Talking Points

November 8, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Animal Rescue
Patrick George
Creators of books for young children use a variety of ways to engage their audience. A particularly effective one – acetate overlays – is employed by Patrick George. A double-sided printed acetate page is sandwiched between two ordinary brightly printed wordless pages and when flipped, this allows the child to change the story completely.
This one however, has an added dimension in the form of an environmental message in that it draws attention to the difference between each animal in its natural habitat or being cared for/and in captivity or being mistreated for human purposes such as entertainment:
Thus we have an elephant roaming free …

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Flip the acetate sheet to the right and you have …

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Fashion purposes – exotic skins,

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factory farming – chickens, trophy hunting and abandoned pets are some of the topics included.
Virtually wordless apart from the final question, this delightful book is rich in potential for talk and storying as well as offering those opportunities for discussing issues of animal welfare.
50p from sales of each book goes to the Born Free Foundation.
Conversation creator – assuredly: Conservation/animal welfare promoter – one truly hopes so.

Equally playful and similar basic design, but without the serious underlying message, is

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Opposites
Patrick George
Herein basic concepts such as Big/Small, Left/Right, Empty/Full, Up/Down, First/Last, Hot/Cold, In/Out are presented … DSCN5769 (800x600) and …

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along with Sun/Rain, Hit/Miss, Land/Sea, Boy/Girl. The latter are rather more questionable in terms of mere ‘opposites’, but will certainly engender a lot of interactive talk and creative thought and learning. Eye-catching art in vibrant colours with single word labels complete the ingredients of this one.

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Colours
Susan Steggall
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Tractors, tippers, trucks, rollers, mixers, vans and cars are among those featured in the twenty different types of vehicle, (two for each of the ten colours) presented in the bright collage style,

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captioned illustrations of this book for very young lovers of all things mechanical. The final spread shows all the vehicles.

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There’s lots of potential for talk and I envisage ‘littles’ with their own collections of toy cars getting them out and lining them up along with those presented herein. And there’s a wheel attached to the back cover which when turned, makes the vehicles change colour –

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more talk potential!

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Whose Truck?
Toni Buzzeo and Jim Datz
Abrams Appleseed
Featuring half a dozen different trucks and their operators, this cleverly designed board book is bound to appeal to all young machine lovers. Readers are invited in Toni Buzzeo’s rhyming text, to guess: Whose truck is this? in relation to a utilities truck, a fire-engine, a snow-plough, an ambulance, a crane, an outside broadcast vehicle.
Thus we have …

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Open the gate-fold to reveal …

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The end pages showcase all the vehicles and a surprise finale unfolds …

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Full of potential for interaction and playful learning – with the book and beyond.

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Two Crazy Tales

November 7, 2015jillrbennett 1 Comment

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Kitchen Disco
Clare Foges and Al Murphy
Faber & Faber Children’s Books
Did you know that the contents of your fruit bowl comes to life and parties while you’re fast asleep? No?

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Me neither; but that’s what happens in this totally zany, rhyming disco dancing story.
Off the wall it may be, but this book totally rocks it socks off as lemons tap dance on the tap and break dance on the chopping board (what fun the author had writing this),

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the super cool pineapple high fives to show his approval of other fruit; and grapes – a silly bunch – boogie in a conga and their ‘conga line gets longer!’

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Told in rhyming couplets, the story starts gently as the family begins to slumber and then bursts into life moving and shaking until sunrise when the fruit take to their bowl for some well-earned shut eye. Suitably crazy illustrations by Al Murphy document the whole event and I love the way the artist uses small vignette style pictures in the middle of the page at the start and then latterly, the pages begin to explode as those citrus guys take to the floor. And there’s a further pre-dawn explosion courtesy of some human intrusion and– yes – a glitter ball;: now I wonder where they got that from?

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So, as the chorus says, ‘SHAKE IT LIKE A MANGO/ PARTY LIKE A PEAR? WIGGLE LIKE AN APPLE, / HEY!/ AND DANCE LIKE YOU DON’T CARE.’
Simply FRUITASTIC!

Nearly as bonkers in its own way is:

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What are you going to wear, Pascal?
Magali Le Huche
Twirl Books
Pascal platypus has a problem: he’s got nothing to wear. Does that sound familiar? It’s certainly something I feel at times. Pascal seeks help from his friends and each is ready with a suggestion or two.

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But each item of clothing is problematic to Pascal: it’s too tight,

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too itchy, or too special , until he asks Ringo that is. Could he be lucky this time? Ringo has made something especially for Pascal but oops!

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You need to put it on the right way round, Pascal. Never mind, that outlet might have just the thing …
It does, but on opening his wardrobe, we see that his perfect pants seem to bear more than a little resemblance to everything the endearing platypus already has.

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Nothing to read? Perhaps like Pascal, you might try borrowing in the first instance unless of course, you know somebody just like him: then, this extended joke would make the perfect present.

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Have You Seen Elephant?

November 6, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Have you seen Elephant?
David Barrow
Gecko Press
Ever thought of playing a game with an elephant? If you do, just make sure it’s not hide and seek …

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or if there’s no option then don’t let the elephant be first to hide. That’s the mistake the boy makes in this debut, corker of a book from David Barrow. It’s one of those stories where children are in the know almost from the outset and relish so being: they, like the boy’s dog can see all elephant’s hiding places and good as he insists he is, that elephant does choose some pretty ridiculous, albeit creative spots.

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But that’s the fun of it for audiences.
There is visual hilarity in abundance: in some ways elephant is rather like a toddler when it comes to hiding places – if he can’t see the seeker then he can’t be seen. But then that’s the way this book works: we all have to suspend our disbelief and play along with elephant just like one does with a toddler.
Barrow comically times his painted visuals to perfection: every spread is bang on in this respect, as is his use of light and shade. I love the somewhat restrained/muted colour palette with those orange,

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pink and purple hues.
Great family portrait endpapers – make sure you compare front and back. Make sure too that you keep your eye on what the dog’s up to; oh, and watch out for this character:

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he also has a special talent when it comes to games … so he says.
Love it, love it, love it! Assuredly a book to enjoy over and over (and with its minimal text), one beginning readers can, after an initial sharing, try for themselves.
I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing what’s next from this extremely talented newcomer who is incidentally, the winner of the Sebastian Walker Award for the most promising children’s illustrator 2015.

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The Nonsense Show

November 5, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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The Nonsense Show
Eric Carle
Puffin Books
Eric Carle’s latest, brilliantly playful book pays homage to surrealism and in particular, René Magritte. Herein he creates a topsy- turvy world: ‘Welcome friends!/ Don’t be slow./ Step right up to/ The Nonsense Show!’ urges the rabbit magician on the first spread and thus we’re entranced by the sight of that rabbit clutching a boy he’s presumably pulled out of the hat.
From then on we encounter a series of supremely silly scenarios: crazy rhyming text and preposterous pictures such as …

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Transport – of sorts – features in:

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And …

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Did I spot a counting opportunity there?
It’s impossible to choose a favourite spread: every one delivers delight and a surprise but among my favourites are the mouse chasing a feathery-looking cat and that bathtub rubber duck trotting through the water on its be-trousered human legs …

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Right from his wonderful cover, Eric Carle guarantees to provoke giggles, nay laughter and the grand finale proffers a plethora of possible descriptions of this whole absurd, other world.

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It’s a world that some adults may baulk at but children, not so far from the world of nursery rhymes with its moon jumping cows and dishes running away with spoons, and gardens growing silver bells and cockle shells, will be more than ready to embrace Carle’s weird ideas; and imaginations sparked, try creating some of their own weird and wacky scenes with pictures and words.
Make sure that you don’t overlook Carle’s bonkers biography complete with photo, inside the back dust jacket: how eminently inventive that guy is.

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Bother with Babes

November 4, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Wild Child
Steven Salerno
Abrams Children’s Books
Time was the biggest and strongest ruled the jungle; but that was before the arrival of a new creature: a small soft-skinned one with just two teeth. It terrorized the other animals: it was …

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Time to “tame that wild thing”, decide the other animals, sick and tired of all the grabbing, pinching, pooping, pulling, kicking, biting, hitting and howling.
Various taming strategies ensue: Giraffe feeds it leaves, Elephant sprays it with water,

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Vulture perches it upon a tall tree, Anteater feeds it bugs, Hippo rolls it in the mud and Lion roars at it, all of which only serve to fuel its fury.

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Gorilla however, tries an altogether different tack. – a much gentler one and after some sweet banana and a clean up, followed by a cuddle, the holy terror is a wild child no longer, it’s a mild child, well temporarily.

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After which it’s a case of ‘let the wild rumpus’ commence … At least the animals are smiling now.

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Dramatic, action packed cartoon style jungly scenes combined with punchy prose make for a storytime treat with plenty of potential for wild joining in – vocal and physical.
Fun, fast, forceful and furious.

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The Baby That Roared
Simon Puttock and Nadia Shireen
Nosy Crow
Mr and Mrs Deer are desperate for a baby and when they discover one on their doorstep: it seems their dream has at last come true.

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However, the infant starts to cry, or rather ROAR and no matter what they offer, it won’t stop. Time to call in the reserves suggests Mrs Deer. First to come is Uncle Duncan. His warm milk suggestion doesn’t produce the desired outcome but Uncle Duncan is nowhere to be seen. And, there’s a decided aroma around the place.
Auntie Agnes is next with advice: a nappy change is her suggestion and off go the Deers to collect nappies, towels and ointment. They’re soon back, but where is Auntie Agnes?
The roaring continues so Doctor Fox is consulted. His arrival is swift but his action ineffectual: Still the baby roars but as for the doc, he’s nowhere to be seen.
Thank goodness then for Granny Bear who decides a burping will do the trick.

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She applies several hearty pats and then …

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And out come the missing helpers (along with a whole lot of gunk!).

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Granny bear of course can see what delighted readers will have known from the outset: “That’s not a dear little baby!” … “That is a LITTLE MONSTER!” she cries. And off it dashes. Time to get a pet …
Nadia Shireen’s wickedly subversive humour (first evident in Good Little Wolf) is perfect for Simon Puttock’s tongue-in-cheek, fractured fairytale (a re-issue). I love the way all we see of the consumed characters are the odd accessories – a hat, a scarf, a stethoscope.
The repeat phrases: “ “A baby?” said (character’s name) “A dear little baby? I shall come at once!”; and ‘… when Mr and Mrs Deer came back – how very peculiar! — had disappeared, and the baby was still roaring!’ are used to great effect and listeners soon take great delight in joining in with them
Enormously engaging and imminently re-readable.

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The Snowman and the Sun/Dandelions

November 3, 2015jillrbennett 4 Comments

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The Snowman and the Sun
Susan Tahdis and Ali Mafakheri
Tiny Owl Publishing
Even very young children know that when the sun shines on a snowman it melts. Some know that means he becomes water but most will not know what happens thereafter. Now, thanks to this gorgeous picture book told from the snowman’s viewpoint, they can become aware of the whole water cycle through a charming story. In this way they are more likely to remember the facts – if that’s all you want.

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However, the publishers’ blurb tells us that it’s a ‘modern-day fable about how our attachments to people and things live on, though they change and sometimes disappear; this demonstrates how a good book can be read, interpreted and appreciated in many ways at different levels. The telling is gently humorous and in places, poetic: ‘The snowman ran as water over the ground. The ground tickled him. “What warm ground!” said the watery snowman.’
With both a science background and latterly a spiritual (though not religious) one I’d put the latter (fable) interpretation first but would happily share it with early years children after a snowy day when it could also lead to a science discussion.
Throughout the circular whole runs a delightfully playful visual subtext involving a cat, some fish, an ice-cream,

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a bee on a bike (that one is a hoot)

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and the boy builder of the snowman – love those odd shoes.

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Love too, the graph paper background, in fact pretty much everything about this unassuming book.

Also showing the circular nature of things is:

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Dandelions
Katrina McKelvey and Kirrili Lonergan
EK Books
What is a weed? A flower growing in the wrong place, perhaps. That would certainly seem to be the case in this uplifting, understated debut picture book. At least it’s the view of the little girl narrator’s father who as the story opens has just mowed the grass, cutting down the dandelion puffballs she was wanting to blow. His daughter however loves the dandelions – the fuzziness of their petals, the delicate frailty of those parachute seeds. And she knows that although her favourite flowers have been mown down, they will come back. “I just have to wait now!” she says to her Dad. Yes that may be so but first there is a wonderful surprise awaiting her …

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Immediately forgiving, the girl disperses the seeds blowing with her Dad, sending them drifting and spinning far out of reach …

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chased for a while by father and child. Then the two of them lie down and imagine those parachutes (here the narrator’s voice loses some of its direct child-like simplicity) ‘swirling in the wind’ past the roses in the yard, the poppies lining the street, over the sunflowers in the park

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and on, whirling round the weeping willows beside the river, beneath the oaks and out of town, twirling above the countryside eventually to be ‘collected by the sun.’ Here that child voice simplicity has returned.’ “Where do they really go, Dad?” I ask.’ And Dad himself completes the dandelion life cycle explaining how once dispersed, new plants will grow from the seeds, flower again and …

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Magic? To a young child who hasn’t lost that innocence, yes perhaps. Certainly children retain their capacity to find beauty in, and treasure, simple things in the natural world, so long as we adults allow them time so slow down and be in the moment.

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The warmth of the bond between father and daughter is beautifully portrayed in Kirrilli Lonergan’s soft, watercolour scenes, that have just a touch of whimsy to their summeriness.

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Once Upon a Northern Night

November 2, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Once Upon a Northern Night
Jean E. Pendziwol and Isabelle Arsenault
Walker Books
‘Once upon a northern night/ while you lay sleeping, / wrapped in a downy blanket. /I painted you a picture.’ (The opening line of this lyrical prose poem directed towards a sleeping child one dark, soon to be snowy, night is repeated at the beginning each subsequent verse.)
As more and more snowflakes fall, the earth is ‘wrapped in a downy blanket’, the night sky alive with ‘sparkling specks of white, /crowding/ and floating.’

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Gradually the whole landscape is transformed as the writer word paints a picture taking readers for a walk beneath the trees, under one of which a mother deer and her fawn stand before moving on to taste (as on the cover) a frozen apple still clinging to the tree. I was reminded here of Robert Frost’s Two Look at Two
while the whole thing has a feeling of his ‘Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening’ about it.

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Who one wonders, is the speaker of this lullaby– a loving parent, nature itself perhaps? Some enchantress?
Wonderfully evocative and breathtakingly and starkly beautiful are the hushed scenes painted by Isabelle Arsenault using an effective limited colour palette predominantly black and white, grey and blue,

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but with yellow for the owl’s eyes and beak, touches of green foliage, those red apples and ‘auburn’ for the fox’s tail.

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I love everything about this book: the circularity of the whole thing, the almost ethereal nature of the illustrations with their shadowy effects, and the reverence of the words themselves – ‘pine trees held out prickly hands/ to catch the falling flakes.’
Truly it sends shudders down the spine, such is it’s magic, both verbal and visual.
If you want something to generate awe and wonder in listeners and readers this book will surely do so.

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The Big, Big Bing Book/Big Bear little chair

November 1, 2015November 1, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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The Big, Big Bing Book
Harper Collins Children’s Books
This outsize board book, which is adapted from Ted Dewan’s original Bing books, certainly is a splendid BING THING! Clearly it’s designed for group sharing and I envisage small children lying flat on the floor poring over and discussing the plethora of images they find herein.
It’s thematically organized with each of the half dozen double spreads being given over to a different topic. Thus we have ‘Hello Bing! that introduces Bing Bunny’s friends and relations, Bing’s house (and garden)

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that is simply crammed with everyday objects that are part of Bing’s domestic life.
From there, Bing’s world enlarges to encompass the immediate environment – the woods, his street, the park and playground, Amma’s crèche and more.
We also join in with the numerous Playtime activities that absorb Bing and his pals, each of which is illustrated vignette style,

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then there’s a Colours page with Bing’s own ‘Rainybow Song’ and another for Numbers.

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The final spread looks at two more concepts Opposites and Seasons.
Each double spread is packed with details that will assuredly get children talking, enthusing, laughing and learning in a playful, enjoyable way be it at home or at nursery.

Also full of opportunities for language development is:

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Big Bear little chair
Lizi Boyd
Chronicle Books
Take a comparatively simple size concept – big/small – and turn it into a beautiful, stylish three-story book encompassing the concept but with so much more is what Lizi Boyd does here beginning thus …

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And continuing with …

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and finally, after the butterfly has hatched –

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The second story introduces little bear and moves on to …

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and eventually …

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The bears then come together and another story unfolds and finally we meet the whole cast of story characters.

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Read differently, each page itself could be the starting point for a story that the reader goes on to create.
With its bold, patterned, slightly whimsical illustrations executed with a limited colour palette, no matter how it’s read, this offers an experience full of delight and potential.

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Being a Hero/Being Brave

October 31, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

Monty the Hero
Steve Smallman
QED Publishing
Inspired by his favourite bedtime story, Monty Mole makes a big decision: he’s going to be a (super) hero. He cannot wait so off he goes tunneling up and up until he reaches the magical setting of his storybook where he immediately encounters Herbert Hedgehog. Donning a conker shell for protection against monsters, Monty invites Herbert to become a hero too.
All too soon though, the two have their first MONSTER encounter but thanks to Monty’s mushroom morphing and Herbert’s prickly bottom, the ‘monster’ is soon beating a hasty retreat.

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But, pride comes before a fall it’s said and certainly that’s the case here for as they banter over Monty’s heroic – or not – qualities, Herbert finds himself in a bit of a fix.

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A spot of hasty tunneling from Monty soon does the trick and then two heroes set off in search of a wish fulfilling magic wand. Having found same, they just need to give it a shake but …
That’s not quite the end though: all ends happily for both heroes and Monty’s mum hears the magical story (with just one omission) as they walk off home together.

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A gentle, amusing story with some atmospheric nocturnal scenes to enjoy around bedtime or to share at any time in an early years setting. I love the fact that Monty’s adventure was sparked by that bedtime tale his mum read to him.

More lessons about being a hero to be learned in:

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Be Careful Barney!
Lucy Barnard
QED Publishing
Herein Barney’s attempts at being a superhero land him in big trouble when he ignores his teacher’s ‘stay away from the river’ instructions when the class goes on a school trip.

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Brave As Can Be
Jo Witek and Christine Roussey
Abrams Appleseed
A now not so little, self-assured girl shares her erstwhile fears and how she managed to overcome each one, be it her fear of the dark, a neighbour’s barking dog, a scary dream, a thunderstorm, creepy crawlies even, or her angry teacher (not so frightening when imagined with feathers) …

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On Hallowe’en however, with a cackly laugh and pointy hat, it’s her turn to be scary.

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Being scared can be fun though, especially when it’s listening to one of Dad’s spooky stories.

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Cleverly conceived and executed with all kinds of cutaway shapes strategically placed, this is a real charmer as is the narrator herself.
Deliciously humorous and unsentimental, this sturdily constructed book , subtitled a ”A Book of Courage’ is bound to delight and may well help children find their own fear-facing coping strategies.
It’s brilliant for sharing with children in an early years setting and a great starting point for talking about personal fears and how they might deal with them. With its board pages the book is built to stand up to the numerous readings I suspect it will have.

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Showing and Sharing Love

October 30, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Say It!
Charlotte Zolotow and Charlotte Voake
Walker Books
A small girl and her mother walk together enjoying ’a golden windy autumn day.’ “Say it,” urges the child as she clutches a leaf.
“It’s a wild, wondrous, dazzling day,” comes the response and they move on encountering a little black cat

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and then pausing beside a pond: ‘and the trees in the pond shivered into a million zigzagging streaks of colour.’ – What wonderful images Zolotow conjures. The mother describes it as …”a golden, shining, splendiferous day!” But that’s not what the little girl wants to hear either.
Neither the amber-eyed, leaping dog nor the fluffy floating seeds …

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can illicit the longed-for words – what a tease that mother is – and eventually after an affecting walk they approach home once more and the little girl is finally rewarded for her persistence …

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Zolotow’s uplifting poetic text (originally written well over thirty years ago) has the perfect complement in Charlotte Voake’s warm pen-and-ink and watercolour illustrations. The scenes are alive with autumn colours and the tenderness that so evidently exists between mother and daughter.
An appealing and engaging autumnal book for sure, but equally one that might be shared around Mother’s Day or to illicit discussion about showing rather than telling (in this instance in relation to parental love).

The special love shared between grandparents and grandchildren is simply and beautifully explored in:

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I Love My Granny
Giles Andrea and Emma Dodd
Orchard Books
The toddler narrator shares the delights of a day spent with granny – ‘She’s like a mum, but unlike mine, she seems to have just loads of time.’ It’s a day that can be spent close to home or going out for special treats …

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It might hold exciting adventures or baking yummy things …

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but no matter what, a day spent in the company of a granny is sure to be full of fun and warmth. Both of which are captured delightfully in Giles Andrea’s rhyming text and Emma Dodd’s affectionate scenes.

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Fun with Numbers

October 29, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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One Thing
Lauren Child
Orchard Books
The author tells us the idea for her new book came because she ‘loves the way little children start counting almost before anything else’ and she assuredly brings a deliciously creative and exciting slant to the topic of numbers with the help of Charlie and Lola. Mum is taking them to the shops and they are allowed to choose one thing – one thing each that is – and they have TEN minutes to get ready:

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so, in comes the idea of numbers in relation to time …

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and addition, and possibly multiplication.
But they haven’t even set out yet for Lola has already become distracted – albeit with counting the dots on her dress.
Finally they’re on their way but of course, once again Lola is side-tracked and it’s ladybirds that have captured her attention; she’s full of questions: “How many shoes would fifty or twenty-seventeen ladybirds need, Charlie” … “What about socks?” (potential for some audience calculation after the story perhaps?). On they go past the water meadow –

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lots of birds to count there and up on the telegraph wire.
If you’re wondering if they ever reach the shops , the answer is yes, eventually after a lot more procrastination, well counting I suppose.

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And yes they do each choose one thing – kind of – and guess who has nothing to show for her choice by the time they all reach home once more.
Numbers and counting in real life situations is by far the best way for young children to begin to develop mathematical concepts: well done Charlie (and Lola) for finding lots of fun ways to do this and well done Lauren Child for crafting a wonderfully funny story wherein they (and listeners/readers) can learn so much about numbers. Every spread is rich in potential and could well be the starting point for an interesting session for early years educators who might be challenged to see what maths potential (apart from the obvious) they can find at every turn of the page.
Great fun and a brilliant way to promote the ‘maths (in particular numeracy) is exciting ’ idea to young children.

Another book that promotes the idea of numbers being exciting while at the same time fostering in children of all ages creativity and interest in design is:

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Numbers
Paul Thurlby
Hodder Children’s Books
Newly in paperback is graphic artist Thurlby’s creative, wonderfully thoughtful and thought provoking book illustrating numbers – numbers 0 to 9

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and then ten, twenty, thirty, forty

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etc. through to one hundred.
The artist speaks of his style in the book’s preface as‘retro-modern’ and his work reminds me of vintage railway posters …
I particularly love the way he so cleverly and wittily takes each number and incorporates the digit(s) into the scene illustrated opposite …

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Some of the striking (humorous) number representations will mean much more to older children/adults

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than to very young children learning to recognize the numerals (I’ve yet to discover a child who really has learned to recognize 0 to 10 by using counting books). Indeed this whole enterprise is much more about art and creativity than numeracy: I’d love to have some of these illustrations on my own walls.

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Aliens Love Dinopants & Aerodynamics of Biscuits

October 28, 2015jillrbennett 1 Comment

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Aliens Love Dinopants
Clare Freedman and Ben Court
Simon and Schuster
Aliens, underpants and dinosaurs all in one story – what more can a pants loving reader ask for? Herein the spacecraft, piloted by the pantsophile aliens, is zapped by lightning as it whizzes through the skies forcing it to crash-land in the jungle.
But BLEEP BLEEPS are heard loud and clear from the pants-tracker and immediately the aliens are hot on the swampy trail. A trail that finally leads them to …

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shortly followed by …

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And it seems those dinosaurs are ready to fight to the death over their precious stash. But perhaps that isn’t going to be necessary: after all both are really on the same side – that of PANTS. So maybe a solution – a pantstastic one – can be found that works to the satisfaction of all concerned …

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And if so, all of us humans had better keep extra special watch over our washing lines when it’s chuddies drying time.
Can it really be the seventh of this ever-popular Underpants series? This one was eagerly seized upon by the five and six year olds I took it to, and several readings were demanded.

Maria was certainly impressed by the story and left me this.

More power to the seemingly indomitable pants force and the creators thereof.

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Aerodynamics of Biscuits
Clare Helen Walsh and Sophia Touliatou
Maverick Arts Publishing
When hunger pangs strike, Oliver (normally a good, kind sort of a boy) creeps downstairs to raid the biscuit barrel only to find it completely empty. But what are those shadowy things scuttling across the floor, ‘Hauling and heaving, towing and tugging.’ out through the door and into the garden?

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The marauding mice however, are not consuming their spoils, oh no, they’re in the process of constructing or attempting to, aerodynamic biscuit rockets in which to fly to the moon and there partake of some – well you know what the moon is said to be made of.

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However their design skills leave a lot to be desired and it’s only when Oliver offers to help with the rocket building that things start to look more promising, and finally it’s blast off time.
Once at their cheesy destination, the mice can hardly wait to tuck in to the feast that awaits them when they discover that their leader, Captain Sneaky McSqueaky has gone missing: seems his appetite is for something other than cheese …
Are the mice to be marooned on the moon without a craft or can they find another way to return to earth? Perhaps, with Oliver’s help …

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This unlikely story is great fun. The nature of the telling is such that it draws listeners in from the start, keeping them involved and interested throughout and offering possibilities for active joining in with the rocket building and cheese gathering as the story unfolds.
Equally, Sophia Touliatou’s quirky illustrations are packed with amusing details, creating a visual feast of small rodents engaging in all manner of tasks, tiny tools, and tasty treats – sweet and savoury, not to mention a whole host of speech bubbles, noises, labels and more for the eyes to digest.

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Princes, a Princess and a Dragon

October 27, 2015October 27, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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The Red Prince
Charlie Roscoe and Tom Clohosy Cole
Templar Publishing
Set in a make believe kingdom named Avala, this wonderfully illustrated neo fairy tale is the story of how the young prince is kidnapped by strangers who invade the shores of the realm one night. Having seized the city, the invaders capture the prince hiding him away in a dark fortress dungeon.
Near to despair, he eventually manages to escape one dark night and off he dashes through the falling snow

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until he comes upon a young girl who tells him he must get to the city. You will find help in unlikely places, she reassures him. Her words prove true …

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for having crossed the island and managed to sneak through the city gates an amazing sight meets the red prince’s (and the reader’s) eyes …

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With all Avala sporting red prince garments, the strangers realize they are now faced with a near impossible task, so they return to their boats and sail away.
In his powerful illustrations Tom Clohosy Cole makes dramatic use of dark and light

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creating amazing atmospheric scenes employing all manner of angles and perspectives.

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The Princess Who Had No Fortune
Ursula Jones and Sarah Gibb
Orchard Books
A princess (albeit one with a best pal talking cat) too poor and with too much work to do to go to the prince’s ball surely has its roots in Cinderella. However, in this neo fairy tale the work to be done is down to her father’s latest exploit: she has to prepare for a special party to celebrate the inaugural flight of the king’s latest flying machine. Cupcakes not court balls are her preoccupation, and so is getting the garden into shape for the event.
However, the young man who gets the gardening job is about as good at doing his task (he tries to cut the lawn with a penknife) as she is at baking cakes – terrible!

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When the two sit down together for a coffee break, the gardener makes some suggestions.

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The princess turns down his first idea of a “prince in shining armour” but what about “making a wish to your fairy godmother,” Now there’s a thought, even if you’re not sure you have one …
Ursula Jones witty tale is perfectly complemented by Sarah Gibb’s lush illustrations:

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her colorful collage and paint style scenes resemble a theatrical production and the alternate silhouette spreads, which put me in mind of those by Jan Pieńkowski, are stunningly beautiful.

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The Extremely Greedy Dragon
Jessica Barrah and Chris Saunders
QED Publishing
When a sleepy and very large dragon decides to take a snooze on the railway line at Little Chiddling the residents have a problem, or most of them do. Young Georgie Johnson however is eager for the reward money offered to anyone able to move the creature and so decides to try her luck.
The crisps she offers the huge beast hit the mark …

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and before long Georgie and the dragon are off in search of more tasty tidbits to satisfy what proves a very large appetite. Those they encounter however are happy to share their food in return for a little help from the dragon in drying out the picnic spot, lighting the barbeque fire, warning up the wedding venue and finally, once Georgie has persuaded the mayor, drying out the damp fireworks to make the festival go with a sparkle and a bang.

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With its inbuilt messages about not judging by appearances and eating healthily, there’s plenty of food for thought and discussion herein.

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Exciting event in Piccadilly, London till 29th October : The Children’s Book Illustration Art Exhibition

Friends Return: Old Bear & The Beast

October 26, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Old Bear’s Bedtime Stories
Jane Hissey
Scribblers
I’ve long been a fan of Jane Hissey’s soft toy stories whose characters are based on toys belonging to her family and friends, so I was thrilled to see this new collection of some twenty short stories featuring Old Bear and his pals, Duck, Rabbit, Bramwell Brown,

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Barnaby, Jolly Tall and Ruff, to name just a few of the cast of characters herein, some of whom I’m meeting for the first time.
With autumnal stories including one about Freddie Teddy’s attempts at collecting blackberries, and another wherein Peter Bear makes the ‘most unfrightening’ pumpkin face ever’,

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Christmas tales, a seaside story, a rainy day one and a summery finale in which Old Bear, Little Bear, Bramwell and Jolly, not to mention Duck, Ruff, Rabbit and Zebra enact their very own version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

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For me these warm-hearted stories are the children’s picture book equivalent of comfort food – something to snuggle up with and share on a chilly day. Delicious!

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The Snow Beast
Chris Judge
Andersen Press
The Beast returns for a third adventure and it has a decidedly chilly feel to it. Snow has fallen in the village and the Beast is set to help the villagers with a celebratory festival. But, there’s a distinct lack of tools: every single one has been stolen and chief suspect is none other than the abominable Snow Beast. Off sets the Beast to track down the thief and retrieve the tools.
Following some rather large, beastly footprints he goes deeper into the snow only to find he’s in it up to his nose and completely stuck. There’s only one solution – to dig himself out and that he does only to find himself face to face with …

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and the tool-thief is certainly not going to stop and pass the time of day.
Enlisting assistance from re-enforcements of the human variety, there’s only one way to catch up with the robber but suddenly the Beast finds himself up to his nose in snow once again. Help comes from a most unlikely source and one good turn leads to another …
But even then our hero just doesn’t know when to take things slowly and his re-entry into the village is something of a crash landing …

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There’s a vibrancy about Chris Judge’s illustrations that will bring a warming cheer to wintry reading of this amusing story about determination and finding friends in unlikely situations.

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Brilliant event: Children’s Book Illustration Autumn Exhibition, Waterstones, Piccadilly 23rd-29th October

Bothersome Bedtimes: Max at Night and Whiffy Wilson

October 25, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Max at Night
Ed Vere
Puffin Books
It’s Max’s bedtime – long past it in fact and he’s very sleepy, but having performed his ablutions and started his round of goodnights, he can’t snuggle down just yet. The moon is nowhere to be seen and he must bid it goodnight.

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Off he goes outside to try and get a different view. There are stars aplenty but still no visible lunar presence so he tries going a little higher. No sign of the moon still and no sound from the sleeping canine. There’s a tall, tall tree that might help though.

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The only response to Max’s “Goodnight tree… Do you know where I can find Moon?’ is a rustle. Oh dear Max, seems you’re having a frustrating time.
But undaunted ,our lovable feline goes ever higher – up the tallest building and then the highest of high hills where he receives just a whistle in the wind. Ah ha!
Max is at the end of his tether: “Mooooooooon! Where are yoooouu?” he howls and hearing his call, that wind blows and blows and blows and suddenly there from out of the clouds emerges …

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After a rewarding lunar encounter, it’s a very tired but very happy Max that climbs all the way back down and finally up his own stairs to …

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I think he earned that sleep and so did my audience of 4s to 7s who shared the story with me: the indomitable Max got a round of applause – for his perseverance I suspect as well as to express their satisfaction with this super follow up to Max the Brave.
A wonderful colour palette – warm and atmospheric, Ed Vere’s wit and off-beat illustrative style, and an increasingly endearing protagonist make this another winner for Max and his creator. Great endpapers too.

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Whiffy Wilson the wolf who wouldn’t go to bed
Caryl Hart and Leonie Lord
Orchard Books
This is another treat featuring lively lupine, Wllson and the ever-helpful Dotty. Herein young Wilson wolf is more than a little averse to bedtime; he’d far rather be playing one of his many musical instruments,

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singing at the top of his voice or doing one of the numerous other important jobs he loves to do, like lining up his cars or building with his blocks.
Looks as though it’s down to his friend and neighbor, Dotty to teach him about the importance of rest and relaxation – after a spot of tidying up that is.

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And in pretty much no time at all, the canny young miss has Wilson fed, bathed and in his PJs with teeth brushed, ready for a bedtime story. DSCN5590 (800x600)

But the best thing of all is that after a wonderful night’s sleep, there he stands on Dotty’s doorstep with a special ‘thank you’ breakfast treat …

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A fun rhyming story to share at bedtime – or just before – particularly with those youngsters who, like Wilson, come up with all manner of delaying tactics when it comes to getting ready for bed. If you’ve not met Wilson before do take this opportunity to do so with this latest episode. Leonie Lord’s spirited illustrations are full of humour and playfulness.

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Don’t miss the Children’s Book Illustration Autumn Exhibition at Waterstones, Piccadilly 23rd-29th October

Fabulous Frogs, Elephants and other creatures

October 24, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Fabulous Frogs
Martin Jenkins and Tim Hopgood
Walker Books
I’ll never forget an experience I had in Udaipur, Rajasthan a few years back: during the monsoon time I was caught in a downpour and suddenly hundreds of tiny frogs about the size of a finger nail (and those tiny New Guineas frogs depicted herein) came raining (seemingly) down from the sky. I never knew from where they had really originated – drainpipes and gullies perhaps – but it sparked an interest in these fascinating creatures. I’ve since seen many different kinds in other parts of India, especially the Kerala coast where I had a resident frog that performed acrobatics on my washing line; and every evening also in the monsoon we would be serenaded by a mesmerising frogs’ chorus from the trees and bushes …

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Then there were the tree frogs whose foam nests we saw on branches overhanging the pond very similar to these African ones …

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None of the frog species featured in this lovely picture book is Indian but each one the conservation biologist Martin Jenkins has selected is strange and wonderful in its own way, not least being the Darwin’s Frog. The male puts the soon-to-be hatched eggs in its throat, keeping them and later, the tadpoles, safe therein.
Then there’s the world’s largest, enormous (for a frog) Goliath Frog from West Africa that eats other frogs on occasion.
Illustrator, Tim Hopgood has done these and the other frogs proud in his cracking pictures. A frogilicious book!

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Would an Elephant Enjoy the Seaside?
Camilla de la Bédoyère and Aleksei Bitskoff
QED Publishing
The title of the book is just one of the amusing scenarios explored in this attractive book. Others include
‘Could an elephant join an art class?’ …

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and “How would an elephant say “hello”? Certainly the library would be an ideal place – elephants raise their trunks and trumpet … They also talk quietly … ‘by making low rumbling sounds that pass down their legs

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and into the ground.’ This is picked up by the feet of elephants far away.
Fascinating information such as this is conveyed in a manner that is likely to stay with the reader who is one hopes, then motivated to go on to find out more. Equally importantly this book and others in the series will foster that crucial ‘What if …’ notion in young children.
Also in the series and equally entertaining and informative is:

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Could a Crocodile Play Basketball?
Camilla de la Bédoyère and Aleksei Bitskoff
QED Publishing

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Just imagine one of those jaw snappers in your early years classroom …

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Children’s Animal Atlas
Barbara Tylor, Katrin Wiehle and Martin Sanders
QED
More than a mere atlas, this book has a pocket inside the front cover containing a fold-out poster map, half a dozen postcards to write from various animal locations, a spotter’s guide with facts and a quiz and pages of stickers, that can be used as the reader chooses.

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Find and Colour
illustrated by Joel Dreidemy
QED
For those youngsters around 5ish who like colouring with a few facts thrown in, is this pack of eight books (almost all with an animal theme) complete with pens. As it says on every cover: ‘things to colour and facts to discover’. Just the thing for rainy days and long journeys.

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Of Men and Mice (and the odd elephant)

October 23, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Tough Guys (Have Feelings Too)
Keith Negley
Flying Eye Books
The dozen tough guys boldly depicted in bold blocks of colour in this book represent a wide range of roles from wrestler to racing driver and each one is shown in a moment of strong emotion be it sadness, frustration, loneliness, disappointment or fear. …
‘… tough guys have feeling too.’ says the text and Negley’s powerful illustrations speak volumes and certainly show the guys in all their vulnerability. There’s a huge tattooed biker weeping over a tiny squirrel lying dead in the road …

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a pirate digging on a beach already covered with holes as he tries in vain to locate the treasure marked on his map,

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an astronaut floating around in space clutching a photo of his wife and child.

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In fact an adult and child together are the raison ‘d’être for the whole thing as we see them on the final spread – a father and son – snuggled together sharing a book and surrounded by scattered action figures and other relevant items pertaining to the already shown tough guys.

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And the endpapers are about the same pair: the front ones showing just the boy in all the roles and those at the back including Dad participating in the role-playing.
A wonderful and important demonstration that it’s fine, indeed cool, to show your feelings no matter who you happen to be: this book is a great starting point for discussion both in educational settings and families.

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As Quiet as a Mouse
Karen Owen and Evgenia Golubeva
Maverick Arts Publishing
Edgar has fond feelings for his new baby sister but he does find it extremely challenging not to keep waking her up – no matter how much he tries.

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“You need to be as quiet as a mouse!” his Mum tells him so off goes Edgar to consult his friend Ruby. She takes him along to Mouse School and hands him over to Head Mouse, Mr Cheddar who insists he should pass the “Quiet Mouse Test” and lessons commence forthwith.

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Eventually Edgar manages to pass the test, becoming the first ever elephant to do so and then it’s time for a celebratory party …

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Well, it wasn’t Edgar this time! …
An extended joke of a story, winningly illustrated, that will resonate with youngsters in a similar, new sibling situation to Edgar.

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Don’t miss the Children’s Book Illustration Autumn Exhibition at Waterstones, Piccadilly 23rd-29th October

Polar Exchanges

October 22, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Poles Apart
Jeanne Willis & Jarvis
Nosy Crow
Polar Bears live at the North Pole, penguins at the South Pole and never the twain shall meet, or do they?
One day a penguin family, the Pilchard Browns, get themselves lost en route to a picnic spot. The trouble was Mr P-B’s instructions had been wrong – now does that sound a familiar family scenario? – with the result that, as the story opens, they find themselves drifting towards …

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The dialogue is a hoot: “This is the North Pole, my friends,” said Mr White. “The South Pole is 12, 430 miles that way.”
“So, I was a few miles out,” shurugged Mr Pilchard Brown. “Anyone can make a mistake.”
“Don’t think of it as a mistake,” said Mr White.”Think of it as a big adventure.” …
“Mummy says we should always follow our dreams,” said Peeky.
“Daddy says we should always follow him,” said Poots.
Mr White is elected to guide the picnickers to the South Pole and thus achieve his own dream. Off go the adventurers over land and sea until they reach …

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The US proves exciting but it isn’t home, nor the right place for a picnic, so on they travel, the next stop being England. However, although the place has its charms, home it isn’t, nor an appropriate picnic spot so Mr White takes the party on to Italy. Pog has to hold on to his wee urge as they take a gondola ride along the canals of Venice.
The next port of call is India – dazzling for sure but again, not home

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so off they go to Oz, a ‘bonzer’ place but not home and … well you know the rest.
Their journey continues until finally they reach the South Pole and there Mr White joins them for that long anticipated picnic. After a while though, the polar bear feels the pull of the North Pole and so, he walks all the way back to his home.
A great adventure was assuredly had by all; but that’s not quite the end of the story for a surprise awaits our North Pole dweller …

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but even that isn’t the end …
With its patterned text, largely in dialogue this wonderfully preposterous tale is tremendous fun to share with a class or group of under sevens. Mine were soon joining in the repeat refrains with great enthusiasm.

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Penguin’s Big Adventure
Salina Yoon
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Penguin has an idea: he wants to be the first of his kind to set foot on the North Pole. Having packed his rucksack and rolled his map, (sporting as ever, his orange scarf) off he goes on his travels. En route he passes some of his friends and relations busy with their own world record preoccupations

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and eventually reaches his destination. But his celebratory shouts of ‘Hooray!’ meets with silence: and Penguin feels lonely and scared.
There follows an encounter with Polar Bear and the two spend time together adventuring and exploring.

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That however, is only part of the story for the purpose of his friends’ activities is made clear when they appear in a hot air balloon to take him back home with them.
Fans of Penguin and his adventures will enjoy this latest episode though I suspect some of the visual references alluding to previous Penguin stories will go over the heads of those who are making his acquaintance for the first time.
As always, Salina Yoon’s bold, bright illustrations have a quirky cuteness about them.

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Exciting Children’s Book Illustration Autumn Exhibition in Piccadilly from 23rd to 29th October

If Music Be the Food of Love

October 21, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Heartsong
Kevin Crossley-Holland and Jane Ray
Orchard Books
Antonio Vivaldi and his music, and stories of orphan girls who grew up in an orphanage/music school, the Ospedale della Pietà (in Venice) were the inspiration for this powerfully told and beautifully illustrated book.
The young Vivaldi was director of music at the institution and wrote many pieces for the girls in his choir.

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One of these was the foundling child Laura whose name Jane Ray came upon on a visit to the Vivaldi Museum in a list, written in an old ledger, of the foundling babies left at the Ospedale della Pietà.
Abandoned as a baby, Laura who is mute, narrates her own story telling of her musical education, her daily duties,

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her friendships and how music, in particular her flute playing, finally becomes her redemption.

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Jane Ray’s evocative illustrations have a powerful haunting quality that resonates with the text: Crossley-Holland wastes not a single word as he gives voice to Laura – ‘In the watches of the night. Like a cradle, rocking. Sometimes I think I hear you. Do you love music too? / The drops of water falling onto my stone floor are minims and crotchets, quavers and semi-quavers. Like a song I almost think I know. Like a song you sang to me.’

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Flyaway
Lesley Barnes
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
The young princess in this lift-the-flap story keeps a bird caged and every morning demands that it should sing for her. One day though, she forgets to lock the cage. The bird escapes and so begins a chase through the entire castle …

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and out into the grounds. There, the princess traps the bird in a net and so is happy once more. Not for long however, for she soon notices that the bird no longer sings. Realising that it longs to be free, she releases it once more and is later delighted to discover that her kindness is rewarded by not one, but a whole host of birds that come and sing for her every night.

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With stylish illustrations, ten things to find and a flap to lift on every spread (some revealing the encouraging “Fly, birdie, fly away!” to the escapee),

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to add to the enjoyment, this book for young readers and listeners embodies an important message about freedom.

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Exciting event: Children’s Book Illustration Autumn Exhibition, Piccadilly, 23rd-29th October

Feline Encounters Featuring Gracie Grabbit & Gawain Greytail

October 20, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Gracie Grabbit and the Tiger
Helen Stephens
Alison Green Books
Young Gracie Grabbit is the daughter of Bobby Grabbit a robber (who reminds me somewhat of Ahlberg’s Burglar Bill).
One day father and daughter visit the zoo, Bobby with swag bag at the ready. Gracie threatens to tell the zookeeper to set the tiger on him if he gets up to any of his nefarious activities but no sooner has she taken her eyes off him than he sets to work stealing from both animals and humans.

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When she discovers what her light-fingered father is up to, she goes to tell the zoo-keeper but he’s otherwise engaged and doesn’t respond. Not so the sleepy-looking character nearby though. He sees all that’s going on – once he’s got both eyes open that is.

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And one of the things he sees is Gracie retrieving the stolen articles from her dad’s swag bag and returning them to their owners; or rather, that’s her intention. She gets things a bit muddled …

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and has no idea who should have the key she’s left with.

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Her decision about said key however proves a turning point, not only for its recipient but also for Gracie’s dad who is in for a shock and a surprise when he’s unceremoniously seized by the seat of his pants.

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That’s not quite the end of the story however; let’s just say Bobby Grabbit becomes a reformed character and a whole new career opens up for him.
The illustrations are full of warmth and humour: like the author’s How to Hide a Lion series, this book has a lovely retro feel and look to it.

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Gawain Greytail and the Terrible Tab
Cornelia Funke and Mónica Armiño
Picture Squirrels
Sir Tristan of Twitstream, lord of Raven Castle has, with the help of Tab and her knife-sharp claws, put paid to almost all the castle’s mouse population within a month. Three mice, Shuffle, Snuffle and Scuffle remain but are in danger of death by starvation if not by feline claws.
Enter one Gawain Greytail, famous mouse knight, and feared by all cats, come to the aid of those last surviving castle mice.

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Before long, thanks to some heating and hammering, there’s not one but four knightly mice, armed and ready to do battle with the ferocious feline adversary. “Cower and shiver, terrible tab! … clear off before we cut your mangy coat to pieces!” challenges Gawain as the poking, stabbing and chopping commences.

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Do the brave foursome manage to see off the best mouser in the land? Let’s just say that this is the sight at Sir Tristan’s breakfast table the following morning …

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And this is what they found in the only remaining mouse controllers thereafter …

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This is the very first Picture Squirrel hardcover and like all other Picture Squirrels has a Dyslexia-friendly font and tinted background for ease of reading. Here, the text is displayed on what could be parchment handbills spread out opposite, above or below the dramatic, action-packed illustrations which bring to mind stills from an animated film.

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Fairytales for Mr Barker

October 19, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Fairytales for Mr Barker
Jessica Ahlberg
Walker Books
I’m a real sucker for books that play around with fairy tales and Jessica Ahlberg has done it superbly here in her new book. From the die-cut hole through which peeps a lovable-looking pup to the woeful looking troll creeping across the back cover, this book is an absolute delight.
It begins with young Lucy attempting to maintain the interest of her playful canine companion, Mr Barker, in the troll story she’s reading to him, to no avail however. Mr B. leaps through the window and off to …

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Lucy is hot on his tail and quickly realises into whose house they’ve barged but rather than accepting her host’s invitation to partake of some breakfast, she invites said golden haired girl to join them on their adventure, the next stop being another place Lucy recognizes once they are within.
There’s to be no hanging around there for sure, not for the residents nor their visitors. So it’s off again and you can see where they land up next …

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With another character joining them, it’s on to a castle wherein slumbers a small princess. But having woken said sleeper, Lucy and the others hear a resounding CRASH! And what, or rather, who they see in hot pursuit makes them flee for their lives out into a darkening forest …

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There’s no time to stop though, not until everyone is safely back in familiar and safe surroundings without giants, wolves, angry bears or even fairies. But there might just be the odd troll lurking within a story book somewhere around …

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An immediate repeat reading was demanded by my young audience who absolutely loved spotting the fairy tale characters in each of the places visited and spent ages looking at all the wonderful details in each spread. “Can you bring it again tomorrow,” really says it all.
A sure fire winner if ever there was one.

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Children’s Book Illustration Autumn Exhibition Piccadilly Waterstones 23rd to 29th October – don’t miss it!

Hauntings

October 18, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Leo a ghost story
Mac Barnett and Christian Robinson
Chronicle Books
Leo is a house ghost – we readers can see him but others can’t. He’s been in his current residence for years, drawing and reading,

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but one spring day a new family moves in and Leo becomes a host ghost. His efforts definitely aren’t appreciated by the incomers who immediately decide the house is haunted and call in all manner of exorcists.

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Leo decides to move out anyway and goes a-roaming in the city. People walk past or even through him until his wanderings eventually result in an encounter with a young pavement artist, Jane who mistakes him for an imaginary friend.

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“If I tell her I am a ghost, I will scare her away,” he fears.
Then late at night a thief enters Jane’s home, Leo apprehends him by donning traditional ghostly garb

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and finally gains acceptance as the being he truly is.
Christian Robinson’s wonderful retro-style illustrations, executed with collage and paint in suitably spectral shades work so well in combination with author Mac Barnett’s matter of fact, economic narrative style: ‘ A squad car came and hauled the man off the jail. That was that.’ he comments when the thief is taken by the police.

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And, “Jane I told you a lie. I am a ghost … I am just your real friend.” “Oh!” said Jane. “Well that’s even better.”
This is a wonderfully wise, warm story of friendship and acceptance, and a great one for sharing at this, or any time of the year, especially accompanied by honey toast and mint tea.

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The Mystery of the Haunted Farm
Elys Dolan
Nosy Crow
Newly moved into the farm, Farmer Grey is more than a little discombobulated by the phantoms that seem to have invaded his residence during his somnambulatory activities.

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So, the terrified fellow calls in the Ghost-Hunters who quickly confirm that neither the pond, nor the farmhouse itself have any ghosts – according to their Scare-o-Meter, the Phantom Finder 5000 that is. So it’s off to check the barn, but the seeming invasion by ‘terrifyingly gooey supernatural creatures’ doesn’t register on that PF5000 either. What can be going on?
But then, a clue leads to the chicken coop up on the hill and it’s a case of follow those goats and see what’s going on in that ‘incredibly creepy chicken coop’

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Once inside and down the stairs, those Ghost-Hunters are amazed at the sight before their eyes: an underground fear factory the likes of which they’ve never seen before.
But why are all those animals taking on ghostly or ghoulish appearance? Mother Hen starts to explain and all is about to be revealed in an amazing show-stopping finale …
I won’t reveal the rest of this brilliantly funny romp but suffice it to say that the moon has something to answer for and those Ghost-Hunters put a pretty clever training plan into action, which is highly effective …
most of the time.

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Definitely other winner from the stupendously clever Elys Dolan

For older readers:

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Witchmyth
Emma Fischel
Nosy Crow
Flo, the modern young witch with a worldy-wise, rather eccentric Gran and a sceptical mum returns for a second Haggspitt extravaganza. Herein she has to take on the horrifying Haggfiend – head and arms of Hagg and body of Fiend with ‘evil in her cold cruel heart’; but is she real or merely a character from that book of Magical Myths.
As with the first story, there’s plenty of excitement and humour sizzling away between those gorgeous Chris Riddell covers. I can’t envisage many 8s to 10s not being caught up and swept along by this super, spellbinding story narrated by Flo herself. I was!

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For plenty of visual thrills visit the wonderful Children’s Books Illustration Autumn Exhibition at Waterstones, Piccadilly 23^rd-29^th October

The Ride-by-Nights / Tickle Monster

October 17, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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The Ride-by-Nights
Walter de la Mare and Carolina Rabei
Faber & Faber Children’s Books
‘Up on their brooms the Witches stream,/ Crooked and black in the crescent’s gleam:/ One foot high, and one foot low, / Bearded, cloaked and cowled, they go.’

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Thus begins this poem I remember learning by heart as a child and later it became an oft’ requested favourite from my copy of the author’s collection, Peacock Pie with some of the first infant classes I taught many years ago.
Now Carolina Rabei has worked her own illustrative magic on it, re-interpreting the verses and it’s great to have this picture book version of the timeless poem to share with new audiences of listeners and readers especially around Hallowe’en.
‘With a whoop and a flutter/ they swing and sway, / And surge pell-mell/ down the Milky Way.’

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How splendidly Rabei weaves a modern tale of a family ‘s encounter with those ‘Ride-by-Nights’ as they head out on their trick or treat evening of playfulness and are drawn into some tricks, thrills and near spills …

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courtesy of those ancient enchantresses.
The limited colour palette is well chosen for creating maximum atmosphere and I particularly like the way some spreads cleverly draws the reader’s eyes towards the starry skies while at the same time allowing them to watch the action unfolding below.

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From the just slightly sparkling cover to the star map endpapers,

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thrills are to be found at every turn of the page and I hope this spellbinding book will serve to send listeners to seek out other poems by Walter de la Mare, starting perhaps with the illustrator’s pictorial rendering of Snow.

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Tickle Monster
Édouard Manceau
Abrams Appleseed
Take a simple idea – tickle the monster part by part …

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thus deconstructing him and use his parts to create a more friendly scene – and you’ve got a real winner.

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Certainly that is so, if you are the artist who used bold bright, simple shapes to design the character in this amusing story.
I shared it with a group of four to six year olds who absolutely loved the whole idea; three immediately re-read it themselves, two taking on reading the text and one doing the tickling. They then worked together to create their own version of the Tickle Monster from recycled card and colored paper They too played around, re-arranging the disparate parts to create a new picture (not saved as they decided the monster should come knocking again). Here he is in monster form.

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With its patterned, repetitive text this book is perfect for beginning readers as well as for sharing with a group or class.
I’ve often read Ed Emberley’s somewhat similar Go Away Big Green Monster with young children and I can see myself doing the same with this one.

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Hallowe’en Frights, Spooky Skeletons and Boos

October 16, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

Fright Club
Ethan Long
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
It’s the night before Halloween; a final meeting has been called for Fright Club members and it’s in full swing when …

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The little bunny on the other side of the door is quickly sent hopping and it’s back to business, Vladimir’s being to train his fellow members in ‘The 3 Traits of HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL MONSTERS’, not very successfully it seems but then there’s another knock.

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That bunny has returned bringing her lawyer along to back her anti-discrimination cause but again the would-be entrants are sent packing.
A third knock is opened to …

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And it seems these determined ‘cute little critters’ are not for turning: and they’re jolly well going to prove their point to boot …

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So come Halloween and Operation Kiddy Scare it seems the more the frights, the better the night.
With Long’s aptly gloomy, largely grey toned palette, he has created just the right mock-scary atmosphere in which to place those would-be scary monsters and would-be club member animals.
A Halloween laugh out loud, not scream out loud, treat packed with visual humour and with a multitude of opportunities for joining in with growls, groans, cackles, claps, boos, whooshes and more, this silly tale is great for an atmospheric story time session around the end of October especially.
What ghoulish faces, scary moves and chilling sounds can your listeners come up with; I’m sure they can outdo those Fright Club members.

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Ten Spooky Skeletons
Garry Parsons
Caterpillar Books
We start this cumulative rhyming ‘peek-through’ picture book with a single lonely skelly setting out in search of some friends and finish at the day’s end with ten merry skeletons together in a rattling song and dance extravaganza before it’s lights out and …

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In between, the second skelly’s a pirate, three become a circus act, four are fortune telling, five do magic tricks, six are time travellers, seven go ice-skating …

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eight enjoy a feast and nine are bedding down for some pre-party shut-eye.
With it’s glow-in-the-dark finale, this one is sure to hit the mark around Halloween time and is likely to inspire some skeleton creativity from enthusiastic young listeners.

Finally a couple of playful board books for the very youngest:

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Peek-a Boo!
Nina Laden
Chronicle Books
A handful of Hallowe’en sights and sounds are up for guesses as toddlers are offered a series of peeps through the die-cut holes and can then try to guess what follows that rhymes with BOO on each of the subsequent pages. (Supplying the correct word is quite tricky even when the full picture is revealed.) And there’s a special final surprise provided by the mirror on the inside back cover.

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Boo!
Jonathan Litton and Fhiona Galloway
Little Tiger Kids
‘Were you the one who shouted BOO?’ That is the question in this bright, holey board book. With its patterned, repeating text that takes the form of a question and answer chain

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with the answerer becoming the questioner on the following page until the small wizard changes the question demanding ‘Who’s hiding out there in the night…?’ and all is revealed on the final spread.
Yes, this might be aimed at the very youngest children but the simple repeat pattern text herein makes this an ideal book for beginning readers too.

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Pablo & Jane and the Hot Air Contraption

October 15, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Pablo & Jane and the Hot Air Contraption
José Domingo
Flying Eye Books
Right from the amazing cover and those endpapers you suspect you’re in for a treat with this one and truly you are. The whole thing is pretty mind-boggling and no review can really do justice to it – you’ll just need to get hold of your own copy and see for yourself.
It all begins one dull Sunday afternoon with adventure loving Jane and her rather killjoy sibling Pablo having run out of things to do and places to go; well maybe not quite the latter: there’s still that ‘old house on the hill’ reputedly radio-active and monster-filled. Jane’s keen to go of course, Pablo not quite so …

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Once inside they discover – or rather, are led to – an amazing hot air-power machine.

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Having ventured within, they’re suddenly zapped into the Monster Dimension. And thanks to the dastardly saboteur Felinibus, the contraption cannot move without its missing pieces. So it’s a case of find those parts and fix the machine or be forever trapped in another reality and it’s here in Lopsided London that the help of readers is called for to track down the first of the missing parts.

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Here too, the tricky feline gives her pursuers the slip so the search for her and further vital parts moves to Nocturnal Norway with its bone-crunching trolls, thence to Terrifying Transylvania with its villainous vampires, Monstrous Moscow, Ageless Athens, Macabre Marrakesh, Muerto Mexico populated by skeletons, Bone-Chilling Bayou where voodoo rules, Horrid Hawaii with those drumming tiki men, the ‘Orrible Outback (those drooling koalas look pretty scary), Treacherous Thailand – eleven missing parts to find in a temple there, and finally, Immortal India where a war is raging between the monkey king and the demon army.

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Each of these dazzling locations has its own amazing double spread crammed to overflowing with brilliantly conceived images to feast your eyes on.
The shift between full-page spreads and comic strip works wonderfully well in this fast-moving adventure cum game of hide-and-seek cum quest (ending with the children’s safe return home). It’s chock full of delicious alliteration, mind-stretching vocabulary and has intertextual links aplenty in those action packed scenes.
And, with its slight hint of more adventures to come, who could ask for more?

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Certainly not this reviewer (who is still searching for some of the missing parts) nor those excited eight to ten year olds from whose enthusiastic clutches I had to prise my copy.
In a word, awesome.

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Fabulous Children’s Book Illustration Autumn exhibition at Waterstones, Piccadilly 23rd-29th October

Sparky Spellers: the Littlest Witch and Winnie

October 14, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Dragon v Dinosaur
Helen Baugh and Deborah Allwright
Jonathan Cape
Twin tempers get more than a little frayed when competition rivalry sets in between the littlest witch and the littlest wizard both of whom are determined to win the prize for best fancy dress costume at the party. Wands are brandished, spells are cast back and forth until things start to get out of hand as it’s a case of dinosaur versus dragon in a face off.

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Thank goodness then that before any real damage can be done, the witch’s ITCH makes its presence felt, the spells are broken but so are the wands.
Without their magic, can the twins find something else to wear to the party by three o’clock?

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The combination of sparky rhyming text and action-packed, zizzy scenes make for another winner for that little Itchy Witch and her creators.

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Winnie’s Haunted House
Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul
Oxford University Press
When is a ghost not a ghost? When it’s a bee that’s being chased around the house by a cat named Wilbur one sunny afternoon.

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But that’s not what Winnie the Witch thinks in this latest action-packed escapade. Rudely awakened from her postprandial nap, she’s convinced her house is haunted and thinks a spell will put things right. The trouble is she’s misplaced her specs and so her choice of spell isn’t quite what she’d thought.

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The result sends her into a spin or two before, thanks to a passing owl, she discovers the whereabouts of her glasses

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and is able to read the actual words in her book and perform a reversal of the haunted house spell. Then all that’s needed is another wave of her wand to clear up the havoc and Winnie can have the remainder of her by now, well-earned sleep.
Another crazy Thomas/Paul romp for Winnie fans to laugh at; they’ll delight in being in the know as to the location of Winnie’s ‘lost’ specs as she trips, tumbles and fumbles her way around.

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Monster Encounters

October 13, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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The Bath Monster
Colin Boyd and Tony Ross
Andersen Press
Have a bath or the Bath Monster will come and get you –a monster that lurks beneath the bath slurping up the mucky water – his second favourite food – through a special bendy straw: surely that’s nonsense isn’t it? It’s certainly what Jackson’s mother tells him to get him into the tub every night.
Until one day Jackson decides he’s outgrown his belief in said Monster and he’s covered from top to toe in thick mud. “Go and have a bath now or the Bath Monster will come and get you” warns his mother. But, Jackson is having none of it.

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So what will that Bath Monster have to satisfy his hunger instead? His number one favourite food, of course and seemingly Jackson is about to find out what that is …
Tony Ross’s Bath Monster is a magnificently mucky being and as readers ultimately discover, a creature after Jackson’s own heart. Every one of the illustrations for Colin Boyd’s unlikely tale brims over with delicious humour and I suspect adult readers aloud are going to get as much enjoyment from this one as the young children they share it with. The sight of that small (temporarily clean) boy being dangled unceremoniously above the bath on the first page sets the tone for the whole story

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and the picture of Jackson sitting in the tub in his protective gear is superb.

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Assuredly another Tony Ross triumph and a promising debut story for Colin Boyd.
Before we read the story I asked my audience to imagine a bath monster of their own; here are some of their ideas:

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There’s a Monster in my Fridge
Caryl Hart and Deborah Allwright
Simon & Schuster
‘What’s that hiding behind the door? It’s feet have squelched across the floor …’
so begins this split-page mock-scary visit to a monster-filled house on a hill.
Those who dare defy the KEEP OUT sign will encounter among others, the jelly-eating monster of the title, a glittery witch, a startled vampire …

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twin skeletons in the bathtub and an itchy werewolf …

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With such visual jokes as dancing toothpaste tubes, hairbrushes …

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and alarm clocks, and a surprise finale, this one is definitely a whole lot more fun than fright but worth a read around Hallowe’en nonetheless.
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Love Monster & the Scary Something
Rachel Bright
Harper Collins Children’s Books
Unable to sleep one dark shadowy night, Little Monster lets his imagination run riot when he hears a rustling sound in the garden,

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a sound that seems to belong to something that’s found its way inside his very own house and is pitter-pat …. pittery patting around on its terrible hairy feet with terrible twisterly toenails and scuffling and bumping its way up the stairs.

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And it surely has enormous teeth for crunching …
Suddenly Love Monster decides there’s only one thing to do: be brave and confront the hungry creature, so it’s on with the torch and … What could that be looming in the doorway?

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Turns out it’s just another insomniac seeking someone to share the lonely darkness with – and a very tiny one too.
A lovely funny story about facing your worst fears, especially those relating to the dark with just the right degree of scariness for a bedtime read and great fun for Halloween sharing.

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Exciting Children’s Books Illustration Autumn Exhibition at Waterstones, Piccadilly 23rd-29th October

Deep in the Woods

October 12, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Deep in the Woods
Christopher Corr
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Deep in the woods is a small white wooden house with nine neat windows and a red front door; empty until a little mouse happens upon it. The perfect place for a home, thinks the mouse and he soon has it looking spick and span.
Before long though, other woodland creatures notice the house; they too want to make it their home

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and the kindly mouse makes them welcome. Eventually a dozen animals have taken up residence in the little house, which resounds with their happy dancing and music.

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Those happy sounds attract the attention of a brown bear and he too wants to move in. So determined is he to squeeze his huge bulk into (or onto) the house that disaster occurs – the whole thing begins to collapse beneath him.

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Feeling sad at the destruction of the animals’ home, the bear sets to work to make recompense for their loss; and with hard work and the help of them all, the story ends happily, in celebratory style.

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This dazzlingly beautiful book is a twist on Teremok, a Russian folk tale. Here the intense colour palette, delicious folksy, yet modern illustrative style and stunning endpapers, make the whole thing a veritable visual feast. Oh, and the cover has a gorgeous retro feel to it too.

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We might read this story as a parable of our times and only hope that all the countries involved could be as open-hearted as mouse and take in their fair share of those needing a new safe place to live.

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Loss and Leaving: Shine & Double Happiness

October 11, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Shine
Trace Balla
Allen & Unwin
Most writers of books about death for children use fiction as a vehicle and in so doing, provide a ‘space apart’ wherein youngsters can explore this disturbing and difficult experience. As we know however, all story grows out of life, indeed all life is story and Trace Balla’s story was written for her sister’s children shortly after the death of their father and is, so we are told, based on the great love shared between their parents and the love they in turn shared with their children.
“We all come from the stars, we all go back to the stars…” so said Granny Hitchcock, grandmother of the author and her bereaved sister and it’s this saying that is at the heart of Trace Balla’s story.
Shine , so called because his kindness made him sparkly and shimmery, was a young horse that grew to become an amazing one that loved to gallop among the golden stars with the other horses. One day Shine notices some hoofprints in the sand belonging to another horse, the lovely Glitter and together they raise a family. Their little ones are called Shimmer and Sparky and there grows a great bond of love between all the family members.
But then, one day Shine learns that it’s his turn to return to his star. “… my time has come. I love you all so much,” he tells his family as he leaves them to join the other stars in the beautiful night sky.

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That night a heart-broken Glitter and her offspring cry and cry creating an ocean of golden tears. They together then climb a high mountain – a mountain of grief – from the top of which they are able to see and come to understand the enormity of the love they shared.

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And, as they curl up together, far above them shines the brightest of all the stars, their daddy’s star glowing golden and bringing them a sense of peace.
Trace Balla’s use of mythical horse characters that have no solidity works well as signifiers of life’s transient nature whereas the dark solidity of the huge mountain is perhaps, a metaphor of the process of grieving itself: a process that is likely to be very hard and take an enormous amount of time to climb, but which can ultimately be transcended by joy and the power of love in the world.
Yes, this is a book about loss but it also offers children an invitation to think about the possibility of light emerging from darkness, an idea that should fit with any world view. Indeed the restricted colour palette – shades of blue plus white and yellow are effectively used to symbolise the opposing concepts light/dark, life/death, love/loss, happiness/sadness.
In addition to being a book to offer young children who have suffered the loss of a loved one, particularly a parent, this powerfully affecting story has enormous potential for opening up discussions on a number of topics with a whole class or group.

Moving home can also be a very sad time especially for children who have to leave behind their friends and perhaps relations too. Here is a book in which two children cope with the transition helped by their loving family.

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Double Happiness
Nancy Tuper Ling and Alina Chau
Chronicle Books
The book takes the form of a series of twenty four poems relating to moving from a city (San Francisco) to a new rural home. Sister and brother Gracie and Jack both give voice to their feelings as they search for special things to place in their happiness boxes intended to help with the move:
“Find four treasures each/leading from this home/to your new.”says their grandmother(Nai Nai) who has given them to boxes
Gracie’s first treasure is donated by Nai Nai, her panda toy – he too is to have a new home.

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But it’s Jack who is first to fill his box, his last object being a blue and green marble.

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Alina Chau’s delicate, detailed watercolour paintings grace the pages, serving to bring the whole thing together into a bitter-sweet account of the family’s transition from old home to new and all that it entails: a looking back and a looking forward – memory and anticipation …

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Exciting event at Piccadilly Waterstones 23rd-29th October – don’t miss it if you are in London: Children’s Book Illustration Autumn Exhibition

Crazy Car Rides

October 9, 2015October 9, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Mad in the Back
Michael Rosen and Richard Watson
Picture Squirrels
I first encountered a previous incarnation of this (called The Car Trip) in Michael Rosen’s book of poems The Hypnotiser when it was a much requested read aloud with a class of infants I was teaching in the late 1980s. Sadly the book it’s from is now out of print but I still have my rather battered André Deutsch copy on a shelf.
So, it’s great to have this slightly reworked version now available as a Picture Squirrel with Richard Watson’s riotous pictorial rendering of the journey.
Essentially what we have is an account of a long-suffering mother driving a small car and being driven to distraction by the on-going bantering and demands of the two small children in the back seat, aptly called ‘The Moaning’.

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It begins thus: “Can I have a drink?” “I want some crisps.” “Can I open my window?’ “He’s got my book.” and switches to “Get off me.” “Ow that’s my ear.”
I suspect by now many adults will find themselves reminded of similar scenarios with their own offspring although I’m sure they’d no longer resort to such ‘exciting’ comments as “Look out the window – there’s a lamp-post.” Or “Look -… there’s a tree.” as distractions from the back seat bickering.
The whole thing works really well as a picture book. I envisage much giggling when this is read aloud…

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and scenes similar to those depicted therein are likely to ensue as to whose turn it is to read it. I can just hear them now…
(If you haven’t come across Barrington Stoke’s Picture Squirrels before then essentially the philosophy is an all inclusive one: the font used is a ‘dyslexia-friendly’ one and the tinted background aims to ‘reduce visual stress’.)

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Peg + Cat The Race Car Problem
Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson
Walker Books
Peg and Cat are stars of an award winning TV series and now they roar into their very own picture book to participate in the Tallapegga Twenty race. First though, they have to construct their vehicle from bits and pieces they find at the scrap yard. And a great job they make of it, as soon as they’ve sorted out the right shaped wheels, that is. Once at the race track their supreme confidence dips drastically when they see the opposition. Should they give up before the race begins? Of course not, says organizer Ramone, so the race is on… and it’s fortunate that Peg is able to keep count of the laps completed and work out who’s in the lead:

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anything can happen in the course of 20 circuits. She does however need a bit of a reminder from Cat to stay calm and count backwards when she’s “totally freaking out!” over the broken side pipe.

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But who will be the first to cross the finish line and win that golden cup? Could it possibly be our problem-solving crew Peg and Cat in Hot-Buttered Lightning? One thing is certain; the victory won’t be an easy one whoever wins.
With its in-built maths challenges and lots going on in the bright pictures, this book is likely to appeal particularly to those young readers and listeners who are somewhat mathematically inclined.

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Don’t miss the Children’s Book Illustration Autumn Exhibition in Piccadilly if you’re in London between 23rd and 29th October

Robin’s Winter Song

October 8, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

Robin’s Winter Song
Suzanne Barton
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
For me late autumn and the coming of winter means hot chilli chocolate, snuggly boots and a warm jacket or coat. For Robin in Suzanne Barton’s gorgeous new story it means the departure of the friendly finches, Squirrel busy burying nuts …

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and Owl warning him to keep warm and snug. Winter must surely be scary, greedy and cold decides the now frightened little Robin and he flies off into the woods.
There he meets Bear, also on the move. Robin asks where he’s going and when he learns that Bear is off to find a cosy cave in which to sleep till Winter is over, Robin asks to join him. Before long the two of them are snuggled up fast asleep, Bear snoring softly.

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But then, feeling a distinct chill in the air, Robin wakes and flies to the cave opening where a breath-taking sight meets his eyes. Robin is enchanted and sorties outside to find out more about that whiteness all around.

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“It’s Winter.” Mouse tells him and Robin can scarcely believe it. From then on Winter becomes something to enjoy with his friends in the day and to snuggle up against at night.

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Time seems to pass quickly until one day Robin notices another change: tiny shoots are bursting through and the snow is starting to melt. It’s time to wake up Bear he decides somewhat sadly. Spring is on its way, Bear tells his friend and although he has no idea what this means, Robin is eager to make its acquaintance.
Despite its decidedly chilly setting, warmth radiates from every page of this beautiful book that so magically chronicles the seasonal changes from autumn to winter and winter to spring. Robin, encountering these changes for the first time, and the other woodland creatures, are so winningly portrayed in Suzanne Barton’s decorative collage style scenes.
A great follow-up to The Dawn Chorus and a must have book to share as the days get colder.

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Counting Lions & Actual Size

October 7, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Counting Lions
Katie Cotton and Stephen Walton
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Right from the amazing cover image I was blown away by this one. What strikes you first about this large format book is the stunning, incredibly life-like charcoal drawings of the ten animal species portrayed, so accurate and detailed are they that at first glance one could almost think they’re photos.
Starting with One lion and finishing with Ten zebras …

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this is of course a counting book but it’s so much more. Both text and pictures radiate a sense of awe and wonder at the magnificence of the natural world.
Katie Cotton’s poetic descriptions capture verbally the creatures’ physicality and what it might be like for each of the animals in the wild at particular times in their lives so ‘Two gorillas / breathe the same breath./ The child was born a tiny, two-kilo thing of hair and bone and not much else, / so the other keeps him close./ For two or three years, they clasp each other,/ one creature, while he grows and grows and grows./ Later, as he climbs the trees alone,/ he may forget they were once/ two together./ Two gorillas.’

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Many of the animals portrayed are threatened species:

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Some of the descriptions themselves mention the animal’s endangeredness, for instance “Does she know they are too few?/ What future is there for/ these four fighters?/ Four tigers.’
In ‘About the animals’ notes at the end of the book, Virginia McKenna provides additional information about each animal featured including its conservation status.

Readers also get right close up to the animals in:

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actual size
Steve Jenkins
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Eighteen creatures great and small feature in this engaging book that introduces readers to a wide variety of fauna from insects to mammals although in some instances Steve Jenkins shows only a part of the animal in his layered collage style illustrations. Alongside each of these is a descriptive sentence giving additional facts such as body height and weight.
Eyes figure quite prominently in several of the spreads and in one instance virtually all we get is an enormous squid eye 30cm across staring up from the page;

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but we also get quite close up to that of the Alaskan Brown Bear, the largest bird – an ostrich, and one belonging to the salt water crocodile. Here however, thanks to a fold out, our view is expanded to take in its awesome jaws.

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In a spread where we are shown a gorilla hand and that of the pygmy mouse lemur one’s instinct is to hold one’s own hand up against the former (children will want to do likewise) and to cover completely (if you’re an adult) the latter.

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If you missed out on the original hardcover version, get hold of this new paperback edition for your primary classroom or school library.

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The Queen’s Handbag

October 6, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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The Queens’s Handbag
Steve Antony,
Hodder Children’s Books
There sits Her Majesty in the royal coach set to depart on her Great Britain tour when ‘swoosh!’ along comes a swan and away it swoops clutching her handbag firmly in its beak. Abandoning the coach, the Queen speeds off in her Aston Martin convertible hot on the trail of the sneaky thief all the way to Windsor Castle …

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and thence to Stonehenge.
From there it’s next stop Dover, followed by Oxford, Snowdonia, the Giants Causeway, Edinburgh Castle and all the way back to where she started. In the course of her break-neck chase Her Royal Majesty changes vehicle many times from motor bike, to Red Arrow plane, to penny farthing,

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then a parachute, a speedboat, a steam train

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– what an amazing acrobat she is – and a final gallop right back to London where she finds herself and the thieving bird caught up in the London Marathon. WOW! See her go …

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but can she catch that sneaky swan and retrieve the object of her chase? That would be telling wouldn’t it…
Delivered with considerable aplomb, and rendered in an appropriately regal colour palette, with a Union flag strategically placed in almost every location spread, not to mention a royal corgi, this is more than a worthy successor to The Queen’s Hat.
One cannot help but wonder just how many police officers got themselves involved in the chase (their antics are hilarious), and Her Majesty’s butler too makes a special appearance.
A laugh-on-every-page follow up to The Queen’s Hat and a veritable visual feast of British landmarks and the constabulary.

There’s an exciting event coming up in London on 23rd to 29th October: the Children’s Book Illustration Autumn Exhibition

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Home Tweet Home

October 5, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Home Tweet Home
Courtney Dicmas
Templar Publishing
Courtney Dicmas’ delightful story follows Pippi and Burt swallows’ forays into the big wide world in search of a new abode that will more comfortably accommodate them and their eight younger brothers and sisters. They fly forth from their cliff top nest into the night sky looking for somewhere that is a better fit for Rupert’s stinky feet, Maude’s judo and Cecil’s band practice.
Morning comes and with it a likely looking place certainly large enough and pretty sturdy looking …

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But perhaps a bit on the hard side.
Maybe a fluffier spot would be better but not that one – (a cheetah’s back), nor the pointy place they discover next …

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Why is nothing quite what they’d expected?

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Eventually the two together come to a realisation that it’s a case of ‘east, west home’s best’ for none of the places feels as homely and snuggly as that small nest of theirs with all their siblings for company.
Cleverly constructed and totally engaging at every turn of the page; those birds are adorable, every one of them. And the other animals are equally winningly portrayed in Courtney Dicmas’ super spreads.
Her best book so far in my opinion.
(Some of my audience of 5s to 9s were inspired to create their own birds to add to the family.)

A super hero swallow, a recorder player, a hockey player, a ballet dancer, a school bird and a book reader.

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If you’re in or near London at the end of October don’t miss the opportunity to visit the exciting Children’s Book Illustration Art Exhibition on in Piccadilly from 23rd to 29th

SPLATS & BURPS: A Pooping Bird and Burping Twins

October 2, 2015jillrbennett 1 Comment

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What a Naughty Bird!
Sean Taylor and Dan Widdowson
Templar Publishing
A story about a bird that flies around the world dropping splats of poo upon all manner of unsuspecting animals and some humans too, is bound to be a hit with young children. But when it’s delivered (courtesy of Sean Taylor) via a wicked rhyming narration from the poo dropper himself and coupled with Dan Widdowson’s hilarious renderings of the recipients of said splats it cannot fail to make its mark.
Every spread will brings giggles but my favourites are the large brown bull that gets one right between his horns

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and the bear in whom our inveterate splatterer more than meets his match. TeeHee!

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Young children love this one because they, or at least some among them, know more about ursine skills than does our avian narrator …

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Great fun for an early years storytime session, especially with that oft repeated ‘What a Naughty Bird!’ refrain to join in with.

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The Burp That Saved the World
Mark Griffiths and Maxine Lee-Mackie
Simon & Schuster Children’s Books
Meet young Ben and Matt the Mustard twins, burpers extraordinaire whose noisy eruptions drive the townsfolk to despair.

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So much so, that they issue the pair with an eviction notice. But then from outer space appears a fleet of alien raider invaders that seize the toys and books of all the town’s children and seemingly nothing can be done to stop them. Or can it? Maybe those burping boys might just save the day …

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With a fun to read aloud rhyming text, crazy and suitably garish, action-packed scenes and plenty of opportunities for adding sound effects, this is the sort of thing that appeals unashamedly to early years children who particularly seem to relish anything that involves bodily functions of the gaseous variety.

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A Bounty of Board Books

October 1, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Walter’s Wonderful Web
Tim Hopgood
Macmillan Children’s Books
Walter is a spider with a mission: he wants to spin a perfect web, not a wibbly- wobbly one that is whisked away whenever the wind blows.
His first effort – a triangular one is destroyed by the first puff of wind so he tries another – a rectangle, but with no more success.

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The diamond meets a similar fate but what about his circular-looking one, could that be the answer?
But three wooshes and Walter plus web hit the ground. Nearing despair, Walter stops to think before making one last attempt and by nightfall it looks as if he’s got it the design just right –

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WOW! Walter, you certainly deserved to succeed – top marks for perseverance and a wonderfully intricate web.
This delightful story for the very youngest provides a great opportunity to introduce ideas about not giving up when things get tough and of course, built into the narrative are those six basic 2D shapes.

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The Butterfly Garden
Laura Weston
Big Picture Press
Twenty words and a sequence of half a dozen super-stylish, beautifully patterned black and white illustrations: nothing much to get excited about – right? Wrong: look closely at the first of those black and white spreads.

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How many caterpillars can you spot? Look again at the silhouetted leaves and blooms and you notice there are flaps to lift. Open the top left-hand flap to reveal …

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And then the other four flaps and you’ll see a whole lot going on in vibrant colours …

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The subsequent spreads show the life cycle and life journey of the Monarch butterfly. (In North America, the Monarch migrates en masse to Mexico during the course of its life.)

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Essentially that’s it and every spread is beautifully designed and arresting first in black and white and then with its flashes of flamboyant colour.
Although the Monarch isn’t a breeding British butterfly, this book is a striking visual account of a butterfly’s life cycle.

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The Tiger Prowls
Seb Braun
Simon & Schuster
It’s hard to choose a favourite from the five animals that pop out from the pages of this seemingly simple yet impressive book. I love the shape and feel of the whole thing – its arresting cover, the way it whizzes through the various habitats the colour palette used and the clever paper engineering. Then there’s the elegant prose of the sentences used to describe each of the iconic creatures that grace the spreads.
First off is that tiger from the cover described thus:
‘The tiger prowls, stalking the jungle. Paw after heavy paw crunches on the forest floor. And so he does emerging from a gentle hint of vegetation straddling that first spread across which slides a muted snake.
Turn over and meet a graceful whale with its cleverly upturned tail and snout;

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the brown bear padding slow through the forest, the mighty elephant taking a shower in the hot sun (If I’m fussy I’d like to have seen an upturned trunk and slightly sharper tusks here ) and finally …

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Gentle, elegant, treetop nibbling, cloud-high grazer giraffe ‘pitching his way across the savannah, like a ship adrift on the open plain.’ (love those bird silhouettes)
Aimed at the very young but I can also envisage older children who get hold of this being inspired to try their hand at making their own pop-up animals.

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Dinoblock
Christopher Franceschelli and Peskimo
Abrams & Chronicle
MEET THE DINOSAURS says the sign across the museum doors and on opening them readers (and the two child investigators) find two key questions ‘Who are the dinosaurs?’ and ‘Where are the dinosaurs?’
From then on the book’s clever design really comes into play with a formula that is used to great effect for the next ninety or so pages using a mix of cleverly crafted cutaway pages and a series of similes likening each of the twenty three dinosaurs introduced to something a young child is likely to be familiar with, followed by another spread showing the particular dinosaur in its natural habitat and a sentence giving the dinosaur’s name with its phonetic pronunciation. Thus we have for instance, ‘I have a neck like a goose …’

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turn over to ‘I am a Coelophysis (SEE-low-FYE-sis)’…
Or this one:

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The grand finale comprises a spread of drawn-to-scale dinosaurs on a gate-fold that opens out into a farewell display of skeletons of all the dinosaurs featured.

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Of those a fair number are relatively uncommon in books for young children and indeed a few such as Micropachycephalosaurus and Edmontosaurus) were new names to me.
Assuredly a block-buster for the very young but also a book that offers a great opportunity for them to see and think about a favourite topic in an exciting and imaginative new way. And, a jumping off point for further investigation and children’s own creativity.

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A Great Big Cuddle

September 30, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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A Great Big Cuddle
Michael Rosen and Chris Riddell
Walker Books
Thirty five super-silly new poems from the Rosen pen each one stupendously illustrated by Riddell simply sizzle with the joys of early childhood and a few of the pains too.
I love his playful take on beginning reading – Reading Lesson:
This is how you read:/Can you see?/ This says “you”/ This says “me”./ /
When you see “me”/ You say “me”/ When you see “you”/ Say “you” – do you see?//
Altogether now:/ Can you see?/ You, you, you/ Me, me, me.??
Well done all./ That’s it for today. You can all read./ You can go and play.
But in reality every single one of these delicious offerings is a better in-built reading lesson than any of the contrived phonics or word recognition sessions that children in their early years are all too often subjected to.
What Rosen is doing in this book is enhancing children’s metalinguistic awareness and what comes across here loud and clear is that language is fun and playing around with it even more so…

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As one would expect, rhyme, rhythm and repetition are key ingredients and there’s a fair amount of nonsense with occasional echoes of Lear and Milligan alongside some more serious poems such as Lost wherein a small being sits contemplating being left all alone. There are rhymes that make you want to sit still and savour the words and others such as TIPPY-TAPPY and BOING! BOING! that make you and certainly tinies want to get up and move: Boing! Boing!/ Bounce bounce/ I’m a ball/ Bounce bounce./ Jump jump/ Pounce pounce/ I’m a tiger/ Pounce pounce/ ROARRRRRR!

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Riddell’s visual interpretations in pencil and watercolour are often gloriously inventive …

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and at appropriate times, quietly reflective renderings of moments of tenderness …

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His menagerie of larger than life animals, imaginary creatures and monsters provide talking points aplenty and a visual treat to match Rosen’s verbal ones on every spread.
A two-laureate treat and a must have book for anyone who has dealings with the very young. Buy it for the words, buy it for the pictures, buy it because in tandem the whole experience is a joy.

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Forays into Fairytale

September 29, 2015September 29, 2015jillrbennett 1 Comment

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The Wolf Who Fell Out of a Book
Thierry Robberecht and Grégoire Mabire
Ragged Bears Publishing
An overcrowded bookshelf in Zoe’s room precipitates an adventure for the black wolf that spills out of a falling book as it hits the floor. With his pointy teeth, said wolf, in his own environment is a scary creature but once out of the book he becomes something else altogether – a frightened creature anxious to escape from the resident moggy. In some desperate attempts to keep himself out of the cat’s clutches he gets into all manner of testing situations

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and tries to escape into other story books. None of the first few he tries can furnish a safe hiding place

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but our lupine friend isn’t giving up which is a good thing because on entering the next one he finds himself in a large forest wherein he meets …

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This little character is much more welcoming: in fact it turns out the wolf is just what she needs by way of a shoulder to cry on and of course, he’s more than happy to offer a helping paw to ensure a safe passage through the forest to Grandmother’s house.
Superbly subversive and with its sprinkling of fairy tale references and such a beguiling main character this is enormous fun to read with under 7s and a great book to spark off children’s own wolf adventures. Grégoire Mabire’s comic rendering of that toothy wolf and his larger than life feline adversary are both hilarious and wonderfully dramatic.

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Fairytale Frankie and the Tricky Witch
Greg Gormley and Steven Lenton
Orchard Books
I like a book with a twist to the tale: with its plethora of fairytale characters and diverting illustrations this playful modern story certainly has one or two.
Frankie is a fairytale fanatic and one morning as she’s enjoying a peaceful read in her bedroom, a princess bursts in asking for a hiding place and thus begins a visitation from a whole chain of unlikely intruders large

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and small …

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all asking for somewhere to hide from the witch.
When Frankie realizes she too should take cover, the witch bursts in demanding to know where the other characters are. Frankie doesn’t let on so the witch has to resort to more drastic measures to discover their whereabouts before uttering some words that finally cause the confused Frankie to understand what is going on.

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Help!
Sally Grindley and Peter Utton
Hodder Children’s Books
From the partnership that created Shhh! and Keep Out! is another playful foray into the world of traditional tales. This time there’s a big bad wolf at large and three porcine characters are rather keen to apprehend him and they’ve enlisted the reader to assist in the search, not to mention a teddy bear and a whole drove of their fellow swine.
There are so many possible hiding places to check out and lots of false starts although plenty of evidence that the BBW isn’t far away.

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So it’s on with the search and the poster pinning …

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… until they discover more evidence of tricky doings.
But the creature’s still at large and the search continues till the seekers come upon a sturdy-looking house that might just be THE place.
Engaging, entertaining and from the opening lines, totally involving. There’s even a pair of mouse observers/commentators to add to the fun.

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The Wonder Garden

September 28, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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The Wonder Garden
Kristjana S.Williams and Jenny Broom
Wide Eyed Editions
Prepare to be dazzled when you open up this sumptuous volume; it truly is a wonder to behold. Then, step through the shiny golden gate and you’re inside the wonder garden that is our planet earth and thence, explore five amazing ecosystems. First is …

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with its superabundance of reptiles and amphibians and its plethora of beautiful birds large and small.

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Next destination is the Great Barrier Reef where we learn amongst other things, of the interdependence of coral and elaborate fish.
The Chihuahuan Desert with its hugely fluctuating temperatures is the next stop. It’s a place where harsh conditions and food scarcity make survival difficult for many of its 130 mammal and 3,000 plant species.

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The Black Forest with its tall pines (a bird haven), mountains, eight rivers and several hot springs, all of which help make a place that has a rich variety of flora and fauna is featured next.

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And the final stop is the mighty Himalayan Mountains and the only one of the locations I’ve visited and so recognize some of the animals and plants shown.

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Every one of the locations is spectacular in its own way and the overall experience is one of awe and wonder, but there’s also an almost magical feel to the whole thing. At every turn of the page Kristjana Williams presents a visual feast of insects, reptiles, birds, mammals (or marine species) set against land- (or sea-) scapes of greens and browns splashed with vibrant carmine and fuschia.
Four double spreads are given to each habitat: the first being a spectacular panoramic view jam-packed with its living inhabitants so powerful one can almost for instance, hear the croaking of tropical frogs in the Amazon Rainforest. Every location is introduced by a verbal visualization of what one might feel, see and hear on first arrival and panels containing factual information about the habitat. On the subsequent pages, filling the spaces between the stunning artwork, are blocks of text giving factual information about the habitat.
The superabundance of fauna and flora at every location means that comparatively few species get a mention and that’s fair enough in a book of this kind, though as someone with more than a passing interest in botany I would have liked some more details about the glorious flora depicted.
Assuredly a book to return to again and again and one that might well spark a lifelong interest in some aspect of the living world in the person fortunate enough to come upon this in a bookshop or library or even better, receive it as a gift.

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Magic Forest Forays

September 25, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Super Happy Magic Forest
Matty Long
Oxford University Press
Billed as Tolkien for toddlers, this epic quest assuredly has the right ingredients to engender enthusiasm for the fantasy genre in young children. So, let’s go to Super Happy Magic Forest wherein our story starts. It’s full of fun, frolics and picnics all year round; life’s pretty peachy you could say.

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But then disaster strikes the Forest: the Mystical Crystals of Life – source of all that’s joyous therein – are stolen.
It must be Goblin work announces Old Oak at an urgently called meeting of forest residents. Five brave heroes are selected to reclaim the Mystical Crystals …

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And despite their reluctance off they set on the journey of a lifetime but of course, their epic quest will not be an easy one. There are frozen tundras full of fearsome creatures to battle through, a haunted forest and dreadful dungeons to test their nerves and skills to the utmost and even then there’s no escape from enemies …

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Finally Goblin Tower is in sight but will the five locate the missing crystals within its walls? There’s plenty of unexpected confectionary items but crystals well err …
Certainly it’s a celebratory finale but is it cake or crystal induced?? Hmm …
Let’s just say, there’s a twist to this crazy magical saga of epic mischief and silliness. I’m not sure who will get more enjoyment out of this one – the ‘toddlers’ billed as its target audience or those older readers/adults who are the book’s mediators to the very young. Certainly the former will enjoy spotting items in the fantastical visuals but some of the subtle and not so subtle humour will definitely go way over the heads of most four or five year olds. But then that’s the thing about a good book – that multi-layering, which means it offers something to a wide audience.

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Ella Bella Ballerina and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
James Mayhew
Orchard Books
Young Ella Bella returns once again and on this occasion, dance teacher Madame Rosa’s magical music box is playing Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream for the ballet class to dance to.

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Inevitably, after the lesson Ella Bella cannot resist opening up the musical box lid for one last dance in her fairy costume. And thus she meets Puck who whisks her, with her floral headband, away to a fairyland forest where Oberon waits for the ‘magic flowers’ with which he hopes to cast a spell upon Queen Titania.

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James Mayhew’s elegant watercolour illustrations evoke a timeless quality to this engaging tale of magic and mischief and dance.

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A Tree Climbing Cow and a Mowing Toad

September 24, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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The Cow Who Climbed a Tree
Gemma Merino
Macmillan Children’s Books
The sight of a cow perusing a book and wielding a magnifying glass on the first spread immediately predisposed me to like this book and endeared me to its chief protagonist. Tina is her name and seemingly she has an insatiable thirst for discovery. Her sisters however remain unimpressed by the wonderful things that occupy their sibling’s mind.
One day as she explores the woods, Tina takes it upon herself to climb a tree and there at the top a rather large surprise awaits her in the form of a vegetarian dragon. The two forge a friendship

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and spend the afternoon in dreams and stories.
Comments of “IMPOSSIBLE! RIDICULOUS! NONSENSE! are thrown at her by her sisters as she regales her adventure. But the following morning Tina is notable by her absence though she has left a message.

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Off go the disbelievers to track her down and as they venture out of their comfort zone something unexpected overtakes them – literally – and so up they go …
Then all it takes is an invitation from Tina and …

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a leap of faith. And after that? Well, who can say…
I love the understated humour in both words and pictures of Gemma Merino’s latest offering. Her colour palette is mouthwateringly delicious too.

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McToad Mows Tiny Island
Tom Angleberger and John Hendrix
Abrams Books for Young Readers
Subtitled ‘A Transportation Tale’, this wacky book is certainly that in more ways than one. Its one and only character is McToad, mower of islands; one is Big Island– that occupies his time every day but one.

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The other’s small and is aptly named Tiny Island; it’s here McToad spends Thursdays, his favourite day of the week. There’s nothing exciting about that I know, but it’s all about the getting there. Having driven his mower from the shed, McToad drives it onto his truck, drives to the train loading it thereon with a forklift. The train heads to the airport where a plane flies to the opposite side of Big island and from there it’s a helicopter journey to the docks, onto a steamboat and across to Tiny Island where a crane deposits the mower onto its destination. Back in the mower Mc Toad proceeds to mow the island pausing only briefly for a drink and refuel.
Then job done and it’s erm, back from whence he came.

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Utterly bonkers with its anti-climactic finale but there are so many unanswered questions: Is McToad a transport magnate? (His logo is brandished across each and every vehicle in the story.) Are there no other inhabitants on either island? Does he own both and everything thereon? Where’s the crane while McToad is mowing Tiny Island? Isn’t he lonely? These are a few that immediately come to mind. Children will come up with many more I’m sure.
Even for those who aren’t big machine enthusiasts, there is plenty to appeal in the illustrations. The plethora of witty details are bound to make anyone smile – the row of objects behind the steering wheel in McToad’s truck

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and this …

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not forgetting that patched straw hat of course.

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Imelda & the Goblin King

September 23, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Imelda & the Goblin King
Briony May Smith
Flying Eye Books
Imelda lives next to a wood, but this wood is a magical one populated by fairy folk and their fairy queen. It’s a place of peace and harmony and Imelda loves to spend her days frolicking with, and learning from, the fairy folk.

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Then one day into this life of tranquility bursts a foul-tempered Goblin King and his green goblin horde. His manners are appalling, despite the fairy queen’s best efforts …

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and he has the effrontery, after gobbling up the whole solstice feast, to seize his host and imprison her in a cage.
The other fairies call upon Imelda’s help and together they cook up a clever plan that offers the greedy goblin king one final chance …

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The happily ever after finale isn’t quite the one you might expect, or perhaps it is, given that pretty much everything about this cracking book is delightfully idiosyncratic, not least the manner in which the anti-hero becomes the agent of his own downfall,

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an outcome which had my young audiences cheering in appreciation.
What a dazzling cast of characters: Imelda, the heroine, is an unflappable young miss, the epitome of all that’s good but still not afraid to turn her hand to a spot of subtle trickery to further a worthy cause; the Fairy Queen with her rosy cheeks and flowing golden hair certainly isn’t always as soft and sweet as she looks …

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and as for that Goblin King, he’s a pretty terrifying-looking bullying beast unlikely to worm his way into anyone’s affections.
And every single fairy has its own distinctive appearance – there’s even a blue one that looks like a mini Martian and the goblins, they pretty much resemble their king though they look a lot less threatening at least some of the time. Add to all those, a scattering of dragonflies, butterflies, birds, and other creatures and you have a veritable visual fest.
With a compelling narrative that doesn’t pander to whimsy and has just a tiny frisson of fear, this enchanting book is like nothing else I’ve encountered in the fairy tale genre of late.
Cracking stuff.

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The Prince and the Porker

September 22, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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The Prince and the Porker
Peter Bently and David Roberts
Andersen Press
“Pignatius was passing the palace one day
when he saw ten fresh buns left to cool on a tray.’
So begins another tasty Bently/Roberts collaboration of the highest order.
As you can guess, the young Pignatius cannot resist sampling said buns and where one goes, the rest must surely – or where the young pig is concerned, -must definitely, follow. But even then he ‘s not replete so into the palace he goes, where he soon finds himself having to bolt from cook.
Up the stairs he charges and into a fine bedroom where he happens upon a “dressing-up chest.” and in no time has transformed himself into a dashing young thing. Which is just as well and pretty much saves his bacon so to speak, for in burst the palace staff wielding all manner of weapons, only to stop dead in their tracks and pay due respects when they discover the presence in the room…

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And what does the cheeky chap do then? He takes advantage of their misidentification and orders himself a slap-up tea.

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That demolished, it’s time to carry out his princely duties, which he does with mischievous gusto. But all good things must come to an end – or must they? It certainly looks that way when Pignatius finds himself face to face with the real prince and de-wigged into the bargain.

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So is it to be sausages, gammon and bacon in the royal household?

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Well, perhaps having an alter ego might just prove advantageous to a young prince …
Bently’s hilarious romp is an absolute gift to the reader aloud, and an out and out winner with young audiences. David Roberts’ visuals are finely detailed and at times, utterly priceless. Take for instance his rendering of the palace staff paying their respects to ‘His Highness’ or the blowing up of the pumpkin…

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The Lion Inside

September 21, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

Emmanuelle relishing the encounters between Mouse and Lion

The Lion Inside
Rachel Bright and Jim Field
Orchard Books
A wide, dusty savannah. One rock, two occupiers: beneath ‘in a tinyful house,

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Lived the littlest, quietest, meekest brown mouse.’: atop, an enormous, toothsome creature with a roar to beat all roars, Lion.

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So very wee is the mouse that his life is one of frequent squashings and being overlooked.

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Lion meanwhile lives a life of constant adulation.

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How that tiny brown creature wishes he could be more like King Cat. Perhaps a roar would win him some friends. But who can be his roaring teacher?
Fearing for his life, the mouse summons up all his courage and ventures forth into the night to scale the heights towards the slumbering lion,

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until …

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But what is forthcoming in response to mouse’s request to be taught how to roar isn’t quite what he’d expected …
Mouse’s bravery and subsequent discovery is a game changer for both parties: mouse discovers his true voice, and lion? He still roars but it’s with laughter now. And they both know, as the finale to this super-dooper story says, ‘no matter your size. We all have a mouse AND a lion inside.’
With its vital message about ‘being the change’ and a tuneful text that reads aloud like a dream, this book is truly, all heart. Jim Field uses close-ups and a variety of viewpoints and perspectives to dramatic effect making both wide-eyed, wide-eared mouse and bristle-maned lion with his cavernous jaws appear larger than life and truly awesome.
Two great new partnerships: mouse and lion, and Rachel Bright and Jim Field.

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Childhood Pleasures: Alfie Outdoors and The Jar of Happiness

September 20, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Alfie Outdoors
Shirley Hughes
The Bodley Head
The delectable Alfie is up with the lark and outside in the garden eager to start the day: it’s to be a gardening day with Dad but it’s one that involves a whole lot of digging and clearing, for the plan is to create a vegetable patch and plant some seeds. First though it’s back to the digging, which Alfie actually enjoys or rather, he enjoys investigating all the minibeasts he unearths from the soil.

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Come the weekend Alfie is allowed to choose his own seeds from the garden centre and he has a plan. He wants to grow carrots, not for himself but to feed to his friend Gertrude the goat at the goat sanctuary. The trouble is though, seeds don’t come up overnight, there’s a lot of waiting and watching involved. Just as Alfie is beginning to give up on his carrots, Dad notices some tiny seedings starting to sprout and with Alfie’s daily watering it’s not long before the first carrots are ready for pulling.

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Imagine Alfie’s disappointment then when he gets to the goat sanctuary to discover no Gertrude: she’s gone missing. Almost a day passes, a very sad one for Alfie and then yippee! Good news – Gertrude’s been found and is back where she belongs. All ends happily in true Alfie fashion next morning when he’s finally able to offer a juicy carrot to his favourite sanctuary resident.

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This is such a gorgeous book – another Hughes classic for sure. Shirley knows exactly the kinds of things that make young children content and never loses sight of them: Alfie’s preoccupations are those of every small child …

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and in her own inimitable way Shirley provides another tour de force every time she creates a new Alfie story.

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The Jar of Happiness
Ailsa Burrows
Child’s Play
Is happiness something you can put into a jar and keep bottled up? Young Meg seems to think so when she invents her very own kind, tasting of chocolate ice cream, apple juice and sunshine, smelling of warm biscuits and the seaside and containing all the best colours. Meg however doesn’t keep this happiness to herself; she uses her jar to cheer up glum friends

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or poorly relations; she seems to know just how to use it to maximum effect.
But, one day, Meg’s jar is nowhere to be found; so has her happiness gone forever?

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Fortunately not, thanks to all those Meg has shared her happiness jar with. It’s now their turn to show her their own special ingredients for happiness and none of them comes from a jar.

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Ailsa Burrows’ softly coloured characters have an endearing squidgy, cushiony appearance that make one want to snuggle up with them. And with its warm-hearted feel, this is a lovely snuggle-up-together and share with a young child kind of book.

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I Will Love You Anyway/How to Be a Dog

September 18, 2015September 18, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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I Will Love You Anyway
Mick and Chloë Inkpen
Hodder Children’s Books
We share a puggish pup’s thoughts directed at his small boy owner in this delicious book from the Inkpen father and daughter team.
Said pup is anything but your ideal dog; he’s a furniture wrecker, thief and inveterate chaser …

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he cannot follow instructions and worst of all, he keeps on running away – with disastrous consequences sometimes.

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But does this pup ever learn? Oh dear no and when he and his boy hear the terrible words, “We cannot cope! He cannot stay!” he takes off once again running and running into the inky black, wet night.
Being lost, out all night and wet

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and scared is no picnic even for our canine hero. It’s fortunate then that a certain small boy happens along at the crucial moment and back they go to share a blissful moment or two.
You might now be thinking that at last this runaway has finally come to his senses but the trouble is, as we hear, “I don’t do words. They make no sense. I jump for joy …”

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and er …
The spare rhyming text takes the form of the pup’s reportage narrative recording of what he does and what he hears, cleverly conveying the animal’s lack of any real understanding of what is expected of him. An unusual manner of telling for sure but it’s really effective and affecting here.
Chloe Inkpen truly does capture the full gamut of the emotions of both pup and boy in her captivating illustrations. I’d love to show you every single one but you will just have to get your paws on a copy of the book for the whole experience.

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How To Be a Dog
Jo Williamson
Scholastic Children’s Books
A mischievious, tongue-in-cheek guide penned purportedly, by a dog for his fellow canines. It’s full of need to know tips and advice on such topics as choosing the right human, sleeping arrangements,

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how to meet and greet, toilet training …

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getting the best food by whatever means, “To get the best treats, pretend that you have not been fed. If that doesn’t work … you may need to learn some new tricks … “, games to play with your human,

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forging new friendships with neighbours’ dogs and more.
The narrator is a delightful character (even to non dog lovers like me), full of mischief and endearingly portrayed, as are all the other characters – canine and human – we meet. My only wish is that some recognition had been given to the multi-ethnic dog-owning society we live in.
With a restricted colour palette, Jo Williamson has created a highly entertaining and engaging debut book and I look forward to seeing more of her work.

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Hector and Hummingbird

September 17, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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Hector and Hummingbird
Nicholas John Frith
Alison Green Books
In this smashing picture book debut, set in the mountains of Peru we meet unlikely best pals, bear, Hector and a hummingbird called, err, Hummingbird. The latter is a garrulous creature who appears to intrude in Hector’s activities at the most inopportune moments …

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so much so that Hector, desperate for some peace and quiet finally loses it with his friend

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and storms off deep into the jungle.
But it turns out that the peace and tranquility he sought isn’t quite so fulfilling as he’d imagined.

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And when darkness falls there’s nobody there to share a bedtime story

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… or is there?
There’s so much to love about this one: the fantastical colour palette with its contrasting sludgy greens and browns and contrasting flashes of brilliance, the fusion of flat, retro (almost Dahlov Ipcar style) design and the contemporary –rhomboid, coloured speech bubbles, those sprinklings of off beat, up-to the minute dialogue and the inherent dissonance in a relationship between the two characters. One really wants to spend ages perusing each and every spread, lingering over the details of the deliciously droll manner in which this friendship of the tiny frenetic bird and the large, languorous bear is portrayed. Not forgetting the opportunity to spot the fifteen other creatures who act as observers of the action. Observant young audiences will particularly relish the fact that Hummingbird too is a silent onlooker in many of the scenes.
A humdinger of a book in every way and one not to be missed.

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This ORQ. (he cave boy.)

September 16, 2015jillrbennett 1 Comment

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This ORQ. (he cave boy.)
David Elliott and Lori Nichols
Troika Books
Anyone who has had dealings with young children and their speech development (or indeed their emergent writing ) will know that initially they go for the content words and omit the functors from their utterances. A similar thing happens when someone – child or adult – learns to speak an additional language. So it is with the small child protagonist in this story, which begins thus:
This Orq.
He live in cave.
He carry club.
He cave boy.
And continues in similar cave-boy speak vein.
Orq has a pet baby woolly mammoth Woma, but like all infant animals Woma grows and grows …

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From his mother’s point of view, Woma is far from the perfect pet: he sheds his hair, he’s extremely whiffy and he leaves large deposits of pooh on the cave floor.

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Woma has to go she decrees.
Orq is devastated and resolves to demonstrate his beloved Woma’s desirability by teaching him tricks (with a bit of assistance from some of his other smaller pets). The results are a series of wonderfully comic disasters …

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and a far from impressed Mother: No chance of her allowing Woma to set even one tusk tip back in the cave.
Some time later Orq’s imaginary play ‘He mighty hunter!’ turns alarmingly real when a sabretooth tiger with his mind on lunch appears on the scene. A face-off between said tiger and Woma ensues. The latter’s love for Orq proves superior and results in an indebted Mother having a change of heart about Woma.
The spare narrative style with its oft repeated ‘Orq loves Woma’ works well for this emotionally charged prehistoric tale. Elliott succeeds in conveying the strong feelings between boy and mammoth with gentle humour and occasional stabs of pathos, both elements being echoed in Lori Nichols’ splendidly quirky, digitally coloured pencil illustrations. There are some delicious details such as the stone age tricycle on the title page

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and the sign on the cave wall. And that final throwaway twist is just superb. Me love ending. Me love book.
Definitely a winner where young children are concerned and I suspect a proliferation of caveboy speak to ensue temporarily whenever it’s read aloud.

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The Bear and the Piano & Little Bear

September 15, 2015jillrbennett Leave a comment

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The Bear and the Piano
David Litchfield
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
There are some amazing picture book debuts this season: here’s one from David Litchfield that absolutely oozes style and panache.
A young bear cub discovers something unexpected in the forest one day and it’s something that, once he gets his paws on it, draws him back again and again and again for days,

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weeks, months and years as his plinking and plonking slowly becomes beautiful music with a power to transport him to magical places far away from his arboreal home.
Now a large grizzly, his musical prowess attracts other bears and then, some talent spotting humans. Thus, he leaves home and heads for the bright city lights of Manhattan …

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and stardom …

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What price fame and fortune though without your friends? Time to head for home thinks the bear and back he goes bursting with tales of life as a celebrity. But all he finds when he reaches the forest clearing is …

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Surely it can’t all have been for nothing, can it?
Executed with remarkable finesse, a fine virtuoso performance all round. It has all the qualities of a classic in the making.

Here’s one that’s already established itself as such:

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Little Bear
Else Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak
Red Fox pbk
Many moons ago in an edition of Learning to Read with Picture Books I featured this book in its previous I Can Read incarnation. It was the first of my key ‘Taking Off’ titles and I said of it, ‘a classic whose literary quality is indisputable.’
With four short stories in which Little Bear discovers the value of his own fur coat, makes birthday soup, visits the moon, and makes some wishes, together with its wonderfully warm illustrations by Maurice Sendak, this remains a book that all young children should encounter on their journey as readers. It’s great to see this Red Fox publication of a very special book.

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What the Ladybird Heard Next

September 14, 2015jillrbennett 1 Comment

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What the Ladybird Heard Next
Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks
Macmillan Children’s Books
Clothes pegs ready for this fantastically stinky sequel to What the Ladybird Heard and with a sparkly cover too.
When the listening ladybird learns of the mysterious disappearance of red hen’s new laid clutch she realises there’s a case to be solved and off she flies. As the stars begin to twinkle over the farmyard she spies and hears two men – ex cons. Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len – plotting to steal not the eggs this time, but the fat red hen herself.

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Back she flies to report to her farmyard pals and a cunning plan is quickly formulated – a plan that perhaps owes something to the Billy Goats Gruff – so that when the thieves seize the hen she sets in motion a chain of events that will supposedly, lead them to an altogether superior egg producer, the super-duper Snuggly Snerd, layer of rugby ball sized eggs.

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Off go Lanky Len and Hefty Hugh armed with torch and spade, deep into the big brown heap as per instructions – a very pongy heap I should add – seeking the shy egg layer extraordinaire. (You can almost get a whiff as you turn the pages.)

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Just imagine their wrath when they realize they’ve been duped. But their come-uppance is not yet quite complete: that job is left to some other small winged creatures and they’re more than willing to oblige …

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After which, it’s peace and harmony once more down on the farm.
‘Trippingly on the tongue’ comes to mind when one reads this rural romp aloud; it’s brilliant fun to do so and listeners equally, will delight in the rhythmic rhyme whether or not they’ve already met the star of the show and farmyard pals in her first adventure.

Emmanuelle demanded at least 10 re-reads in one afternoon!

The humour and pizzazz in Lydia Monks’ illustrations is the perfect accompaniment to the text. The sight of the thieving twosome digging into, and plastered in, that muck is a real hoot; and I love the scene where those buzzing bees see them off.

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