Category Picture Books

The Ogre in the Hall

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The Ogre in the Hall
Céline Sorin and Pascal Lemaître
Hippo Park (Astra Books for Young Readers)

Jojo is in urgent need of a wee but it’s night-time and although the bathroom is close to his bedroom, the presence of an ogre makes it a dangerous walk through the hallway. Nonetheless, needs must, so, sword in paw, Jojo ventures forth into the darkness only to find that the bathroom is occupied, but who is within? Not his mum or dad but sitting on the loo is the ogre; moreover he has a tummy ache. But why use somebody else’s bathroom? It turns out that this ogre is scared of the dark and there’s no light in his own bathroom.

Having used the loo, the ogre needs to wash his hands, however this too is problematic. Jojo’s other bathroom – the one with a sink – is also in use, by an octopus that’s languishing in the bathtub. Henceforward further mayhem unfolds in the shape of a pair of crocodiles and they are scared of a ‘monster’ in the hall.

All this time poor Jojo is still holding on, increasingly afraid he’ll wee in his pyjamas. How will this all end? To tell would be to become a story-spoiler so you’ll need to find a copy of this highly amusing book with its hugely funny illustrations and discover for yourself. Young listeners will certainly enjoy it but whether you’ll want to share it at bedtime is open to doubt.

The Dress in the Window

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The Dress in the Window
Robert Tregoning and Pippa Curnick
Oxford Children’s Books

One day when walking through town with his mum, a boy spots a sparkling red dress in the window of a second-hand shop. Dazzling and flowing, the dress seems to be asking the boy to stop and take notice, so he does. He imagines who might have owned the dress previously but the lad knows how amazing it would make him feel.

Rather than offering to buy it for her son, Mum suggests he earns some money by doing chores for other people so he can pay for it himself. This he does by washing cars, helping with housework, tending a neighbour’s garden and doing a bit of pet care.

Gradually the money mounts up till the boy has sufficient to buy the dress.

Next day is his birthday and after school, the boy can hardly wait to return to the secondhand shop and make his longed for purchase. Horror or horrors! The dress has gone from the window. Mum pacifies her son with talk of presents waiting at home and when they get there, it’s not just presents waiting for him. All the neighbours are there too and they have a tea party.

Then comes present-opening time. Joy of joys, when he opens the present from Mum, there is the shimmering, glimmering dress. How he smiles, how he sparkles as he dances with delight – right out of the house and into the street.


What a splendidly joyous celebration of being true to yourself. With its themes of unconditional love and acceptance, this lovely story is a demonstration of just how amazing life can be when you have the support to be true to yourself. The combination of Robert Tregoning’s rhyming text that is a treat to read aloud and Pippa Curnick’s gorgeous illustrations make this a very special book to share with young listeners at home or in the classroom.

The Singing Bear / Dance With Oti: The Penguin Waltz

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The Singing Bear
Amy Sparks and Katie Hickey
Walker Entertainment

It’s always a huge pleasure to visit the Repair Shop and see Jay Blades and his team of expert repairers in these picture books that are based on the real life events of those who visit the workshop. This one featuring Kwai, Anne and young niece Lucy who bring along Singing Ted, for the team to work their magic on, being the third.

Kwai’s elder sister, Anne recounts part of her back story, explaining how as an eight-year old, she learned that her parents were going to adopt a baby girl, Kwai, from Hong Kong. When the little girl arrives, she’s quiet and sad and to try and cheer her up, the family visits the toy shop where they buy a teddy that plays a lullaby at the turn of a key.

On seeing the bear, little Kwai’s eyes light up for the first time

and from then on, Singing Bear as she names her teddy and Kwai go everywhere together. Inevitably over the years, the bear has been loved so much that it now needs Jay and his fellow workers to use their skills on Ted. Can they make the bear sing again as well as fixing the other things that need restoring?

Happily when, the three return, Jay greets them with a big smile and wonderful news.

Amy Sparkes’ telling is a delight but Katie Hickey’s superbly expressive illustrations, endpapers included, really bring the events to life making the book even more special. Back matter recounts the true story of the Singing Bear and introduces Jay and his expert team.

Dance With Oti: The Penguin Waltz
Oti Mabuse and Samara Hardy
Walker Books

Mrs Oti and her dance class are preparing for a special wintry themed show when the snow falling outside prompts one of the children to ask if they can go out and play. Wrapped up warm, off they go and straightway as Mrs Oti teaches them how to balance on snowy ground, penguins are mentioned. This leads one of the pupils to initiate a penguin waddle and after a snowball fight, and further talk of penguins , Mrs Oti tells them she has an idea for the final dance in the show: the Penguin Waltz.
Back indoors, re-energised by hot chocolate, the practising begins in earnest.
Come the day of the show, what a performance the children give until it’s time for the finale. A mishap occurs but Gan’s quick thinking and sense of teamwork save the situation and the dance finishes perfectly, to the delight of watchers and performers.

A delightful addition to the Dance with Oti series: Samara Hardy’s bright, lively illustrations showcase Mrs Oti and her class beautifully: their camaraderie really shines through.
Read the book with your KS1 class, then get up and try the moves: you and your listeners can learn the penguin waltz by following the step by step instructions on the final spread.

You Can’t Let an Elephant Pull Santa’s Sleigh

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You Can’t Let an Elephant Pull Santa’s Sleigh
Patricia Cleveland-Peck and David Tazzyman
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

This is the sixth in the splendidly silly ‘You Can’t Let an Elephant’ series by team Cleveland-Peck and Tazzyman and it’s full of the Christmas spirit – sort of!

Not only does Patricia consider the elephant as a no go creature for the titular task but she also proffers reasons for not allowing racoons to decorate your tree,

keeping nanny goats away when you open our presents, preventing elephant seals from attempting to illuminate the outside of your home. Moreover you should not try pulling a cracker with an alpaca and when it comes to a giraffe, filling his stocking would seriously deplete Santa’s present store. Unless you want Christmas chaos rather than a seasonal feast, then never ever appoint a wildebeest as head chef; steer clear of a buffalo when you’re close to the mistletoe

and penguins as carol singers are, let’s say, anything but tuneful. And so it continues, much to the distress of the named creatures. Surely there is something the only too willing workers might be able to do to bring Christmas cheer?

Hilarious illustrations in combination with a terrific read aloud text will assuredly bring young listeners plenty of Christmas cheer when you share this.

Here are few ideas as to why an elephant is unsuitable for the role of Santa’s sleigh puller:
Faith (4) The sleigh would just keep spinning around.
Sam (8) An elephant would be FAR too clumsy. Plus it would fall asleep on the job and third it would be impossible unless you had one hundred bottles of magic powder.
Emmanuelle (11): It’s far far too heavy and would never get airborne. Also it would be much too difficult to put a harness around it. Also no elephant in the whole world has a red nose and you need at least one of that kind to pull Santa’s sleigh or you can forget the whole thing.

The Wild

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The Wild
Yuval Zommer
Oxford Children’s Books

There is a line in a Native American poem where the author asks the Great Spirit of Life to give him the wisdom “to walk softly on the earth”.  This ancient metaphor recognises our human responsibility to take care of the natural environment on which we live and depend for our existence. So it was in the Wild at the start of Yuval’s new fable of our times. The Wild here was a vast place, a place where season followed season and the animals responded to the changes, either by moving or by being still and sleeping. Every living being, be they human, or creatures furred or feathered had all they needed: they lived lightly in the Wild, caring for it and receiving its care in return.

But those humans envisaged that the Wild would always be able to provide what they needed so with the passing years, they became increasingly careless, taking too much as they mined, ploughed, burned and built. They paid no heed to the devastation their actions caused until one day a child looks out of the window and notices a change. “Why does the Wild seem so weak?” he asks but his question goes unheeded. The child continues to worry and question but to no avail until eventually the Wild is unable to give.
Now it’s time for the boy to speak louder and without fear. And so he does: “STOP!’ he cries, “We are hurting the wild.”

Finally others hear his urgent call and they too take up the cry. Not only do they call, but they also change their behaviour. Little by little, with renewed hope , the Wild begins to recover because no human took without also giving something back.

Yuval’s message is also delivered with stark urgency and his collage like illustrations are full of superb textures and details in the realistic, rich colours of the natural world.
A must to read, share, discuss and act upon.

Sai’s Magic Silk

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Sai’s Magic Silk
Shyala Smith and Jani Balakumar
Tate Publishing


Sai finds special delight in his Amma’s beautiful silk saris using them to transport him into magical adventures; the problem is he can’t find anybody who wants to share in these adventures.


Instead, taking hold of the edge of one of Amma’s saris, he tosses it skywards. Immediately the boy finds himself plunging into the ocean, where he’s surrounded by all manner of underwater creatures through which he swims; he even plays with mermaids. All too soon though, a voice calls him back to reality.

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Having bid the ocean farewell, Sai heads to his cousin Naren’s birthday party. There however, all the other children have their eyes glued to screens. Sai picks up the edges of Amma’s sari and instantly he’s in Sri Lanka’s Sinharaja forest surrounded by squawking birds and a wealth of wild animals.


Then “Helloooooo?” comes a sound through the undergrowth and as Sai emerges from beneath the sari, there before him stands a little boy who introduces himself as Nate.

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The two boys soon form a bond and Sai invites Nate to his home to play. In Sai’s bedroom, Nate too, is enchanted by the saris. Sai explains how they facilitate his imaginative play and having looked at their wonderful patterns and adornments, Nate finds Sai’s very favourite one.


Unlike the other children Sai knows, Nate is eager for an adventure. I wonder where they go, for, as the final words of the story say, ‘Anything’s possible with six yards of magic silk.’

With Jani Balakumar’s striking illustrations and Shyala Smith’s effective combination of lyrical description and dialogue, this richly woven vignette of Sai’s everyday life, treats readers/listeners to a journey of the imagination.

Having collected all manner of saris during my travels in India and made them available in my foundation stage classrooms, I know from experience, just how much young children love to use them to enhance their creative play.

Beneath

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Beneath
Cori Doerrfeld
Scallywag Press

Huddled beneath a quilt in the middle of the bed, Finn is having a dreadful day. Grandpa wants to talk about it but Finn, certain his Grandpa won’t understand remains obdurate. Grandpa suggests a walk and reluctantly the boy agrees, insisting that he stays under the quilt. “Don’t worry,” says Grandpa. “I’ll remember to think of what’s beneath.”

Off they go into the forest and soon Grandpa starts pointing out instances where what’s on the surface conceals hidden complexities – the trees with their subterranean root systems; the wealth of sea life below a fishing boat offshore; the eggs beneath the mother bird sitting in her nest, seeds within a fruit and skeletons inside animals, for example.

“Everyone is more than what you see. Beneath appearances are experiences. Beneath actions are explanations. Beneath what’s different is what’s the same,” he says in response to Finn’s question about inside and outside.

By now Finn has emerged from the quilt and Grandpa draws everything together. “Beneath someone who looks like they won’t understand… is someone who knows exactly how you feel.”

Now reluctant to return home, Finn wraps his quilt around Grandpa and together they climb to the top of the hill and there it’s Finn’s turn to make a reassuring remark to Grandpa.

In one of Cori Doerrfeld’s vibrantly coloured illustrations towards the end of this beautiful story, she reveals that both characters have shared the same serious loss, whom we infer is the maker of the quilt, Finn’s Gramma.

A beautifully crafted, penetrating story of understanding, empathy and acceptance.

The Panda’s Child

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The Panda’s Child
Jackie Morris and Cathy Fisher
Otter-Barry Books

Left behind by her fellow villagers as they walked in the forest, a mother lies down with her baby boy in the warm sun. She drops off to sleep briefly and wakes to discover the infant has gone. After three days of searching the villagers conclude that the baby must have been taken by a creature of some kind or perhaps the forest spirits.

The mother refuses to give up though and continues searching alone, hope gradually fading the longer she looks. But then, drifting on the wind she hears something: could it be? Wonder of wonders, in a cave beside a large ursine creature lies her child, alive after seven days.

The bear – a she panda – must have kept the baby alive, the villagers decide, and henceforward, they have a strong bond with the animal. They also have a special bond with the little child.

The years pass and on the child’s ninth birthday some strangers ride into the village. It’s evident from their lavish dress these are rich people, accompanied by large hunting dogs and elephants most of which bore cages of animals of various kinds. One cage however is empty. The villagers hope that by ignoring the visitors, they would move on but the boy, attracted to the horses, approaches them and is told they are searching for a black and white creature. Said creature is to be a gift for a great ruler, Alexander. Eventually the riders depart, only to return several days later. This time the empty cage has been filled by a black and white animal: the panda’s child. The boy begs them to take him with them to ensure the creature remains alive and eventually they agree, to the horror of the entire village. But has the child really betrayed all those responsible for keeping him safe? Or does he have another reason for wanting to accompany the wealthy travellers even if it means risking his own life?

Hugely moving, Jackie Morris’s spellbinding tale with Cathy Fisher’s mesmerisingly beautiful illustrations will stay with readers long after the book has been closed. With its environmental and conservation themes it will appeal to a wide age range and would make a wonderful present for a lover of the natural world.

Home Bird Hoot

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Home Bird Hoot
Smriti Halls and Lucy Fleming
Scholastic

Hoot is a home loving bird, never venturing beyond her perch in her snuggly treetop abode. The only drawback is she’s always alone. Until that is, Momo, a little mouse, calls one night and invites Hoot to hang out with him. Hoot invites him in and as they sit chatting a friendship begins to develop. One night Momo suggests the two of them explore further afield but Hoot is too scared of what might be lurking outside.

Then one night Momo doesn’t appear for their usual get together. A troubled Hoot summons up all her courage and little by little ventures out into the night. Hearing a squeak, she looks around and what she sees makes her tummy turn over. Can she now leave her perch, find her wings and come to the aid of her friend?

Smriti’s rhyming tale demonstrates how an important friendship can fuel empowerment and inner strength, making someone braver than they’d every thought possible when danger strikes.

Don’t be afraid to embrace the unknown, be a risk taker is the message: new experiences such as those of Hoot broaden a person’s horizons. There are some delightful details in Lucy Fleming’s illustrations: I particularly love the ‘Peckado’ home delivery service and all the minibeasts but young children will doubtless find other things that especially appeal to them.

A good story time tale to share and talk about.

I’m Going To Be a Princess

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I’m Going To Be a Princess
Stephanie Taylor and Jade Orlando
Nosy Crow

Maya and her Mum are walking home from school one day, the former clutching a drawing she’d done in class of a princess. “because I’m going to be a princess when I grow up1”, she announces.
Mum agrees that it’s a fun idea but encourages her daughter to think about other possibilities. She goes on to share information about some amazing Black women through history: a doctor perhaps like Alexa Canady, 

or an award-winning ballet dancer like Misty Copeland? Other suggestions are an athlete like Alice Coachman, 

a rocket scientist, like Annie Easley, and several others. Maya agrees that they all sound brilliant but remains firm that she is going to be a princess. 

However the girl has a surprise up her sleeve: her princess role model isn’t the usual fairy tale kind; instead she wants to be just like Princess Amina, a warrior princess who, five centuries ago, ruled the Zazzau Kingdom in West Africa, a fearless leader, totally devoted to her people for whom she worked tirelessly.

I love the clever flip of the narrative and the trashing of the prevailing princess stereotype. Stephanie Taylor uses a chatty style for her telling which works well and in tandem with Jade Orlando’s lively illustrations, make for an informative, empowering book that deserves to be in all KS1 classrooms.

Have You Seen Dinosaur?

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Have You Seen Dinosaur?
David Barrow
Gecko Press

In this increasingly hilarious follow-up to Have You Seen Elephant? it’s elephant’s turn to go hunting. At the little boy’s behest, he and elephant, plus dog, board a bus, destination the city. There they hope to find some dinosaurs, though of course as boy says, “We’ll have to be VERY observant.”

However, on every spread young readers will delight in pointing one out hiding in plain sight in the background, (or sometimes foreground), of Barrow’s watercolour scene. It’s up to them to decide whether the boy is merely playing or whether he really doesn’t see those large dinosaurs in the museum. on the underground, in the skate park

or atop a ‘hill.’ By now young followers of the tale will be unable to resist shouting out what said ‘hill’ boy and his friends have climbed upon really is.

With delicious throwaway penultimate and final spreads, this playful search and find story will definitely please young audiences. The cityscapes have a mistiness about them giving the outdoor scenes an other-worldly aura.

In addition to the main storyline, there is an amusing on-going interaction between dog and a pigeon; this you do perhaps need to be rather more observant to notice.

Truly a dinosaur book with a difference.

Hubble Bubble Granny Trouble

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Hubble Bubble Granny Trouble
Tracy Corderoy and Joe Berger
Nosy Crow

If you’ve not yet read the stories narrated by a little girl whose Granny is a witch, then this book containing three stories is well worth investing in. Tracey’s magical tales told in a bouncy rhyming style accompanied by Joe Berger’s zany illustrations with their abundance of witchy details are a delight.

In the first – the title story – the girl narrator decides to try and reform her granny who is forever stirring up trouble, but having given her a make-over which includes a new hairdo and dressing her in a tweed suit and exchanging her weird assortment of pets for a cuddly pink rabbit, realises that all that she’s done is make Gran miserable. Time to allow her be herself again.

In Whizz Pop Granny Stop, the girl narrator is determined to have a normal ie magic-free birthday, starting with the birthday cake. Then come making a new dress and at the party, Granny paints everyone’s faces without using her ‘Helping Kit’. It’s a terrific party – but the mess?

Perhaps it’s now time to call upon the assistance of a supersonic broom, and finally, Granny has some very special magic to conclude the celebrations.

Spells-A-Popping Granny’s Shopping involves a trip to the supermarket but the narrator’s request, “No crazy stuff” is not what transpires. Instead out comes Granny’s wand and in no time there are biscuits dancing, popcorn a-popping, packets of soap pursuing underwear, runner beans racing around and that’s not all. Embarrassing indeed, but then a pair or robbers with a large sack appear. Time to make use of that wand, again Granny.

Huge fun from cover to cover and much too good to restrict to Halloween time.

Fox’s Favourite Autumn

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Fox’s Favourite Autumn
Fiona Barker and Christine Pym
Scholastic

Autumn is Fox’s favourite season, he loves everything about it: the abundance of ripe fruits, the misty mornings and honey sunsets. But with autumn come shorter days; Fox isn’t happy about that. He decides to make the days longer, trying several ideas but his friends don’t like what he does.

Nor do they approve of his food-saving. Then, as he desperately tries to stick leaves back on the trees, he encounters Badger wanting to know what he’s up to.

Badger asks Fox what he’ll miss about autumn and Fox starts to list autumnal things he loves so much. As he does so, Fox realises that he’s been missing out on sharing in his friends’ autumnal pleasures.

Wise Badger then points out that it’s the sharing that’s vital and all seasons have pleasurable things to offer if they’re done with friends. Will Fox finally take on board these sage words and make the most of every season and its possibilities?

An important life lesson is presented with gentle humour in this seasonal tale. It’s all too easy to become like Fox and allow the possibilities each season presents to pass us by. Christine Pym’s jolly seasonal scenes reflect the humour in Fiona Barker’s words and together offer a thought-provoking book to share and discuss with young children as the days draw in.

Zoom!

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ZOOM!
Sam Usher
Templar Books

It’s great to see a new series featuring Boy and Grandad, this being the first of four stories wherein the two characters demonstrate the importance of reusing and recycling materials in their adventures. As always creativity and the imagination are key even on the hottest night of the year when this first adventure takes place.

At Grandad’s suggestion the two take the telescope and go up onto the roof where it’s cooler. When Sam tries the telescope the zoom doesn’t work properly, but resourceful Grandad fixes it and Sam sees a planet. Further adjustment enables him to see a space module and a couple of astronauts, whom the lad surmises are in trouble.

Back inside go Grandad and Boy to collect supplies and tools, which they take onto the roof. There they fashion a spacecraft

and off they go, destination the planet whereon the astronauts are stranded.
Happily the two are able to fix the broken module and the astronauts invite Grandad and Boy to have a nap inside their space station. Needless to say, the interior is so exciting that neither visitor gets a wink of sleep before it’s time for them to return home.

Ready for the off Boy realises they are sans a vital bit of equipment,

but happily this time the astronauts are able to offer just what’s needed for a safe landing back on earth – just in time for breakfast …

It’s always a delight to be in the company of these characters with their wonderful child-grandparent relationship. As always too, Sam Usher’s slightly quirky ink-and-watercolour vignettes and large scenes have plenty to explore and like Boy, children will revel in the interior of the space station, while the story subtly introduces both scientific and engineering information. What better way to spend a hot, sleepless night than this.

Last-Place Lin / Where Will the Sleepy Sheep Sleep?

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These are both recent Allen & Unwin titles: thanks to the publishers for sending them for review.

Last-Place Lin
Wai Chim and Freda Chiu

It’s young Lin’s first opportunity to participate in the school sports day and she’s in the red team. Dressed entirely in her team’s colour, she enters first the sack race and then the obstacle race, finding them anything but easy. Next she competes in the water balloon toss but finds it very hard. Unfortunately despite heaving with all her might, another child makes fun of her, calling out to her ‘Last-Place Lin’. Lin doesn’t give up though: she does the crab walk, the wheelbarrow race and the tug of war. Further name calling ensues but still she keeps trying, dropping the baton in the relay. 

Then comes the last race – a fun run – and a must compete for everyone so there’s no getting out of it by hiding. After encouragement off she runs, adopting the ‘Last-Place Lin’ as a kind of mantra that enables her feet to follow its rhythm as she puts one foot in front of the other encouraged by a friend and the cheering crowd … 

all the way to the finish line

The author Wai Chim’s experience of participating in an Australian TV show was the inspiration for this story. Essentially it’s a celebration of trying, endurance, doing the best you can and never giving up, no matter what. An important message for young children, who can all too easily get swept up in the ‘must win’ mentality that prevails in the sporting world. Freda Chiu’s expressive illustrations show so well how Lin gives the events her all and the difference a bit of encouragement makes to how she feels. Definitely a book to share and discuss with a KS1 class.

Where Will the Sleepy Sheep Sleep?
David Metzenthen and Jonathan Bentley

This is a bedtime tale of the tongue-twisting kind. A sleepy sheep is endeavouring to find a suitable spot for a night’s shuteye. But the places he tries are in turn ‘too deep, steep and stony’, ‘too dangerous’ (not to mention noisy), ‘too scary’, ‘too small, dark and damp’, ‘too cold and uncomfortable’, ‘too grimy and gritty’, 

or ‘too lonely’ . Having wandered hither and yon, it seems that luckless ovine is destined to have a miserable night but then … yes young listeners do eventually get an opportunity to bid ‘goodnight’ to the by now, exceedingly sleepy sheep.

Jonathan Bentley’s bold scenes show the sheep’s eyelids becoming heavier and heavier until his eyes are barely open at all as he stands in the corner of the great big paddock almost overcome by somnolence.

Young children love repetition and enjoy alliteration and this fun book has both; it’s just right for a bedtime story, but also, the repeat refrains mean that those in the early stages of reading will soon be taking over from the adult reader aloud.

Vlad the Fabulous Vampire

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Vlad the Fabulous Vampire
Flavia Z. Drago
Walker Books

Meet Vladislav Varnaby Roland Dragul aka Vlad. Vlad has a passion for fashion and consequently he is a stylish vampire. However he has a secret of the colourful sort: behind his black cape he hides rosy pink cheeks that make him look all too alive. Vlad longs to feel and look like any other vampire; he feels insecure with his rosiness and uncomfortable about concealing his real self. However, he starts designing and making his own gear, always covering his cheeks; but having strutted his stuff for a while, he realises that he’ll never be able to hide who he truly is. 

Off goes Vlad to be by himself but after a short time he is alerted to the fact that his vampire pal Shelley is in trouble. What he sees is that she too has a shockingly bright physical trait. This makes Vlad reveal his own secret and with their friendship firmly established and Shelley leading the way, the two venture beyond the Dark Woods for Shelley to share another secret, a sight never before seen by another vampire. 

It’s in this new place that Vlad starts to overcome his insecurity about who he is 

and that’s when his fashion passion really comes into its own. From then on, whenever insecurity raises its troublesome head, Vlad knows he has somebody to help him cope with his self-doubt.

Drawing on her Mexican heritage, Flavia Drago mixes folk art with cartoon style in her illustrations, adding brighter hues to her colour palette as Shelley leads Vlad towards self-affirmation.
Yes you might share this one at Halloween time, but its vital message is for all times.

Once Upon A Witch’s Broom

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Once Upon A Witch’s Broom
Beatrice Blue
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

From Beatrice Blue’s Once Upon A series comes this story of two future witches, best friends Lilly and Moira. Lilly is able to do everything, new learning comes easily to her but not Moira. Moira is shy, things don’t always seem to work for her, she struggles with what she considers her inadequacy and consequently feels very lonely at times. However she is hoping that her once in a witch’s life opportunity, when she receives a magical Relic, will fix her and make her able to do everything well.

On her big day though, Moira’s Relic is a big disappointment. All the other witches receive something that matches their personality but why has she been given a broom? Moira shares her disappointment with Lilly who encourages her friend by saying that their Relics will help them become better witches, no matter what powers they carry. Could Lilly perhaps be right, wonders Moira. She decides to give her broom another chance but nothing works and she ends up breaking the Relic.

She’s just on the point of hiding the useless object away forever when she sees Lilly watching her and asks her a question. The wise answer she receives makes Moira resolve to have one more try.

Could her friend’s kind words and advice make a difference? Can Moira finally learn to believe in herself and let her powers shine?

A heart-warming story, powerfully illustrated, with an important message for all young children that shows them, and reminds us all, that believing in ourselves can reveal the magic we hold within. Young listeners will love following all the froggy details as the tale unfolds.

Winnie and Wilbur: The Witches’ Sports Day

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Winnie and Wilbur: The Witches’ Sports Day
Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul
Oxford Children’s Books

Excitement is building at the prospect of a sports day for both witches and cats; Winnie has her eye on first prize for the main event, a broomstick obstacle race for witches and their moggies. To that end, she undertakes some serious training on the practice course she magics in her garden and is pretty confident about getting that all important prize.

Come sports day, there are ten contestants in the broomstick obstacle race which was to be a timed event with one witch at a time doing the course. Should any cat or witch fall off, the pair would be eliminated. This happens to two of the partnerships but who will be the fastest? Will it be the previous year’s winners Maryam and her moggie Malik or, Winnie and Wilbur?

As the riders await the announcement of the results, a strong gust of wind whips the paper bearing the times far away.

Feelings are mixed regarding the impossibility of declaring a winner, most contestants being satisfied with having thoroughly enjoyed participating and sports day ends with a delicious lunch for all. Now that’s an important notion for young humans to take on board and a great subject for discussion – winning isn’t everything.

As always Korky Paul’s illustrations are rich in delicious witchy detail and the sight of the witches in their sporting attire will take a lot of beating. My favourite Winnie and Wilbur story in a while.

Zeki Hikes With Daddy / Fiona on the Swings & Herbert Climbs to the Top

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Zeki Hikes With Daddy
Anna McQuinn and Ruth Hearson
Alanna Max

This latest Zeki story is so full of joy from the front cover illustration right through to Ruth Hearson’s final scene showing a blissfully slumbering infant being carried home on the back of his smiling father after their wonderful day together.

As they explore the great outdoors Zeki notices small details such as a tiny falling leaf, crisp footprints left by a bird in the squelchy mud beside the water, a delicate feather and a bumpy pine cone: what lovely rich descriptive language Anna uses in her verbal pictures of these natural objects and the others mentioned.

It’s great to see both father and son being excited by the natural world,

as well as spending quality time in each other’s company. Spending time in the company of Zeki and his family is always a delight for small children and their adult sharers; both audiences will surely cherish this shared time too.

Like all the others in the series, this book deserves to be part of the early experiences of every toddler. It’s pitch perfect for encouraging talk and new learning.

Fiona on the Swings
Herbert Climbs to the Top
Rilla Alexander
Hippo Park: Astra Books for Young Readers

Just like little humans, Herbert and Fiona Hippo love using the equipment in the park: Hippo Park is where they meet their friends including a frog, a mouse, and a turtle.

Fiona is eager to learn to swing though needs help to get herself up onto a swing seat but Herbert is on hand to assist and provide an initial push to give her some momentum. Following his instructions, she’s soon kicking and tucking her legs as she swings back and forth till Herbert too starts his swing and then it’s time to let their imaginations take flight …

The top referred to in the second title is that of the arched climbing ladder. Urged on by his pals, Herbert takes tentative steps gradually gaining confidence as he goes step, pull, step, pull right to the very highest part. Overcoming sudden wobbliness and the dropping of Teddy, back down he climbs and off into a flight of fancy with frog et al.

Endearing, cartoonish drawings of the activities at the park combined with simple, chatty storylines of friends at play will please the very youngest.

Good Night My Sweet Island / Fantastic Families

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Good Night My Sweet Island
Petrea Honychurch Seaman and Susanne Heitz
Papillote Press

Essentially this is a seductively illustrated lullaby that bids, ‘goodnight to all things we love’ on the Caribbean island of Waitukubuli (Dominica). In so doing it celebrates the lush natural world – the forest covered mountains and valleys, the rivers, the wind, the rain and thunderstorms, the rainforest trees, the birds, bees and water-living creatures,

the fruit trees with their luscious mangoes and guavas, breadfruit and the cinnamon trees. It’s also goodnight to the tasty food the child and family are eating, to the festive music and dance, the beaches, cliffs and ‘coral-filled bays.’

Words and pictures work in perfect harmony throughout making every turn of the page both a verbal and visual feast.

I love the patterns, textures and rich colours of the flora and fauna, the waters and sky, and the characters too: the more you look, the more you see in every one of Susanne Heitz’s illustrations. Adding further authenticity to the lyrical telling is the inclusion of some Kwéyòl (Creole) words, definitions of which are given on the final page of the book.

I’ve never visited any of the tropical Caribbean islands but this gorgeous portrayal of the one where the author was born and grew up has made me want to do so.

Fantastic Families
Omari McQueen and Sophia Green
Scholastic

Young vegan chef, Omari McQueen, celebrates the diversity of families in this picture book, which is inspired by his own large family. Herein he introduces his relatives telling readers, “Family love is like no other and having each other is all that matters.’ Size is unimportant, but the love you have for them all is what counts. He goes on to liken families to food, some are spicy, some savoury, some sweet, but ‘always the most delicious dish.’

Families provide togetherness, safety, comfort, empowerment, support …

and unforgettable shared experiences that make for treasured experiences, they make a house a home.

On the final double spread is one of Omari’s own recipes, cookie dough chocolate cups, which I intend to try soon; and the last page asks readers to think about their own family.

A real warmth emanates from the pages, in no small part on account of Sophia Green’s vibrant illustrations. A book for family bookshelves but also one to share in primary schools especially to open up a classroom theme about families.

Paws, Claws, Tails & Roars

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Paws, Claws, Tails & Roars
Brian Wildsmith, words by Deborah Sims
Oxford Children’s Books

Like Michael Rosen in his foreword to this sumptuous book, I recall that my first encounter with the work of Brian Wildsmith was in the Oxford Book of Children’s Poetry, which I still treasure to this day. His image for Blake’s The Tyger immediately springs to my mind when I close my eyes and visualise.
Wildsmith’s awe inspiring art was very much part of my early years as a teacher. Picture books were at the heart of my classroom practice as a foundation stage teacher and Wild Animals, Birds and Fish were among the first titles included in my book collection to share with the children as part of their visual education and to foster a love of books. One wishes that exposure to such beauty was possible for all young children.

Seemingly those early titles are no longer in print, so it’s wonderful to see this compilation that brings together the art from the three titles aforementioned. A double page spread is devoted to each animal and includes the collective noun for each .

The images are accompanied by Deborah Sims’ poetic descriptions of each of the forty plus creatures illustrated.

This is a book I’d like to see in every classroom from the foundation stage upwards as well as on family bookshelves. And, what a wonderful present it would make.

A Bad Day For Bear

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A Bad Day For Bear
Duncan Beedie
templar books

Duncan Beedie’s staring Bear returns for a third adventure. As he leaves his cave intent on the important job he has to do in preparation for the forest party to be held that very evening, Bear is in a good mood. However it’s not to last for the first piece of wood he picks up for the bonfire leaves a splinter in his paw. Into the forest he heads in search of some better wood only to be in the way of a falling log chopped by Beaver. The dam builder apologies and offers Bear some wood for the bonfire. No sooner has Bear begun dragging the logs along than down comes the rain. With three disasters he declares, “Today really is the worst day ever.”
Perhaps Frog can help make him feel better, thinks our ursine friend but as he heads towards Frog’s pond, Bear fails to notice a massive muddy puddle and …

Frog though, is a problem solver: can he solve not one but three problems for his miserable pal? Perhaps with some careful inspection and further consideration.

Come party time, thanks to an extra pair of feet, that important job of Bear’s is completed just in time

and as night falls the woodland animals enjoy a feast around the fire … until it starts to die down. It’s Badger who isn’t pleased at the sudden descent of darkness. However having learnt something from his froggy friend, it’s Bear’s turn to to offer a different perspective. Will it change the others’ viewpoints too?

We all have bad days from time to time and this book is the perfect one to share with young humans on such days to remind them that things aren’t necessarily as bad as they might think. As always Duncan’s text and pictures work in perfect harmony, the former is rich in descriptive language and the latter striking; Bear’s expressions are wonderful and sure to make young audiences both laugh and empathise with the sudden setbacks that befall him.

Bompa’s Insect Expedition

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Bompa’s Insect Expedition
David Suzuki, Tanya Lloyd Kyi and Qin Leng
Greystone Kids

This book was inspired by author David Suzuki’s adventures with his own grandchildren and features twins Nakina and Kaoru who love having adventures with their grandpa. This adventure is a nature expedition and by the time Bompa arrives, the two have amassed everything they might need including Kaoru’s field journal.

As time is short on this particular day, their expedition is an insect search in the area right close to their home. Initially Kaoru is somewhat sceptical about discovering anything new, but there are plenty of surprises and new learning in store.

The two children are both inquisitive and imaginative in their approach as they encounter in turn, a bumblebee, dragonflies, caterpillars of the monarch butterfly, an ants’ nest,

mosquitoes and a lacewing. During their exploration, Bompa imparts a wealth of scientific information, much of it in response to what the twins say, taking every opportunity to encourage and deepen their thinking.

The story ends with the three enjoying a picnic and is followed by a page from Kaoru’s field journal, a peek at the contents of Sakina’s backpack and a final spread with some additional insect facts.

David Suzuki is a renowned scientist/environmentalist and this engaging book is published in partnership with the David Suzuki Institute; his co-author, Tanya Lloyd Kyi, has written numerous books for children. Qin Leng’s watercolour illustrations are a delight, bringing out the intergenerational love between the characters as well as showing details of the fauna and flora of the environment the three explore.

Two Ants Puzzled

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Two Ants Puzzled
Elizabeth Laird and Jenny Duke
Tiny Owl

In this charming interpretation of Rumi’s classic tale with its theme of looking at the bigger picture, Elizabeth Laird sets her tale, told from the ants’ perspective, in the house of a little girl. The title page shows the two ants out exploring, walking in through an open front door and turning the page we see them starting to explore by climbing up the table leg onto a large white sheet of paper whereon the child is drawing. They walk right along her pencil and what they focus on is the tip and the movement of that pencil in her fingers. 

So intently are they looking at the shapes and colours that they slither and slip hither and thither.
When the girl pauses and looks up, the ants start to retreat, ending up on the floor safe and sound – just! 

Unhurt they begin ascending the table leg once again. This time what they see before them is the entire finished picture and included in it are … two ants. Guess who is inspired to be creative now.

Jenny Duke chooses a variety of perspectives for her scenes making them especially effective and intensifying the small drama as it unfolds, and she cleverly imbues the ants with real personalities. Young listeners will also notice that there is a playful black cat watching the action throughout the story.

Peace on Earth

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Peace on Earth
Smriti Halls and David Litchfield
Walker Books

‘Peace on earth … GOOD WILL TO ALL!’ Surely this is something almost all of us long for and with on-going conflict in several parts of the world, this stunning, heartfelt book couldn’t be more timely.

Lyrically written by Smriti Halls and dramatically illustrated by David Litchfield, it presents a story wherein we follow a group of friends who embark on a journey together over land and sea. A journey that starts out full of joyful anticipation and happy camaraderie

but then, lost and afraid, angry words are spoken – hurtful words – that cause distress and pain.

Thereafter it’s hard for the group to -re-establish that former harmony, peace and light. Fortunately though with the will being there, as it is with the friends herein, they find the courage and the inner strength to be peacemakers. I love this scene showing one of the characters bringing an affirming flame towards the others.

Thus, the story ends with a reconciliation that reunites the characters and they go on to share their joy with others as lights shine forth all along the shore line.

With its combination of striking art and deeply felt words (inspired by Luke 2:14), this book needs to be shared and talked about as widely as possible in many different settings from the family to adult meeting places.

Imperfectly Perfect

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Imperfectly Perfect
Perry Emerson and Hoang Giang
Little Tiger

Maria’s day starts badly; she accidentally damages her brother’s favourite book as she’s turning the pages a tad too fast. Robbie is far from pleased, accusing his little sister of ruining the book and stomping off. Needless to say, Maria is upset and in comes a family friend, Bea, with a timely hug. This she follows with a story about the day a bowl she’d given to Maria’s mum broke and was repaired with love and golden glue, making it imperfectly perfect.
Maria remains upset so Bea suggests a cheering up walk. During their saunter Maria looks for other imperfectly perfect things around and about,

and by the time a thunder storm breaks, she’s starting to feel better. As well as seeing beauty in the stormy sky, she has an idea about her brother’s book.

Back at home, Maria and Bea then work together carefully making repairs to Robbie’s precious book.

How do you think he will react when Maria goes to his room with an apology and the book?

A sweet and important story about accepting and embracing imperfections, and making amends, engagingly told and illustrated. Hoang Giang’s illustrations underscore the author’s empowering message about discovering beauty in all manner of unexpected places.

The Most Famous Rhinoceros

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The Most Famous Rhinoceros
Dianne Hofmeyr and Simona Mulazzani
Otter-Barry Books

The inspiration for this moving story reimagined by Dianne Hofmeyr, was Albrecht Durer’s celebrated woodcut print of the rhinoceros sent from India to Portugal in 1515, the woodcut now being housed in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

We read how Princess Beatrix and her sister receive a one-horned animal as a gift from the Sultan of Gujarat, a creature Beatrix hopes will be a unicorn. However she’s disappointed to see standing on the sea shore straight off the ship, a very large bulky beast with a small stubby horn on the tip of its nose. Genda, is what she names the gift. Her father informs her it is a rhinoceros and mounting his stallion, he leads the animal, along with a host of other creatures, the queen and her entourage through the crowds to the palace.

Beatrix has already formed a bond with the rhino and is horrified to hear the following day, the king announcing a fight between the rhino and an elephant to settle a squabble between her two brothers.
From then on she sleeps alongside Genda’s enclosure every night leading up to the combat, a matter she doesn’t tell her new friend about.

However, come the day of the contest, the two animals face one another but no fight ensues, no matter how much enticement the creatures receive.

What will be the fate of Genda? Her brother João demands he be sent away but Beatrix begs that the rhino is returned to India and given his freedom. Not long after a ship sets sail with Genda on board and Beatrix bids her friend a fond farewell but …

Animal lovers horrified at the treatment of creatures such as Genda in this story, sent over vast distances in return for favours from their recipients, will applaud Beatrix’s caring attitude and desire to get this gift sent back from whence he came. Simona Mulazzani’s richly ornate illustrations capture beautifully the period in which the events are set, making the telling even more poignant. They show the contrasting natural beauty of the rhino with the elaborate finery of the human characters and the adornments placed upon Genda for the parade and the fight.

Count the Stars

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Count the Stars
Raewyn Caisley and Gabriel Evans
Walker Books

No matter what young Maddie sees or does, her everyday world is full of mathematical ideas; that’s just how she sees it, thinks about it and loves it. Perhaps it’s the early morning sunlight streaming through her bedroom blinds; then there are those fractions in her piano practice, the symmetry in flowers, the tessellating pattern in the pathway she and Dad make together,

the wealth of opportunities to count things in nature and much more besides.
Almost all the time Maddie is happy and comfortable in how she looks at the world, but very occasionally she notices that it makes her different from her friends – ‘an odd-shaped brick that didn’t fit into the pattern.’ This happens when some friends come to play: whereas Maddie focuses on the mathematical transformations involved in making hats for her dolls,, Grace and Olivia’s only interest is the dolls. Similar when they make cupcakes, her friends are interested in the decorations on the tops, Maddie in contrast, loves measuring out the ingredients.

One day in school when Maddie and her classmates are busy making paper snowflakes, she wishes there was somebody with whom she could share her love of geometry. She doesn’t notice that perhaps there is, in the shape of a new girl, Priya; and for the next few days Maddie feels downcast.

Fortunately though, her perceptive Dad has a surprise in store. That night he organises a night-time playdate with Priya and they pay a visit to the observatory. An unforgettable experience for sure and one that leaves Maddie thinking an absolutely massive, mathematical what if …

From cover to cover and endpaper to endpaper, this is a wonderful, multi-layered book. Apart from being a terrific, superbly illustrated story, it’s overflowing with classroom potential, starting perhaps with a discussion on ways of seeing. I love that it shows how the imagination and creative thinking, and a fascination with facts, can sit side by side, as well as demonstrating the vital importance of notions of what if … as the basis for all new discoveries.

Betty and the Mysterious Visitor

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Betty and the Mysterious Visitor
Anne Twist and Emily Sutton
Walker Books

Every summer Betty visits her grandma in the village of Wobbly Bottom. She loves spending time in the Acorn Hollows, the garden shared by all the residents of Grandma’s terrace. There she delights in the abundance of flora and fauna; there too her gran cultivates various fruits and Betty helps her pick them, make jam and sell it in the local market.

Full of eager anticipation Betty wakes on market day only to discover that overnight the garden has become a muddy mess. However there’s no time to investigate properly before they leave for the market. 

There it’s full of people buying and selling and come teatime all grandma’s jam has been sold so they head home with Betty determined to find out how the Hollows was spoiled.

She watches through the window that night and in the moonlight she spots a large creature thrusting its nose under the fence but in a trice it’s gone.

The following morning Betty’s Grandma says it was probably a badger and that it’s likely to return. Sure enough, over the next few nights the badger comes back, wreaking havoc in the garden. Supposing it gets into Gran’s fruit cage? Time to get working on a creative solution, thinks Betty and she puts together a frightening monster, then lays a trail towards it. 

Wide awake that night, Betty watches and in comes the badger. However, such is the effect of a sudden wind on the monster, that the intruder hastily departs but not before, so Betty thinks, looking directly at her, as if saying farewell.

Grandma is pleased to hear her granddaughter’s account next morning and together the two sit beneath the trees and celebrate with hot chocolate.

Author, Anne Twist’s inspiration for this, her debut picture book, was her own country garden and what a lovely celebration of the natural world it is. It’s also a beautiful celebration of intergenerational love. How brilliantly Emily Sutton’s jewel-like illustrations bring the world of Wobbly Bottom to life; each re-reading will likely reveal fresh details to savour.

I Want A Dog

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I Want A Dog
Jon Agee
Scallywag Press

When a little girl visits Happydale Animal Shelter, she’s determined to come away with a dog. However, while agreeing that a dog is an excellent choice for a pet, the helpful man there has other ideas. He produces in turn, an anteater, a baby baboon, a python, a frog, a goldfish (dead, rather than playing dead). The little girl remains steadfast, and then he brings in what he says is a dog …

Of course, it won’t do and nor will the wombat, the kangaroo or the albatross. With her body language speaking volumes, the child asks ’Do you even have a dog?” Time to admit the truth, so out goes the girl – almost. The persistent man has one more try, asking what makes a dog so special. Having heard her response, he offers something that fulfils all her criteria, although he admits it’s not of the canine kind. Instead he produces Lucinda and it seems to be love at first sight.

Back home go girl and, balanced rather precariously on her pull-along cart, her new pet.

Evidently, as the final spread shows, her parents are happy to accommodate this new addition to the household.

The interaction between the girl and the man at the animal shelter is superb – signature Agee wry humour, coupled with watercolour illustrations rendered in subdued colours (apart from the thick black outlines) and a perfectly paced text that includes a hilarious final twist.

A winner with this reviewer and so will it be with young listeners and beginner readers who will soon be joining in with the girl’s part of the dialogue.

The Shade Tree / Rapunzel

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The Shade Tree
Suzy Lee (translated by Helen Mixter)
Greystone Kids

This is a re-telling of an old Korean folk tale wherein we see how a young traveller tricks a rich but heartless man into selling him the shade from the tree that grows on the latter’s land. The rich man considers he’s made some very easy cash but hasn’t considered the effects of the lengthening shadow of his house as the day progresses.Whatever the shade touches is thus owned by the traveller, and he can share it with whomever he wishes. Furthermore when the shade covers the rich man’s house, the traveller can enter that house, which he does,

eventually causing the wealthy one to move out. Once the house is vacant the traveller settles down and enjoys life as the new resident.

Much of the power of this thought-provoking telling lies in its simplicity, simple too is Suzy Lee’s art; it’s almost abstract in style and uses a limited colour palette to effect. With its dramatic gatefold, this is altogether an unusual book that feels at once both old-fashioned and contemporary. It would probably appeal most to older readers especially those with an interest in folk stories.

Rapunzel
Sarah Gibb
Harper Collins Children’s Books

Sarah Gibb has taken the original classic fairytale and turned it into a visual feast.with a mix of gorgeous silhouettes and delicate, detailed colour illustrations, without losing any of the essential elements of the plot in her simplified telling. We still have the drama: the witch discovering the young husband helping himself to the salad leaves from her garden to cure his ailing wife and his promising to give her the baby when born in return. And romance: the baby Rapunzel becoming a beautiful girl incarcerated in a tower, who is visited by a prince and the two eventually marrying.

Rapunzel’s tower is illustrated in true fairytale style, with turrets and weathervanes, vines and roses
and the contrasting silhouette style prince staggering through the forest having been seriously hurt as a result of his fall from the tower.

Recently reissued with a new cover, I suggest that if you are looking for a highly pictorial version of the fairytale, look no further than Sarah Gibb’s offering.

Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf

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Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf
Craig Barr-Green and Francis Martin
Little Tiger

If you are a teacher, you are likely to realise from the start that Craig Barr-Green’s delightful protagonist and narrator, Gina Kaminstki is neurodivergent.

One morning in school, Gina is finding things a bit ‘rubbish’ and so her TA, Anya, takes her to the peace and quiet of the reading room, says she will read to Gina offering the choice of two books, Little Red Riding Hood or The Big Book of Wolves. Gina picks the former, Anya reads the story. Afterwards our narrator disagrees completely with the tale, declaring, “That girl and the wolf make three big mistakes,” These she decides to fix by paying a visit to fairy tale land.

Duly prepared with a backpack containing breadsticks, her cap and her teddybear, off she goes.into the fairytale. First stop is the home of the mum who duly produces a yummy-looking cake, which she tells Gina to deliver to Granny, giving an excess of information to the child. Then comes ‘Mistake One’ but that is easily rectified: what would you do with a cake? Avoiding making mistake two, she proceeds through the woods, followed by a scary-looking wolf. That’s when the breadsticks come in handy, allowing our protagonist to reach granny’s house, confirm her identity and give her three pieces of information before the lupine arrives on the scene.

When the creature does arrive, Gina tells him of her plan; the wolf acts as per instructions and before you can say, ‘here’s the woodcutter’, off goes Gina, back to the reading room

and thence her classroom. Then it’s a happy ending both for Gina and a certain wolf.

I absolutely loved this; both words and pictures are wonderful. The matter-of-fact telling works SO well – it’s really great for reading aloud – and Francis Martin’s illustrations perfectly capture Gina’s feelings throughout the book, showing so well her spirit of inquiry and propensity for gentle rebelliousness.

Apart from being a splendid story, the classroom potential is massive.

Millie’s Big Decision

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Millie’s Big Decision
Ian Eagleton and Max Rambaldi
Tate

Young Millie has long wanted a dog and as this story begins she’s visiting a dog shelter with her dads. However, each time she’s introduced to a dog she comes up with an excuse as to why it’s not suitable. Even when she sees one that appears to be a strong contender, she says no.

Then we learn that her grandmother has recently died and Millie fears the possibility of becoming attached to another person, or dog, and experiencing loss again. However her patient parents tell her of the wonderful adventures they and a dog could have together and Millie eventually admits what is holding her back. Once more the little girl thinks of the joy a dog could bring and finally, she takes her favourite into her arms

and decides he should be named Oscar; seemingly she’s already opened her heart. to him.
The following week, Oscar joins the family, ‘ready for a new adventure’.

Loss is never an easy subject to discuss with young children, but with Ian’s empathetic, sensitively written story together with Max Rambaldi’s expressive illustrations, this book offers an ideal starting point showing the importance of remembering those we have lost, but also of enjoying the present and looking forward to what the future might hold.

Strongly recommended for family collections and classroom bookshelves.

Wheels: The Big Fun Book of Vehicles

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Wheels: The Big Fun Book of Vehicles
Tom Schamp
Prestel

This book takes readers on both a historical and worldwide journey that explores everything you can think of with wheels and a whole lot more wheel-related ideas from the cycle of life to cheese; now that’s a pretty broad spectrum you might be thinking, but Tom Schamp’s spreads that begin in ‘Antiquity’ and go right through to the future, are absolutely crammed with captioned images and snippets of information. (A few ships have also managed to sneak their way in despite the “No Boats, Wheels Only!’ signs.) 

Schamp begins by stating that nobody knows when, where or by whom the wheel was invented but says that pottery and sculptures have taught us a great deal about wheels in ancient times.
Some forms of wheeled transport have a whole double spread devoted to them: there’s one on stagecoaches, then come carriages, steam-powered trains/trams, bicycles, 

one entitled Otto’s Autos (essentially early cars), motorcycles, ‘woodies’ so called, which were cars made partly from wood, family vehicles (the four-wheeled kind), wheeled machines used to build roads, emergency vehicles, race cars, race bikes, delivery trucks, buses, taxis, (watch out for the cheeky free-riding hay wagon passenger) and limousines. You will find jokes both verbal and visual, word play, as well as eight characters to search for on every spread.

A book to return to over and over – you’ll find new things to enjoy at every reading, – it’s immersive, great fun and with a wealth of learning potential. Did you know that the commercial 3 wheeler, the Piaggio Ape was named after the worker bee? I learned that from this zany large format book.

Include in primary class collections, and family bookshelves if you have children interested in vehicles.

Drew, Moo and Bunny, too

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Drew, Moo and Bunny, too
Owen Sheers and Helen Stephens
Walker Books

In this magical tale three endearing characters, a boy Drew and his companions Moo and Bunny take off on a red rug for an adventure that sees them travelling around the world. They find themselves aboard a pirate ship whereon they encounter Captain Jacqueline (Jack for short) and her piratical crew – a scary meeting if ever there was one.

When they’re confined to the space below deck they are astonished to discover all kinds of caged creatures; these so the captain informs them, have been captured thanks to her ‘rare-o-scope’, an instrument she produces and proceeds to demonstrate how it works. However instead of being impressed, Drew is horrified the animals have been removed from their natural habitats as trophies, ‘rarer than any of the jewels on Earth.’ and increasingly precious. When Drew goes on to mention that he and his friends too have something uniquely special, in the form of their flying rug, the Captain is eager to add it to her treasure collection and tries to take possession of the rug. In so doing she makes a startling discovery causing her to utter a word that’s never before passed her lips. ‘L_ _ E’.

This is a story that ends happily: Drew proffers some wonderfully wise words that have the desired effect on the pirate captain and her crew; and the three adventurers return to the warmth and safety of their bedroom.

With Owen Sheers’ longish poetic text and Helen Stephens’ richly imagined illustrations, this is a wonderful book to share over several bedtimes. The story was inspired by the true story of Drew Barker-Wright, who aged just four, lost his life to paediatric chordoma – a rare form of childhood cancer. Sales from this book go to raise funds for The Drew Barker-Wright Charity

Yippee! Rabbit / Uh-oh! Rabbit / Maisy’s Big Book of Kindness

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These are all Walker Books new titles: thanks to the publisher for sending them for review.

Yippee! Rabbit
Uh-oh! Rabbit
Jo Ham

If you think this rabbit character looks familiar it’s probably because you’ve seen it on merchandise such as mugs and now the same Rabbit stars in two small books for the very young.
Yippee! Rabbit sees the little creature running uphill, kite behind and the words, ‘Rabbit go’. Reaching the hilltop with kite flying, is celebrated by a ‘Yippee!’ However turn over and there’s Rabbit and kite both entangled with a tree.

Further sequences follow a similar pattern and see Rabbit swinging close to another rabbit that is digging veggies from the ground and loading them in a wheelbarrow, going for a scooter ride in the rain and finally in a pattern breaking dash, launching high into the air … bound we know not where.
The endpapers show Rabbit engaging in a range of other activities, some more risky than others. I suspect this will become a winner with little humans as will the companion book.
Uh-oh! Rabbit features two leporine and on the opening spread we first see them on a seesaw with the words ‘Rabbit down’. Turn over and there’s one ‘Rabbit up’, the other blissfully floating along on a blow up unicorn. The next page shows the rabbit from a diving board now in midair ‘Uh-oh!’ – where’s the landing place for ‘Rabbit down’? …

Other sequences show Rabbit ski jumping and then, using a slide, with the same prepositions used in each instance. However the final adventure has a twist and the sliding Rabbit, one assumes will land safely in the larger one’s outstretched paws.

Just right for sharing with the very youngest.

Maisy’s Big Book of Kindness
Lucy Cousins

Kindness makes the world a better place but what does this mean for Maisy and her friends Tallulah, Eddie elephant, Cyril, Charley, Dotty, Little Black Cat and Panda?

First are examples of sharing: Maisy shares her toys, allowing Tallulah to play with Panda; she also shares favourite places – her paddling pool on a hot day, her umbrella when it rains and a favourite book during story time .

Giving is another example and Cyril’s birthday provides the backdrop for lots of giving – Maisy makes him a card, Charley bakes him a cake and both are duly thanked for their kindness.

Caring comes next and we see Maisy and Eddie caring for the plants in the former’s garden; then Daisy and Tallulah co-create a bug hotel. Indeed Daisy cares for lots of farm animals too, making sure they all have sufficient to eat. Extra care is needed when Dotty is hurt by a tumble from her skateboard and helping is needed when Little Black Cat gets stuck in a tree and all the friends help make the barbecue lunch Maisy hosts a success, including finding a way to help the planet.

The final scenario is ‘playing together’ which is rich in opportunities be they a quiet game with turn taking or a riotous musical extravaganza.

Altogether a joyful celebration of kindness to share, talk about and one hopes act upon at home and in early years settings.

Lulu’s Nana Visits

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Lulu’s Nana Visits
Anna McQuinn and Rosalind Beardshaw
Alanna Max

The stories in the Lulu series presenting young children’s experiences are always beautifully done and so it is in this new one, with words and pictures working so well together as one has come to expect from Anna and Rosalind, who always pays careful attention to detail.
Lulu is very excited at the prospect of a visit from her Nana-Bibi and together the little girl and her parents make the necessary adaptions to their sleeping arrangements. When Nana-Bibi arrives, following a rest to revive herself after the long flight, family members share a special welcome dinner.

After this Nana-Bibi unpacks her bags: there’s a surprise present for everybody.


Plans have been made for the visit and the following morning it’s a shopping trip so Nana-Bibi can get some gifts for everyone back home. However, every day is exciting when Nana-Bibi’s around. There’s her cooking, a hair doing session

and more. I love the way cultural traditions are presented and you can almost feel the family’s joy as they share in them.

Perfect for sharing and discussing with preschool children.

Whirly Twirly Me

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Whirly Twirly Me
Manjeet Mann and Amanda Quartrey
Harper Collins Children’s Books

Sometimes children get so overwhelmed by their feelings that they find them impossible to control: so it is for the little girl protagonist in the story Manjeet Mann tells.

From the moment she wakes up, the girl talks of feeling a ‘bit whirly, my insides a bit twirly. my stomach in a knot’ which results in a strop, then a flop and at breakfast time, her elder sister takes the last of her favourite cereal. Hmm! This tangled turmoil continues all the way to school despite Mum promising to replace the cereal but things get even worse. A boy takes her favourite pencil to use, friends play a new game, which she doesn’t understand,

Lola tells her, “You’re no fun” and refuses to play.

Back home, on hearing about their daughter’s anger at school, her parents tell her that it isn’t acceptable to get angry for no reason; but still that whirling twirling persists. Up in her bedroom our narrator is overwhelmed and unable to stop stomping until up comes Mum.

As the two sit together and talk, those knotty feelings begin to dissipate until, reassured by hearing that ‘It’s normal to feel all those feelings,’ … It’s all part of who she is, the child finds a smile, a hug and a way to move forward.

Amanda Quartrey’s illustrations immediately take hold of you, as you follow the progtagonist through her day of small upsetting dramas that mount up and up into something really big.
A good book to start a classroom discussion about emotions.

Albert and the Shed

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Albert and the Shed
Ian Brown and Eoin Clarke
Graffeg

While a thunderstorm rages, Albert decides to take refuge in a garden shed, but as he looks for a cosy place to settle the wind blows the door shut so the tortoise resorts to taking a snooze. When he’s woken by sun however, the door is still shut and he’s not happy. Suddenly he hears the voice of the ant commander telling him how untidy the place is and promising to get help with the door.

It’s not long before a rescue party arrives and with no real plan, a little worm finds itself flying up towards the window, which is also firmly closed. However, he does see Albert looking decidedly nervous on account of all the dangerous objects littering the floor. Meanwhile the ant commander decides he and his fellow ants should come under the door and attempt to open it from the inside: that is not a good idea.

Outside, other door-opening attempts including bombardment are being made,

albeit unsuccessfully; however, what none of the would-be rescuers know is that all the while a little caterpillar has been creeping up the door towards the latch.

Will Albert be free at last? And what about the ant brigade, still stuck fast, and they’re not the only things that remain stuck.

With some hilarious moments – from the reader’s viewpoint, though not the characters herein, this latest Albert story will delight, with its dramatic telling and arresting illustrations.

I Can See Nature’s Rainbow

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I Can See Nature’s Rainbow
Vicky Woodgate
Scholastic


There’s a kaleidoscope of vibrant colours to be found in the natural world and that’s what author/artist Vicky Woodgate celebrates in this book.


Starting with blue, a spread is allocated to each of eleven different colours. Yes we all know that sometimes the sky is blue but did you know that there is a blue daisy and a blue starfish?
Thanks to chlorophyll, there is an abundance of green in nature’s flora; there are also lots of green insects, quite a few birds and animals. Among the snippets of fascinating information is the fact that ‘the world’s heaviest parrot (the kakapo) weighs as much as a brick. You probably won’t be surprised to discover that kakapos don’t fly.
Keep going through the book and you will come upon lots of other things of interest.


Have you ever thought about why there are so few purple animals? You will find the answer on the relevant spread as well as being introduced to several purple bugs, birds, flowers and a peculiar Indian frog that spends just two weeks above ground each year and clucks like a chicken: it’s not surprising I’ve never seen one on my frequent visits to India.


These are just a few of the delights you will encounter as you turn the pages towards the final spreads, one showing rocks and minerals, which explains how they get their unique colouring and the last pages explain what colour is and present some arty activities.

A visual feast for younger primary readers.

Mrs Owl’s Forest School: The Very Big Den / Getting Ready for Autumn

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Mrs Owl’s Forest School: The Very Big Den
illustrated by Seb Braun, written by Ruth Symons
Templar Books

You never know what you will find, if you go down to the woods today, perhaps a forest school in progress.
Herein we join Mouse, Squirrel, Fox and Rabbit in a woodland setting beneath the trees where Mrs Owl holds her forest school. During the process of den building the animals use all their senses to learn about wildlife, both flora and fauna of the surrounding environment, as well as learning an important lesson about friendship and inclusivity. In addition they gain some useful skills such as how to tie knots and how to build a bug hotel. 

Written in consultation with Lizzie Noble, a forest childcare provider with a wealth of experience in running creative, play-based forest school sessions for families, this is a book that may well inspire youngsters to get out into the wild, wonderful world of nature. Seb Braun’s inviting, detailed, richly hued scenes help underscore some of the instructions woven into the narrative and should encourage young children to find and explore their local woodland places and perhaps try their hand at den-building. In my experience, children need little encouragement when it comes to the building of dens.

Getting Ready for Autumn
Kathryn Selbert
Nosy Crow

This seasonal sticker storybook is published in collaboration with the National Trust. Herein readers join a family and friends as they enjoy a range of early autumnal activities. Mum, Dad and two children walk in the woods where the trees now have their rich golden, orange foliage, and they keep their eyes open for woodland creatures such as deer, squirrels and birds. They also spend a fun afternoon apple picking in preparation for some baking and take advantage of windy days to fly kites. 

With the new term about to begin there are the inevitable getting ready activities as the siblings are starting school. On their first day, Grandma comes to meet them and they visit the park to hunt for conkers. As the chillier days arrive, it’s time to put up some bird feeders and with the approach of Halloween, some ripe pumpkins are ready and waiting to be picked. The book concludes with some Halloween activities.

After the narrative come two ‘can you spot’ pages that will send children back to each spread to find the items shown; there are also several pages containing 120+ stickers to add to the relevant spreads.
A useful, book to have to hand as summer ends, especially on a rainy day.

Can You See the Stars Tonight?

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Can You See the Stars Tonight?
Anna Terreros-Martin
David Fickling Books

Most of us are very aware of the need to rein in our use of energy in order to protect the planet, but I suspect that light pollution is not the first thing that springs to mind when the word pollution is mentioned. I live part of my life in a small village near Stroud in Gloucestershire and the other part in suburban outer London: the difference in the number of shining stars visible in the night sky is astounding. Apart from the houses, there are far more street lights, commercial premises lit at night, illuminated advertising etc. in TW12 than in rural Gloucestershire.

Nora the small girl protagonist in Anna Terreros-Martin’s story, enjoys using her telescope and looking at the stars from her bedroom window and she becomes aware that the stars are much less bright than those in her book. She’s remarking about it to Puffin when suddenly a baby puffin – a puffling – comes flying into her room, clearly in a panic. When she goes down to tell her dads, they tell her that it’s the tenth lost puffling that instead of flying out to sea for winter, has flown into the town that week. Why? Nora wants to know.
Dad and Papa suggest they spend the weekend camping on Puffin Island, return the puffing they have and see what is happening on the island.

Once there, with the help of her Papa and Dad, as well as Puffin, Nora learns that pufflings normally use the light of the moon and stars to help them find their way. Then as darkness falls and they sit together under the night sky, Nora realises that light pollution from the town is confusing the little birds.

Back home, determined to find a solution to the issue, she enlists her school friends to join her in making a difference to the amount of artificial light. They make sure all the electric lights are turned off, close the curtains and put up the light shields they’ve made. Now as they look out, it’s clear that the pufflings are flying out to sea, guided by the moon and stars, just as they should be.

An important book that highlights an issue that will be new to many young children. Nora is such an engaging character, let’s hope she is as successful in enlightening and galvanising readers as she is her friends at school.

The Concrete Garden

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The Concrete Garden
Bob Graham
Walker Books

The product of covid times, this story starts with Amanda who lives on the fifteenth floor of an apartment block waiting for the lift down and clutching a large box given to her by her mum. As the doors open we see the lift is filled with other children and once they reach the ground they all spill out into the open air, ‘like sweets from a box.’ Last to emerge is Amanda with her huge box full of coloured chalks. It’s been a long, cold winter but it hasn’t diminished the children’s creative skills. 

First Amanda chooses a green chalk and makes a pattern on the concrete ground. Jackson adds a stalk and it becomes a dandelion. Others add more flowers, a mushroom, a snail slithering on it. Eventually there on the ground is an exotic garden alive with insects, birds and even an alien invader in its spacecraft. Over all of this reigns The Queen of Swirls – Rosie’s idea.

Three days later this wonderful creation becomes the victim of rain; but in the meantime Nasrin, who is missing her mum far off in Iran, captures the concrete creation on her camera and sends the image to her; she passes the image to everybody she knows bringing joy to them too.

Back in their home territory, having received appreciative responses from the apartment residents, 

the children are not bothered by the downpour and its effects and once the rain stops, out they come, Amanda pulling the now empty box. This she tears into pieces and so begins a new inventive activity for her and her pals.

Two good things that re-emerged during the pandemic were community spirit and the ability to find joy in the simple things in life: the latter Bob Graham allows the diverse children (not forgetting the dog) he drew in this story to show us all. His mixed media images of the children and their chalk creations bejewel the pages of the book making it a joy from beginning to end.

Ten-Word Tiny Tales

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Ten-Word Tiny Tales
Joseph Coelho and various illustrators
Walker Books

When explaining how the twenty stories in this book came about, poet and current Children’s Laureate, Joseph Coelho tells readers, ‘these are not cutesy tales – these are tales of teeth and claws!’ Despite their seeming simplicity, each of these fragmented story bits imply a more elaborate story and to this end, Joseph invited twenty artist friends to provide an illustrative interpretation, each one bringing a unique style to the enterprise. The resulting double-page spreads, through the interplay of words and pictures, are in turn mysterious, surreal, inexplicable or downright sinister.

For instance Nahid Kazemi portrays a moment of serenity as Grandma slumbers in her favourite chair while one of her plants – the Venus flytrap – edges ever closer to the blissfully unaware sleeper.
Equally disquieting is Thea Lu’s interpretation of ‘The X-rays reveal writing etched onto all of my bones.


Meanwhile Flavia Z. Drago’s dining table scene combines touches of the dark humour of cartoonist Charles Addams with Magritte in her dining table scene; and look how Shaun Tan plays with scale in this enormously unsettling rural scene.

No matter where you open the book however, you are likely to find something to spark your imagination. To facilitate that Joseph offers several drawing and writing prompts to inspire and motivate children to extend the tales with ‘new beginnings, endings and middles’. What he says in ‘Take Your Pen on a Journey’ is what one hopes ,all teachers would be doing in the classroom.

A real treasure box this, with endless potential for creativity both at home and in school.

Space Pirate Bears

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Space Pirate Bears
Alastair Chisholm and Jez Tuya
Walker Books

Wet weather, two bored children and a Dad busy working are the starting points for this wildly inventive tale. It’s Dad that does most of the inventing with tragedy in the form of a black hole, a Sniffle attack, a possible wave of alien broccoli, being averted. But there’s also the dreaded Doctor Drab whose aim in life is to turn the entire universe as dull as he is, by means of his terrifying Boron Beam. A hit from said weapon’s beam drained every scrap of fun out of the galaxy 

but there was somebody who just might with help, repel those forces of dullness and that was Princess Leonora and her heroic, multi-skilled, Space Pirate Bears.

At this point in Dad’s story, the two children, Jamie and Abby intervene and have a squabble about the direction it should take. 

Can they come to an agreement that puts paid to the Dok’s dastardly Boron Beam, leaving the Space Pirates to reign supreme and thus, the world able to revert to a place of fun?

A place of fun is an apt description for what is between the covers of this book. Both Alastair Chisholm’s words and Jez Tuya’s pictures epitomise the delights of story making, the former providing a humorous, twisting turning, action-packed adventure for the latter to play around with in his inventive scenes. A smashing book, especially for Dads to share with their offspring: inspired by the family in the story. Who knows what wild storytelling adventures of their own might result?

Ready for the Spotlight!

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Ready for the Spotlight!
Jaime Kim
Walker Books

The younger sibling and narrator of this story, Tessie, envies her older sister for always being in the spotlight at their ballet classes, despite the fact that Tessie has been learning for just a month. Tessie however believes in herself: she’s better than everyone save Maya. Maya danced the Lilac Fairy in last year’s performance of Sleeping Beauty, wore a crown and received three bouquets of flowers.

Mum reassures her younger daughter that with as much experience as Maya, she’ll shine just as bright. Nevertheless, Tessie wants to be the best now, and her jealousy grows. Then come auditions for the autumn show in which she dearly wants to wear that crown. When it’s time for the freestyle, Tessie’s favourite: in this she excels, saying “No rules. No pointed toes. Who needs lessons when you have rhythm?”

Surely this will be sufficient for her to get that lead role. But no, it’s Maya who will be the princess, Tessie and two others are to be bumblebees.

That night back at home. Tessie is angry with her sister, refusing to teach her freestyle dancing because, “You stole my crown.”

Sisterly love saves the day as Maya tells her sister, “You don’t need a crown to be a good dancer.”, and goes on to say that she too had started out as a bumblebee. From then on the sisters practise together, Maya teaching Tessie jumping and balancing, and Tessie teaching her sibling freestyle and grooviness. Come performance day, it turns out two can share the spotlight and receive armfuls of bouquets.

Throughout this tale of personal growth, jealousy and tender sibling bonds, it’s Tessie and her emotions that take centre stage in Jaime Kim’s splendidly expressive illustrations for her story, which is based on her own childhood experiences with ballet and her little sister.

Bears Don’t Share!

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Bears Don’t Share!
Lorna Scobie
Scholastic

With winter fast approaching Bear and Squirrel are having a discussion about the long sleep Bear is soon to have and Squirrel suggests his friend should go with him to find some food. Off they go and soon both animals have found berries. Guess who eats them all. “Save some for me please!” begs Squirrel, “Sharing is caring, you know!” to which Bear responds, “Bears Don’t share!”. The same thing happens when they find nuts – Squirrel’s favourite food. Bear scoffs the lot. He also consumes the carrot, apples, pizza and ice cream without sharing a single morsel.

Eventually the two come upon a picnic laid out on a cloth. This, Squirrel says, is ideal for sharing. Bear however proceeds to stuff sandwiches, smoothies, jelly, cookies and veggie sausage rolls before noticing an enormous cake.

Now Squirrel is at the begging stage and Bear is just about to swallow the entire thing when she notices Squirrel. A funny feeling comes upon the ursine character: what do you think she does next?
Come the spring what will Squirrel do with his stash of berries, seeds and cake?

With a fun final twist, this is a delicious story to share especially during autumn days: I love the expressions on the faces of the two main characters. I suspect some young children will be horrified at what they consider to be Bear’s greed, but in the final spread – Winter in the Wild – the author explains that Bear isn’t really being selfish, just consuming sufficient to get him through the period of hibernation.

When Cookie Crumbled

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When Cookie Crumbled
Michelle Robinson and Tom Knight
Scholastic

Author Michelle Robinson and illustrator Tom Knight seem to have a special propensity to create books with food characters. Their latest stars a cookie named Michael; all the other characters herein are also cookies but Michael is a cookie with a difference. he doesn’t want to match all the rest with their circular, beige spottiness. Instead he likes to sport sprinkles, sweets, have a spicy aroma or even cut a dash with a splash of strawberry jam or chocolate sauce. “Fall in line,” the others tell him.

Eventually he becomes thoroughly dejected, almost at breaking point. “Why can’t I be myself?’ he wants to know. Having one last go at individuality and receiving negative reactions all round, poor Michael crumbles, scattering crumbs every which way.

But then, he listens to what his heart is telling him and he reaches for the tube of icing.

What will the reaction of all the other cookies be?

With Michelle’s highly engaging rhyming text and Tom’s dramatic, laugh-inducing illustrations, this mouth-watering tale celebrates difference, being oneself, acceptance and understanding. Take pride in who you are is it’s vital message.

The Princess and the (Greedy) Pea

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The Princess and the (Greedy) Pea
Leigh Hodgkinson
Walker Books

Take a popular children’s song and a favourite fairy tale, play around with those key ingredients then mix them together and the result is this clever and very funny new fairy story.

It begins with a ravenous pea that becomes the subject of a new take on ‘There was an old lady who swallowed a fly’, but now said pea does the swallowing and what he swallows is a Brussels sprout. Don’t ask me how a tiny spherical object managed to gulp down a considerably larger, similarly shaped one but that’s how this story goes.

Now this pea just happens to have found the delicacy among the feast laid out on the table of a royal residence and not content with the sprout, this pea goes on to stuff himself with soup, bread, pie, a fancy cake, pickle

and cheese. Having slurped, munched, wolfed, gobbled, noshed and guzzled all of this, our pea feels the need for a cuppa; you can guess what he needed after that. You’re probably thinking he had not a tincy wincy scrap of space left for more but if so, you’re wrong: despite an apparent lack of teeth, into pea’s mouth goes the chomped up table. Serve him right if he suffers from a terrible stomach ache, but instead , off come pea’s shoes and up the stairs he goes for a snooze beneath the stack of mattresses on a four-poster bed. ZZZZZZ

Now comes the fairy tale princess with a very grumpy expression on her face and a very rumbly tummy. Into the bed she climbs and having spent a considerable amount of time tossing around on account of both lack of food and a lumpy bumpy bed, out she tumbles. What do you think she says as she hits the floor? …

Leigh Hodgkinson’s playful, patterned illustrations that complement her text so well, have plenty to amuse. Pea’s expressions are splendid as he relishes every morsel of the meal; so too are those of the royal moggy and the princess. A delicious offering from beginning to end, but for those familiar with the inspirations for the tale, it will taste even better.

Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: Train Trouble

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Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: Train Trouble
Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton
Nosy Crow

It’s almost impossible to believe that this is the tenth anniversary of the robbers turned bakers/cum mystery solvers, Shifty and Sam. Now the delightful dogs are off to bake on the deluxe train, The Pawrient Express, destination Venice for Carnival Night.

Little do the duo know but their old adversary, Kitty Claw, is also aboard the train ,masquerading as a porter. However just as the pooches have served supper – of their very highest quality of course –

out go the lights and there comes a cry, “I think we’ve been robbed!”. That’s when they realise the identity of the thief.

The chase is on; but manipulating a gondola through the carnival crowded canals is difficult as they pursue Kitty on water, and then on paws through the city square

and even through the air. But can the dogs retrieve the stolen gems and will they be able to apprehend the criminal?

Tracey’s rhyming text bounces along in the jaunty fashion one has come to expect of this smashing series and Steven’s illustrations are as delicious and zesty as ever, whether or not they include any actual confectionery items.

An action-packed read aloud that fans will relish, and if you’ve yet to savour their canine capers, you are sure to be wanting more.