the person’s life. Ow, ow, ow! … and in Hungary it’s customary to say ‘May your earlobes grow to your ankles’, in other words, ‘May you have a long life.’

Equally I was fascinated to find out about the different sounds animals make according to where they’re found: apparently in Germany, rather than buzzing, bees go ‘sum sum’, whereas in South Korea, it’s ‘wing wing’, ‘bun bun’ in Japan and ‘zoum zoum’ in Greece.

You too might laugh out loud at some of the sayings from various parts of the world: ‘Stop ironing my head’ means ‘Stop annoying me’ in Armenian and ‘There is no cow on the ice’ said in Swedish means ‘There’s no need to worry.’

The absorbing text by Moira Butterfield, in combination with Harriet Lynas’s captivating illustrations, make for a read that is both joyous and informative.

Bad Nana Older Not Wiser

June 5, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Bad Nana Older Not Wiser
Sophy Henn
Harper Collins Children’s Books

This is the first book in what is to become a series and it’s mega-talented Sophy Henn’s debut as a writer of profusely illustrated younger fiction. It certainly looks as though she had great fun creating the three wickedly funny episodes narrated by young Jeanie, age 7¾ about the outrageous exploits of the grandma known to the family as Bad Nana; she of the black dress, pointy black shoes and gigantic earrings, who carries a walking stick – not necessarily for that purpose – and a massive handbag crammed with everything from emergency knicker elastic to stinky fish paste. All this and more, including things about Nana’s friends and acquaintances

and some of her past escapades, we learn in the first part “Things You Should Know’.
One of Bad Nana’s favourite locations is the park and part two of the book tells of Bad Nana’s extremely mischievous way of dealing with the plethora of “DO NOT” signs put up all over the park by the new and inordinately officious park keeper; and then goes on to recount what took place when a sweet wrapper just happened to drift from her hand and land in front of said park keeper.

Bad Nana lends a hand in the final and longest part. She somehow manages to get herself engaged as a school-trip helper when Jeanie and her class visit the local history museum, probably THE most boring museum ever.
Not so however, when a certain trip-helper decides to well and truly bring local history to life by inserting herself into one of the displays.

The whole episode is utterly hilarious and had this reviewer spluttering with laughter all the way through.

Sophie’s distinctive narrative voice in tandem with her splendiferous artwork makes for a stonklingly good chapter book for primary readers whether or not they cut their teeth on Pom Pom and her other picture book characters.

Mabel and Sam at Home

June 4, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Mabel and Sam at Home
Linda Urban and Hadley Hooper
Chronicle Books

It’s moving day for Mabel and Sam and things look pretty chaotic from the viewpoint of the siblings.

To keep out of the way of the grown-ups they embark on a series of adventures related in three chapters. The first is ‘On the High Seas’ and here Captain Mabel and First Mate Sam set out in the good ship Handle With Care. Bossy sis. gives the orders as they go sailing on the high seas, a dangerous voyage full of pirates, whales and sea serpents

until they spy some friendly landlubbers, after which it’s “All ashore” for some tasty pizza.
‘At the Museum’ has curator Mabel showing Sam new ways of looking at old familiar things: the dialogue here is especially wonderful with Mabel “Behold“ing at every opportunity as she introduces the various artefacts to her brother.

Finally, after supper the two become astronauts blasting through space heading for Planet Perfecto and for this they need to be especially bold, “Space Bold” Astronaut Mabel declares, “Space Bold is bigger, because space is bigger.”

Linda Urban’s entire text is a delight – funny, full of charm, reassuring and cleverly structured so as to embrace the kind of things that cause young children moving day anxieties; and before the end, the children are feeling upbeat about the move with Mabel concluding that their ‘new planet was surprisingly homey’.
Hadley Hooper’s illustrations (created with printmaking techniques and Photoshop) are, like the siblings’ adventures, wonderfully imagined, both in their rendering of the children’s adventures and the portrayal of the somewhat frazzled parents at the end of the book.
Just right for sharing with a child or children moving home.

Migration

June 4, 2018jillrbennett 1 Comment

Migration
Mike Unwin and Jenni Desmond
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Mike Unwin documents the migratory journeys of twenty animals large and small, from the monarch butterfly to the great white shark

and the African elephant to the Southern pilchard, all of which travel incredible distances due to the seasonal changes to the environment in which they live. They move in pursuit of food, to escape bad weather or hostile environmental conditions, or in search of a suitable place to breed.
Each of the animals featured is allocated a double spread impressively illustrated by Jenni Desmond; and there’s a world map showing all the migrations at the back of the book.
Just imagine weighing less than a lump of sugar and having to fly 800km across the ocean like the ruby-throated hummingbird. Come spring, these iridescent birds leave their tropical winter home in Central America, fly across the Gulf of Mexico, north to North America, even as far north as Canada, where they breed, nesting somewhere in woods, a garden or park.

I was amazed to read the fascinating details about green marine sea turtles, which sometimes weigh as much as two humans and migrate across the Atlantic to breed on Ascension Island.

Unwin’s accounts are beautifully, at times poetically written, while Jenni Desmond’s illustrations make you want to linger long over each one enjoying the form, details and individual beauty of each animal portrayed.

Hero vs. Villain / Monty + Sylvester: A Tale of Everyday Super Heroes

June 3, 2018jillrbennett 1 Comment

Hero vs. Villain
T. Nat Fuller and Alex Eben Meyer
Abrams Appleseed

Using comic-book style images, the creators of this little board book manage to provide an engaging storyline while at the same time demonstrating opposites – hero/villain, smile/frown, up/down, build/destroy, truth/ lie

and enemies/friends – in just eight spreads.
Toddler super-hero enthusiasts will love the female sporting cloak and mask and laugh over the mock-scary, tooth-snapping, top-hat wearing crocodile villain and delight in the surprise finale. As a tool of conciliation, the cupcake rules!
Conflict resolution for tinies and a satisfying adventure is pretty good going in so brief a book.

For slightly older superhero fans:

Monty + Sylvester: A Tale of Everyday Super Heroes
Carly Gledhill
Orchard Books

Meet best pals Monty (mouse) and Sylvester (bear), new super heroes on the block. They’ve already got the gear, read the manual and followed the training regime and now they’re ready for operation ‘Save the World’.
RING! RING! It’s a call for help and off they go for their very first emergency.

Now this looks tricky but suddenly Mouse has a light-bulb moment and using their faithful vacuum cleaner, mission one is soon successfully completed.
Word of their skills spreads and everything is going swimmingly until …

This rascally rat mounts a counter-attack that really tests the abilities of the friends and makes them wonder if they’ll ever see the light of day again.
Rest assured though, thanks to a deft flick of this …

they do and gain a few extra helpers too.
With its delicious characters, (love the hatching on Sylvester) this is a book to appeal to young listeners especially would-be superheroes. Carly Geldhill’s illustrations are sprinkled with splendidly silly, giggle-inducing details both visual and verbal.

Brain Lab for Kids

June 2, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Brain Lab for Kids
Quarry Books
Eric H Chudler

In this unusual book research neuroscientist Eric Chudler presents over 50 activities designed to help children to learn about different parts of the brain and to understand how they work.

It’s built around different units, the first being ‘The Neuron’. Herein are instructions for modelling neurons from materials such as clay, flavoured gelatin (vegetarians might want to give this one a miss), string, pipe cleaners, or rope.

Accompanying the clear, concise instructions, which include estimated time and materials required for each, are relevant brain facts and an explanation of what is going on. There is also a ‘Thinking Deeper’ follow up.

The second unit “The Brain’ uses similar everyday materials such as modelling clay, papier-mâché, salt dough and looks at the brain’s physical structure.

Unit 3 looks at testing reflexes and thereafter come units on the senses: taste, smell,

vision, touch and hearing each of which has at least three projects.

Sleep and body rhythms comes next and finally, there’s a section on memory – both short-term and long-term.

Thought provoking, engaging and fun, almost all activities would work well in the classroom – though not perhaps detecting REM sleep!

All in all this is a great resource for home or school and will interest children across a wide age range.

Between Tick and Tock

June 1, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Between Tick and Tock
Louise Greig and Ashling Lindsay
Egmont Publishing

Most of us lead frenetic lives, dashing from here to there, mostly doing rather than being; but what would you want to do if you were able to stop time?

Liesel, the little girl in this story does just that. Liesel lives in a city, a city of hustle and bustle, a city of Grey, of loneliness, where almost everyone is far too busy to notice the details.

Not so watchful Liesel. She knows what is needed. She must pause the clock – just for a short time –bringing everything to a halt. Then she quietly springs into action working her way through the city beautifying the Grey with deft strokes of colour and creativity, showing kindliness to humans and creatures alike

and restoring calm and happiness.

She knows though that she cannot hold back time for longer than a very little while: that tick must be allowed to become a tock, that stop must once gain become go. Only now a transformation has taken place: things will never be quite the same again;

but just in case they ever should, Liesel knows exactly what to do …

Louise Greig and Ashling Lindsay’s enchanting day time story is every bit as beautiful as the nocturnal evocation they created in The Night Box, if not more so. Once again, lyrical words and pictures work in perfect accord to make a memorable, magical book.

Humanatomy: How the Body Works

June 1, 2018jillrbennett 1 Comment

Humanatomy: How the Body Works
Nicola Edwards, George Ermos and Jem Maybank
360 Degrees

Ever wanted to go beneath your skin and get right up close to your inner workings? If so, then this is definitely the book for you.

Tucked inside the front cover is a flip-over section comprising eight superb labelled illustrations, one for each of the body’s systems

excluding the endocrine, immune and reproductive systems.

The main part of the book contains an introductory page followed by a brief explanation of how the systems work together; and then detailed chapters on each of those systems, the first being the integumentary system.

Like the chapters that follow, it begins with a short overview of the functions and other fascinating facts; and then goes into detail using questions that immediately draw the reader in. Questions such as ‘Why do we have different shades of skin and why do some people have freckles?’ ‘Why do your hands go wrinkly in the bath?’ or, ‘How does skin heal itself? And what are scabs and scars all about?’

Next comes the muscular system, followed by the skeletal system that includes a labelled pictorial sequence of how a broken bone heals …

Thereafter we have the digestive system and then the respiratory system. I’ve no doubt children will delight in the ‘What is snot and why do we have it?’ paragraph and be fascinated to learn that the highest ‘sneeze speed’ on record is 165 km (103 miles) per hour.

The circulatory, nervous and urinary systems are equally fascinating. Did you know that blood makes up about 7% of our body weight? Or that lobsters have little urine nozzles under their eyes and communicate by squirting wee into each other’s faces – slightly off key but the sort of thing that children love to discover.

The final systems spread encompasses the endocrine, immune and reproductive systems.

And the last chapter (before the very accessible glossary) looks at DNA and what makes us who we are.

Altogether a fabulous publication. The writing is perfectly pitched for child readers, the production is excellent, as are the illustrations by George Ermos and Jemima Maybank, it’s a book that deserves to be in every primary classroom collection and on every child’s bookshelf.

Brick Building 101

May 31, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Brick Building 101
Courtney Sanchez
Walter Foster Jr.

I’ve yet to come across a child who doesn’t enjoy using LEGO bricks or similar. This book capitalises on this enthusiasm presenting, as the cover says 20 activities to teach about STEAM.
What is STEAM you might be asking? In the UK teachers are familiar with STEM; STEAM adds arts and so comprises science, technology, engineering, arts and maths.
According to the introduction ‘STEAM learning is about giving children real-life problem-solving skills through exploration, play, and exciting learning experiences. STEAM engages kids to find their own solutions. … Kids learn by doing, failing, and trying again.’
Each activity has sections: ‘Parent Prep’ offers tips on things adults can do to help make the activity engaging and fun; STEAM Stats says which of the STEAM categories are incorporated in a project; STEAM Sparks offers further ideas and ways to extend a project.
Activities focus on using bricks (big and small), baseplates, and small figures, along with other materials you can easily find around the home or in a nursery setting or early years classroom, and are offered at different levels – easy, moderate or challenging.
Here’s one of the examples at the first level:

‘Super Symmetry’ is in the moderate category and could equally be done by pairs of children rather than adult and child – I’ve tried it and it works well with 4/5/6 year olds working together.

At the challenging level ‘Build a Bridge’ is great fun with a reception class working in pairs. And who can resist trying their hand at ‘Balloon Racer’.

This would fit in well under a movement, transport or any number of other topic headings.
Enjoyable and educative at the same time, and equally worthwhile to have and dip into at home or school.

Rosa Draws

May 31, 2018jillrbennett 1 Comment

Rosa Draws
Jordan Wray
Words & Pictures

Rosa is happiest when using her drawing pencils and letting her imagination run wild and that’s what this story is all about.

Seemingly her favourite subjects are animals, fairly ordinary ones, but what happens to them is anything but ordinary.

For when Rosa adorns her fuzzy black cat with a ‘RIDONKULOUS’ hat, it triggers an increasingly crazy concatenation of events involving a hat-eating bear with GLAM-U-LICIOUS long hair (yes the whole thing is recounted in rhyme with only the occasional slight creak).

Said bear has its hair sat upon by a moose that takes tea with a la-dee-dah goose and so on until the ants – a zillion of them – board a train and plunge Rose into darkness, cutting off her train of thought and completely stifling her imagination.

Only temporarily though, for the tugging on a light switch cord puts her back ‘on track’ and her ideas flow freely once more until suddenly who should arrive on the scene but Rosa’s mum.

Apologies are immediately forthcoming but it turns out that young Rosa isn’t the only one with an artistic bent …

Packed with zany details – look out for the peacock sporting jazzy socks – Wray’s illustrations will amuse both children and adults and the former will enjoy the invented words and the surprise finale.

The Little Mouse and the Red Wall

May 30, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Little Mouse and the Red Wall
Britta Teckentrup
Orchard Books

Little Mouse lives in a community surrounded by a big red wall. It’s always been there but why? And what lies beyond?
When she asks the other animals, each one comes up with a different reason – for protection, thinks Scaredy Cat; Old Bear cannot remember; Fox doesn’t care and Lion Who Had Lost His Roar says ‘just a big black nothing’ is behind the wall.

None of these responses satisfy Little Mouse but then one day she meets a Bluebird. Thanks to the bird, she is able to discover the answers to her questions.

What she sees – a world of freedom and beauty – and an ensuing conversation with the Bluebird are life changing, altering completely her way of seeing and being in the world.
“They were looking with fear… YOU are looking with wonder. You were brave enough to find out the truth for yourself.”

Little Mouse goes back to her friends and tells them of the wonders she’s seen and one by one they walk through the wall, all except Lion, although one day he too is ready to join the others in the land beyond.

Despite the simplicity of her telling, Britta Teckentrup’s beautifully illustrated story is profound and would be an ideal starting point for a community of enquiry style philosophical discussion.

When we in the UK, and other countries, seem to be putting up boundaries, its timely themes of discovering freedom and embracing change, both personal and in the world, will resonate with both children and adults.

Bonkers About Beetles

May 30, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Bonkers About Beetles
Owen Davey
Flying Eye Books

After focussing on monkeys, sharks and cats, Owen Davey turns his attention to beetles, a particularly successful insect group.

I knew that that were a great many different beetle species, some very tiny, others around the size of a human hand, but I had no idea that already 400,000 different kinds have been found, nor that beetles account for a quarter of all the animal species in the world being found on every continent other that Antarctica. Awesome!

There are basically four different ways of life; there are predators, herbivores, omnivores and decomposers each of which Davey explains giving examples of each of these kinds.

Clearly beetles come in many different shapes and sizes, although as we see here, all have a similar basic design.

As always in this series, Owen Davey’s playful sense of humour comes across in his choice of titles for some of the spreads as well as paragraph headings; for instance ‘Love You and Leaf You’ heads up some information about leaf-rolling weevils that construct special rounded homes for their eggs, taking around two hours to do the job.
And, dung beetles shaping dung balls to enclose their eggs, (one per egg) is under the heading ‘Let the Good Times Roll’.

What tickled my quirky nature particularly was discovering there’s a beetle that practises yoga: the head-stander beetle lives in the southern African Namib desert where the lack of water means it’s often difficult to find a drink. In the early morning, head-stander beetles climb to the top of the dunes when there’s a fog laden with moisture. They put their heads down and lift their rear ends to the sky so water collects on their backs and runs down into their mouths:
amazingly clever creatures.

I was also especially taken with the ‘Weird and Wonderful’ spread showcasing the likes of the giraffe weevil, the violin beetle and the harlequin beetle.

I’ve loved all Davey’s brilliantly illustrated books in the series but this one has to be my favourite.
What next I wonder?

But the Bear Came Back

May 29, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

But the Bear Came Back
Tammi Sauer and Dan Taylor
Sterling

‘You don’t know what you’ve got until you lose it’ is what the little boy protagonist in this story discovers when a large furry ursine character comes a-knocking.

It all starts quite politely on the boy narrator’s part; he’s disturbed from his reading and understandably a tad irritated but isn’t on this occasion rude. ‘And I said, “Go home, bear.” And that was that. ‘

However, this bear is persistent, returning over and over;

but time and again the boy sends him packing until things get just too much. He yells at the creature at the top of his voice, after which there are no further visits.

Peace ensues but the boy isn’t as happy as he’d expected; in fact, he really misses that hulking great irritating animal.

Can he ever find his friend again? The boy certainly goes to great lengths to do so …

but will he ever hear that longed for knock on his door?

There is much to discuss about the way the characters behave in Tammi Sauer’s gently humorous story – not the least being the lengths each goes to find a friend.

Day Taylor’s illustrations are captivating: the bear is adorable – decidedly huggable in fact; and there are lots of lovely details to spend time over.

Gary’s Banana Drama

May 29, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Gary’s Banana Drama
Jane Massey
Simon & Schuster Children’s Books

Gary the huge gorilla is a banana-phile so you might imagine that his discovery one day that there are ‘NO MORE BANANAS’ would send him into a crisis. Not so! Gary isn’t one to panic; instead he dons his smart new titfa’, trims his toenails and sallies forth to carry out his plan: to search for his favourite food.

Pretty soon, it seems as though his plan is going to prove fruitful: there are bananas at almost every step.
The trouble is not one of the banana-looking items is the real thing. Some leap and lick his face, others burst into song

and then have the audacity to peck him; others come hurtling at him courtesy of one Billy.

He sees bananas wherever he looks; it’s enough to drive the creature absolutely err, bananas, especially when it starts to rain.

Then however, Gary’s luck changes. He bashes his bonce on a huge obstacle

and then despite not at first wanting anything to do with the object he’s bumped into, suddenly changes his mind and launches himself off towards the most wonderful place he could never have imagined …

Is it possible though to have too much of a good thing? …

Totally crazy – bananas you might say – but with some wonderful slap-stick moments Gary and his banana-filled drama will have your audience chortling with delight.

The Wondrous Dinosaurium / My Perfect Pup

May 28, 2018jillrbennett 2 Comments

The Wondrous Dinosaurium
John Condon and Steve Brown
Maverick Arts Publishing

Danny is thrilled when his mum finally agrees to let him have a pet and he knows what he wants. Not a common or garden cat or dog but something much more exciting – something prehistoric no less. And he knows exactly the place to go: an establishment belonging to Mr Ree.

His first choice, a Diplodocus requiring vast amounts of vegetation every day quickly proves too much, so it’s back to the shop for something slightly smaller.

In fact Danny returns to Mr Ree’s Wondrous Dinosaurium quite a few times, trying out a range of possibilities …

until finally he comes upon a box in a dark corner of the shop.

His mum thinks he’s brought home a tortoise but she’s in for a surprise when the creature comes out of its shell.

John Condon’s amusing tale about the pitfalls of not doing any research before choosing a pet will hit the spot with both dinosaur lovers and pet people.
Steve Brown’s illustrations of the dinosaur menagerie are at once droll and yet recognisably authentic dinosaur species: avid dinosaur fans may well be able to put names to all Mr Ree’s stock of creatures, one of which was new to this reviewer.

My Perfect Pup
Sue Walker and Anil Tortop
New Frontier Publishing

Siblings Max and Millie have definite ideas about what they’re looking for as they head for the Perfect Petshop, very different ideas. However they both fall for the same beguiling little pup.

Inevitably though, Tiny, as they decide to call him, doesn’t remain so for very long; nor does he live up to Millie’s ‘pretty’ requirement. In fact he’s so far from perfect by both siblings’ standards …

that one day they return him to the pet shop.

Tiny himself has ideas about the perfect owner and when Joe Barnaby arrives on the scene it looks as though he might just be the one.

Joe and his family live on a farm with sheep, and Joe loves to play, to run and sometimes to take a ride on the dog, now named Horse. What better place for a sheepdog?

Expectations, acceptance and being patient are key themes in Sue Walker’s enjoyable story for which Anil Tortop’s spirited illustrations really bring out Tiny/Horse’s personality.

Arlo, Mrs Ogg and the Dinosaur Zoo / Why is the Cow on the Roof? & Smart Girls Forever

May 27, 2018jillrbennett 1 Comment

Arlo, Mrs Ogg and the Dinosaur Zoo
Alice Hemming, illustrated by Kathryn Durst
Maverick Arts Publishing

At Purple Hill primary School there’s yet another supply teacher in 4X; they’ve gone through quite a few already so the question is, how long will the strange-looking Mrs Ogg survive, particularly when she decides to take the class on an outing – their first ever – to the zoo? Can she possibly keep seventeen unruly children under control for a whole day? It’s particularly important, for their attendance at the end-of-year party depends upon the trip being 100% trouble free.
Arlo decides it’s unlikely, so he assigns himself the role of chief back-up.

Mrs Ogg however is no ordinary supply teacher and the zoo she’s taking them to is no ordinary zoo, which probably accounts for the inclusion on the ‘don’t forget’ letter sent to parents just prior to the trip, of a T-bone steak.

Is the outing a success and do they arrive back at school with all seventeen children plus teacher safe and sound? And, are they allowed to go to that eagerly anticipated end-of-year party? You’ll have to get hold of a copy of this action packed story and find out.

With its twisting-turning plot, it’s certainly lots of fun. Packed with zany illustrations by Kathyrn Durst

and promises of further adventures to come, let me just say, there’s a whole lot more to class 4X than previous teachers had thought: Mrs Ogg manages to unearth a whole lot of hidden talents therein.

Why is the Cow on the Roof?
Smart Girls Forever
Robert Leeson illustrated by Axel Scheffler
Walker Books

These two books of short stories were first published 20 years ago and they’re as amusing now as ever – great for reading aloud or for solo reading.

Why is the Cow on the Roof? is one of the five folk tale based renditions in the first book, the story being based on the Norwegian, ‘The Husband who was to Mind the House’ and is a hilarious account of what happens when a husband and wife swap their round of daily tasks to see who works hardest.

The other four stories also pose questions including ‘Why are you such a Noddy, Big Ears?’ and “Who’s Next for the Chop?’, the former, a pourquoi tale being based on a Native American ‘Rabbit’ character and the latter from a story in the Arabian Nights..

In each case, Leeson’s renditions are full of humour with plenty of dialogue used to great effect; if you’re reading them aloud to a group, don’t forget to share Axel Scheffler’s funny line drawings that introduce each story.

Smart Girls Forever contains six tales from various parts of the world, all of which have resourceful female lead characters; they are, Leeson tells us ‘Russian, Indian, Irish, Scottish, Persian and English’ but ‘could be from anywhere’.

Look out for Natasha who outwits the devil and Oonagh who gets the better of the terrible giant Cucullin, an act for which her husband Fin M’Coul will be forever grateful.

Go Wild on the River / Sharks, Seahorses and other British Sea Creatures

May 26, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Go Wild on the River
Goldie Hawk and Rachael Saunders
Nosy Crow

This is a handy, pocket-sized book for young adventurers to read before they sally forth for some wild fun on or around a river.
It covers all the essentials starting with words about keeping safe, followed by what to take on your trip and what to wear.

There are river investigations such as ‘how deep is this river’ – important in case you want to cross it or investigate the creatures living in it, and measuring how fast the river is flowing. You can also measure the quality of the water by taking a sample and looking at the colour; this is clearly an important consideration for wildlife and there are lots of pages on the flora and fauna associated with rivers.

If you feel like emulating the beavers and building a dam, there’s a spread on how to do that too and should you feel like dangling above the water, there are instructions on making a tyre swing (adult help required for this).

The final pages (before a quiz) are concerned with safety and what to do should you get into trouble on the river – very important to read before any trip; and last but by no means least, there are words about showing respect for the environment.

Plenty of pithy advice as well as exciting ideas are packed into the 80 odd pages of this little handbook written by Goldie Hawk and illustrated (with gentle humour where appropriate), by Rachael Saunders.

Sharks, Seahorses and other British Sea Creatures
Nikki Dyson
Nosy Crow

The third in the super sticker book series published in collaboration with the National Trust, this one is bursting with creatures of all shapes and sizes that live close to, or under the sea.

We investigate a variety of homes by visiting the sandy shore, exploring the rocks, looking in rock pools, going right down to the seabed,

searching the shallows and going to the harbour.

Each beautifully illustrated spread provides facts about the relevant sea animals from scavenging seagulls to acrobatic dolphins, basking sharks to sponges and spiny sea urchins to seahorses.

There are 4 pages of stickers so you can adorn the appropriate pages with crabs, stingrays, seaweed, starfish and much more.

If you’re going to the seaside or contemplating a visit, then the 11 scenes herein will set your youngsters up for some marine spotting fun.

Cinderella of the Nile

May 25, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Cinderella of the Nile
Beverley Naidoo and Marjan Vafaeian
Tiny Owl

Cinderella is one of the most often told and recognised stories all around the world with its themes and motifs appearing in the folklore of many cultures.
Rhodopsis is an ancient Greek/Egyptian tale said to be the earliest Cinderella story.

Now, Carnegie award-winning author Beverley Naidoo retells this little known tale, the first in the publisher’s ‘One Story, Many Voices’ series. I was particularly excited to see this book having become interested in how stories cross cultures and wrote an assignment on this theme in relation to the Cinderella story while studying at London University’s Institute of Education many years ago.

In this version, unlike the Cinderella most young children are familiar with, a young Greek girl, Rhodopisis is captured by pirates and sold into slavery.
Her master has a special slave, the storyteller, Aesop who becomes friendly with the beautiful red-haired girl and the only one able to make her smile.

After a while her master, unhappy at her unwillingness to smile for him, sells her to a merchant travelling to the Egyptian port of Naukratis.

There she is bought by a Greek merchant who, having heard her story, treats her kindly, rather like a daughter, angering his Egyptian servants, in particular, three sisters who do unkind things to the girl behind their master’s back.
One day her master sees her dancing barefoot down by the river and so he gives her a pair of beautiful rose-red slippers.

Not long after, the Pharaoh sends out an invitation to his subjects asking them to a feast at his palace. Hearing that he was looking for a bride, the three sisters lie to their master and set off to attend.

The kind-hearted Rhodopsis is left to do all the chores and while she does so, Horus, the falcon-god seizes one of her slippers and flies off with it, dropping it into the hand of the Pharaoh Amasis.

Taking it as a sign from the god, the Pharaoh orders messengers to seek out the slipper’s owner: it is she who will become his Queen …

The ancient origins of the story is evident through Marjan Vafaeian’s use of the side on figurative imagery found in the Greek art of the period as well as in Ancient Egyptian wall paintings. Her stylised patterned landscapes in opulent shades of red, brown and green are stunning and a perfect complement to Beverley Naidoo’s fine telling.

Oh me, oh my, a Pie!

May 24, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Oh me, oh my, a Pie!
Jan Fearnley
Nosy Crow

Grandma bear – a nice old soul – has just baked a pie, a rather yummy-looking one at that.

She leaves it to cool and in a trice, a greedy fox has leapt in the window, seized the object and is making off to his lair for a feast. Fox however, forgets to look where he’s going and whoops! he takes a tumble, the pie flies out of his grasp and lands beside a hungry mouse.

“Oh me, oh my,” says Mouse, intent on getting that yummy pie into his tummy as soon as possible and off he goes down the street professing same.

Who should be watching though but a greedy cat and you can guess what happens next.

Cat is the owner of the pie for barely a moment when a nasty looking canine snatches it

and sets off homewards, only to lose it seconds later to Little Owl flying overhead.

The pie is big – too big for a small owl to manage to get back to her nest: down, down it falls, landing, perhaps you can guess where?

Right back at Grandma’s, just in time for tea, rapidly followed by a host of hungry animals all with their thoughts on the same thing.

Now, being as we were told at the outset, ‘a nice old grandma’, she invites them in to sample her pie, but only on one condition. They have to share.

I wonder if they can …

With a rhyming text that’s a treat to read aloud – especially with that oft repeated ‘oh me, oh my!’ refrain to join in with – and delectable illustrations full of wonderful details to linger over, Jan Fearnley has cooked up a delicious tale that’s destined to become a story time favourite.

How the Borks Became

May 23, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

How the Borks Became
Jonathan Emmett and Elys Dolan
Otter-Barry Books

Who better to introduce the concept of evolution and Darwin’s theory of natural selection to primary age children than author Jonathan Emmett and illustrator Elys Dolan?

So let’s take a journey to a distant planet, quite similar to earth, named Charleebob, home to a species going by the name of Borks.

When we arrive a group of llama-like Bork mothers has just given birth to a large brood of Borklings, long-necked, shaggy, yellow creatures, each one slightly different.

They didn’t always look that way though: long, long ago their appearance was altogether different: their fur was short, smooth and blue and their necks short and thick, at least that’s how most of them were. A few exceptional ones had shaggier fur – not ideal for hot weather but when the chilly time arrived later in the year, they were the ones that survived.

Over the next couple of generations, more changes took place; first instead of all the offspring having blue fur a few were bright yellow.

This meant that the latter blended in with their surroundings so that when a Ravenous Snarfle was on the lookout for its lunchtime feed, the blues were hastily consumed

leaving the yellow-furred few to thrive and breed the next Borkling batch – all yellow, the majority with short necks, a few with long skinny ones.
You can guess which ones survived the drought that year, saved by their ability to feed on the thick leaves high up in the Ju-Ju-Bong trees. And that’s it – evolution in just four generations of Borks.

Clearly changes don’t happen that fast, but artistic licence on behalf of the book’s creators demonstrates how three key environmental factors – climate, predation and food availability brought about evolutionary changes with only the fittest surviving by natural selection.

The combination of Emmett’s brilliant, quirky rhyming narrative and Elys Dolan’s wonderfully witty, whimsical illustrations is an enormously enjoyable amalgam of science and storytelling, which offers a perfect starting point for the KS2 evolution topic.

(At the end of the book it’s explained that the Borks’ evolution story is a hugely speeded up account of what really happens: evolution happens at a much, much slower rate and the changes are smaller and more gradual so that an earth animal could take millions of years to change.) While you’re looking at the back matter, do check out the quirky end papers.

How To Fly Like An Elephant

May 22, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

How To Fly Like An Elephant
Kyoko Nemoto
Puffin/VA

What a preposterous idea – flying like an elephant! Everyone knows that elephants are way too heavy for flying and furthermore they lack the vital appendages for so doing. End of story!
Not quite. Certainly not for the elephants featured in Kyoto Nemoto’s new book. This trio – a big one and two smaller ones – are playful pachyderms, inclined to imaginative ideas; ideas that admittedly require considerable thought and a plan but never say never.

All that’s required are some ‘useful things’ – a propeller for example – and when the elephants can’t locate one, then readers can step in and help by opening the doors of the attic cupboard.

I didn’t know that elephants are skilled tool users but seemingly it’s so and they’re also excellent at working as a team.

Of course, as we’re constantly reminded, ‘elephants can’t fly’.
As I said, they are determined animals and willing to make enormous physical efforts to get themselves airborne even if they subsequently need a bit of human help to reshape the wings of their craft. (We literally have to fold over the corners of the page to make their machine aerodynamic.)

Even that though isn’t quite enough for the perfect plane so it’s back to the drawing board and some work on modifications such as larger wheels and seats.

Will that hard-working threesome ever get themselves well and truly to the point of proving that ‘Elephants CAN fly!’
What do you think? After all they’re not ones to give up easily;

they are great at team work, have the vital playful, determined attributes, are super thinkers and planners so …

With its themes of creativity, teamwork and determination, this is an absolute cracker of a book to inspire young listeners (and adults). From the start we’re willing those elephants to succeed and reader involvement is guaranteed throughout, fuelled by the flaps and folding, as well as Kyoko Nemoto’s enchanting illustrations of the elephants at work and play. These she creates first by making sketches in pencil to which ink-rollered texture is added, and then these are digitally worked.

An exciting debut picture book from one who, like her characters clearly has creativity and persistence aplenty.

Early Years Bookshelf: Maisy Goes to a Wedding / Bigger, Bigger!

May 22, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Maisy Goes to a Wedding
Lucy Cousins
Walker Books

Oh my goodness! Ostrich and Penguin are getting married and we’re all invited to their wedding. Needless to say Maisy, decked out in her new outfit, is super-excited.

At the flower-bedecked venue, Maisy greets all her friends. Every one of them has brought something for the couple and soon it’s time for the celebration to start.

Music plays as Tallulah leads the way festooning the aisle with flowers and is closely followed by Penguin on the arm of Charley. They reach the waiting Ostrich.

Owl does the officiating, rings are exchanged, “I do” is said by both partners and then it’s the party. Hurrah!
Delicious food, toasting the couple, music and dancing and cutting the cake follow.

Then the bride throws her bouquet: who will catch it though?

After a wonderful party the happy couple leave for their honeymoon …

Maisy fans will love this latest episode in the ‘First Experiences series’, which now numbers over 15 titles.

Bigger! Bigger!
Leslie Patricelli
Walker Books

The story really starts before the title page with a little girl gleefully emptying out her box of coloured blocks onto the floor.
‘Build’ she says smiling, hard-hat balancing precariously on her head.

From then on her imagination appears to take over as the blue wall behind her is transformed into blue sky and her pets too have donned hard-hats and their buildings look real: first a dog kennel ‘Big’; then a wooden house ‘Bigger!’ and ‘Bigger! Bigger!’ is the cry …

as a block of flats, a large bridge, office blocks appear until we see the happy builders exuberantly celebrating the finish of their task.

They’re certainly an ambitious crew these three.

Suddenly there’s a ‘BOOM! BOOM!’ followed by at the turn of the page a huge nappy-clad baby (has it escaped from the author’s board books?) wreaking havoc.

Thereafter reality is restored with tears from big sis. and then a penitent babe attempting a silent apology.

Finally co-operation wins the day and ‘Stronger! Stronger!‘ comes the cry.

Share with a group of nursery children or an individual around the age of the girl builder – either way they’ll demand repeats. Equally, with its minimal text writ large, this is perfect for those just starting to read.

A Very Late Story

May 21, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

A Very Late Story
Mariana Coppo
Flying Eye Books

Imagine opening a book and discovering that the first spread is virtually blank, save for a single sentence. So it is in Mariana Coppo’s new picture book of which showing rather than telling is the essence.

Five creatures show up on the second spread and when one decides they’ve landed in a book, four are content to wait for the story to arrive.

Not so the little pink rabbit.

Having had its “Can we play?” suggestion turned down by the others who are willing to be patient and chat among themselves, the rabbit makes its way to the verso page of the book.
There, using the colour pencils from its backpack and a bit of imagination, the little pink animal populates the page with a tree, birds and much more besides.

The tree grows and with it and further colour pencil additions from rabbit, life on the verso becomes ever more exciting, spilling across the gutter

and attracting the attention of the passive quartet of story waiters.

Before long they are drawn into the action so that when the postman arrives with the mail, the story he delivers to them is surplus to requirements.

Cleverly conceived and SO brilliantly executed, this is a real joy of a book.

Monty Monkey & Elsie Elephant / Happy Birthday to You!

May 20, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Monty Monkey
Elsie Elephant
Nikki Dyson
Nosy Crow

Two additions to the sound button series of stories both told in rhyme by Nikki Dyson.
Monty is a monkey that tires of his diet of bananas and searches the jungle for alternative ‘fruity treats’. He takes a pineapple belonging to some parrots, snatches a juicy mango from the mouth of Snake and helps himself to a couple of Aardvark’s coconuts. Just as he’s about to tuck in, along comes a large gorilla and …

Elsie lives on the plains and one night she decides to stay up and play. The trouble is she wants other animals to play with her, animals that would far rather be fast asleep under the starry skies.
Will she ever snuggle down for some shut-eye and if so, when?

Despite the brevity of these stories, their main characters, have, in Nikki Dyson’s illustrations real personalities that very young children can relate to. Those same children will delight in pressing the sound buttons that make authentic monkey and elephant sounds.

Happy Birthday to You!
Nicola Slater
Nosy Crow

Bear, Badger and Cat set out, each with a musical instrument: Bear plays her flute, Badger his guitar, Cat her violin and they all seem to be heading for the same destination. What could it be?
Then along comes little Otter. He too turns up at the same place as the other animals. Could there be a special celebration within?
Find out in this jolly interactive board book; it includes music and a special final light-up surprise.

Just right for sharing on a toddler’s special day.

Plantopedia / Summer

May 19, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Plantopedia
Adrienne Barman
Wide Eyed Editions

Barman follows up her Creaturepedia with a celebration of more than 600 plants that includes trees, fruits, flowers – wild and cultivated, vegetables, herbs, weeds, healing plants and more from all over the world.

Somewhat strangely for this reviewer at least, we start indoors with ‘The air fresheners’ – plants to grow indoors that clean the air. This section is followed by ‘The all-blacks’ and then ’The aquatics’ ‘The big eaters’ and another colour section – ‘The blues and purples’. I’m not sure whether the author had a plan in mind when she arranged the spreads but to me the section sequencing seems quirky and perhaps random which creates something of a surprise element.I particularly liked The Stars pages.

Having said that the whole book is packed with learning possibilities in various curriculum areas such as science, geography, history, art perhaps (although it’s better to use real plants I suggest) and almost every topic could be an inspiration for further investigation.

In contrast to the rest of the book, the appendix devoted to three aspects of leaves – shape, arrangement and edges/veins – is straightforward botany.

The illustrations are bright, engaging and gently humorous – look out for animals popping up on lots of spreads, and the odd human from time to time.

One for budding botanists, the family bookshelf or school library.

For younger readers, with plants also taking centre stage is:

Summer
David A. Carter
Abrams Appleseed

Just in time for summer comes David A. Carter’s fourth and final pop-up in his seasons series. Carter has created six plant pop-ups –one of which he places at the centre of each spread,

and in and around them are to be found various animals including birds, butterflies and other minibeasts, small mammals, a snake, a turtle and a fish.

A brief accompanying text invites children to get involved by asking such questions as ‘Who eats the flowers?’ or ‘Who swims in the creek?’

Fun and captivating, this is an American publication so some of the named items will be unfamiliar but that offers a good talking point for readers in parts of the world other than the USA.

The Case of the Red-Bottomed Robber!

May 18, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Case of the Red-Bottomed Robber!
Richard Byrne
Oxford University Press

The chalks are an artistic lot creating colourful drawings at every opportunity so imagine their feelings when something or someone starts ‘stealing’ their pictures, and not just once either.

Thus begins this daft tale wherein Sergeant Blue and of course, readers are hot on the trail of the miscreant although I expect young listeners will already have their own suspicions as to his identity.

It’s not long before the Sergeant has lined up an identity parade of possible candidates and there’s one particularly suspicious-looking character that fits the evidence and his behind is covered in tell-tale red dust.

Caught red-bottomed! But before the prison doors are closed on the culprit, he makes a dash for freedom.

Will the chalks ever catch up with that slippery customer and if so, what will happen?

This light-hearted romp embodies an important message about not being too hasty in making judgements.
Children will enjoy the chalk-board style illustrations: in the face of the near ubiquity of white boards and markers in schools, could this be the start of a chalk-board revival – you never know!

The Very Hungry Hedgehog

May 18, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Very Hungry Hedgehog
Rosie Wellesley
Pavilion Children’s Books

Isaac the hedgehog returns in a third story – a springtime adventure this time.

The spiky little creature is summarily awoken from his long winter sleep by Starling, but the greedy bird then refuses to share her breakfast worm. “Bad hair day for hedgehog!” laughs the bird before flying off leaving Isaac’s feelings somewhat dampened. Fine friend she is, he thinks to himself but a very hungry Isaac decides to search for his own food. Unknowingly he has a follower as he encounters other non-sharers – first it’s gluttonous Toad – a real tease of a creature.

Next comes a heron that snatches a fat, juicy slug right out of Isaac’s paws and flies off with it

leaving an even hungrier Isaac rueing the day he left that cosy winter bed of his, until he catches sight of some real signs that Spring has arrived, signalling to him a wealth of food for all to share.

He very nearly doesn’t get his share though for, were it not for his quick thinking and his prickles, Isaac himself would have become the next snack for the fox that’s been trailing him all the while.

Even after a very near miss, the kindly little animal is willing to adopt a benevolent attitude about the abundance of food that’s all around for all the creatures to share.

Enchantingly told and vividly portrayed, Rosie Wellesley’s latest story offers young listeners a gentle sharing message and some wonderful scenes of animals in the natural world.

Here are Nina and her parents sharing the story, mum reading the main text and dad supplying the voices

Ada Twist’s Big Project Book for Stellar Scientists

May 17, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Ada Twist’s Big Project Book for Stellar Scientists
Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts
Abrams Books for Young Readers

Ada Swift is back with a STEM activity book that’s packed with exciting projects related to both the physical and the biological sciences.

With Ada’s help, it takes readers through the entire scientific process and using the headings ‘Scientists are Curious’, ‘Scientists Think’, ‘Scientists Keep Thinking’, ‘Scientists are Observant’ and ‘Scientists use details to describe things’, ‘Scientists Learn from Others’, ‘Scientists look at things in new ways’, ‘Scientists are Patient’ and ‘Scientists are Persistent’ introduces the essential characteristics of a scientist.

All the time the text encourages children to add their own ideas, as in this tree observation page.

Or in the ‘Decomposers’ spread whereon readers are asked to write their own responses to ‘Why don’t colourful leaves pile up, year after year, until the trees are buried beneath them” Why do they turn brown?’
This is followed by practical activities and observations.

I could go on at length talking about the various activities, which are many and varied (over 40 in all) but will just mention a few: there are word searches, an energy game, tracking the phases of the moon, designing a vehicle that uses wind or solar energy or another form of renewable energy and watching seeds grow and recording related observations.

Very much hands-on, this is an ideal book to inspire youngsters from around 6 to become scientists like Ada Twist, indeed Ada’s very own story is told at the outset.

Thoroughly recommended even if you haven’t yet encountered Ada or her friends, Iggy Peck, Architect and Rosie Revere, Engineer.

I’ve signed the charter

Little Mole is a Whirlwind

May 17, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

Little Mole is a Whirlwind
Anna Llenas
Templar Books

I’ve had a Little Mole in some of the classes I’ve taught over the years: ADHD, whether or not it’s so labelled, is challenging for all involved but underneath the child who is at times making you feel deskilled is usually a youngster who is desperately trying to reach out for reassurance and help. It’s certainly the case in this new story from Anna Llenas.

With his bounding, bouncing and bellowing, Little Mole exhausts his parents.

At school he finds it almost impossible to concentrate and is constantly distracted, fiddling, fidgeting and forgetting so it’s no surprise that his classmates shun him. Sadly the little creature has all sorts of labels assigned to him.

His teacher is at the end of her tether; try as she might, she just can’t help Little Mole to focus.

A note goes home asking for a parental conference but almost simultaneously a newspaper is delivered advertising the services of ‘Serena the Forest Bunny’ offering ‘creative learning for wonderful children’. Could this be the answer?

Little Mole’s parents take him to meet Serena who thinks she might be able to help.

The following day Little Mole tells her about his worries regarding his end-of-year project, about his inability to stay focussed and his lack of friends.

In response Serena takes him to a room filled with creative materials and gives Little Mole free rein. At first he’s over-excited and soon chaos reigns.

Serena remains calm and supportive both then and on subsequent visits as they play, cook …

and even stargaze. Most importantly though, they talk, and gradually over the course of several months his concentration span increases.
Serena helps her pupil discover what he really likes to do and with her reassurance that he’s wonderful just the way he is, Little Mole is ready to work on that end-of-year project.

Come the last day of term his teacher has a wonderful surprise when it comes to project showing time. Little Mole has finally found his passion and his outlook on the world is completely changed.

Anna Llenas understands all this so well and her story, with her trademark collage style illustrations, portrays Little Mole as a thoroughly likeable character deserving of the tolerance and understanding shown by Serena.

We Wear Pants

May 16, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

We Wear Pants
Katie Abey
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

No, this isn’t another story about pants, although that particular item of clothing is the subject of the first spread in this humorous offering. You’ll also see thereon a horse in pants watering plants , a giraffe wearing them – and not only on its rear end; and youngsters will delight in the invitation to search for ‘who is sitting on the toilet?’ Wouldn’t the octopus have pants with eight leg holes? one of my book sharers wanted to know.

Wellies come next and all manner of animals are sporting theirs, including a waterproof wombat and a funky frog that asks readers to ‘Count the rubber ducks’. Not so the cheeky monkey however; that particular creature pops up on every spread offering a sneak preview of which item of attire is coming next.

We Wear Hats invites children to choose a hat – a tricky operation but for me the crocodile won; and I think I’d go for the croc. as my favourite animal too, on account of the fact that he’s reading a book.

The weather is decidedly changeable on the coats spread so many different kinds are show-cased including blazers, anoraks, puffer jackets, macs and ponchos.

Snazzy shorts aplenty are shown off on the beach: “Shorts cover up your pants” announces the bird atop the palm tree, although those belonging to the tortoise close by appears to be serving an alternative purpose.

Glasses, scarves, socks, shoes, T-shirts – watch out for particularly groan-worthy puns here – and pyjamas are also featured and the book ends with a final free choice page asking “What will YOU wear today?” Now there’s a thought …
Entertaining, absorbing and most definitely giggle inducing (that’s adults as well as children); a great book for sharing and absolutely full of language development potential.

The Big Book of Outdoor Activities

May 15, 2018jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Big Book of 100 Outdoor Activities
Laura Minter and Tia Williams
GMC Publications

This bumper book is just right for trying out now the better weather has arrived – for a few days at least. It’s absolutely jam-packed with simple and quick activities and creative possibilities that will encourage children to get involved and at the same time find out more about the natural world.

The book is divided into seven sections, the first being Wildlife Spotting – love the pine-cone bird feeder and bug hotel herein. Ditto the ‘Flowerpot person from the In the Garden section.
I’m all for getting messy especially where young children are involved: I know they will thoroughly enjoy making bubble snakes and plunging their hands into the oobleck or cornflour goop and finding petals, leaves etc to add to the mixture – always a favourite with children in my early years classes. Both these are found in the Messy Makes section along with over a dozen other ideas.

The natural paintbrushes in the Art and Crafts pages look terrific fun …

and have great potential for getting creative. So too do the nature faces although I’d rather have the children draw faces for themselves on the card.
There are lots of exciting possibilities in the Rainy Day and Games sections so it’s definitely a good idea to do as the authors suggest in their introductory tips and take a carrier bag for collecting items. You might for instance gather up sticks and fir cones and save them to make a set of the funky stick people. Once done there are lots of ways these could be used – as fridge magnets or finger puppets perhaps: no doubt children will come up with ideas of their own.

All in all this is a great book for using with children – the ideas cost very little or nothing at all – just the thing to pack into a rucksack for a weekend away, or for teachers and others organising forest school sessions to dip in to.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: