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Poppy Pickle

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Poppy Pickle
Emma Yarlett
Templar Publishing
Joyful exuberance leaps out from this one right from the start – despite the downpour. I guess I was predisposed to loving it after reading ‘A little girl with a BIG imagination’ on the cover. This small girl’s imagination knows no bounds when she’s banished to her bedroom for some high-spirited imaginings …

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Before long, her entire room is crammed with all kinds of crazy creatures and Poppy is in her element.

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But good things don’t go on forever as our heroine discovers all too soon. Totally diverting delight turns to utter disaster as her mum and dad begin to twig that’s she’s not actually tidying her room as instructed.

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However, imagining things isn’t a reversible reaction as Poppy discovers when she tries some desperate ‘un-imagining.’ Equally unsuccessful is the imagined giant eraser ploy; is it all up for Poppy then? Fortunately, not quite.: we have been told she has a BIG imagination so, in the nick of time there follows a light-bulb moment …

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But that still leaves a lot of explaining to do …
Oh, and the after tea tidying up, and the dressing down; but even that doesn’t dent our young heroine’s unsquashable imagination – hurray for Poppy say I. ‘TA-DAH!’
Wonderful idea – wonderfully delivered in a deliciously droll and direct manner, and wonderfully wackily and wittily portrayed.
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

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Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion

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Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion
Alex T.Smith
Scholastic
A rip-roaring read if ever, is this super-safari spin off of a favourite fairy tale. Herein however, it’s not Grandma who is ill; it’s Little Red’s Auntie Rosie who is suffering from a superfluity of spots. When Little Red receives her phone call, she bids her daddy farewell and off she goes a-visiting, basket in hand on the long walk to her Auntie’s house. She walks and sometimes, creeps, rides and wiggles her way along

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until she decides a rest is called for and it’s then that she’s spotted by The Very Hungry Lion.
With a flick of a tail and a wiggle of his whiskers, the VHL introduces himself chattily and in no time at all – or rather the time it took for a rumble to emanate from his tum, he’s conceived a plan – a very clever, naughty one – and rushed off to carry it out.
By the time Little Red arrives, there in her Auntie’s bed languishes the lion, duly disguised. But, despite the bespotted, beautified make-over there’s no fooling our young heroine who resolves immediately to teach the impostor a lesson. There follows further beautifying of the dastardly creature – by Little Red this time as she proceeds to brush, comb, twist and finally, braid his “tatty hair”.

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That had definitely not been part of the VHL’s plan. Nor was the tooth cleaning which followed Little Red’s oral inspection; most certainly he’d not planned that, nor changing his attire .

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Enough is enough – or rather, nothing is assuredly not enough – decides the VHL as he complains of a grumbly tum. It’s just as well then that this story has a happy, and doughnut-filled ending (courtesy of a forgiving and now fully recovered Auntie Rosie who is willing to share the contents of Little Red’s basket with both her visitors). Actually though, that’s not quite the end for, as darkness descends, the now reformed??? Lion accompanies Little Red on her way home having given his solemn promise not to ever, ever eat another auntie or child but …
This is priceless! I need at least ten copies to give to various friends and relations’ children, all of whom – adult and child alike – will, I’m certain, lap up this delectable tale as eagerly as I did.

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On a re-reading Leo got closer and closer in until he too was part of the story being shared with big sister, Gracie.

 

Littered with rib-tickling details – the tea drinking crocs, the bespectacled, giraffe, the monkey sporting shades and the snorkelling hippo for instance – the illustrations are out of this world and the words written by a wizard of wit. Alex T.Smith’s latest offering is absolutely, amazingly, awesome and for me, his best ever.

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How to Read a Story

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How to Read a Story
Kate Messner and Mark Siegel
Chronicle Books
‘In my beginning is my end.’ – that profound, oft quoted line from T.S.Eliot’s East Coker is the essence of this amusing look at readers’ joys of discovering a love of reading, which is of course, the beginning of – one hopes – a lifelong journey of, explorations and enchantment, delight and endless discoveries.
I am somebody who wants all children to begin their learning to read journey with picture books (along with lots of talking, rhymes and poems) and this book nurtures that notion being essentially, a 10-step lesson on how to read a picture book. So, to Step 1 ‘FIND A GOOD STORY.’ Seemingly the dog has already made the choice – tick.

 

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STEP 2 ‘FIND A READING BUDDY.’ – the book’s finder is sufficiently snuggly. Job done.
On to STEP 3 ‘FIND A COSY READING SPOT.’ – plenty of options there, but …

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Back to the book – or rather the front (cover). Lots can be gleaned from this. That’s STEP 4 taken care of … now for the really exciting part:
STEP 5 ‘OPEN THE BOOK’ and essentially, begin reading (or should that be, making meaning?) Hang on, it’s not my book … let’s begin then, “Once upon a time …” – yippee! We’re off into another world peopled with amazing characters.

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(How cleverly the makers of the book orchestrate the reading with character snaps and different fonts. – STEP 6).
STEP 7 – make sure your partner can see the pictures – definitely important if it’s a picture book of course.
STEP 8’s about tricky words. Use picture cues – agreed. Sounding them out – that’s the words – OK but as a last resort.
The next bit’s really important Not actually a step, rather a kind of time out and concerns anticipation and prediction of what might come.

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– Love it!
Vocalisation is the crux of STEP 9 – make exciting parts sound exciting.
Oh no, we’re nearly there: quick keep turning the pages and find out how the story ends … and STEP 10 – we’re there … say,

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Well, not quite for as I said, that’s really only the beginning. You can … go back and start again (if it was a good story – like this one surely is) or find another. Well, that too, But, do the former, I’d suggest. It’s such fun and more … and …
From cover to cover, this is a delight. I love the playful nature of the whole thing – so important in any learner experience. (Oops! the teacher bit of me needs to shut up again.) I love the way the silent cast of characters (all engaged elsewhere at the outset) is gradually drawn in and become participants in the whole shared reading experience. I love the way those characters, and all the others, are portrayed in those watercolour and ink illustrations of Siegel; and how they and their roles serve to further engage and delight readers and listeners. A book to celebrate.

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Hooray! It’s a New Royal Baby!

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it’s a girl …

jillrbennett's avatarRed Reading Hub - Jillrbennett's Reviews of Children's Books

DSCN4255 (600x800)Hooray! It’s a New Royal Baby!
Martha Mumford and Ada Grey
Bloomsbury Children’s Books pbk
There’ll be giggles aplenty over this latest addition to the ‘Royal Baby’ series.
Baby George is apprehensive at the thought of a newcomer to the family. Suppose the New Royal Baby has designs on his jammy sandwiches, wants to play with his toys and worst of all, dribbles on his favourite dinosaur toy? Will the anticipation be worse than reality; or is it possible that the new wrinkly, crying bundle might prove to be someone to celebrate after all? Could it possibly be more exciting than that new pet goldfish delivered as a special thank you gift for being a big brother?

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Martha Mumford’s telling beautifully captures the fears of any older sibling – royal or otherwise – about the arrival of a new baby; and the growing love of course.

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Once again, Ada Grey…

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Golden Domes, Perfection and More

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Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns
Hena Khan and Mehrdokht Amini
Chronicle Books pbk
In this lovely book, a young Muslim girl narrator shares with readers the colours and objects that are a part of her everyday life. She starts with the red prayer mat her father uses five times a day when he faces towards Mecca to pray,

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then we see her mum’s blue hijab, the glowing gold of the mosque dome and minarets, the white kufi (the cap her Grandpa wears), the black ink she uses to write Allah in Arabic letters. The verses continue: “Brown is a date,/ plump and sweet/ During Ramadan,/it’s my favourite treat.” Orange is the colour of the henna designs made on the hands,

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purple an Eid gift, the zakat box filled with money given to charity during Eid is yellow, the Quran has a green cover, and finally, there is a shiny silver fanoos (lantern).
There is also a glossary which gives succinct explanations of the Islamic terms used and the end papers show beautiful Islamic patterns.
In addition to being a great introduction to the world of Islam, this is an important book now when there is so much misunderstanding and misconception about, and prejudice against, Muslims and their faith (which is essentially peaceful). Here a loving Muslim family is shown in a positive light going about their everyday activities in peace and harmony. Beautiful Islamic designs and patterns abound throughout – on clothes, buildings and other objects:

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these are universal and could as easily be found in the UK, India, the USA, the Middle East or any part of the world where there is a Muslim community.
This one should definitely be in every early years classroom or nursery to be shared, enjoyed and discussed.

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Nobody’s Perfect
David Elliott and Sam Zuppardi
Walker Books
As he sits on his bottom stair, a boy shares with readers, his thoughts about perfection – or rather imperfection. Gigi, his little sister is extremely noisy; his best friend, Jack is a bit of a show-off and his mum stubbornly refuses to listen when he explains that it’s his dog Ralphie that should be sitting on the “naughty step” for sleeping on our narrator’s bed, not he himself.
The narrator however, does put his hands up to his main imperfection – messiness

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and there’s certainly no getting away from that one. Messiness however, can lead to creativity and

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the  narrator definitely knows it.
Actually though, Jack’s showing off can sometimes be fun, as can Gigi’s cacophony

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and even Mum has times when she does listen and that’s pretty good. Seemingly near perfection will suffice after all.
I love Zuppardi’s exuberant, scribbly style illustrations with their bright acrylic backgrounds and the first person narration works well though there is a slight inconsistency in the pattern of telling.

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I Wish You More
Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
Chronicle Books
This little book is brimming over with good wishes – literally.

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Every single one of these wishes is one I’d want to give to a young child, indeed to anyone young or old. They are wishes for inner and outer happiness and peace: ‘more ups than downs’, ’ more give than take’,

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‘more we than me’ , ‘more hugs than ughs’, ‘more will than hill.’ I particularly like the reflective

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And …

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Small things? Yes, some perhaps, but profoundly big in impact.
Powerfully and playfully positive and full of love, with occasionally tricky, semantic wordplays that may well need explaining to the very young.
A little gem and one that could be given at birth, a naming, as a valentine’s gift or even perhaps, a wedding.

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Visit the Bhil Carnival

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Visit the Bhil Carnival
Subhash Amaliyar and Gita Wolf
Tara Books
Is it a book, a poster or a map? All three really, and certainly what is contained within the covers is fascinating and well worth a visit or rather, multiple visits. Herein we follow that ‘COME IN’ balloon and accompany Neela and younger sister, Peela on a visit to the mela – the first on their own. To visit an Indian mela or fair is assuredly an assault on the senses – sights, sounds and smells almost overwhelm. (I’ve visited many including a Bhil Gavari in Rajasthan.) Something of this feeling is engendered here in this rendition of a colourful Bhil carnival, held annually in Madhya Pradesh and called Bhagoria, but it certainly is not overwhelming; rather it’s inviting and fascinating.

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A ride on the dizzying ferris wheel – scarily pushed by big men, is a must. There are shops and stalls – some selling delicious food – “COCONUT BURFI! TOFFEE! LADDOO!” is the cry (joy to Neela’s ears) and those scrumptious cooling ices from the ice-cream wallah – “CHOC-O-BAR! CONE ICE-CREAM! … PINEAPPLE! PISTA! ICE-CREAM!”, tempting toys (Peela’s favourite place), bouncing balloons – Peela cannot resist a pink one; and then there’s a stop at the photo booth for a souvenir snap before the brother and sister must wend their way home.
An accessible narrative by Gita Wolf in the small book discreetly placed in a corner and also illustrated by the Bhil artist, Subhash Amaliyar, whose images painted in vibrant traditional style form the main fold-out spread, really bring the whole thing alive.
There is also a final paragraph or two about the artist, his background and that of Bhagoria inside the back cover.
All in all, a dazzling experience and one to be revisited on many occasions, rather than – like the festival – just once a year.
Those of us who work in education will likely find this a boon for exploring art forms and techniques with young (or not so young) children. For further information and ideas you can pay a visit to the Tara website: http://www.tarabooks.com

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Look, Talk, Do …

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One Thousand Things
Anna Kövecses
Wide Eyed Editions
There is a synergy of contemporary and retro feel about this vocabulary-developing book. Little Mouse has helpfully divided it into seven sections and invites participant toddlers to spot her in every scene of the thematic organization that begins with First Things to Learn. This includes spreads of shapes, colours, numerals and counters to 10, some opposites and times of the day. In Things in nature there’s a spread of tasty-looking fruit,

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another of equally mouth-watering vegetables, three of animals in different habitats and one of extinct creatures. Things you can do includes both outdoor and indoor activities and some to aspire to, desirable everyday ones

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and the two final sections look at objects inside your house – everyday things in different rooms and lastly, Things outside your house such as vehicles, buildings and natural features.
The final spread asks us to imagine, and shows pictorially, 1,000.
Absorbing and fun for the very young to share with an adult or older child: I like everything about this one including its smell and feel.

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Stephen Biesty’s To the Rescue
Rod Green and Stephen Biesty
Templar Publishing
Biesty has selected eight vehicles from different parts of the world that carry out rescue operations by land, sea and air to be the subjects of his latest info-graphic picture book. Given the close-up treatment herein are a Hi-Tech Police Car, a Fire Truck,

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a Flying Firefighter, a Submarine Rescue vehicle (part of a NATO Submarine Rescue System), a Giant Fireboat, the Agusta Westland AW139 Air Ambulance, a 27 Tamar lifeboat and an ambulance.
As with the earlier, Giant Vehicles, a plethora of facts written by Rod Green surround each of Biesty’s amazingly detailed pen/ink and watercolour washed illustrations, and there are numerous flaps (engineered by Andy Mansfield) under which more information is to be found.
It’s a good job that this book is sturdily built: I envisage it being read to destruction having provided countless hours of fascination to child (and perhaps adult) readers. Assuredly, a great way to interest young readers in applied science/ technology: My only quibble is an almost total absence of female personel; I know many girls who aspire to such roles as piloting a plane or driving a fire truck.

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The Odd One Out
Britta Teckentrup
Big Picture Press
This is actually a cardboard wallet containing fifteen gorgeous animal postcards of artwork that featured in the book of the same name by one of my favourite contemporary-style artists. Spot the surprise on every page – some are easier to find than others – have fun.
I would find it almost impossible to part with any of the postcards, which presumably are intended for sending.

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Zip It
Patricia Hegarty and Fhiona Galloway
Little Tiger Kids
Subtitled ‘A fancy book of fastenings’ this largish board book is indeed that. Herein we have a frog with a zip mouth to open and shut, a pig with a button nose, a duck with a Velcro fastened down wing that lifts to reveal a small duckling hidden beneath, Kitty with a popper collar to ‘Pop’ and ‘snap’ and finally two squeaking mice whose tails are tied in a bow. In addition to developing their fine motor skills small children can enjoy listening to the simple rhyming text with its carefully chosen words including animal sounds and action words.

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Pets Lost, Pets Found

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My Pet Book
Bob Staake
Andersen Press pbk
Imagine having a book as a pet – not possible? Well then you need to get hold of
Staake’s wonderfully crazy tribute to books and young bibliophiles.
The young boy protagonist in this story wants a pet, but not one like a dog or cat; he doesn’t care for the former, the latter make him sneezy (me too).
“A book would make the perfect pet!” his mother advises so off he goes to the Smartytown local bookshop where he discovers just the thing: a small ‘frisky red hardcover!’

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Oh joy! It never makes any demands on our hero – no eating, drinking, pooping (naturally) no fleas, no bathing, easy to take walking,

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doesn’t make a sound and best of all it’s full of wonderful tales to inhabit. The two are practically inseparable.
But then oh woe! The boy comes back from school one day to discover the book has gone – given to a charity shop by the well-meaning maid. Off dash maid and boy hoping to retrieve the book but, where is it? Certainly not where it should have been – on the bookshelves, or even with the coats, lamps or bears. Tears ensue but then the maid has a brainwave: the hiding place is discovered,

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the book retrieved (none the worse for its experience) and, boy and book reunited, back home they all go.
Bonkers? Yes assuredly, but Staake so cleverly demonstrates in his crazy rhyming caper with those mega-bright, digitally manipulated illustrations packed with daft details and ebullient extras, what Clyde Watson’s poem ‘A book is a place’ says ‘Just open a book and step in.’ With this one, you’ll be glad you did.

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Farewell Floppy
Benjamin Chaud
Chronicle Books
This story concerns abandonment or rather, a boy’s attempts at same.
The young boy narrator introduces his pet rabbit, Floppy and then proceeds to explain why he can no longer keep him as a best friend “I’m not a baby.” he tells us. “So I had to let him go.” Has he been reading Hansel and Gretel one wonders as we hear of his intentions “to take him far enough into the woods that he couldn’t find his way back all alone.”
Floppy however, is his usual procrastinatory self and progress is very slow. Eventually, deep in the forest, the boy finds a tree in a clearing and it’s there that a now somewhat reluctant parting takes place; but that’s only after some determined action on the boy’s part:

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He ties his rabbit to a tree with a length of unravelled sweater wool

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and beats a hasty retreat.
Before long though, struck by anxiety and remorse, back goes the narrator only to discover nothing but a length of wool tied around the tree. Tension mounts as he dashes through the forest sending crows flying as he follows a trail that leads him …

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… eventually to a small cabin.
Therein – joy of joys – he discovers his beloved pet ably cared for by a little girl. (The same girl he’d spied earlier during his losing Floppy attempts.)

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Reunited, somewhat shamed, and with some new knowledge, boy and bunny take the route back home – together.
Poignant and perverse, thought provoking and infused with a playful humour, this longish narrative might alarm some pet lovers but only if they misunderstand the tale as a whole.

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(The five to sevens I’ve shared it with certainly have enthused about it.) Chaud’s warmth and mischievousness permeate his gorgeous illustrations, perfectly illuminating the boy’s changing feelings; Floppy though appears totally unmoved by the entire adventure.

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Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt

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Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt
Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal
Chronicle Books
A little girl narrator shares with readers a season in the garden. Beginning in the springtime and with her hands clutching seeds, the girl is eager to start planting. Her Nana however cautions her to wait for the ground to warm and dry out.

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Meanwhile there’s much to learn about happenings under the ground. “Down in the dirt is a whole busy world of earthworms and insects, digging and building and stirring up soil.” she is told and more. Above ground too there is work to be done – human work, weeding and composting until it’s time to plant.
As spring turns to summer, tiny shoots appear and pea blossoms bloom – a boon for honeybees and wasps, while down below there’s more activity, plant and animal.

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Gardening can be hot work so it’s a good job Nana has a sense of humour and the hose …

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Through the summer there is food in abundance for both humans and small animals and soon it’s time to harvest the squash and cucumbers. Come September the sunflowers are in their full daytime glory

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and at night the orb web spider is busy spinning to catch her night-time prey.
With that autumn chill in the air, the two need to finish collecting the harvest overground while the ants are busy beneath them storing food against the winter cold. Before long the garden has its first frost and down in the dirt beetles burrow, ants scurry and earthworms curl themselves up to sleep.

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In wonderfully poetic words, Messner proceeds to remind us that, even though ‘the wind smells like winter … the ripe days of summer still rest in the garden beds’ and the insects ‘dream of sunshine and blossoms and sprouts.’ : a new garden awaits the spring under the bare trees and down in the dirt.
There is just so much to celebrate about this beautiful book: the manner in which the two artists – one verbal, the other visual have worked in harmony with one another and nature to create this garden in a book: a garden that one wants to share, to visit and to reproduce. It’s a celebration too of the relationship between old and young, the peace to be found in a garden through the changing seasons and much more.
Both author and artist show such amazing attention to detail: the whole thing is just a joy to have and to share. The colours of the mixed media illustrations are gorgeous, the language lyrical, the production and design excellent and there is also an author’s note about the communal nature of any garden, suggestions for further reading and the final pages are devoted to short paragraphs giving details about the garden animals – residents and visitors.
Celebrate words, celebrate pictures; celebrate nature, celebrate life – that’s what this book so subtly teaches us. As Robert Frost says, ‘I shan’t be gone long. – You come too’.

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Hooray! It’s a New Royal Baby!

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Hooray! It’s a New Royal Baby!
Martha Mumford and Ada Grey
Bloomsbury Children’s Books pbk
There’ll be giggles aplenty over this latest addition to the ‘Royal Baby’ series.
Baby George is apprehensive at the thought of a newcomer to the family. Suppose the New Royal Baby has designs on his jammy sandwiches, wants to play with his toys and worst of all, dribbles on his favourite dinosaur toy? Will the anticipation be worse than reality; or is it possible that the new wrinkly, crying bundle might prove to be someone to celebrate after all? Could it possibly be more exciting than that new pet goldfish delivered as a special thank you gift for being a big brother?

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Martha Mumford’s telling beautifully captures the fears of any older sibling – royal or otherwise – about the arrival of a new baby; and the growing love of course.

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Once again, Ada Grey has packed a multitude of amusing details into her portrayal of the Royals and their activities: George is a real little character and as ever, those corgis manage to get themselves into many a scene.

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Underwear and Upper Wear

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Polar Bear’s Underwear
tupera tupera
Chronicle Books
I was reluctant to divest Polar Bear of those red underpants he sports on the cover of this corker of a book but without so doing, it was impossible to join in the ‘chuddies’ hunt and anyway, their glowing colour is part of the beguilement.
PB has a real problem for, not only is a vital item of his clothing missing, but he cannot remember the colour of the particular underwear he was supposedly wearing that day. Hmm – tricky one: it’s as well his trusty Mouse friend is on hand (or rather head)

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to help with the search.
Off they go together perusing all manner of pairs – striped ones – no they’re Zebra’s, foodie ones – oops no! Pig has those on; and it definitely can’t be those teeny tiny floral ones – of course not, they fit only Butterfly.

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Perhaps it’s those fetching pink ones – uh-oh! On second thoughts …

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But it cannot possibly be the spotty, ruffled ones, nor the topsy-turvy pair so PB, what about these …

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Foolish creature – how could you forget?  It’s a good job there’s a song to finish the sorry saga.
Clever die cuts strategically placed, wonderfully imagined animals and undies, and great design, are the essence of this one. Get yours today at the lingerie department of your nearest bookseller.

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I Had a Favourite Hat
Boni Ashburn and Robyn Ng
Abrams Books
The girl narrator of this upbeat story is very fond of her flippy floppy summer hat and so is not willing to pay heed to her mother’s “ … so clearly a beach hat!” comment. She knows it can be much more and so it can. Indeed there seems to be no end to the possibilities. With a bit of imagination and a ‘little of this … and a little of that…’ said hat becomes fit for Hallowe’en, a winter concert, a birthday hat,

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a dressing up hat,

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a Valentine’s hat, an Easter bonnet and finally even, a scarecrow’s titfa.

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Until that is the wind whisks it up and away and our young narrator must begin all over again and use her creative skills on the new summer style – a peaked visor, courtesy of her friend, Maggie Jean.
Funky, joyful, mixed media illustrations and an exuberant manner of telling put across that vital message about the importance of creativity and the imagination and how they enable us to transcend limitations others may try to impose.

If you have a particular penchant for pants then you’ll be pleased to hear that Monsters Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort (previously reviewed), is now out from Simon & Schuster in paperback with a free audio reading by Bake Off’s Mel Giedroye via a scannable code inside the front cover.

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Up the Beanstalk

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The Princess and the Giant
Caryl Hart and Sarah Warburton
Nosy Crow pbk
I love pretty much everything about this book but then I’m a real sucker for fairy tale spin offs or anything that promotes books and the enjoyment of reading. This one offers both. And, I’ve so much enjoyed every occasion when I’ve shared it with children; it’s a real treat to read aloud both for audience and adult reader – this one certainly.
The tale centres around Princess Sophie whose dwelling is a tiny house, her companions a tabby cat servant and a mouse butler, in addition to her parents that is:
‘Her father made the porridge
And her mother chopped the wood,’ (love that)

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Life should have been pretty peachy for our heroine who is free to ride her bike at will but every night the pesky giant who lives atop the magic beanstalk in the yard kept her whole family awake with his stamping and stomping.
So after a series of intolerably sleepless nights Princess Sophie stows various items in her backpack, scales the beanstalk’s dizzying heights and visits the giant. However, her sleep-inducing supper fails to produce the desired result and so she makes a second attempt –
also story inspired –

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but the noise only gets worse. Undaunted, Sophie keeps on visiting and trying until she hits upon a solution and guess what? It’s a bedtime story and the giant isn’t the only one she manages to send off to sleep with her once upon a time …

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A celebration is announced, though that’s not quite the end of this delicious tale. However I don’t want to spoil that, so let’s just say that Sophie has some nifty teaching, not to mention line walking still to do before she and her large new friend can live ‘Happily Ever After.’
Gorgeous illustrations absolutely packed with delicious details , and superb storytelling – what more can one want?

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Jack and the Beanstalk
Kathleen Lines and Harold Jones
Oxford University Press pbk
This is a classy classic collection of some of the best loved traditional tales retold by a great storyteller in a direct manner as befits the oral tradition, and illustrated by Harold Jones whose distinctive, wonderfully composed watercolour paintings are now so gloriously old-fashioned.

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In addition to the title story are nine other nursery favourites including The Story of the Three Bears, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and The Story of the Three Little Pigs.
It’s hard to believe this book was first published about fifty-five years ago. It was considered a treasure then and should be a treasure now.

In contrast, a thoroughly modern take on the traditional story is now out in paperback; it’s one I reviewed last year when it came out in hardback:

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Jack and the Jelly Bean Stalk
Liz Pichon
Hodder Children’s Books pbk.

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Migloo’s Day

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Migloo’s Day
William Bee
Walker Books
Food, – lots of it, friends – lots of those too, and fun – certainly plenty of that, feature in William Bee’s latest story which visually documents (along with a verbal narrative and all manner of signs and labels) a day in the life of a dog. Migloo is the star of the show but there’s a whole host of other characters, both human and animal, who play greater or lesser parts herein. Oh! and all manner of vehicles play a fairly significant part too.
The whole thing starts when Farmer Tom offers a hungry Migloo a ride to market on board his tractor. There is a dizzying array of market stalls some of which do indeed sell food but Migloo’s nose is quickly alerted to his very favourite smell, Suki’s Super! Sizzling! Sausages! so he follows his nose towards her stall in the Town Square.

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Sausages safely secured, Migloo wants something sweet so it’s a Knickerbocker Glory for afters. That’s breakfast dealt with. This is followed by a ride to the factory in Sydney’s side car – arriving just in time for lunch. Daisy’s sandwiches are just the thing and then, sporting a hard hat Migloo jumps on the back of Francois’ motorbike and they head to the fire station where jammy doughnuts are the order of the day.
A police jeep ride, a school visit (via Mrs Luigi’s café for pizza) to assist with bike week, and an excursion with the pupils, follow. Then disaster strikes: the school bus breaks down.

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Now it’s Migloo’s turn to give something back; but for that he needs the help of all his friends and their destination is the park – just in time for the children’s concert and perhaps a helping of chips for one canine hero. PHEW!

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This reviewer is exhausted just thinking about all this activity; but of course, things are not quite done at such a breath-taking speed. William Bee has crammed every single double spread full of details making it a visual feast so that readers want to pause and spend ages seeking out the items referred to in the “Question Time’ posters, identifying the various characters – around seventy in all, reading the signs, notices and generally talking excitedly about the plethora of fascinating details. And just in case that’s not enough there’s a final William Bee’s Busy Page with things to do and find – so it’s back to the previous pages then…
I had to prise my copy out of the hands of the group of 4 to 9 year olds I introduced this engrossing book too. But I’m pretty sure Bee would have kept them busy for many more hours had we had the time. That fold-out spread in itself is good for at least an hour.

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On the Way to School & Follow that Car

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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to School
Davide Cali and Benjamin Chaud
Chronicle Books
If the boy in this hilarious story came into my class with such outlandish excuses for his lateness, and in such profusion, I’d want to celebrate his imagination and award him first prize for creativity. His whole sorry saga is pretty much out of this world, as we are presented with such scenarios as the first “some giant ants stole my breakfast ” through increasingly hilariously, surreal situations such as …

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via a whole gamut of fairy tale meanderings,

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mad cap misadventures and flights of fancy, before our young hero arrives at the school gate, But even then he is forced to travel (ably or not so ably assisted by his uncle’s time machine) back home to pick up his forgotten packpack, only to be confronted when he does make it to his classroom, by his disbelieving teacher who seemingly, is having none of it.

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As the illustrator’s name might imply, this book is hot stuff – sorry about the pun. Those scenes of his are real rib-ticklers and Davide Cali’s droll delivery of the boy’s journey equally so.
A small book indeed; but one that packs a powerful punch.

Slightly less crazy but also involving a journey and food (oh! maybe forget that last bit) is:

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Follow That Car
Lucy Feather and Stephan Lomp
Nosy Crow
Hey, you … yes you!
Mouse needs your help and he needs it now!
He needs to catch Gorilla and he needs to be super-quick!
Are you ready? Then let’s go!
   FOLLOW THAT CAR!
An immediate engagement tactic that and one I doubt many young children would be able to resist.
Off speeds chunky Gorilla in his small car with Mouse on his mo-bike in hot pursuit. But what is the purpose of the chase? Has Gorilla stolen something? is the first thought, but we don’t find out (unless like this reviewer you cheat and read the ending before engaging in the chase. Not something I allowed my group of mixed infants to do, however – not knowing is really part and parcel of the fun.)
So off we go along with Mouse as he manoueveres around that sheet of glass and through the busy streets… past the building site where Gorilla completes a dare-devil stunt… down the car park ramp… over the fly-over towards the railway station. Oh no! Gorilla’s got through but Mouse is stuck at the crossing gate.

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Good job we saw that tunnel, so it’s on towards the farm taking care to avoid any tractors and oh my goodness! now comes a busy market and Gorilla’s drawing further away… and surely those cannot be mountains up ahead? But yes, and a ski resort;

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the end must be nigh…not quite yet though. First there’s a lakeside traffic jam to negotiate. Thank goodness then that Gorilla has to stop to refuel and that’s where we (and Mouse) catch up with him and …

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Off speeds Mouse but – hang on a minute: now why is Gorilla chasing after him?
Well, why should I spoil it for you– you’ll have to get hold of a copy of this fun-filled, action-packed book and find out for yourself.

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You Can’t Take an Elephant on the Bus

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You Can’t Take an Elephant on the Bus
Patricia Cleveland Peck and David Tazzyman
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
In this fun-filled extravaganza, Patricia Cleveland Peck (now that’s a voice from the past) and David Tazzyman entertain the possible consequences of allowing all manner of unlikely passengers on, or into, a variety of vehicles. The pachyderm of the title would squash the seats quite flat on account of its fat, heavy posterior, a mischievous monkey would ‘snatch your shopping and chuck it about’

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were it to be allowed to sit in a shopping trolley and a camel in a sailing boat …

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– a disaster waiting to happen for sure. The same is true of a whale riding a bike or the favourites of my 5/6year old audiences – ‘a pig on a skateboard

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“’Cos he’s so big and fat and looks so funny in his pads and goggles.” ‘
and ‘… never let a bear near an ice-cream van…’ – ’He’s really funny breaking that van door and making all those splats of ice-cream everywhere.”

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Tazzyman’s slighltly scribbly scenes really tickled the fancy of those children.
Re-readings immediately were demanded by another group, some of whom were inspired by the author’s mad musings to create their own scenarios:

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And if by chance you need to find a book to introduce a science topic on pushes and pulls, then this one’s an absolute boon; but that’s just a minor reason to get hold of this madcap musing, the most important being its effect on the imaginations of children.

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Fabulous Pie & The Monkey and the Bee

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Fabulous Pie
Gareth Edwards and Guy Parker-Rees
Alison Green Books, Scholastic pbk
When a very bad bear bakes a very large pie-crust – ‘f’laky, warm and wide,’ he plans a wicked plan to get it filled: but what is to go in this fabulous pie? Bear certainly has ideas but his cry of “Fabulous pie! Fabulous pie! Who will help to make the filling for my fabulous pie?” is more than a little ambiguous to the other forest animals and immediately Mouse agrees to help. He collects plump juicy blackberries but bear isn’t satisfied and asks again: squirrel supplies hazelnuts and in they go but that mixture is still not satisfactory. Out goes that cry again… and again … as badger, then mother and daughter otters,

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provide tasty offerings until the animals get cross at bear’s dissatisfaction with berries, honey, nuts and salmon. Things then turn decidedly unpleasant for those willing helpers when …

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Seems it’s time to make a move guys and gals. I wonder who has the last laugh – or should that be bite? …

 

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Simply scrummy is this offering from Edwards and Parker-Rees. Their recipe for a tasty tale is: wickedly funny illustrations liberally sprinkled with assorted animals, – drolly drawn; mixed with rip-roaringly funny, tension building textual teasing. – audiences know what the animals do not: that bear is definitely no vegetarian. Assuredly, one to put on any early years menu.

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The Monkey and the Bee
C.P. Bloom and Peter Raymundo
Abrams Books
Slapstick abounds in this minimally worded, powerfully visual, fast-moving drama, the essential elements of which are, in addition to those mentioned in the title, The Banana and The Lion; oh and a large palm frond essential for waving, wafting and whacking. The question is, will the Monkey and the Bee work in tandem – once they’ve got over their differences concerning that banana –

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and get the better of a very angry-looking lion that definitely did not appreciate that head-bashing he received courtesy of – you’ve guessed it – the Monkey?

 

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Or does said Monkey value a whole banana more than his life? He most certainly has to run for it once the King of the jungle is on the rampage.

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A completely crazy caper and one that will appeal most strongly to those readers who prefer their stories told mainly through visuals. I suspect it will be read over and over and …

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Flight of the Honey Bee

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Flight of the Honey Bee
Raymond Huber and Brian Lovelock
Walker Books pbk
Did you know that ‘Bees can smell in “stereo,” each antenna smelling in a different direction.’ I certainly didn’t. Nor (despite having a partner who is a natural history fanatic) did I know that their eyeballs are furry; but these are just two of the fascinating details I learned from this absorbing book. Essentially it documents the story of a honeybee, ‘Scout’ from the time she leaves the safety of the hive and, as autumn approaches, flies out into the world in search of pollen and a nectar source.
One almost feels like a participant in Scout’s journey, such is the quality of the detail in Lovelock’s watercolour, pencil and acrylic ink illustrations

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and the descriptions of Huber’s (himself a beekeeper) writing: ‘ Scout flies swift and straight as an arrow. The wind buffets her, ruffling her fine hairs on her face … Eyes as black as polished stones are searching – seeking a splash of colour below.’
Each stage of the search is vividly described using that present tense narrative voice: the narrow escape from a hungry blackbird, the nectar locating and sipping, pollen collecting in the ‘sea of flowers’. Then comes Scout’s battering by the hailstorm,

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the encounter with a wasp and her re-entry to the hive where she communicates with her sister bees describing in her dance language the route to the meadow.

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Next she passes her nectar to the house bees, transmits the pollen from her body to the ‘babysitter’ bees that mix it with honey to feed the babies, before settling down for a recuperative rest. A rest that will enable her to join her fellow bees for the autumn harvest in that ‘blue meadow’ she has located.
Sadly, here in the UK, honey bees are declining in numbers: the author ends by giving readers some brief tips on how they can play their part in helping these vitally important insects survive and thrive. An excellent, exciting and educative book.

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Pat-a-Cake Baby

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Pat-a-Cake Baby
Joyce Dunbar and Polly Dunbar
Walker Books
Clad in onesie and chef’s hat, our baby narrator introduces itself thus:
“ I’m a cookie baby
a pat-a-cake baby
I want to bake
a very special cake”
and that is exactly what happens during the course of the night. The chubby infant, ably assisted by three lively chums, gets busy with the shiny yellow butter, ditsy glitzy glossy sugar,

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yolky, jokey slithery, slidy eggs, sulky milk and snowy blowy flour and they proceed to whisk, shake, pour, sieve, sprinkle, and liberally toss the ingredients every which way. At the same time these adorable babes are scraping, flicking, licking,

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and generally cavorting all over the kitchen.
Then, when the cake’s finally baked, there comes the pitting and patting, piping the icing, (with a whole lot of giggling and wriggling for good measure), followed by a generous scittering, scattering, sprinkling and spronkling of decorative bits and pieces.

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The result is so magnificently mouth-watering that the man in the moon himself drops by for a generous serving. Mmmm!

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The mother/daughter recipe here is equally delectable – a large sprinkling of delicious assorted wordplay in a satisfyingly bouncy, rhythmically rhyming, read-aloud text, a delectable cast of tiny characters, generous spreads and spatters of pastel colouring, sprinkled with sparkling stars.
Bring it on and serve it up in platefuls, say I. And then ask me back for more … I know infant listeners will want another serving; it’s truly irresistible.
The whole concoction is just so-o good I’d like to show every single spread but you’ll just have to get hold of a copy for yourself.

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Hungry Roscoe

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DSCN4095 (800x600)Hungry Roscoe
David J. Plant
Flying Eye Books
Roscoe the raccoon has a very empty tum; he’s pretty desperate for something tasty to eat so, he does as his pal Benjy suggests and tries his luck at the zoo, where the animals, so he is told, get their daily share of fresh food. Hmm!
What’s that bucket brim full of bananas and other delectable fruits doing? If Roscoe had any doubts, then the zookeeper clears them up in double quick time …

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Clearly a disguise is needed if Roscoe is to look like a deserving zoo inmate so with the help of few props, he is transformed into …

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Blending in however, doesn’t go too well, so another disguise is donned and he tries his luck as …

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Those squawks are fooling nobody however: time to beat a hasty retreat thinks our hungry hero. Then his luck turns, a deal is struck with some wily monkeys and after some deft key snatching and unlocking

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of various doors, pandemonium strikes the zoo. And then, after a hard day’s labour rounding up all the escapees, it’s definitely NOT Roscoe in need of a feed.DSCN4100 (800x600)

This tale of mischief and mayhem elicited a cheer from those I shared it with, some of whom were eager to suggest other disguises for Roscoe so amused were they by David Plant’s droll visual humour – “sort-of slapstick”, one boy commented.

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Seeds of Friendship, Flowers of Love

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The Seeds of Friendship
Michael Foreman
Walker Books
Adam, new to high-rise city life, certainly does sow the seeds of friendship in more ways than one in this uplifting modern fable. Adam however, has come from a distant part of the world and his parents helped him keep his memories alive by sharing stories that he responded to by making pictures of the fauna and flora of his old home country.
Outside meanwhile, everything looks grey and cold and his shyness prevents him from leaving his tower block and making approaches to the children he sometimes sees below. But then one morning his view outside is completely blocked by frosty patterns on his window. He does what most children find irresistible– draws pictures on the windows, not only his own but every one available; pictures of animals that live in the frozen forest ‘canvas’ nature has already created for him.

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That night snow falls and next morning Adam ventures out into a wonderful world of white where other children are making a snowman. Brrr!

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But Adam builds something completely different and surprising to the others, who are soon drawn into a co-creative enterprise on a very large scale.

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A few days later when Adam starts his new school, he discovers some of his new-found friends and he finds something else equally important and exciting – a garden. Not a large one, but one from which his teacher gives Adam some seeds to take home: seeds that grow and multiply so that after a few months, Adam is able to invite his friends home where they all help him create a glorious roof garden. And we all know what seeds have a tendency to do – SPREAD – which is just what happens here. Thanks to teamwork, Adam and his friends transform the whole locality into a gloriously glowing city of gardens

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whose colours will be different every season –that and those seeds of hope and friendship which can go on for ever …
Just perfect – what more needs to be said.

For a younger audience is:

 

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Lulu Loves Flowers
Anna McQuinn and Rosalind Beardshaw
Alanna Books
The adorable Lulu is back with a book-inspired activity: this time she wants to be like Mary Mary in her favourite poem from the garden poems anthology.

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So, armed with library books on gardening, and help from her Mummy with the buying and planting of seeds, her garden is under way. Though of course those flowers won’t grow up overnight, so in the meantime Lulu decides to make her own flower book, string some shells and beads and make a little Mary Mary character of her own. Then one warm, sunny day, joy of joys, her flowers have opened to greet the sun.

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Time to hang up those shiny bells, Lulu, before your friends come round to see that special garden and to share some of the produce.
Absolutely charming – both words and pictures are full of warmth; and as always Lulu is such a good advocate for books and libraries. Would that every young child had parents like her ready to encourage and support all those activities that are so important for young children – reading, writing, growing things and developing their creativity.

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The First Slodge, Bully & Swimmy

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The First Slodge
Jeanne Willis and Jenni Desmond
Little Tiger Press
Learning to share is at the centre of this book that begins beautifully thus:
‘Once upon a slime, there was a Slodge.’ Now this Slodge is the first of her kind, the only one of her kind – so she thinks – and thus she’s entitled to claim ownership of everything she sees – the sunrise and sunset, day and night, the first star and the first moon, the first thunder and lightning, even the first flower and fruit.

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It is with this fruit that her problem begins for when she goes to take a second bite (having set it aside for the night after her first), she discovers that somebody, or something, has got there first. Shock horror.

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A fight ensues – the first – during which the fruit rolls away and down the hill into the sea, closely followed by the First Slodge who finds herself face to face with the First Snawk and this creature’s thoughts are on supper.
Slodge number two, meanwhile – he too has a problem with ownership – plunges into the ocean, rescues the First Slodge, and a beautiful friendship is forged. A friendship that proves prolific and fruitful …

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Almost a kind of creation story; it’s beautifully and simply expressed verbally and beautifully portrayed visually and, one to share as widely as possible.

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Bully
Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Andersen Press pbk
Meet Bully: doesn’t your heart immediately go out to him as he’s shunned by an angry-looking bigger bull (parent?) even before the title page? Down, but not out, off he goes, now knowing how to hurt others, on a bullying cycle that has thus begun. When asked by some farmyard animals if he’d like to play, the young bovine assumes the bully role. “No!” he retorts then proceeds to insult (merely by telling the truth) and see off, a rabbit, a chick, a turtle, a pig,

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a bee and a snunk. All the while, with each insult hurled, the little bull grows larger – puffed up by self-importance until a little goat stands up to him, speaking the truth in no uncertain terms. …

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“Bully?” repeats the bull and as the truth begins to dawn, the protagonist‘s gradual deflation causes him to whirligig around the farmyard as all that hot air slowly dissipates. Then, back to his normal size once again, a tearful little chap makes apologetic advances to his would-be friends and all is finally well.
Bold, stylised illustrations on a textured background (very effective for the farmyard setting) and minimal words make for a powerful message: peaceful actions are preferable; there is NO place for bullying.
Excellent stuff.

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Swimmy
Leo Leonni
Andersen Press pbk
Deep in the ocean lives a school of happy little fish – red fish, all except one that is: Swimmy is black and he’s the fastest swimmer among them. One day however, a huge, hungry tuna fish gobbles up all Swimmy’s friends leaving him scared, lonely and sad. Not for long though: Swimmy soon discovers many wonderful creatures living in the ocean world,

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including, joy of joys, a school of tiny fish just like those lost friends of his. But these fish are too scared to leave their shadowy hide-away on account of the huge hungry fish whose next meal they might become.
Swimmy muses on the problem and then comes up with a clever collaborative solution: “We are going to swim all together like the biggest fish in the sea! ” he tells them and proceeds to teach them to swim as one, before taking his own place as the eye.

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I still have a much loved and much read copy of this beautiful book from way back before I became a teacher.Those print-style illustrations of Leo Lionni – one of my all time favourite picture book creators – have inspired many a piece of art work from the countless children with whom I’ve shared this wonderful book over many years.

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I’m thrilled to see this back in print: a must buy for anyone who wants children to be lovers of books and art.

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Hippobottymus

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DSCN4189 (600x800)Hippobottymus
Steve Smallman and Ada Grey
Little Tiger Press pbk
There’s a pleasing circularity to this rhyming tale; and not just because of the bubbles – or maybe it is, on second thoughts. It all begins with a little mouse and a bubbling creek. Then, during the course of the performance – for that is essentially what the book is all about (though that too is arguable), add to the squeaks (mouse’s) and the bubbles (the creek’s), a tweet (a bird’s), Centipede’s beat ‘Tip-tap-a-tippy-tappy’,

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a ‘Woo-hoo! courtesy of Monkey, a big bass drum (Warthog’s bum) and the PLINK PLINK PLINK-A-PLONK! – of a bone along Crocodile’s teeth.

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The result? Music to dance the day away for sure; and with so many contributors to the band too. But there is another animal as yet to be announced as contributor to the cacophony. No, it’s not that small rodent basking there in reflected glory.

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Why is Hippo claiming credit? Let’s just say, his involuntary bubbling contribution to the whole caboodle came courtesy of his erstwhile bean feast: ‘ TRUMP-PARP-bubble-bubble! TRUMP-PARP-POP!’
What a hoot – or should that be, toot?!
This daring duet from Smallman and Grey is surely destined to become a firm favourite among early years audiences who will definitely demand repeat performances and may well want to orchestrate the whole thing themselves – BEWARE! You didn’t hear that from me …

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Frida and Bear

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Frida and Bear
Anthony Browne and Hanne Bartholin
Walker Books
Frida loves drawing as does her pal, Bear but one day Bear, stuck for an idea asks Frida for a suggestion. Frida draws and passes her paper to Bear inviting him to turn it into something: Bear does so and thus begins a game of I start/you finish between the friends.

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The clever thing is, each of them is exercising his/her imagination, and becoming co-creator, every time they play a new round of the game.

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The two participants in this story, engage in an exchange game not dissimilar to one I used to play with a nursery class I taught, only there I provided a basket of paper/card offcuts and other possibly interesting bits and pieces for the children to help themselves to and sometimes even turn into a character of some kind which often (with the help of a digital camera and a computer) became a character for their own picture story books. I guess Bear and Frida or Browne and Hanne could do something akin to this with all the characters on the final spread of this inventive book.

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But that’s a whole other story and maybe one young readers might like to try – after they’ve played the exchange game like Bear and Frida, that is.
Indeed, the butterfly Frida makes

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is very similar to one a four year old in my group created and therein lies the beauty of this. Drawing skill is immaterial; it’s creativity and seeing possibilities that’s the essence here.
Super-dooper book – brimming over with creative possibilities for all ages.

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Tell Me a Picture/Following My Paint Brush

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Tell Me a Picture
Quentin Blake
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Subtitled Adventures in looking at art, this excellent book introduces its readers to twenty six paintings that were Quentin Blake’s choice for an exhibition that was held at the National Gallery in 2001. Representing a wide range of artists, alphabetically arranged we start with

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Avercamp’s A Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle and conclude with Austrian picture book illustrator, Lisbeth Zwerger’s scene from Dwarf Nose, one of her collaborations with Wilhelm Hauff.
The former is packed full with detail and narrative possibility. However there is no wordy preamble about the painting as such, merely the artist’s name on a display board sign held by one of Blake’s characteristically offbeat characters alongside whom are other Blake characters who are discussing the painting by way of a prelude. The latter might send readers off in all manner of directions depending on what they are bringing to the painting.

 

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Actually that is part of the appeal of the whole enterprise: every time one turns the page or opens the book afresh, there is the possibility of new stories emerging. It truly is about opening up: opening up to the countless possibilities offered by way of interpretation and inspiration and of course, creativity and the imagination. I’m not dismissing of course, the notion that the book could also act as a starting point for inquiry of a more academic nature but that I’d say comes later.
And, how wonderfully those half dozen or so picture book artists of today (and I’m including Gabrielle Vincent here) stand up against the painters from as far back as the fifteenth century.
How I wish I’d been able to visit the National Gallery exhibition but I must content myself with this wonderful volume and the opportunities it offers me to share its contents with, and I hope inspire, children of all ages although, hopefully not to try emulating the antics of those shown in the lead-in to Polish illustrator Józef Wilkon’s Bats in the Belfry

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which is not a book I’m familiar with although I love some of his other picture books.

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Following My Paintbrush
Duari Devi and Gita Wolf
Tara Books
This is an inspiring, first person narrative account of how one woman, a domestic worker, follows her dreams and learns to become a painter.
Dulari Devi, from a poor village family, was unable to go to school. Instead she had to work with her mother caring for her brothers and sisters, selling in the market fish her father had caught, and working in other people’s homes as a domestic; sometimes she wished for more.
One day she stops to watch a group of children by the village pond and in her own words, “As I stood and looked at the children playing, the scene turned into a picture in my mind. It came alive, bright and lively, telling stories … “

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Shortly after, she accompanies her mother to work at the home of an artist and is inspired by her paintings. Back home she begins creating her own things of beauty.

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Returning the next day, Dulari asks if she can join the painting class her employer is teaching and thus begins her journey of learning and discovery. Hard work, yes, but painting soon becomes part of her life and still is to this day. For now, as she says, “I am not just ‘a cleaner woman’, I am an artist.” And one who, having met a book publisher can finally say, “I have made a book.”- this one.
The distinctive artistic style Dulari uses is called Mithila and is a folk art characterised by bold images, richly patterned with lines, zigzags, circles and often, vividly coloured.
Here is one of the glorious paintings from the book…
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Truly an uplifting account of an individual discovering and developing her innate creativity, and a powerful, stunning creation to share with children everywhere whether you want to explore with them a distinctive artistic style from another culture, or inspire them to develop their creativity and follow their dreams. I’d suggest both.

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Crazy Captain Coconut

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Captain Coconut and the Case of the Missing Bananas
Anushka Ravishankar and Priya Sundram
Tara Books
This one’s a real laugh out loud pastiche – a kind of graphic novel – and features an Indian detective, who seems to be a kind of amalgam of the brainy Sherlock Holmes, Feluda and Inspector Ghote, and inept Inspector Clouseau type police detectives the world over. We find Captain Coconut faced with a baffling mystery concerning Mrs Y, her sister and her nephew, Gilli, and fourteen bananas, some of which have gone missing. Four can be accounted for – eaten by family members – but only six are left. Hmm – tricky: but our detective has a truly amazing logical and mathematical brain –

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albeit shaped somewhat like a coconut – and a trusty calculator that can be relied upon when computational problems crop up. DSCN4229 (800x600)
With his unflappable powers of deduction, not to mention the odd brainwave, and with the help of his trusty notebook,

 

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Captain Coconut slowly but surely, unravels the crime and unmasks the culprit. QED so to speak; thanks not entirely to his super brain, but also to a bad case of the trots: Somnambulist eat your heart out.
A spicy concoction of cheeky eccentricity, tricky clues and mind-numbing number posers from Anushka Ravishankar, quirkily clever, retro, collage-style illustrations courtesy of Priya Sundram, (that paisley patterned nose of the Captain’s is genius), Bollywood-style vocal interludes courtesy of our great singing detective, C.C.. In fact everything about Captain Coconut is divinely daft and entirely lovable. Add to the mix, great design (a Tara hallmark) and what you have is, in my book anyway, totally and brilliantly bonkers, and utterly hilarious.

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A Trio for Tots

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Gigantosaurus
Jonny Duddle
Templar Publishing
This is a board book edition of an already popular story and unlike many board books the text has not been cut down.
“His feet go STOMP!
His jaws go CRUNCH!
In the blink of an eye
You’d be his LUNCH!”
Shudder, shudder. The Gigantosaurus is about, warn the dinosaur mums as Bonehead, Tiny, Fin and Bill set off to play on the hill one day.
Bonehead posts himself to stand watch on the termite nest and before long he raises the “GIGANTOSAURUS! alarm …
THUD THUD THUD – a false alarm as it turns out. So too is the second cry and the third. Bonehead laughs at his pals, leaves them and goes off, supposedly to take a nap but “GIGANTOASARUS! Run as fast as you can!” he calls. Enough is enough the others decide and off to explore they go; but then …

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Duddle’s prehistoric take on The Boy Who Cried Wolf is enormous fun. The rhyming story rollicks along and with their filmic quality, the digitally created illustrations seem to leap off the page.
There’s also a fold out page and, to whet the appetites of knowledge seekers, there are snippets of information about the featured dinosaurs on the two final double spreads.
Dinosaur style, Duddle has definitely done himself proud.

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I’m Shy
David A. Carter
Walker Books
This has the subtitle ‘A Bashful Little Pop-Up Book’ and it’s a delight, as is the eight-limbed creature that after a little coercion, bit-by-bit reveals itself in its full glory:

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before scuttling back into its hidey-hole again.
‘Again’ is the response I’ve had from every small child I have shared this little book with; although there have also been many demands to ‘do that bit again’ at the very first appearance of the eye

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when the front cover is opened fully.
Short and sweet it surely is: I envisage this one being read to destruction by enthusiastic little hands.

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Cheep, Cheep!
Sue Downing
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Cockerel crows a good morning on a bright new day and this sets off a chain of greetings. ‘With something new to share and say/little chick goes on his way.’ “Cheep cheep!” says Chick to little calf.

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Little calf in turn moos to little lamb who baas to little foal and thus the four baby animals are off out to play.
Simple, charmingly effective and very ‘join-in with-able’. And surprisingly with such chunky, easy to turn pages, it’s also very light to hold.

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It’s Mums that Make THE Difference

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The Great Cheese Robbery
Tim Warnes
Little Tiger Press
Most of us have something that sends shivers down the spine; I get alarmed when a big dog comes bounding in my direction. Large, strong Daddy Elephant is completely fearless, well not quite; actually he’s terrified of mice. Imagine his response then, when a small grey, furry rodent calling himself Cornelius J. Parker arrives at the door claiming to be a cheese inspector. Ignoring his cowering father, young Patrick helpfully shows CJP the family’s stash which is immediately pronounced “VERY DANGEROUS” and two more mice duly arrive to confiscate the whole lot, fridge and all as a health hazard. But that’s not the only thing Mascarphone and Manchego, for those are the names of Cornelius’ co-workers, proceed to remove right under the trunk of a cowering Daddy Elephant. Before long the whole house is overrun with mice while its contents is gradually disappearing out through the front door.

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In the nick of time however, back comes Mummy Elephant and she, most certainly, is not afraid of mice.

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This one’s been getting lots of laughs from my audiences of under sixes who are particularly taken with the idea of dangerous cheese and the sight of Daddy Elephant being lifted aloft by ‘the whole mouse gang,’ as one boy called all those fiendish, tiny grey creatures.

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Thank you, Jackson
Niki and Jude Daly
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
It takes a boy to show his farmer father the way to get things done in this story set in rural South Africa from the Daly husband/wife partnership.
One morning having toiled up the same hill for years, loaded down with produce for market, Jackson the donkey gets halfway up and digs his hooves in, coming to a complete full stop.
Despite the farmer’s pulling, pushing, and cursing, the donkey flatly refuses to budge. The furious farmer searches for a stick to beat the poor creature.

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Fortunately for him however, the farmer’s wife, who has been watching the action from down below, calls her son, Goodwill and sends him up the hill to assist his father. Goodwill arrives on the scene just in the nick of time and seeing his father about to hit the donkey, calls out and prevents the beating. He then approaches Jackson and whispers in the animal’s ear whereupon much to his father’s surprise, up gets the animal and the three of them proceed to market, sharing the load between them.

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What was it that Goodwill said to the donkey and indeed shamed his father, who realized he’d never used those words to his faithful beast of burden? Just ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ the little ones that his Mama was always telling him make all the difference.
One can almost feel the simmering heat coming from Jude Daly’s dusty rural scenes that accompany Niki Daly’s gently humourous story, a story with a message that we all need to remember no matter who or where we are.

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Solutions for Alan and Barnaby

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I Need a Wee!
Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet
Simon & Schuster pbk
Alan, the lovable blue bear depicted on the cover of this book is determined to have fun, no matter what. And the ‘what’ makes itself obvious almost from the start of the story: it’s the need for a wee. A need that grows more and more urgent as Alan insists on having another go on the helter-skelter, stopping to buy a balloon and partaking of Claude’s birthday cake. Finally Alan and friends reach the loos and guess what –there’s a long queue. Dolly offers the use of her toilet but it’s too “teeny tiny” so Alan looks elsewhere.

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but the Magic Rabbit is having none of it. Things are getting pretty desperate when Alan makes a dash up the steps and behind a curtain – so he thinks but then he discovers he’s actually on stage where his energetic efforts to control his bladder are rewarded with a large golden trophy

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and he knows just what to do with that; so why is he saying that he still needs a wee?
With its luminous cover, charming cast of characters colourfully illustrated and tension-building text, this one should certainly make under fives (and those who have dealings with them) laugh.

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A Monster’s Moved In!
Timothy Knapman and Loretta Schauer
Little Tiger Press
Monsters come in all shapes and sizes: the one that’s referred to in the title of this rainy day story is roughly child-sized and green. He arrives as a result of Barnaby’s den building activity and his somewhat foolish (in the light of what then happens) utterance, “Sometimes I wish a monster WOULD move in!” Before you can say, “I don’t believe it!” which is what young Barnaby does in fact say, there, clutching what looks like a packed lunch box, is Burple. Burple heads straight for Barnaby’s den and the boy, joins him. ‘BIG MISTAKE!’ In less time than you can say to yourself, “He seems harmless,” for that is just what our young protagonist does, Burple has started producing ear-splitting howls. Moreover, the contents of his lunch box has escaped and is hell bent on consuming Barnaby’s den.

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Ideas are needed and Barnaby suddenly has a good one. Some imaginative activities proceed, some rather too imaginative

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until at last the rain stops and boy and monster head to the park for some outdoor pursuits.

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At the end of the day, both declare it’s been their best ever day. And the following one – well, that would be telling.
Monsters, den building, imaginative play, tree climbing – just the kind of things young children love. Put them altogether in a slightly crazy, laugh-inducing story and illustrate it with verve and vigour, and just a touch of cuteness, and the result is a book with enormous appeal for those around the age of the chief protagonist, and I suspect, monsters.

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Mums and Grandmas

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Mummy’s Home!
Christopher MacGregor and Emma Yarlett
Picture Corgi pbk
This is by way of a companion volume to Daddy’s Going Away from the same author/artist partnership, only herein it is Dad who is left in charge when Mum is elsewhere. Again we share the feelings of an alien child narrator as she assists her mum (and herself) prepare for the departure; and then it’s over to Dad to keep the ship afloat

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and provide jellybeans to help in the countdown until her return. In the meantime of course, there are letters and phone calls to be exchanged,

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not to mention emails.
Having a Mum who comes and goes like the one in this rhyming story is very hard for children of all ages to cope with but this particular family are up front and talk about everything; and that helps enormously. But at last, there are preparations for Mum’s homecoming to get under way

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and then …

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In setting the story in a virtual alien world, as Emma Yarlett does, she somehow allows children more easily to enter that place from which to become aware, the space which is so important for young children to be able to access that is provided by a good story.

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Alfie and Grandma
Shirley Hughes
Red Fox pbk
This is more of a repackaging than completely new material in that it brings together three previously published stories which focus on Alfie’s relationship with his Gran; it’s a treat (especially for Grans and their grandchildren) to have them in one book nevertheless. And if you are an Alfie fan and don’t already have the books these tales originally appeared in, then you’ll surely want to have this one.
In the first story, we join Alfie, Annie Rose and Grandma as they help a neighbour hunt for her missing tortoise, Winnie. They spend all day looking but to no avail and at suppertime Alfie in particular, is very upset. So, after supper, Grandma takes them on one last Winnie hunt before bedtime. Alfie fears the animal might have fallen into a ditch somewhere

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but an exhaustive search along the road yields nothing so they start back empty-handed.
Then, Alfie stops to look carefully at the stones in Mrs Hall’s cottage garden; one of them certainly isn’t white like the others, so could it perhaps be…
The second story is a delightful description of Alfie, Annie Rose and Grandmas’ wet day as the rainy outdoor adventure they start out on gives way to a rather drier, indoor one that takes them on A Journey

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to the North Pole, which also serves as Grandma’s attic.
Alfie and Gran assist a strayed sheep with a mind of its own get back to the rest of the flock

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in the third story and the book ends with a map showing Grandma’s House and all the places around it that have been mentioned in the episodes, helping to put everything in context.
Pure pleasure, as are all things Alfie.

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Grandma in Blue with Red Hat
Scott Menchin and Harry Bliss
Abrams Books
The boy narrator of this story goes to a Saturday morning art class at the museum, an exciting activity where his teacher maintains that “Anything can be art. Toys, hair clips, guitars, water bottles. Anything”. After some musings on the part of the narrator, there follows a discussion among the children about art and artists. “… it’s beautiful.” says one, “different,” another thinks;

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but it can also tell a story, come from far away, make you feel good, be funny or unique, suggest others.
This discussion induces in the young protagonist an interesting, indeed inspiring notion. His Grandma ought to be in the museum, he decides and even goes so far as to suggest it to the museum curator. Fortunately for both boy and Grandma, his offer is rejected and the boy has a much better idea. His beautiful, different, funny, story-telling relation who makes him feel good and comes from far away can instead become the subject for an exhibition to celebrate her amazingness.
And so she does, when the young narrator puts together an entire mixed-media collection.
DSCN4153 (800x600)DSCN4152 (800x600)Bliss in contrast, uses watercolour and pen and ink for his re-creations of famous works of art, and the human characters who populate the story. In combination with Menchin’s minimal text and speech bubbles, this author/artist partnership offers young readers the opportunity to become art critics as well as perhaps inspiring them to venture down the creative path with some family portraits of their own making. And one thing all readers are likely to come away with is an abiding memory that Picasso “liked to paint in his underwear.”

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Fun, expansive empowering and inspiring.

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Very Little Cinderella

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Very Little Cinderella
Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap
Doubleday
Very Little Cinderella, with her “lello boots” and “BIG blue scooter” is truly adorable. So too is this the second ‘Very Little’ story to come from the partnership of Heapy and Heap. The basic story is pretty much left intact with Cinderella doing the cleaning, a fairy godmother (aka the babysitter) and a very patient one she turns out to be, an outing to the ball – that’s for the Ugly Sisters of course, not VLC who is left at home distraught, temporarily at least. But I did say the basic plot remains, so our tiny heroine does get to go to the ball, or party as it’s called here. Small she may be, but Very Little Cinderella has an enormous amount of determination, so it’s only after a whole lot of palaver over her choice of attire

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and mode of transport to said party.

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There’s dancing, – lots of it, a midnight-striking clock and a mad dash home which leaves a soon distraught VLC minus one of her ‘lello boots. There follows the arrival of a prince – a Very Little prince clutching a very little boot (and a small bunny), and a triumphant “It fits me!”

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and another meeting of the Prince and Cinderella. But remember these two are both Very Littles so it has to be a play-date and of course, ‘they both played happily ever after.’
Another certain winner for this author/artist partnership. Whither next I wonder…

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The girls in one of the groups I shared the story with were inspired to design new dresses for VLC to wear to the party.

 

On the subject of wonderful duos, it’s great to see paperback reissues of two stories about one of my very favourite young characters, Emily Brown, and constant companion, Stanley, her much-loved old grey rabbit.
That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown
Emily Brown and the Thing
Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton
Hodder Children’s Books
In the first, young Emily asserts her ownership of Stanley in no uncertain terms when Queen Gloriana attempts to procure him for herself, although she does have a put up with his temporary absence when her majesty’s Special Commandos creep into her bedroom and steal him one night as Emily sleeps.

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The Thing referred to in the title of the second story is a large greenish scriffily-scraffily creature that lands up on Emily Brown’s windowsill one night when out searching for his cuddly. The Thing seeks Emily’s help in his hunt but even when they find the cuddly quite soon, it’s only the beginning of what turns out to be a very disturbed night for young Emily: is there to be no end to the demands that Thing makes on her during the course of an action-packed few hours until she finally discovers the real cause of the Thing’s restlessness.
Wonderful stuff.

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Early Years Allsorts

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Bing YUK!
Ted Dewan
Harper Collins Children’s Books
Most adults who have dealings with very young children will laugh at the scenario presented in the latest Bing story wherein we discover something that is most assuredly NOT a Bing thing.
Flop tries his level best to persuade Bing to sample his favourite food – a yummy tomato.

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Having seen it though, Bing is having none of it. He firmly refuses Flop’s exhortations as he attempts to liken it to the sweet, juicy, gooey, red, snappy, roundy, tasty, fun foods that Bing loves but YUK! YUK! YUKKY is the bun’s response before he finally bips the spherical object sending it flying from his plate and onto the floor.

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Oh Bing! Time out is decreed – just while Flop deals with the mess and then maybe another healthy snack instead – a snappy one this time.
There are so many lovely descriptive words herein and a sprinkling of alliterative phrases too and that’s in addition to another delightful episode in the life of the endearing black bunny – all in all a Bing thing and for me, one of his best so far. YUP!

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Big Digger abc
Margaret Mayo and Alex Ayliffe
Orchard Books
All manner of vehicles from a scooter to a quad bike and a bulldozer to an ‘underwater robot’ are featured in this jolly, brightly, rhyming alphabet book.
There is an abundance of lovely sounds and actions to join in with so why not climb aboard say the
‘Brightly-painted narrowboat
chug, chug, chugging.
Along peaceful waterways
                    Slowly gliding.’  

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Or try driving the Digger:
Great big digger
dig, dig digging.
Scooping up the earth
lifting and tipping.
I can see this one going down well in early years settings.

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Count with Maisy, Cheep, Cheep, Cheep!
Lucy Cousins
Walker Books
Mother Hen has lost her ten little chicks. We join her and Maisy as they walk around the farmyard searching for the missing babies. Those mischievous little ones have hidden themselves in all manner of places as readers discover as they open the various flaps– aboard the tractor, behind the pumpkins and even up in the apple tree.

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(How did number 5 get up there, one wonders). They will also find Maisy’s friends, Cyril, Eddie the elephant and some more unexpected animals en route until finally, there is chick number 10 (along with Charley) in among the hay bales. Just in time to nestle down for the night, ten little ones all present and correct.

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The simple counting story from the ever popular Maisy will delight the very young as well as slightly older brothers and sisters who can enjoy demonstrating their reading skills by sharing this book with younger siblings. The large print and straightforward text makes it particularly inviting for beginner readers.

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Funny Face Sunny Face
Sally Symes and Rosalind Beardshaw
Nosy Crow
Small children and animals compete for cuteness in this bright, jolly rhyming picture book. Pattern abounds in Rosalind Beardshaw’s accompaniment to the sometimes tongue-twisting couplets such as ‘Happy ears, flappy ears, funny wear a nappy ears.’ Or this one …

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Sharing (though preferably not at meal times) is sure to encourage a love of language play and rhyme.

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Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Illustrated by Yu-hsuan Huang
Nosy Crow
This is a board book rendition of a nursery favourite albeit slightly different from the one I’m familiar with, but none the worse for that.
We join rabbit, cat and dog as they take turns to row gently down the stream, the creek or the river,

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before finally encountering that scream-inducing crocodile.
Babies can enjoy hearing the song (an audio version of which is available by scanning the QR code inside the front cover), toddlers have fun singing along as they turn the pages and work the sliding mechanisms on every spread that make the animals pop up or snap as the verse requires. Slightly older children who are just learning to read can try matching the words in their heads with the printed ones on the pages of this charmingly illustrated version of the song.

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Hop! Hop!
Leslie Patricelli
Walker Books
This is the latest in a very funny board book series featuring a chubby infant who surprisingly never seems to get any older. My favourite remains TOOT! But this one show the infant to be not only a skilled narrator but also pretty competent in the creativity field. Dyeing eggs and making bunny costumes

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are on the agenda but come Easter Day, there are surprises aplenty so where are the eggs?

 

Animals – Shape and Form

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Wild About Shapes
Jérémie Fischer
Flying Eye Books
Clever design is at the heart of this intriguing book by an illustrator who is also a screen-printer and as such, is used to layering colour; and layering colour is the essence herein.
A running narrative leads and sometimes urges, readers through the playful book as they turn the alternating acetate and card pages to discover the nature of the animals whose shapes are artfully hidden thereon. ‘Quick! Look over there … ‘we are told and having turned the page, see a large butterfly resting on a flower.
On occasions it’s the animal on the receiving end of the exhortation as in …

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and …

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Sometimes we are given information snippets – ‘Some animals are afraid of nothing, ‘ or ‘Certain animals carry their homes on their backs’ for instance.
For sure, the final clever statement,

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holds true and even more so after reading and re-reading this one. It’s as well the book is sturdily constructed as I envisage it will get a great deal of handling and is likely to prompt children into experimenting with shapes and acetate overlays.

Shape is an important consideration in this book by The Very Hungry Caterpillar creator and other artists:

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What’s Your Favourite Animal?
Eric Carle and Friends
Walker Books pbk
We are introduced to a veritable menagerie in response to the title question of this anthology. Carle and thirteen other renowned picture book artists have contributed a double page spread rendition of his or her chosen member of the animal kingdom. Each person has added a short piece of prose or a poem about said animal and the variety of pictures and words adds up to a fascinating book and an excellent introduction perhaps, to the work of some of these illustrators of children’s books.
Each spread, in its unique way is both visually striking and verbally entertaining. I particularly like Chris Raschka’s snail, just because;

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Mo Willems’ droll humour shines through loud and clear in …

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Peter Sis’ Blue Carp for the dreamlike quality of his depiction and his seasonal piece about hope,

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and Nick Bruel really made the most of the space with his very amusing celebration of the Octopus.

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(What IS Bad Kitty doing intruding there and causing a fuss?)
The last few pages are devoted to thumbnail sketches of the contributors (those not previously mentioned are Tom Lichenheld, Peter McCarty, Rosemary Wells, Lane Smith, Jon Klassen, Susan Jeffers, Steven Kellog, Erin Stead and Lucy Cousins – only four women among them I notice, a spread about The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (the worthy recipient of the royalties from this book) and a final invitation to readers to respond to that title question: what are you waiting for?
Here are some children’s favourites …

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Daniel, 5 chose an elephant – ‘My Granny loves those best too.’

 

 

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Gracie 6, chose rabbits ‘Because they are cute and fluffier than any other animal.’

 

and

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James 7 says, ‘I’ve always liked giraffes since I was a baby and stroked one at the zoo when I was three.’

 

Me, I’m going to find out about the one or two illustrators whose work I am not familiar with.

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The King Cat & Mr Mistoffelees

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The King Cat
Marta Altés
Macmillan Children’s Books
The feline narrator of this story has had things pretty much his own way for a very long time. He does however provide occasional entertainment and regular nocturnal protective duty for his ‘people’ in return for being left to slumber during the daytime, not to mention a little bit of relaxation therapy proffered by human hands. All in all life couldn’t be better for this – in his own words – GOOD, SUPER CUTE king.
Then one morning without so much as a by your leave, everything changes.

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The rules of the kingdom are upheld no longer.

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Time to reinforce the status quo decides our erstwhile domestic king and before long peace and normality are restored. So why does the realm seem so quiet – too quiet perhaps with the old rules back in place.
Oh! what’s that …

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Maybe some negotiation could work after all …
I love the droll illustrations and straightforward manner of telling of this comic tale of domestic rivalry. Indeed it could well be a metaphor for sibling rivalry with the arrival of a new infant in the household. Don’t forget to look closely at the details in fore- and endpapers for the story really begins and ends thereon.

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Mr. Mistoffelees
T.S. Eliot and Arthur Robins
Faber & Faber Children’s Books pbk
We’ve already been treated to Arthur Robins’ hilarious illustrative rendition of Macavity; now it’s the turn of the Mr. Mistoffelees the ‘Original Conjuring Cat’ to take centre stage and that is exactly what he does. In close up we view a performance of his confusion-causing illusions,

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of one kind … and another.
This small black feline character takes us through his whole repertoire of sleights of hand and more,

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while deceiving us all that his sole occupation is mouse-hunting . And as for shyness –well that’s what he’d have us believe but

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we know better.
Even I, with my cat allergy and phobia find this Mr M. totally irresistible, which only goes to prove that he truly is, as Arthur Robins has so admirably shown, ‘Magical Mr. Mistoffelees’.

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The five year old maker of this puppet certainly thought so too.

 

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Ursine Antics by Night and Day

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Goodnight Already!
Jory John and Benji Davies
Harper Collins Children’s Books
Parallel but opposing viewpoints quickly come head to head in what must surely be to many adults at least, a familiar scenario – the pull and push between two characters whose body clocks have entirely opposing rhythms. Herein it’s an exceedingly sleepy-looking Bear and his neighbour and supposed friend,

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Duck who is full of (caffeine-induced?) energy and has “never been so awake.”
“I can’t wait to sleep. Here we go … yes…” yawns Bear as he pulls up his covers.
Uugh oh! There in the moonlight stands his feathered pal demanding entrance.
Having barged his way in Duck is determined to get Bear to “hang out” and suggests all manner of fun-filled activities. “Want to play cards? … Watch a movie? … Start a band? … Make smoothies?” … (What is this guy thinking of?) “Talk all night? … “Read books to each other?” (Now there’s a thought.) Each of these suggestions meets with a resounding “No.” from Bear and Duck eventually gets the message and departs. So, does our ursine friend finally get his well-earned shut eye? Errm …

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This time Duck is after cooking ingredients “… some sugar?” – “No.” Butter? “No.” … Is there to be no end to Duck’s requests? New neighbours will have to be the order of the day, or rather night, an increasingly grouchy Bear decides, returning to the safety of his quilt. Did I say safety? Oops!

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But safety it certainly is not, for Duck at least.

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Finally losing it altogether, Bear sends Duck packing and heads off back to get that well earned slumber. Well, not quite …
My audience groaned at the final ironic comic twist but it was clearly a groan of satisfaction and hastily followed by demands to ‘read it again’, then ‘one more time’. Of course I obliged, eager as they to let that superb tension be played out over and over in this wonderful book, at the heart of which is perfect textual comic timing, pace and counterbalance, the latter being so beautifully portrayed by Benji Davies. His visuals, which alternate between the vivid yellow of the occasional scene at Duck’s residence, and the somnolent shades of Bear’s surroundings, and brilliantly mirror John Jory’s shifts in pace and energy, are equally good. The combination of the two is an amalgam that’s pretty near perfect in my book.
Here are a couple of pictures of Duck from five year olds who loved the story –

 

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they obviously saw him as a very colourful character.

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Big and Small
Elizabeth Bennett and Jane Chapman
Little Tiger Press pbk
Friendships can be formed between the most unlikely, completely different characters A large bear – Big, and a tiny white mouse – Small, are best friends and decide to spend a day adventuring in the great outdoors. During the course of their play Small seeks help from his friend on several occasions – a stubbed toe OUCH!, some tricky stepping stones,

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a troublesome bee at lunch time and a hole that interrupts his roll; and each time Big is happy to oblige. After a fun-filled day, the friends head for home and snuggle into their cosy beds. Then however, comes a spot of role reversal: “A little help, please!” calls Big who cannot sleep.

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The idea that friendship can involve a responsibility of care is embedded within this story told through a combination of jaunty rhyming text and bold, bright visuals.
I like the fact that both author and artist engender a zest for life and enjoyment of nature – the endpapers featuring insects that appear during the course of the story help in the latter.
Share with those just starting out on forming friendships.

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The Hog, the Shrew and the Hullabaloo

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The Hog, the Shrew and the Hullabaloo
Julia Copus and Eunyoung Seo
Faber & Faber Children’s Books
Harry the Hog is fast asleep until he hears an alarming sound outside. So terrified is he that he – a champion sleeper – has to call best friend Lil. In the blink of an eye, there she is to keep him company and attempt to determine the cause of the mysterious noise.

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During the course of the night the friends hear all manner of weird, wild sounds but do they ever discover the perpetrator of that fearful, dream-shattering hullabaloo and, equally important, get some shut-eye?
As in the first Harry and Lil story, both plot and visuals are superbly rendered. Poet, Julia Copus’ lilting rhyme flows beautifully and her choice of language is sheer delight:  ‘In the glow of the moon,
                                                                 In its silvery sheen … ‘
And ‘… through the not-quite-light,
             Through the in-between of day and night.’
are just two of the memorable verbal images we are treated to.
Eunyoung Seo’s exquisite illustrations are also a treat. Slightly whimsical, soft focus and wondrously detailed, they complement the text splendidly.

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It’s such a fine balance between words and pictures; Copus and Seo manage it to perfection. Their partnership is as felicitous as that between Harry and Lil.
If you missed their first story, Hog in the Fog, get your hands on that one too: you won’t regret it.

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This Is My Rock

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This Is My Rock
David Lucas
Flying Eye Books
There’s a David McCord poem I’m fond of with the same title as this book; that and the goat on the cover proudly proclaiming ownership of the tall structure instantly predisposed me to think positively about David Lucas’ latest offering. I most certainly was not disappointed. In fact I love everything about it.
In short, the young goat already mentioned, standing atop that rock announces to all that dare approach, that it is his and not theirs. (Those of us who work with children will be familiar with that one. You need to share, we tell our charges.)
It’s not only goats who challenge him: a large eagle, a woeful-looking bear, several wolves,

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even a tiny bird (watch that one) are all sent packing. Goat stands firm atop that rock of his – all alone and unsure of his next move.
Time passes; he calls, dances

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and starts to feel hungry. Hmm maybe it’s not quite such fun being all by himself, thinks that strong- willed character. Perhaps it’s time to start reaching out …

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Everything about this book is a delight: the unusual colour palette, the borders, every page layout and design, the story of course – it’s told entirely through dialogue with the minimum words,

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though they surely pack a punch; and the fact that it’s not the stroppy goat who has the final word, or should it be ‘tweet’?

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Having read the dedication inside the front cover, one could read all sorts of things into Lucas’ short story but that’s the thing about a good book – it leaves plenty of space for readers to make their own interpretations. Readers who could well be in the early stages of their reading journey are just one of the possible audiences: everything about it makes the book perfect for beginners (reading scheme books just don’t stand up against the likes of this), but it’s much too good to be confined to beginners alone.

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Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise

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Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise
Sean Taylor and Jean Jullien
Walker Books
Owl is a kind of superhero-cum comedian: he’s mega confident and one thing is for sure, that self-proclaimed ‘master of disguise’ is very, very hungry. He, the narrator of this tale in fact, also has a way with words. “The night has a thousand eyes, and two of them are mine. I swoop through the bleak blackness, like a wolf in the air.” he declares having failed in his first attempt to fill his tum. In that instance, with a tasty bunny, who sees through his first ‘delicious carrot’ disguise.

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Never mind, there’s a juicy lamb (love those specs) standing ‘helpless in the cool of the night’ our wordsmith informs us as he comes to land again

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and quickly dons his next disguise. Of course that lamb too (helped by those fetching specs I suspect) sees through the disguise and vanishes in a flash. No matter, our hungry hunter has another trick in his bag of disguises; off he goes again, still supremely confident as ‘The terrible silence of the night spreads everywhere.” A pigeon is next to face the ‘dangerous creature-of-the dark’ – he really talks himself up does Hoot Owl, but again the costume fails to fool.

 

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But, does he finally manage to achieve satisfaction? Well, you’ll just have to get hold of a copy of this hilarious book to find out. Till then, let’s just say that his next prey is an inert object (one this vegetarian review can almost but not quite, approve of) and his next disguise, something altogether easier to pull off – literally.
Beautifully written and with such great comic timing, Sean Taylor’s text is, and I make no apologies, a real HOOT. If Hoot Owl is master of disguise, then surely Taylor is master of suspense. My four to seven year old listeners loved the fact that although Owl constantly sounds impressively fierce, he doesn’t ever attack in the aggressive sense; his tactics are altogether more passive, if (albeit) inept. They also loved Jean Jullien’s bold illustrations and were inspired to try some of their own. Here’s one…

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Jullien’s matt colours work perfectly and he capture’s the author’s droll humour brilliantly. I love his almost child-like side views of the predator in flight.
Taylor and Jullien have an absolute winner here: there’s no disguising that.

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Those Pesky Rabbits

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Those Pesky Rabbits
Ciara Flood
Templar Publishing
Bear has always lived a life of solitude, chopping wood, indulging himself with all manner of honey-based delights and relaxing with a good book – one of the hundreds from his extensive library. So, when he discovers that a large family of rabbits has had the audacity to build a house right next door he is far from pleased.. His chagrin quickly turns to fury as the rabbits knock on his door, asking first for honey to bake a cake, then his assistance with wood chopping, an offer to swap books DSCN3904 (800x600)

and an invitation to do a spot of star gazing. One has to admit those leporine characters are pretty persistent in their overtures. Bear is having none of it however and eventually roars “I want to be left alone!” and he is – for a while anyway. Life returns to peachiness for our ursine grump but then one day he discovers a basket on his doorstep with a note attached …

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This triggers a thawing in the heart of Bear (despite the chilly weather.) Not only does loneliness come upon him, but he also reaches out to the rabbits

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and thus begins a new, and altogether more enjoyable, way of life for all concerned.

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This is one of those books that really tugs at the heartstrings. Even grumpy old bear is such a lovable character despite his threatening demeanour when those adorable rabbits come a-calling. Then there’s that bit-part mouse whose silent presence adds visual humour to every scene. In fact, the telling, both visual and verbal is pretty near perfect in every respect. Don’t miss this one. My young audiences have loved it. Here’s one immediate response:
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The Big Green Book

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The Great Big Green Book
Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
We all know that green issues are of vital importance for our planet and it’s never too early to introduce some of the ideas about conservation to young children. Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith who gave us The Great Big Book of Feelings and The Great Big Book of Families now add a third title to their admirable series. Herein, with the help of their characters young and not so young – not to mention that striped marmalade cat – they present a straightforward outline of what the earth has to offer its inhabitants, what is needed to preserve life on earth and ways in which we can all play our part in conservation and preventing further degradation of our planet home.

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Did you know for instance that ‘Nearly one third of our food depends on bees’? Now that fascinating fact in itself is surely thought provoking.
I particularly like the Ask Questions spread: (I’m someone who is constantly inviting children to ask questions and advocating that other adults do likewise – and then of course to listen carefully to what they have to say): and the Invent pages will surely inspire young readers.

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This is assuredly a book that should be in every primary classroom. The gentle humour in Ros Asquith’s watercolour illustrations will draw young children in and will perhaps encourage the less bookish among them to keep reading.
I know from experience that it’s not difficult to get quite young children very passionate about green issues so why is it so hard to make those adults in charge of companies whose activities cause such damage to our planet take notice. Perhaps they could all start by reading a copy of this stimulating book.

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RSPB My First Birds and Wildlife Activity and Sticker Book
illustrated by Simon Abbott
Bloomsbury Children’s Books pbk
I am not generally a fan of sticker/activity books but this one requires children to look closely at illustrations of things from nature in order to do the activities therein. For example this spread asks the child participant to select the appropriate stickers to make the two pictures look the same.

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To do so one must look carefully at for example, three sticker images of a sparrow and choose which to put in each of three places on the right hand page.
In doing this, and the other activities provided such as the maze and keeping a record of any fauna observed in four places, young children will be both having fun and imbibing information about the natural world.
With a school holiday in sight, this could well be a boon on those days when you don’t feel like venturing outdoors for long.

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Friends Forever

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Side by Side
Rachel Bright and Debi Gliori
Orchard Books
Deep in the heart of Wintermouse Wood,
Down in the grass where the autumn trees stood,
Lived all kinds of creatures …
So begins a search by one of the wood’s tiniest residents, huge-hearted Little Mouseling, who wants a special friend to stay by her side. All manner of animals offer friendship but, unlike Toad, the mouseling can’t swim, she’s too frightened to climb like Big Brown Squirrel and she certainly cannot fly like Batty Fangs. Seemingly there’s no perfect match for our little seeker: sad and quite alone she has run out of scurries and skips, and tears begin to fall.

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But then up from a little hole pops a head belonging to ‘A tinyful, weenimous, little black vole.’ Equally shy and quiet, he cannot ignore Mouseling’s tears; indeed he offers a wonderful antidote to sadness. Let’s dance and sing ourselves happy, he suggests and thus they start to discover all manner of things a twosome can do, a twosome that is destined to last a life time. ‘A friend by your side makes life twice as good.’

 

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I know not whether Rachel Bright and Debi Gliori are good friends but they’ve certainly demonstrated a superb author/artist partnership in this book.
Rachel Bright’s captivating rhyming text just trips off the tongue and is a pleasure to read aloud even without any visuals. Add to that Debi Gliori’s enchanting, warmly comic illustrations and the result is a gratifying book to share with individuals, groups and classes. I love the way Debi uses shadow

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and light to draw our focus of attention to characters

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and events in the story.

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Where Bear?
Sophy Penn
Puffin Books pbk
I missed this one earlier but am so pleased to get the chance to review Sophy Henn’s debut picture book now.
It features a bear and a boy who have been friends living together in boy’s house since the bear was a cub and the boy, well a lot smaller than he is now.

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Eventually Bear outgrows the house and the boy, determined to find his ursine friend a new abode, sets out with him on a mission to find the just right home.
“But where bear?” asks the boy. However, finding a new place for his best pal to be “bearish and big” proves more than a little challenging: bear turns down every single possibility boy offers

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“Then where bear? “ is the oft-repeated question until finally the boy suggests a location that is acceptable. Both are happy especially as they are able to keep in touch and remain the best of friends.

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A truly heartwarming tale that explores such important ideas as moving away from a best friend, learning to let go and seeing things from another’s point of view.
Sophy Henn’s characterisation is wonderful and her visual portrayal simply gorgeous. Indeed everything about this book is noteworthy – the choice of colours, the use of space on the page; simplicity is the key and it works brilliantly.

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Whoops!

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Whoops!
Suzi Moore and Russell Ayto
Brubaker, Ford and Friends (Templar) pbk
A cat that cannot MEOW, a dog that doesn’t WOOF and a squeakless mouse; add a wise owl – well let’s reserve judgement on that one – and an old lady in a tumbledown house (an old lady with a spell book I should point out) and you pretty much have the ingredients of this tale. Bringing these ingredients together proves to be more than a little tricky especially in that tumbledown house.
Of course the little old lady is eager to help her voiceless visitors sent by the owl. Out comes the spell book – a very large volume – and with a flick of her fingers all is well. Eerm, not quite. Remember this is a tumbledown house and in a flash the wind is blowing in, the rain beating down and the house turning around and around. What of the animals though –have they found their voices? Well, yes and no for, ‘the cat went, CLUCK! And the dog went, QUACK! And the mouse from a shoe went, COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO! And the little old lady went, WHOOPS! (Echoes of Charles Causley’s Quack Said the Billy Goat here.) But no matter for the spell book has plenty more pages so what about the spell on page three?

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BAA! NEIGH! MOO! MOO! MOO! WHOOPS! Page seven then? Oh, not that one either but we do have a WOOF, a SQUEAK! and a MEOW!  so it’s definitely worth giving page ten a try.

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But what is this? – brown sky and a spinning house and within … ?
Do I hear right? … And the cat went MEOW! And the dog went, WOOF! The mouse who couldn’t speak went, SQUEAK! SQUEAK! SQUEAK!
And the little old lady? Well, I’d hate to spoil the story so you’ll just have to get hold of a copy for yourself. You can make up your own mind about that old owl too – he does have the last word though.
“Again, again” is the cry every time I share this hilarious, laugh out loud story with individuals or groups of children. Needless to say I’m more than happy to oblige. Suzi Moore’s rhyming text is a joy to read, especially if you like doing ‘voices’ and adding dramatic effects and Russell Ayto’s muted, minimalist style illustrations are a real hoot.

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He leaves plenty of space on many a page to create superb dramatic effect and the more tumultuous spreads are equally brilliant and contain superb comic detail.
The whole thing is a wonderful springboard to classroom drama too.

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The Queen’s Orang-Utan – one for Comic Relief

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The Queen’s Orang-Utan
David Walliams and Tony Ross
Harper Collins Children’s Books
This is a real laugh out loud book and in buying it readers will be contributing to Comic Relief, for both the author and publisher will donate all their profits to the charity.
Herein a supremely bored monarch makes what everyone else deems an outrageous birthday present request – or should that be, demand: ‘ “For one’s birthday one would very much like … announced the Queen … “One’s own orang-utan!” ‘. And of course, what her majesty demands her majesty receives – with riotous consequences: consequences that not only relieve HRH of the tedium of entertaining even the most boring of guests to Buck. Palace

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but also enable her to escape her monotonous existence forever.

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Wonderfully anarchic – wickedly expressed both verbally and visually.

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Bath time and Bedtime

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Alfie in the Bath
Debi Gliori
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
The irrepressible Alfie is back: he’s in the tub this time and what better place to let that fertile imagination of his run riot. At first he’s washing his toys but before long, he’s become a tentacle-waving monster ‘Glub, glub, glub!’, a claw-snapping crab, a tumultuous gale HOO-WOO and then oh no! ‘bubble-bubble hiss’ he’s on the ocean floor.

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Is this the end for Alfie? But no – up he bobs again, a water-spouting whale ‘KERSPLOOOOOSHHH!’ and we can see who’s firmly in charge of the mop-up operations…

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Simply told with delicious join-in-with sounds , beautifully portrayed in soft focus – there’s a great fold-out spread,

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and a delight to share with the very young (though probably not just before a bath).

 

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Who Puts the Animals to Bed?
Mij Kelly and Holly Clifton-Brown
Hodder Children’s Books
Can you imagine blowing a crocodile a kiss goodnight? No? Then you obviously haven’t set eyes on the adorable one sporting bedroom slippers and jumper in this charming book

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that starts like this:
At the end of the day,
at the start of the night,
when the earth is half dark,
when the sky is half light,
who puts the
animals to bed?
We are then invited to consider among other things, who helps the cat down from the shed,

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finds the bear, soothes the sea-lion pup and sings a lullaby to the lion.

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All these and other possibilities are proffered, not only to us but also to the small child shown in the final spread surrounded by her entire toy menagerie.

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The combination of dreamy, soft-focus illustrations and lilting, rhyming text makes for a gently soporific bedtime read; however this one’s just too good to be kept only for the pre-slumber hour – it’s the perfect snuggle time book for all times of the day, for individuals or group sharing.

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Beautiful Birds

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Beautiful Birds
Jean Roussen and Emmanuelle Walker
Flying Eye Books
Arresting artwork in dazzling colours abounds in this large volume. All manner of plumages, some exotic, some comparatively ordinary (if one can actually call any feathers ordinary), from the wild and wonderful bird kingdom are included. Jean Roussen’s accompanying  poetic, rhyming alphabet text takes readers from the albatross (admiral of the skies) to the zosteropidae (also known as white-eyes)– a new bird for me.

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Emmanuelle Walker demonstrates meticulous attention to shape and form in her elegant images of each bird so that one truly wants to pause and wonder over every single page or spread. It’s absolutely impossible to choose one favourite from this enchanting assortment but some I particularly love are egret,

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the woeful looking kakapo,

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woodpecker

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(a notable absence of that eye-watering fluorescent orange/pink on those last two) and the binocular view of the zosteropidae. Ask me again on another day and my choice might be altogether different, such is the artistry contained within the covers of this one. In any event I wouldn’t choose the cocky peacock that has the final word.
Share the book with children of all ages. It will set their imaginations and creativity soaring along with those avian beauties. Adults too will be drawn in and want to linger over this one. Indeed, many pages would make gorgeous posters . Great endpapers too.
A book for all educational settings and the family bookshelf.

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Alfie & Pom Pom Face Their Feelings

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The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade
Davina Bell and Allison Colpoys
Scribe
Alfie is filled with apprehension the day before the underwater fancy dress parade. He’s practised wearing his Captain starfish costume at home

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so he won’t end up bottling out like on the day of the running race, or Antoinette’s reptile party.
After a sleepless night filled with scary underwater dreams, Alfie is even more sure he hasn’t the courage: “I can’t,” he tells his Mum. She however has a plan – one involving a visit to somewhere special.

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It’s here that Alfie spots a little fish that likes to hide away among the corals.

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“That orange fish,” his Mum explains on the way home, “was a clownfish” … “Sometimes they need to hide away… It’s just what they do.” and Alfie understands. “There’s always next year,” he tells his Dad and the cowboys on his wallpaper at bedtime. And, with such understanding parents, Alfie may well have overcome his shyness by then.
In her gorgeous retro style illustrations executed with limited colour, Allison Colpoys conveys Alex’s fearfulness beautifully and the tale is sympathetically and convincingly told – a demonstration of both the artist’s and author’s understanding of how young children try to cope with shyness/introversion.

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Pom Pom Gets the Grumps
Sophy Henn
Puffin Books
Every early years teacher and parent will recognize the scenario so perfectly documented in 2015 World Book Day official illustrator, Sophy Henn’s second book. And, despite the dour-faced panda depicted on the front, it’s sheer delight from cover to cover.
Like all of us from time to time, Pom Pom wakes up in a bad mood. Uh-oh – from the very minute he gets out of bed (on the wrong side of course) it seems everything and everyone is against him. Pom Pom’s tetchiness escalates as he goes through the day: his blanky is missing, his baby brother has taken his favourite toy, there’s soggy cereal and bitty juice at breakfast time and worse, his mum is in soppy song mode. That’s just the beginning of the day through which Pom Pom “Harrumph!”s and scowls and glowers.

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At nursery it’s a case of “NO!”, “NO! and “NO!” to each and every suggestion made by his friends and when he yells at them to “GO AWAY!” that’s exactly what they do. Surprise, surprise -that isn’t right either, but it’s a turning point for our surly protagonist. The little fellow sees the error of his ways and off he goes to make amends.

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Harmony is restored – well let’s just say, for the time being …

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Seemingly Sophy Henn knows young bears (and children) very well indeed. She achieves such depth of character seemingly effortlessly and her portrayal of Pom Pom is spot on. She manages to make him adorably cute; even when he’s in the biggest of sulks what you really want to do is to laugh and give him a big hug. In fact one could go so far as to say he deserves one for he never lashed out physically during the whole sorry day. I absolutely love her crisp, clean contemporary illustrative style and look forward eagerly to further Pom Pom capers later in the year.

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Dreams of Freedom and beyond

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Dreams of Freedom
Frances Lincoln
This powerfully moving, timely book is published in association with Amnesty International (who will receive all royalties).
Voices from the past and present day, from many different walks of life and from near and far – all of whom are champions of freedom, speak out on this topic that is of vital importance to each and every one of us.
It is imperative that their words are heeded so I make no apology for mentioning the freedoms the likes of Malala Yousafzai, Chief Standing Bear, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ali Ferzat and Nelson Mandela talk of:
Freedom to Dream, Freedom to be a Child, Freedom to Learn, Freedom from Fear, Freedom to be Yourself, Freedom of Expression, Freedom to enjoy life and liberty, Freedom not be unfairly imprisoned,

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Freedom from Slavery, Freedom through Equality, Freedom to Have Your Own Ideas, Freedom to Feel Safe, Freedom to have a Home, Freedom through Peace, Freedom to Take Responsibility, Freedom to Make a Difference.
Each of these freedoms and the final spread containing some words of Elsa Wiezell are visualized by famous artists from different parts of the world. Every one of them pulls you up short, making you focus not only on the stunning illustration but also on the words they portray. Some spreads are bright and joyful such as Sally Morgan’s glowing scene for the Dalai Lama’s words …
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others such as Mordicai Gerstein’s, dazzlingly transcendent.

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Antje von Stemm’s images for Clare Balding’s words are delightfully quirky and I found Chris Riddell’s beasts looming up from the black to accompany the Freedom to Make a Difference proverb, downright menacing.

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Add to all this, a cover illustration from Oliver Jeffers and a foreword from Michael Morpurgo and you have an inspirational and aspirational book that needs to be on the shelves in every primary classroom, several copies for every secondary school library, and one on every teacher’s bookshelf and among every family collection. Assuredly it’s one to talk about and to treasure.

Also reissued at the same time is

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We Are All Born Free
Frances Lincoln pbk
This is the first paperback edition although this wonderful book has seen two previous incarnations, first in hardcover and then in mini hardback format. I treasure them both.

Another moving and thought-provoking read for anyone over about eight who is interested in freedom and human rights is:

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Africa is My Home
Monica Edinger , illustrated by Robert Byrd
Walker Books pbk
I’d not heard of the practice of pawning children before reading this moving, beautifully illustrated, real-life story. But that was only the start of the terrible ordeals that its young narrator had to face. Far worse was to follow. Young Sarah Kinson, (along with many others) was taken on board a slave ship and far away from her African home. After a tortuous voyage on the Amistad, she arrived in Cuba and from there is sent to New Haven in the USA, along with two of her travelling companions, Kagne and Teme. Eventually their cause was taken up by Lewis Tappan, an abolitionist, and after two years of internment and several court cases, they received their freedom, an education and were ultimately returned to Sierra Leone. These events were to have far reaching consequences both in the USA and Sierra Leone.

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Lili

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Lili
Wen Dee Tan
Fat Fox Books
Less than 4% of the population has red hair. In children’s books however, the ratio appears to be somewhat higher. A few memorable characters that immediately spring to mind are Katie Morag, Pippi Longstocking, The Weasleys, Anne Shirley, Amelia Bedelia and Madeline. Now we have a newcomer to join them, young Lili. the main character in Wen Dee Tan’s thought provoking debut picture book.
Lili is endowed with a mop of fiery red hair. To her family this can be useful but her neighbours think otherwise; her red-hot hair causes damage to all manner of things including washing, animals, even articles of clothing being worn. Lili finds it difficult to make friends and is eventually ostracized by the village children in whose games her hair proves hazardous. But one day she comes upon a group of
children lost in the woods, rescues them from impending danger and then – a blazing beacon of light in the gathering darkness- leads them to safety.
Throughout the story Lili utters not a single word but she exhibits a whole gamut of emotions from anger to terror, and wistfulness to delight– and we, the readers are observers of some of her experiences.
In her brief text and powerful pictures the author/artist opens up a variety of possible interpretations, and ideas relating to inclusion and exclusion or prejudice for instance, yet equally leaves a lot of space for her readers – young and not so young – to exercise their own imagination. Certainly, this is a book that can be read on different levels depending on your age and experience.

What follows is a brief account of one occasion when I shared the book with a small group of four to seven year olds (S. M. L. Le. F)
Before reading we looked at the front cover.
L. (reads title) Lili – Hey, she’s got wild hair. Can we read it?
We read until the 3rd spread…

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F. She’s got really angry there – it’s enormous!
S. Fiery hair WOW! – awesome!

4th spread
Le. Look! her mum’s cooking the supper.
L. And, and she’s keeping them warm there.

5th 
S. Oh no, she’s burning the sheep … and that man’s hat … and all the washing. That person will be furious.

6th

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S. She’s buring the rope. See, it’s on fire.
M. Maybe she shouldn’t jump so high.
S. And his bum. Laughter
Le. She’s really angry again now. It’s so enormous.
F.  No she’s not, she’s sad. See her face.

7th
S. That’s cool – she’s getting that (pear) down with her hair ‘cos she couldn’t reach it.

8th

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Le. Oooh! look what’s that? (me: what do you think?)
L.  A big black dog?
Le: A scary monster?
F.  No I think it’s a wolf, a really scary one.

9th
S.& M. Yeah, she’s burning that wolf now.
S:  He’s running away.
M: What, two tails has he got?

We read to the final spread…
S. Oh, now they’re friends; they’re toasting stuff.
F. They must be friends ‘cos she’s giving Lili one; I think they’re marshmallows.
Le and L. Read it again.

We do … and afterwards, I say,
I wonder what Lili might do about her fiery hair.
M. Well, she could go underwater.
S. No, it’d be really dark.
M. Well then, she could have a hose.
L.  A hose?
M. Or she could cut her hair maybe.
S.  No, then she’d be erm, bald.
F. And her mum would tell her off.
S. But at least she’d not be accidentally hurting people.

What about those children, there? (We’ve turned to the stone throwing spread)
S. They’re so cruel.
F. They’re bullying her. That’s not nice at all. They might hurt her…. She’s feeling really sad because she can’t play properly. … they’ve hurt her feelings probably.
S. And, it’s not her fault.
F. She needs a hug but someone might think they’d get hurt. I’m going to draw her.

The others decide to do likewise.

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The Story of Life/Wild Life Adventures

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Wild Adventures
Mick Manning and Brita Granström
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
From making shelters to lying in a tent listening to the dawn chorus or evening serenade, and creating a beach sculpture to cloud watching, there is something to interest and capture the imagination of seasoned ‘outdoorers’ and would-be discoverers of the natural world.
Instructions for all these activities, along with safety warnings and information about the various flora and fauna one might encounter is provided,

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as well as some questions and other comments to prompt further investigations.
The children in the exciting and detailed watercolour illustrations are clearly having great fun and one suspects, learning a lot about the great outdoors at the same time. The whole book made me want to go and join them: I think it will inspire children to do likewise.

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The Story of Life
Catherine Barr, Steve Williams and Amy Husband
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Evolution is a daunting subject to tackle, especially in just 32 pages. The time scale involved- 4.5 billion years, the hostile nature of the newly-formed earth,

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the formation of ‘tiny bits’ – cells in the ocean three billion years ago is so fantastical it is difficult to get one’s head around. However, without talking down to them, Barr and Williams (both of whom have a biological background) have managed admirably to weave together the basic elements of the story of the evolution of life on earth as presently understood into a very accessible, readable narrative for primary school aged readers. It’s certainly not a topic I was introduced to until I began studying zoology at A-level but ‘Evolution and Inheritance’ is now a part of the KS2 science National Curriculum.
There is an abundance of labels and speech bubbles in Amy Husband’s brightly-coloured, mixed media illustrations,, which have a gentle playfulness about them.

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There is also a time line and a glossary and teacher’s notes are available to download at http://www.franceslincoln.com/the-story-of-life.
All in all, a book to excite its readers and perhaps lead them on to further exploration of this engrossing topic.

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Wild Life Wonders

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Creaturepedia
Adrienne Barman
Wide Eyed Editions
This large volume is a superb visual treat and exemplification of nature as designer, illustrating six hundred or so animals large and small, real and imagined. These are divided into categories such as The architects, The champion breath-holders, The big mouths, The masters of camouflage,

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The pretty-in-pinks, The prickly ones, The mythical, The vanished, The showoffs, which cut across class barriers so that fish, insects, mammals, birds, reptiles etc. may be grouped together under a single heading. Every animal is captioned, with many having a short information snippet. A fair few of the animal names may be unfamiliar (unless of course you happen to be a zoology specialist); the likes of binturong, kakapo or Cory’s shearwater – what deliciously strange sounding creatures – are likely to send you off on further explorations, on line or in other books, of the animal kingdom.
There is humour, both verbal – the Tiger,

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Orca, Little owl and Montagu’s harrier are among ‘The munch-it-uppers’ and visual – I love the way The sprinters are shown (or rather not shown)

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for example and The big-eared beasts surely cannot fail to make you smile.

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Highly recommended for the family bookshelf, for primary and secondary school libraries, art departments and of course, science departments, in colleges.

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Nature’s Day
Kay Maguire and Danielle Kroll
Wide Eyed Editions
In this stylishly illustrated book we visit eight different locations – the garden, the vegetable patch, the woods, the farm, the fields, the pond, the orchard and the street.

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Starting in the spring, each place in turn is visited and then revisited during summer, autumn and winter chronicling the seasonal changes to the flora and fauna of the specific natural environment.
There is a seasonal narrative running throughout the whole which describes what is happening, gently urging us to stop, look and listen and then each location also has an introductory paragraph as well as interwoven with the illustrations, more specific information about for instance, bird song in the spring garden.

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The author realistically points out that in addition to the buzzing of bees and the birdsong of the richly coloured summer garden, one is likely to hear – on account of the speed that the grass grows – the weekly hum of a lawnmower.

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My slight reservation with this otherwise excellent book is that although beautifully painted, some of the birds and animals have only a passing resemblance to the species referred to in the text. Nevertheless it is certain to make you get outside and enjoy the natural world all year round, no matter where you live.

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A Bus Ride and A Lullaby for a Little One

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The Bus Is For Us!
Michael Rosen and Gillian Tyler
Walker Books
‘But best is the bus.The bus is for us.’ is the oft-repeated refrain linking the various possibilities entertained by the narrator of this book. A small boy enjoys riding his bike; others like journeys by car or train, horse riding, floating in a little boat or a trip in a big ship,

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would love to ride a fish, sit on a cloud or dangle from a kite, play in a sleigh, perhaps try even more daring modes of transport

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but no matter what, the bus is best and by the end, readers are in no doubt about why.
The combination of Rosen’s shortish, playful rhyming text and Gillian Tyler’s delightful portrayal of the cast of a dozen young characters- not to mention the shaggy dog – who, as the story concludes at the end of the day,

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have all boarded the bus, is great fun.

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A Lullaby for Little One
Dawn Casey and Charles Fuge
Nosy Crow pbk
As the sun goes down the Little One of the title is in the woods with Big Daddy Rabbit but, he tells his offspring, there is still time for some fun and games before bedtime. So together the two of them race and chase and shout, “Woo-hoo!”, then other animals enthusiastically join them in a game of hide-and-seek, some splashing and sploshing

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and as the sun begins to set, they all dance and sing, whirl, twirl, and shout together before ending up in a great big heap. Whereupon a thoroughly exhausted Little One utters a “BOO-HOOOOOO!” and Big Rabbit knows just what to do next …

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And finally, father and baby rabbit snuggle together in the moonlight. Aaahh!
Dawn Casey’s rollicking rhyming text combined with Charles Fuge’s gorgeous georgic watercolour scenes make for a warm-hearted bedtime read for the very young.

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