Category Picture Books

Violet’s Tempest

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Violet’s Tempest
Ian Eagleton and Clara Anganuzzi
Lantana Publishing

There’s a change in Violet’s world: what was once her giggly voice is now a whisper. Consequently when Mr Newland, her teacher, casts her as the mischievous Ariel in the school play, she’s beset by nerves and worries – suppose people laugh at her?

Back home, Violet’s loving, empathetic Nan offers her support and encouragement,

so too do her uncle Tony and his partner Uncle Sebastian.

Meanwhile the rehearsals continue apace at school where her teacher too is supportive and suggests Violet tries to imagine how Ariel would feel trapped and unable to escape.

The weeks pass and the day of the performance of The Tempest draws ever closer, with Nan continuing to inspire and embolden Violet as she practises her lines. Then comes the dress rehearsal: “Violet … think about how Ariel will feel once they’re free” Mr Newland tells her. The girl breathes deeply reminding herself of her Nan, and beginning with a whisper, starts playing her part.

When the big night arrives, Violet is beset by the inevitable racing heart and turbulent tummy but nonetheless as she steps out onto the stage, something amazing, indeed magical happens: Violet feels at peace with herself as Ariel

gliding and swooping across the stage and suddenly her voice changes from a soft whisper to a wonderful roar, much to the delight of her family and doubtless everyone else.

This is a wonderfully warm story of facing up to and over-coming your fears, as well as the power of a supportive family. Clara Anganuzzi’s sensitive illustrations capture effectively the characters’ feelings, making this book one to share and discuss with children either in the classroom or at home. (Despite how he looks in the story, I can’t help but think the author and teacher Ian Eagleton would be just as empathetic as Violet’s class teacher in a similar situation).

The Tiny Woman’s Coat

jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Tiny Woman’s Coat
Joy Cowley and Giselle Clarkson
Gecko Press

This is a heart-warming autumnal tale of need and kindness.

A tiny woman shivering in the chilly wind wants a coat, a coat she resolves to make herself. There might be something of a problem though, for she lacks the necessary tools and materials with which to do the job.

However, happily for her, there are plenty of offers from things natural. The autumn trees provide leaves – ‘Rustle, rustle, rustle.’ Then a grey goose offers its beak in lieu of scissors and ‘Snip, snip, snip’ the leaves are cut into a body and sleeves.

A porcupine’s generosity takes the form of one of its quills

but then this needs to be threaded with something suitable.

A friendly horse provides the thread and then all that’s needed is a means of fastening the garment. The three buttons are seeds given by the ‘wild wet weeds’ and finally hurrah! Out to face the storm, ‘snug as a bug in a rug’ goes the tiny woman clad in her new warm coat of kindness.

Simply constructed and written, Joy Cowley’s folksy story is sheer delight to share and also, with its repeat patterned text, ideal for beginning readers. sheer delight too, and the perfect complement for the text, are Giselle Clarkson’s detailed illustrations with their gentle humour, autumnal hues and close observation of the natural world.

We’re Going Places

jillrbennett Leave a comment

We’re Going Places
Mick Jackson and John Broadley
Pavilion Children’s Books

After their terrific debut picture book While You’re Sleeping, author Mick Jackson and illustrator John Broadley pair up again and the result is another exciting, engrossing book, this one being somewhat more philosophical than the first.

Travel and journeying is the theme here and through Jackson’s playfully poetic narrative and Broadley’s meticulously detailed scenes, readers follow a child’s development from adult dependence, through those first unstable steps, to assured confident strides out and about, then onto wheels – ‘tricycles, bicycles, skateboards, roller skates’.

More and more possibilities open up – perhaps a trip in a hot air balloon, or something that needs to be done speedily such as a train ride to somewhere exciting – another country even.

Some journeys however are meant to be done slowly, slowly, allowing plenty of time for pausing to watch and ponder upon the host of other creatures that, while they might be part of your particular journey, are also undertaking their own, some on foot, others on the wing such as bumblebees or migrating birds.

It might be that a journey is seasonal, on a frozen river for instance; or that of a bee ‘bumbling from blossom to blossom’ (love that alliteration); it could even be made by something inanimate such as a raindrop on a window pane.

There have always been divergent thinkers who like to try doing things differently and in this ever-changing world of ours, what seemed once impossible will one day be part and parcel of everyday.

With choices to be made and a wealth of possible ways to go, none of us can ever be absolutely sure of the twists and turns our life will take.

However one thing that’s almost certain is that as people grow old, their journeys will likely be much slower, and less confident perhaps, almost as though we’ve come full circle, with what’s past always there, deep within.

There’s an absolute wealth of texture and pattern, as well as potential stories on every spread, so that readers will undoubtedly find themselves pausing on their journey through the book, adults possibly pondering upon their own life’s journey past, present and future, perhaps like the grandmother sitting in a chair, shown on the final spread.

Assuredly this is a book to return to over and over with the likelihood of new questions and fresh understanding emerging on each reading.

The Visible Sounds

jillrbennett 1 Comment

The Visible Sounds
Yin Jianling and Yu Rong (translated by Filip Selucky)
UCLAN Publishing

This is the powerfully affecting picture book, based on the true story of Chinese dancer Lihua Tai. It tells of MiLi, who as a little girl of two, suffers an illness and loses her hearing as a result. Initially frustrated, anxious, and alone in her world of silence, MiLi uses tears to express how she feels. Doctors are unable to cure her but then one day MiLi realises that although she’s unable to hear sounds, she is able to perceive them in other ways: sound can be felt within, touched, and seen through understanding and interpreting vibrations and movements in the world.

The author expresses the child’s realisation through a plethora of sensory musical phrases: ‘Sounds are waves when fish pass through water, like the lightest of kisses.’ … ‘Sound is the bright sunshine flowing into one’s blood, beaming with rays.’ … ‘Language is a river, flowing and flooding into MiLi’s body.’ … ‘The beautiful music jiggles in her blood. It doesn’t have a sound, but it shines with colours and emotions …’

Perfectly complementing the beauty of the text are Yu Rong’s illustrations with their synthesis of striking graphic style, detail and blending of colours and greyness.

This is a book, that with themes of aiming high and being our very best selves,

while offering a message of hope to differently abled youngsters, surely speaks to us all. It concludes with a note on sign language and a page about Tai Lihua.

A must have for schools, and for family collections.

Cindergorilla

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Cindergorilla
Gareth P. Jones and Loretta Schauer
Farshore

Readers of this blog will probably know that I am a great enthusiast of fairy tale spin-offs so long as they’re done well, as is the case with Gareth P. Jones and Loretta Schauer’s follow-up to Rabunzel, another in The Fairytales for the Fearless series.

Star of the show in this story is jungle dwelling Cindergorilla. Cinder lives with her mean Aunt Linda and cousins Gertrude and Grace, who spend much of their time bossing her about.

Despite this Cinder manages to remain upbeat by turning her chores into funky dance moves: Her broom becomes an object with which to boogie, she moonwalks with her mop, twirling as she tidies and accompanying her washing up with her wiggliest waggles. Oh how she would love to go to the weekly Disco Ball, but her aunt vetoes her every chance.

Then one Saturday there’s much ado in their household as the cousins discuss their potential chances of becoming the next partner of Disco Prince Travis. Needless to say, they scoff at Cinder as they leave her alone with just a list of tasks to be done.

Enter with a RAZZA-MATANG an orangutan, her Hairy Godmother no less, who, with a deft wand flick, transforms Cinder into a sparkly disco diva, leaving her with a slightly different warning from the traditional midnight: “Be home before sunrise” she instructs.

Off goes Cinder, slightly on edge as she steps onto the dance floor but there’s no love at first sight episode when she and Travis meet. Said Disco Prince is egocentricity personified. Or should that be gorilla-ified? Impressed by her moves, he merely tells her she’s to dance with him for the rest of the ball.

Come the first rays of morning sun, Cinder remembers what she’s been told by her Hairy Godmother and tells her partner she must leave right away, his response being the self-centred, “But you haven’t seen my best move yet!”
Nonetheless Cinder makes a hasty exit leaving behind a single shoe and Travis determined to find it’s owner’s whereabouts.

Which he does – eventually, much to the surprise of Cinder’s relations. Seems that now, Travis is ready to offer a somewhat better deal. But is it one Cinder will accept?

Now that would be telling and I’ll leave it to the story creators, merely adding that like most fairytales, there is a happily ever after ending – of sorts – rendered in song.

This terrific tale of resilience and empowerment is huge fun and a smashing read aloud. I love the way Gareth’s narrative is sprinkled with alliterative phrases and breaks into rhyme from time to time. Equally good fun are Loretta’s funny, funky scenes of the action in which she portrays all the characters with real gorilla-alities.

Destined to become a story-time favourite for sure.

Captain Cuddles

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Captain Cuddles
Maudie Powell-Tuck and Julio Antonio Blasco
Little Tiger

There’s a new superhero on the block: step up Captain Cuddles. This clever canine, with his cape, mask and ginormous pink pants, is capable of the most amazing feats of heroism including turning baddies into goodies, merely with the power of a single hug. Don’t believe it? : well we all appreciate the power of a hug, having had to do without hugging during the worst of pandemic times.

There’s one singularly evil baddie however, that definitely has no intention of letting herself be embraced by the Captain and that is Wicked Flea. Said dastardly creature has a plan tucked beneath her wings and is about to unleash it in the name of all that’s bad.

She lures Captain Cuddles into a rocket on the pretext of someone within being in desperate need of a hug. The next thing he knows, our hugs hero is heading off into the depths of space, trapped within that space craft leaving the earth clear for all its baddies, like it or not to revert to their former pre-hug ways under the leadership of WF herself.

Or so she expects, for they’re not so easily persuaded as she thinks.

Captain Cuddles converts have a plan of their own but they appear to have reckoned without the wiliness of Wicked Flea.

What will win out: Team Huggers and their healing embrace or Teeny Team Flea? Or, maybe it it could even turn out to be a win-win situation … I wonder.

With cut away pages, flaps to explore and speech bubbles aplenty, this zany tale is full of dramatic moments brought into being through Blasco’s flattened images of the unlikely cast of characters and the lively text.
Superhero stories are very popular with young listeners and I have a feeling Captain Cuddles will join their number.

What the Elephant Heard

jillrbennett Leave a comment

What the Elephant Heard
Charlotte Guillain and Sam Usher
Welbeck Publishing

Charlotte Guillain tells this rhyming non-fiction story from the viewpoint of a young elephant that lives on the African savannah with her herd.

We learn of the wisdom and knowledge of the narrator’s grandmother always able to find water just like the grandmothers before her. Those that could tell of roaring lions, zebra herds and the activities of humans with their smoke belching machines,

their aeroplanes and their cars bringing tourists.

Worse than all those though, are the sounds of buzzing, whining tree destroying monsters that carried the felled trees off to people in towns,

and then that tragic shot from a poacher’s gun which killed the young elephant’s own father.

Now, as Sam Usher’s watercolour illustration shows, with the land dusty and parched, the herd awaits the welcome sounds of thunder and rain. With Grandma as leader, they lumber across the denuded savannah in the hope that once more, their leader wiii be successful in locating a waterhole …

After the elephant has finished speaking, come three prose spreads, the first giving basic information about elephants, their features and habits, the second discusses the work of elephant rescue teams and wildlife rangers and the third presents worrying facts about the declining numbers of elephants and some ways in which humans can help support these amazing creatures.

Equally lyrical in their own way as Charlotte’s words, are Sam Usher’s scenes of both the beauty and the harshness of the elephants’ environment over time and place. Altogether a heartfelt and timely presentation of pachyderm plight and majesty.

Witch In Training

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Witch in Training
Michelle Robinson and Briony May-Smith
Walker Books

Following their Tooth Fairy in Training, Michelle and Briony present another trainee this time in the form of a little witch.

We meet the young narrator as the final preparations for her training are, with her mum’s help, being made. Off they zoom on broomsticks to obtain all that’s necessary for her very first potion, Magic Stew.

First come the sky ingredients,

after which it’s down to Monster Town for wood-related supplies.

Next stop is a tomb for further slightly gruesome requirements, but the list still isn’t all ticked off: the final visit is a sub-aquatic rendezvous.

Then, full of excitement back home young Betty, hands duly washed, starts brewing with a wave of her wand, some magic words and . …

Uh- oh! in goes an additional ingredient that was not on that list and whoops! What has become of kitten, Pumpkin Patch?

Can Betty brew another potion and save the day? (or rather the night) … Well maybe – or almost …

Told in Michelle’s magical rhyming text and Briony’s wonderful scenes of moonlit ingredient gathering and spelling, create their own brand of enchantment that youngsters will delight in becoming a part of when the book is shared.

Perfect for a run-up to Halloween story time, or indeed, any other time.

My Beautiful Voice

jillrbennett Leave a comment

My Beautiful Voice
Joseph Coelho and Allison Colpoys
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

From the duo who created the hugely moving If All the World Were… comes an inspirational story about finding your voice, literally as well as metaphorically.

Joseph Coelho’s narrator is a shy child who doesn’t talk at school, that is until a flamboyant, understanding new teacher, poetry lover Miss Flotsam, wields her transformative magic in the classroom.

She starts by sharing stories of her adventures, then moves on to sharing stories from books

and then the very personal form of her own poetry; and little by little one shy child begins to unleash that inner creativity we all have if only there’s somebody to nurture it.

A poem begins to form on the page, line by line and eventually, judging when the time is right, Miss Flotsam proffers its author an invitation to share that poem with the class …

With poet and playwright Joseph’s heartwarming, highly empathetic text and Allison’s superb, powerful illustrations of creativity at work,

with their splashes of neon-bright colour that capture so well the feelings of the two main characters, this is a perfect book to foster empathy in children. They’ll surely respond to the inherent themes of courage, resilience and determination in this heartfelt story of unlocking a child’s potential.

Every youngster deserves to have at least one teacher like the one portrayed here, during their early years of education.

Rock and Roll

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Rock and Roll
Hazel Terry
Tiny Owl

The book reminded me slightly of Michael Foreman’s classic picture book The Two Giants.

Meet two boulders Rock and Roll, the former stands flat, the latter stands tall and so it has been in the mountains for countless years with both of them awestruck by the world’s magnificent beauty no matter the season, or be it day or night. 

Both are proud of how long they’ve’ stood and of the visual evidence of their endurance.

Then one fateful day everything changes: people come to visit Rock and Roll, delighting them and bringing them such gifts as flags, piles of small stones and necklaces of bunting. 

That is at first, but then each rock begins to resent the new adornments given to the other. Roll moans to the wind making unkind comments about Rock’s colourful flags: Rock in turn, talks to a cloud complaining about Roll’s crown and saying callous things.

Consequently wind and cloud become upset, bashing into one another and arguing about ‘their’ respective boulders.

A vicious storm of thunder and lightning strikes the boulders sending them hurtling down the mountainside breaking apart as they go.

Eventually all that remains of Rock and Roll are small pieces of detritus. With all those arguments having rolled far away, happiness comes in their place and with it, a sharing of the things that precipitated the fallout.

Not only is Hazel Terry’s debut picture book a thought-provoking fable with themes of jealousy and its consequences, and being in harmony with the self, with awesome fossil prints on every page, it’s a thing of real beauty. It truly celebrates the marvels of the natural world: indeed I was out with two young relations who were staying with us last week and one of the things that most excited them was discovering fossils in a Cotswold stream not far from my home. I can’t wait to show them this gorgeous book and to share it much more widely.

When I’m Big

jillrbennett Leave a comment

When I’m Big
Ella Bailey
Flying Eye Books

In an ancient forest a small, single egg hatches, from it emerging a weeny dinosaur, Fern by name. Having surveyed her surroundings she deduces that she’s no bigger than the smallest fern frond.

Pondering upon the question of what she’d be like when she’s big, she spies a massive dinosaur gobbling the leaves of the trees towering above her. A bite of one of the leaves doesn’t tingle her taste buds so off she goes to investigate further. Next stop is a clearing but the loud honking of a dinosaur herd there sends her searching for a more peaceful place.

So what about the river? Could she be a subaquatic dinosaur perhaps? Not with a body like hers seemingly …

Fern keeps wandering and searching for a dinosaur that might perhaps be her like her grown up self, but none of the pointy horned ones, those with bumpy armour on their backs, nor the feathered kind feel right for her. Will she ever know: maybe she’ll not be big at all.

Feeling thoroughly downcast she bumbles on till all of a sudden there in front of her is something she recognises:

Fern has come full circle but something has changed …

A realisation dawns: whatever the future holds, it’s a matter of wait and see …

A sweet, warm story of finding a place in the world and being content in the here and now, prehistoric style.

Youngsters will delight in the telling, the gorgeous illustrations and exploring the back endpapers, which will send them back to the beginning of the book for a re-read to search for fourteen dinosaurs Ella has depicted thereon.

Hooves or Hands?

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Hooves or Hands?
Rosie Haine
Tate Publishing

Following her debut picture book, It Isn’t Rude to be Nude, author/illustrator Rosie Haine invites readers to ponder on the possibilities that being a pony instead of a human might offer.

Taking by turn a series of parts of a pony’s anatomy – hooves, legs, face, hairy parts and then moving onto topics such as pooing, movement, diet and mode of communication, she presents the alternative equine /human scenarios starting with the title hands or hooves, followed by being four or two legged, having a long or short face, possessing a mane, tail, forelock and fetlocks or not, pausing for a dump wherever you are or having to hold on,

galloping or running, whether or not your bum is furry,

whether you dine on a variety of foods or have to stick to hay and whether you utter words or a neigh (yes the text does rhyme).

The key question is ‘… would you rather be a pony or a person?’ Which would bring more fun? There’s even the prospect of being both. The key thing however, is individual choice and making the most of what you choose.

Playful, clever, quirky and thought-provoking.

Share this in a classroom and you might find children trying their own versions using a different animal of their choosing.

The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess

jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess
Tom Gauld
Templar Books

This is a whimsical, truly magical neo fairy tale that begins as often fairy tales do with a king and queen ruling happily, from their hilltop castle; but they are childless.

One night both husband and wife decide to try and change that: the king consults the royal inventor; the queen pays a visit to a clever witch living in the woods.

Inventor and witch set to work right away, the former using her best tools to fashion a tiny intricate robot, the latter uses her deepest magic on a log and from it conjures a perfect little living log princess.

All family members love one another and the siblings spend their days playing happily but they share a secret: by night the princess reverts to her log form and is only woken by her brother’s incantation of “Awake, little log, awake.”

One morning though, the princess is left alone in bed sleeping and catastrophe – she is tossed out of the window by a maid and ends up rolling away toward the village.

Her brother gives chase only to discover she has been sold to a barge captain taking a cargo of logs to the Frozen North. Unhesitatingly to rescue her, he boards the barge as it sails away and eventually his search is rewarded. Then it’s time to begin the arduous journey home, a journey that is so full of hazards and adventures that the hero’s parts wear right out.

But not before he’s uttered the magic words, brought the princess back to life and recounted all that’s happened.
Words of forgiveness are spoken, then it’s her turn to take charge of the situation and she bravely steps up.

The princess too has many adventures, with obstacles to overcome, not the least being her increasing tiredness. Fighting sleep she trudges on until she can go no further and …

Will they ever reach home? Well, this is a fairytale that began, as many do, ‘There once lived a king and queen …’ so as readers will be hoping, it does end ‘and they all lived happily ever after.’ Before that though, there’s a further sequence of selfless acts of kindness, a witch encounter and yet more kindness.

There is a tremendous amount to love about this book, not least being the wonderful montages of both heroes’ adventures. Then there’s Tom Gauld’s artistic style with its textures, well-chosen colour palette and the wealth of delightful details that start on the front endpapers and continue throughout the book, adding further depth to the text, while his portrayal of characters be they key protagonists or bit part players, are an absolute delight.

A cracking book to get lost in, time and again, whether you share it with one child, several or a whole class.

Lily Takes A Walk

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Lily Takes a Walk
Satoshi Kitamura
Scallywag Press

Kitamura is most assuredly in playful mode as he presents what happens when young Lily, accompanied by her dog, Nicky goes shopping for her mother.

While intent on buying at the market stalls she fails to notice the post box with it’s sharp-toothed mouth but her dog sees.

He sees further scary or startling things – the tunnel entrance with pointy teeth and staring street lamp eyes and threatening monsters at every turn, while she is aware only of the Dog Star in the sky, Mrs Hall knitting at her window, bats all a-flitter and birds on the canal.

Then finally at the last corner wafts the smell of her supper cooking.

Back home while consuming same with her parents, Lily smilingly tells what she’s seen on her walk, while thought bubbles around Nicky reveal what he might describe were he able to speak.

There’s a final gatefold that opens to reveal yet another thoroughly unpleasant experience for the dog of which Lily, eyes closed, is blissfully unaware.

The juxtaposition of child and dog’s divergent perceptions of the same journey taken together is done with Kitamura’s genius mix of the real and surreal; thus making this book an experience to savour and return to for several further excursions.

It’s fantastic to see Scallywag Press publishing this new edition of a modern classic.

The ABC Factor

jillrbennett Leave a comment

The ABC Factor
Katrina Charman and Tony Neal
Farshore

If you’re looking for a smashing alphabet book that’s also a hilarious story then look no further: Katrina Charman and Tony Neal’s presentation is huge fun and highly original. So without further ado let’s join Stick Insect in his search for stardom in Dog’s Amazing ABC. This entails participating in an audition to determine that special ‘difference’

that is Dog’s criterion for inclusion: none of your ordinary bears or cats will do for judges Dog, her illustrator Pony and guest judge Lion.

As the auditioning gets under way it’s obvious that they’re a pernickety lot: Stick Insect’s attempt to justify selection for B (bug) is instantly deemed “boring!” and he tries again for H failing to impress a second time (can you guess what he called himself that time?) and clearly common or garden “insect” isn’t going to cut it.

On go the proceedings somewhat speedily and with the occasional dispute.

Surely though he has to be the choice for his initial S but no – something sleepy is selected ‘zzzzzz’.

The selection process draws dangerously close to the end of the alphabet as the judges zoom through V, W, X and Y. Stick Insect has one last attempt giving it all he’s got …

Youngsters will definitely give star marks to author Katrina and illustrator Tony for this book – it’s definitely a winner for me.

Poultrygeist

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Poultrygeist
Eric Geron and Pete Oswald
Walker Books

With a touch of the macabre, this is a deliciously dark tale that begins before the title page, with a chicken crossing the road – as chickens do – to get to the other side. Only the result of this one so doing is that it’s splatted against the front of a huge tractor-trailer becoming a ghostly version of its former self.

The next thing the creature knows is that it’s greeted by a host of other animal ghosts informing it of its new status as the titular Poultrygeist and ordering the erstwhile ‘spring chicken’ to start acting scarily – like a ‘foul, fowl’ no less.

Despite haunting not really being the chicken’s thing, the now featherless creature ends up frightening its fellow phantoms.

(It does though give a nod to readers/listeners to make sure they’re not similarly scared at any point.)

With its hilarious finale, this has just the right amount of scariness for most youngsters, thanks in no small part to Pete Oswald’s superb artistry. His use of colour for the ghosty animals against a black background is brilliantly done with the spoken part of the text corresponding in colour to the speaker and that revelation of the poultrygeist’s scariest possible, ‘not even scary’ face is show-stoppingly superb.

When I See Red

jillrbennett Leave a comment

When I See Red
Britta Teckentrup
Prestel

The child protagonist in Britta Teckentrup’s study of anger feels her fury as a gushing, twisting, twirling swirling roaring dragon that then morphs into a raging tornado as it rumbles and crashes. She bellows, booms and hollers as she roams the world seawards becoming that sea rider proud, bold and absolutely in control as she traverses the world.

Too long has she held back before pouring forth her torrent

but once she’s given vent to all that’s inside, it’s time to move forward leaving rage behind. Now storm spent, there’s a sense of freedom:

there’s a new and powerful force that comes with inhaling deeply and slowly. Let another journey commence with calmness and positivity.

The girl’s wild ride encompasses so many facets of anger, both negative and positive: she feels alone and isolated, engulfed and thoroughly overwhelmed, alarmed, perhaps frightened of the power of her emotions; on the other hand that power can be transformed into a force for good, a vehicle for changing from within.

Through her dramatic paintings, and words relating to earth and the elements, Britta portrays an emotional journey that offers youngsters both an affirmation of, and an opening to talk about their own feelings of anger. It couldn’t be more timely especially with all that everyone has gone through over the last eighteen months.

Let’s Save Antarctica

jillrbennett 1 Comment

Let’s Save Antarctica: Why We Must Protect Our Planet
Catherine Barr and Jean Claude
Walker Books

This book is an urgent plea from author Catherine Barr and illustrator Jean Claude for readers and listeners to help in the vital task of protecting our precious planet, in particular Antarctica from climate change and plastic pollution, and all that means.

That vast white continent covering the South Pole – the most extreme environment on earth – is home to millions of Emperor penguins as well as safe waters for the enormous whales that live in the depths of the surrounding Southern Ocean. Losing these, thus far tough survivors just doesn’t bear thinking about, but think about it we must.

Penguins though are just some of the awesome inhabitants of the vast icy wilderness, for eons ago it was home to dinosaurs, and fossils, footprints, teeth and ginormous bones have been discovered by scientists investigating the ancient volcanic ash of the Antarctic sea floor.

Other scientists have and still are investigating what Antarctica can reveal about how earth’s climate – the temperatures and wind patterns – have changed over hundreds and thousands of years.

But what are the secrets to the survival of the flora and fauna of this extreme environment? Yes they are all protected in this our last great wilderness.

However, it’s something biologists are studying while others are looking at what allows deep sea life to survive.

So too is the crucial work that scientists are doing to monitor the effects and speed of climate change, Antarctica’s greatest risk of all, and something that will also have a huge impact on all of our lives.

You don’t have to be a scientist to contribute to the saving of Antarctica and the final spread comprises things that we can all do to stop plastic pollution in the ocean and help slow down climate change. What Catherine has written will surely spark action to protect this incredible place; it’s up to us …

The Dragon with the Blazing Bottom

jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Dragon With the Blazing Bottom
Beach
Simon & Schuster Children’s Books

Back in the days of yore, disaster has struck: Sir Wayne’s dragon has lost his fearsome flame. Not a flash or a flicker can he raise no matter how hard he huffs and puffs. Sir Wayne’s alternative ideas go down like a damp squib;

only a flaming breath will do.

So what is causing this lack of fire? Could it be those spotless teeth or is his tongue too pink? The trouble must be down to diet, the knight suggests, but no need to worry. Sir Wayne has a dietary plan so sizzlingly hot it just can’t fail.

A single hot dinner comprising electric eels, half a dozen sacks of coal, an unspecified amount of oil, a couple hundred fireflies, a blazing log fire, a barbed wire-wrapped cactus, a heat-seeking rocket, a burning bush, sparklers and fireworks so long as they ‘WHOOSH!’ and finally and most disgustingly, a small piece of cheese – “Almost as green as the snot from a sneeze.”

It most definitely looks astonishing. Foolproof surely? Erm … The proof of the dinner is in the eating …

Beach has certainly created a sure fire winner of the whiffy kind with this, which apparently is the start of a series. The rhyming text reads aloud splendidly and with comical incidents aplenty, the illustrations are suitably hilarious. I can’t imagine a single child failing to respond with spluttering delight. Bring on the next episode say I.

Daisy’s Dragons / Green

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Daisy’s Dragons
Frances Stickley and Annabel Tempest
Studio Press

Here’s a picture book that encompasses dealing with your feelings, owning a pet (or several) and even perhaps coping with pandemic reds, greens and silvers, and sometimes blues, pinks, and purples too. These colours refer to the pet dragons that young Daisy has and only she knows they’re there, each playing its own particular role. That is until one day when everything goes haywire on a visit to the ice-cream shop

and the result is that three of Daisy’s dragon friends go missing, and Daisy herself gives vent to her own emotions as she becomes scared, angry and sad, sending the others away.

In an attempt to bring back the absent Happy dragon feelings, the little girl plays with her toys and as she does so she realises that it’s actually very important to have the entire range of emotions: “None of you are bad,” she says, confirming what an apologetic Sad has already articulated with “But all of us are part of you … and none of us are bad.”

Told in Frances Stickley’s rhyming narrative and with Annabel Tempest’s splendidly portrayed dragons, this is an engaging story that opens up opportunities to talk about the all important topic of emotions with young children. I suspect that by the time the story’s told, both adult sharers and young listeners will have developed a fondness for all six special dragons.

Green
Louise Greig and Hannah Peck
Farshore

There’s always a slight quirkiness to Louise Greig’s books that I love, and so it is with this one.
Ed becomes downhearted when he’s no longer the owner of the best sled of the slopes. Back to his shed he goes to build an outstanding one, spending many a wintry day and night to that end. Despite knowing that he’s missing out on lots of fun he just can’t bring himself to go out and join his friends who are eager to see him.

Unbeknown to the boy, during the time he’s been working away, the days have been growing longer and warmer, and when he finally emerges he fails to hear the song of the blackbird and see the blue flowers peeping through. Then unexpectedly after a shower, everything turns green, speckled with white daisies. Now what will he do with a sled, even if it is THE best?

Suddenly he hears his name being called: it’s his friends saying how much they’ve missed him. Now at last Ed feels the sun’s warmth and he’s filled with joy but feels somewhat foolish as he explains what he’s been doing. Soon he realises that he’s missed so much: the companionship and exhilaration he now experiences are the things that really matter; they’re way more important than having something biggest and best.

Told in Louise Greig’s poetic text with Hannah Peck’s scenes that perfectly capture the feelings of the characters and their movement, this is a thought-provoking story about emotions, showing how envy negates the pleasures of the here and now.

The More the Merrier

jillrbennett Leave a comment

The More the Merrier
David Martin and Raissa Figueroa
Walker Books

Bursting with delicious movement words – stepping, galumphing, slipping and sliding, and wiggling, leaping, swooping and flying, skipping, even flappity-flipping – go the creatures in this book as we meet in turn Bear with kicking feet and bending knees, Moose going high, low, fast and slow,

Snake doing what it can, beat-loving Deer and round-eyed Owl.

Then come cute Baby Mouse drawn to the action as are Mouse’s friends with their “Hey diddle, diddle”. Round they cavort singing at the tops of their voices until sleep finally overcomes them and zzzzzzz.

Who could resist the call to action to head over to that forest and join Bear in following the infectious beat of the rhyming telling. Inspired by the dancing animals shown in Raissa Figueroa’s dynamic scenes, young listeners will probably also want to offer their own unique dance moves performed with similar abandon to the animal cavorters that grace the pages accompanied by David Martin’s joyfully upbeat, cleverly patterned text with its almost irresistible beat.

By the way, it’s also a great book for developing sound/symbol awareness. The foundation stage classroom potential is huge but more important, it’s a super story that supports the all-important message that playing with language is fun..

The Fairy Dogmother

jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Fairy Dogmother
Caroline Crowe and Richard Merritt
Little Tiger

This playful modern fairy tale has its origins in Cinderella and is set in Woofington’s Dog Shelter, home to most of the characters in the book including Cinders. This resident is just contemplating lunch when suddenly one Priscilla Paws, Fairy dog mother announces herself and offers Cinders a wish – “Whatever will make you the happiest you can be,” she suggests.

Now Cinders is pretty satisfied already with his home, food and friends so he tells Priscilla, but the fairy urges him to make haste before the wish times out. Unable to come up with anything, Cinders consults his friends and every one has a different suggestion, Boris’s idea being a ball … How do you think Priscilla envisages that one?

The clock ticks on and Cinders’ time is almost up …

when suddenly Old Wally has a brilliant proposal. Kind-hearted Cinders happily makes the wish but it leaves him without any companions. Or does it? For as Priscilla’s experience tells her and she tells Cinders, “fairy tails always have a happy ending” …

Dreams sometimes do come true, perhaps even when the dreamers don’t realise what their deepest wishes are.

Be they bursting with detail and pattern or less ornate, Richard Merritt’s vibrant humorous scenes completely fill every page and along with Caroline Crowe’s positive message about Cinders’ kindness and generosity,.this is a fun book to share with youngsters, preferably once they know a traditional version of Cinderella.

Nook

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Nook
Sally Anne Garland
Sunbird Books

This is a gentle, sweet tale that shows the empowering quality of the kindness of others.

Nook is a small, shy rabbit; she speaks little and prefers to stay in quiet spots with somewhere against which to press her back so she feels safe.

Her most favourite place of all is the deep hollow in an old elm tree, the ideal place from which to watch the other animals play. Try as they might to entice her out to join them, Nook prefers to keep her body feeling safe in her nook, but in spirit she’d be a participant in their games.

‘Nook’s place’ is what the hollow becomes known as, a place where other creatures know not to sit. Or rather, not quite all of them, for one day filling the hollow she finds …

The surly creature claims the space as his own, leaving Nook with welling tears and panic stricken.

Not for long however for her fear gives ways to surprise when the other animals stand behind her and speak out in her support. As they edge forward, the little rabbit feels protected and encouraged so that at last she feels confident enough to let them lead her away and play …

Do you think she continued so to do? You bet.

As it is with little animals so it is with young humans; some are outgoing and happy to be one of the crowd from the start, others – the introverts – need empathetic understanding and encouragement so they don’t stay forever on the sidelines.

Sally Anne Garland uses bold brush and coloured pencil strokes to imbue her animal characters with kindliness and humanity while also including in her outdoor scenes, lovely details from the natural world – a ladybird, seed heads, small flowers, for instance.

Definitely a book to share with foundation stage children, and individuals at home.

Big Dance / Bea by the Sea / The Roller-Coaster Ride

jillrbennett Leave a comment

There are three recent releases from Child’s Play – thanks to the publisher for sending them for review

Big Dance
Aoife Greenham

As the Big Dance draws near, everyone seems excited about their moves, except young Pippa. Despite what her Poppa says she doesn’t think she has a dance inside. To prove his point, he decides to show her what Kit, Hip, Skip and Whizz and the others can do.

However, Pippa remains unconvinced about her own ability so Poppa then demonstrates his dance. “I’m not anything like that. I’m just a ME” muses Pippa but nonetheless she finds herself trying just a little dance and initially things look as though they’re going well but then she decides it’s no go nonsense. Her pals concede that it may be so, but add that it’s also fun – and inclusive. “It’s all of us … where we are all the same and all different … we can all be ourselves together. It’s where we all belong.” How aptly they put it but is it sufficient to encourage the one that’s still missing? What do you think?
Reassuring, all encompassing and a reminder of the importance of having the freedom to be yourself (something not everybody has) as well as a delightful demonstration of the joy of joining in. There’s plenty to talk about be that at home or in a school setting, when this quirky delight is shared with youngsters.

Bea by the Sea
Jo Byatt

Young Bea is a lion expert, thinking about the creatures all day long. When her mum suggests a day at the beach Bea would much prefer to stay at home playing lions especially as she doesn’t like the gritty, scratchy sand at all. Nonetheless she packs her lion paraphernalia, puts on her wellies and decides the best way is to pretend she too is a lion. Off they go with Bea concentrating on hopping from rock to rock rather than noticing the awesome lion sculptures her mum points out.
Suddenly she trips and falls flat on her face scattering her lion things all over the place.

As she brushes herself off a loud voice introduces itself as Sand Lion, suggests she leave her boots off and leads the way towards the sea. Gradually Bea sees as they play together, that sand can be great fun and they spend the entire day enjoying its possibilities, the Sand Lion also making a discovery.
The following day Bea returns eagerly to the beach but the tide has changed everything. No Sand Lion to be seen but Bea knows the best thing to do …
Bea is a delightful character and Jo Byatt’s portrayal of her is superb: I love the resemblance between the Lion’s mane and her hairstyle as well as the way she captures movement in her illustrations.
When you share this lovely book make sure you allow time to explore the factual endpapers.

The Roller-Coaster Ride
David Broadbent

As Vincent and his grandma journey in the purple bus towards the beach they talk of the exciting rides, especially Vincent’s favourite roller coaster, the boy eagerly anticipating and imagining its many interesting possibilities. However when they reach their Funland destination there’s a sign saying it’s closed for repairs. You can imagine Vincent’s disappointment, but Grandma offers encouragement and alternatives in the form of splendiferous ice-cream

and a play park, not to mention an unusual way of getting back to the bus stop.
I was quite surprised to see how accommodating Vincent is and impressed by his flexibility and positivity in not letting unforeseen circumstances completely ruin his day out: a great example to little ones. It’s good to see the author/illustrator’s inclusivity in his lively, brightly coloured scenes -I wonder how many of them will notice Vincent is differently abled on a first reading. The environmental positives include that the bus is electric, the charging points available, the cycle track, wetlands and wild life reserve all shown on the endpapers’ maps.

Max + Xam / I’m Not a Mouse!/ Best Friends, Busy Friends / New Shoes, Red Shoes

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Thanks to Child’s Play for sending these ‘catch-up’ books for review

Max + Xam
Ariane Hofmann-Maniyar
Meet next-door neighbours and long-time friends Xam and Max. They live alongside one another spending much of their time together until comes a day when an amicable teatime turns nasty bringing to a halt their sharing of pleasurable encounters.
Max gets to work on a plan fashioning his own set of friends from bits and pieces; Xam does a similar thing

but creates even more inanimate friends than Max. Pretty soon both of them learn two things: firstly that such friends offer no fun at all; secondly that they miss one another very much.
Time for reparations. Gifts in the form of edible and floral treats are exchanged and after a bit of a mishap, amicability and happiness resume.
A lively, playful tale of the highs and lows of friendship presented through a straightforward text and enchantingly detailed illustrations. Perceptive youngsters will enjoy the nominative wordplay, likely relish the explosive falling out and the occasional surprises in this feel-good look at enduring friendship.

I’m Not a Mouse!
Evgenia Golubeva

Parents can sometimes really irritate their offspring by inventing and insisting on using pet names and so it is for the young narrator of this book. Her mum annoyingly calls her Mouse all the time the effect being that the little girl morphs into a mouse whenever she’s so called. Thus far this has caused at best inconvenient, at worst, extremely dangerous situations. There was the birthday incident, the occasion of the soccer match,

the time the two were out roller-skating and the life-threatening occasion in front of the family cat.
Enough is enough decides our protagonist, refusing to respond to the next “Mouse!” calls that greet her after school the following day. It’s not until she uses “Olivia” instead that the little girl is happy and reacts accordingly.
But then it turns out that she’s not the only one whose parents or adult relations use embarrassing nicknames creating similar problems.
Highly entertaining, with splendidly exuberant illustrations this is a fun story to share and a playful reminder to adults that not all children are happy to be called anything other than their given name. There’s more visual pleasure to be had by exploring the endpapers – the front ones showing Mouse, the back ones an assortment of pet names none of which I suspect, would be happily received.

Best Friends, Busy Friends
Susan Rollings and Nichola Cowdery

Interestingly during a walk I was having a discussion with a young relation about the various things her friendships offer and got home to find this book among those that had arrived for review.
Essentially it’s an inclusive rhyming observation by what look to be twins, of their friends that takes us through their school day from wake-up time to a final celebration. We meet among others, friends fast and slow, tall and small, messy and tidy, kind and caring, not so kind; some are funny, other silly, those who enjoy sharing a story. Some might be sad, some happy, there are even feathered ones needing a feed and fluffy ones that can be over-playful.
This inclusive presentation of friendship with its simple text and Nichola Cowdery’s bold, lively, illustrations of young children and their care-givers offers lots of possibilities for discussions with toddlers and preschoolers.

New Shoes, Red Shoes
Susan Rollings and Becky Baur

Here’s a simple story of a child going with his mother to buy new shoes. Their journey to the shop is an opportunity to observe all manner of shoes being worn in Becky Baur’s scenes – by people at the bus stop, on the bus, in the park, in the street at a friend’s and in the market.
When they finally reach the shoe shop there are so many possibilities: which ones will they buy and for what special occasion are they getting them?
With a simple rhythmic text and inclusive illustrations, in particular that the family comprises two mothers and a child, this is a good one for beginning readers and young listeners.

Mo and Crow

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Mo and Crow
Jo Kasch and Jonathan Bentley
Allen & Unwin

‘No man is an island’ wrote poet John Donne more than 400 years ago but Mo wants it so to be.

Mo is a loner and that’s the way he likes it. He’s built a sturdy house surrounded by a protective wall to deter intruders be that elemental, animal or human kind. Privacy is vital so he thinks.

Then from behind the wall he hears tap tap tap over and over. Mo’s various ways to block out the infuriating sound invading his silence prove futile and it’s not long before the continual tapping causes the displacement of a stone and there is a beak belonging to Crow.

Mo pushes back the stone but the next day Crow pushes out another one and another …

Furious, Mo tries begging, yelling and shouting but to no avail. The invader doesn’t go. The size of the hole increases and eventually Mo seizes the biggest stone he can find and hurls it at Crow. The creature remains. The two sit watching one another; Mo within his house Crow from his perch on the broken wall.

This goes on all day and eventually Mo goes to bed and sleeps. Next morning no Crow. Mo prepares,,,, materials to repair his wall and then as he looks up there’s space, clouds in the sky and hills: a whole world has been opened up.

But where is Crow?

Debut picture book author Jo Kasch and illustrator Jonathan Bentley present two contrasting characters – one a seeker of company, one who eschews it, in this tale of diversity, acceptance, the breaking down of barriers and the importance of friendship. With the economic text occasionally breaking into rhyme and lots of repetition providing joining in possibilities, and Jonathan Bentley’s boldly coloured scenes of the unfolding drama to feast their eyes on, youngsters will certainly have their attention held throughout this thought-provoking allegory.

Flip Flap Zoo / Where’s Mr Fire Engine?

jillrbennett Leave a comment

These are recent additions to popular, playful series from Nosy Crow – thanks to the publishers for sending them for review

Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Zoo

The zoo is the latest location for Axel Scheffler’s split page animal extravaganza and happily there’s not a cage in sight for the dozen creatures that offer rhyming verses on themselves.
What fun you can have generating your own crazy conglomerates – 121 possibilities according to the frog on the back cover.

What would you get by crossing a lemur with an ostrich?

In case you didn’t guess – it’s a lemich. Then what about a jaguar and a hippopotamus? Roar! Roar! Growl! Growl! that one’s a jagotamus.

Full of zany names, noises aplenty to exercise the vocal cords and all those creature combinations to giggle over, this book will give preschool joiners-in, and Foundation Stage/KS1 children hours of pleasure both visual and verbal.

Where’s Mr Fire Engine?
Ingela P Arrhenius

Four potentially very noisy vehicles lurk beneath the variously shaped felt flaps in the latest of this series that ends with a surprise mirror (or maybe not such a surprise if your little one is familiar with previous titles). Nonetheless the very youngest will enjoy guessing what’s hidden, exploring the bright stylised scenes and joining in with the ‘Here s/he is!’ as the police car, ambulance, helicopter and fire engine are revealed.

Fletcher and the Rainbow

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Fletcher and the Rainbow
Julia Rawlinson and Tiphanie Beeke
Graffeg

The latest in this series featuring Fletcher and his animal friends is again a delight. Young listeners will be swept along with the little fox in his determined effort to find the rainbow before it disappears, gone in the rainy autumn mist. He hopes that if he’s able to find it he could help it shine forever rather than as his mum had said, “soon be gone”.

Through the dripping wood he goes soon coming upon birds giving themselves a final feed before setting off to fly south. They tell him that the rainbow’s end is at Hedgehog’s nest and Fletcher hastens on his way.

His search takes him next to Squirrel, also preparing for winter; then as he tumbles into the stream where Squirrel has helpfully sent him, Goose. She’s doubtful when Fletcher tells her that the rainbow has fallen in the stream but helps him look nonetheless. They do see a reflection but it’s a learning experience for Fletcher.

Finally as he hurries past the rabbits the little fox sees …

but even then the rainbow eludes him.

Stopping now, Fletcher reflects on his search and how the rainbow’s led him through the woods and he decides he can at least create a rainbow memorial …

All his friends are happy to assist and together they create the most gorgeous autumn rainbow …

Whether you want a story to introduce to young children the scientific ideas connected with rainbows or the natural world in autumn, hope and determination, or creative problem solving, this is a lovely starting point. Most important though, it’s a sweet, uplifting book for sharing and pausing to delight in the captivating, richly hued scenes of Fletcher’s journey. and that sparkling finale spread.

Scaredy Bat

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Thanks to Little Door Books for inviting me to join the blog tour for:

Scaredy Bat
Jonathan Meres and Anders Frang
Little Door Books

Absolutely bat-tastic sums up my response to this book. It had me hooked from the opening lines, so poetically describing the coming of morning to the Dark, Dark Wood. A wood where, in an old oak, dangle Big Bat, Middle Bat and Little Bat, snuggled up and ready for rest and perhaps some inverted dreams.

However, bothered by the buzzing, humming and drumming that fills the air, Little Bat just can’t get to sleep. The others tease him and so he decides to prove to them that he’s not in the slightest bit scared of the light. Off he goes with a ‘Wheeeee!’,

their warnings about the BOGEY BAT and bothersome bumps echoing in his ears. ‘Scaredy Bat! Scaredy Bat! Ner, ner, ner, ner, ner!” was their mocking cry.

As Little Bat fizzes and whizzes around in and out of the branches his confidence grows and he feels like he’s king of the wood. But then a strange feeling comes upon him – a feeling he’s no longer alone.

Surely it couldn’t be that bogey bat after all, could it?

Quickening his pace has no effect: wherever he goes that dark creature goes too until a sudden realisation dawns … But then he really knew all the time didn’t he?

Time to head back home to the others, both now a bit bothered by his prolonged absence.

Could there be another fright in store? …

Jonathan Meres’ dramatic rhyming narrative reads aloud like a dream (not of the upside down kind) and adult sharers will enjoy performing the tale probably as much as little humans will enjoy being entertained, both by the words and Anders Frang’s equally theatrical scenes. I love the way he uses the bats’ eyes to show their various feelings, and the cuddly toy rabbit.

Sing Like a Whale

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Sing Like a Whale
Moira Butterfield and Gwen Millward
Welbeck Publishing

Previously Moira Butterfield invited youngsters to lessons that would help them Dance Like a Flamingo. Now in this spirited book their voices are the focus as they take delight in joining in with this exploration of the variety of sounds made by creatures large and small.

First to perform its song is the male humpback whale as he swims through the ocean with a long low Hoooooooo Hoooooooo.

Back on land we meet shaggy maned father lion ready and waiting to make his loudest Roar! Roar! – the ideal sound for little ones to stand proud and tall ready to give vent to their feelings.

Next to use its vocal organ is an owl Hoot, hoot! it goes as it perches on a branch. Make sure youngsters are ready to emulate its turning head movements as well as its hooting before spreading their wings and gliding off.

Also enjoying a moonlit singing session are a pack of wolves, each one A-woooooooo-ing and waiting for little humans to creep, sit and create an echoing A-woo! A-woo!

A further eight creatures, some feathered, others furry and one scaly are all eager to give renditions and encourage children to copy them

and then it’s the turn to the children to issue an invitation to “Sing with me!”

Whether you share this book with one, several or an entire foundation stage class prepare yourself for a very noisy and thoroughly enjoyable story/movement session. Make sure you allow time to let your audience see Gwen Millward’s humorous illustrations of the various animals, and the animated child mimickers clearly enjoying themselves.

Bird’s Eye View

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Bird’s Eye View
Frann Preston-Gannon
Templar Books

Little Bird is curious about what lies beyond the treetops wherein she nests with her mother. Mama tells her that beyond the forest live people though she knows not what people actually are other than that her own mother has told her to avoid them. However, once her wings are sufficiently strong, Little Bird tells her Mama that she’s ready to leave the nest and see the world. Off she flies enjoying the freedom as she observes the world from above and it’s not long before she spies what she thinks must be people.

As she flies further, Little Bird becomes increasingly confused: some people are quiet and slow, others frantically hurrying around. There are happy, colourful people sharing what they have and singing lovely songs.

But then she sees something that leads her to believe that not everybody values freedom, they put birds in cages, spoil the environment with rubbish and burning fossil fuels. Other people in contrast are cleaning up the mess.
Her journey takes her over land and sea until eventually Little Bird needs to pause for rest; that’s when she has a narrow escape.

Now hurt and doubting whether she’ll ever see her mama again, Little Bird feels gentle hands. Hands that rescue and nurture her until she’s strong enough to take flight once again.

Finally back home, Little Bird has much to tell her Mama, the most important relating to acts of kindness.

Cleverly using a bird’s eye view, Frann weaves powerful themes relating to the impact humans have on the world into both her verbal and her visual storytelling. There are ‘people on the move. “Migrating like birds”,

black smoke billowing into the sky and those who share whatever they can, all acting as powerful reminders of the importance of having a sense of responsibility and showing kindness. Therein ultimately lies freedom.

Share this beautiful story at home with little humans especially those just starting to spread their wings; share it in the classroom as an inspiration to help make the world a better place.

The Hundred Decker Bus / The Hundred Decker Rocket

jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Hundred Decker Bus
The Hundred Decker Rocket
Mike Smith
Macmillan Children’s Books

New to me but a reissue of his debut picture book is Mike Smith’s The Hundred Decker Bus. Tired of his usual routine, the bus driver takes inspiration from a passing hot air balloon and decides to take a new route that he’s never before noticed. Imagine being on that bus: what would your reaction be to a diversion to nobody knows where? That of the passengers (whose numbers increase en route), is one of happy abandon, as after a day’s driving the bus reaches …

But that is only a small part of their adventure about which I’ll say no more other than the sky’s the limit … or maybe it’s not.

This fantastical story with its awesome fold-out page will grip youngsters as they explore not only that spread but every one of Mike Smith’s humorous, highly detailed scenes be they large or small.

Share this uplifting picture book reissue either with one child, a group or a whole class. It has huge potential in the classroom.

So too does The Hundred Decker Rocket. This begins in Ivy’s bedroom where she’s just finished creating a massive telescope through which she sees a strange and beautiful ‘something’ glimmering in the sky far off. An adventure beckons Ivy and her trusty dog Eddie, but that will require another round of constructing.

Several days later the two are blasting off skywards in their rocket, landing unceremoniously, after what seems an incredibly long journey. on a planet entirely covered in rubbish.

Eddie learns from the resident environmentally un-savvy aliens that they’ve messed up their home and now want to leave and find a new place to live – if Ivy and Eddie help them build a spaceship that is. The construction continues apace as more and more aliens appear and yet more rubbish accumulates and is used, leaving the planet much cleaner.

With a hundred decks duly built, they deem the rocket ready for boarding and blast off takes place that night.

Eventually the aliens agree on what they feel is a suitable new planet and down they go … but there’s a strange familiarity about it …

With a great final twist, incredibly detailed, zany scenes that youngsters will pore over for hours revelling in the wealth of humorous touches, including speech bubbles and onomatopoeic noises off, and its fold-out page, this is a cracking book. Highly relevant is the vital environmental message about the importance of caring for our planet.

If you’re after a fun story or a super starting point for an ecological discussion that will galvanise children to take care what they throw out and where/how they dispose of it, this is it.

Look, Puppy!

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Look Puppy!
Mary Murphy and Victoria Ball
Walker Books

A little girl has long awaited the arrival of her new puppy and now, hurrah! At last the nameless creature has arrived and she is eager to introduce the newcomer, first to the immediate surroundings and then the world at large. The latter entails a walk around the neighbourhood to see the various houses and their inhabitants both human and canine,

most of whom are very welcoming and offer to help choose Puppy a name. But then disaster! The creature disappears.

Where is Puppy?

A frantic search begins, followed by a pause for some reflection,

a joyful reunion and a return home.

Will the little girl ever settle on a name for her puppy though. Yes of course, but what will it be?

With endearing, finely detailed illustrations by Victoria Ball, Mary Murphy’s is a warm, gentle tale that will especially appeal to youngsters with a dog in the family. The little human protagonist herein shows such understanding and love in her dealings with her puppy offering a great example to young readers.

Ruffles and the Teeny, Tiny Kittens / I am Dog!

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Ruffles and the Teeny, Tiny Kittens
David Melling
Nosy Crow

Puppy Ruffles is in many ways similar to a little human as he learns about the world – its ups and downs. There’s much he enjoys but if there’s one thing he particularly dislikes it’s teeny tiny kittens. So you can imagine his feelings when five lively kittens of the teeny tiny kind come to stay. He is far from happy about their high-spirited actions, their noises and their poo. They follow him wherever he goes and try to do whatever anti-sharer Ruffles does. Worst of all is that they want to enjoy the delights of his Big Blue Blankie.

When a tug of war over this special object occurs the kittens’ game results in catastrophe.

Can these frolicking felines perhaps help Ruffles learn one of life’s important lessons – that sharing is the best way to make friends and have fun.
Once again David’s observations are spot on and this funny follow up to Ruffles and the Red, Red Coat is sure to be another winner with youngsters of the human kind. With its text closely matching the terrific illustrations this is also an ideal book for young learner readers.

I am Dog!
Peter Bently and Chris Chatterton
Macmillan Children’s Books

We meet another playful pooch herein, this time acting as the book’s narrator and telling of a day in its life from its very own doggy viewpoint. And what a clever creature to speak in clipped canine rhyme about liking such things as ‘beggy-beggy trick’ and ‘fetchy-fetchy stick’.
This canine can’t resist a watery chase,

a race or ‘feeling wind in face’, not to mention rolling in strongly ponging foxy droppings.

However, like the majority of canines, our narrator has a great aversion to the moggy residing next door.

Much more enjoyable are cosy cuddles, ‘lap-lap-lappy puddles’, sniffing the rear ends of fellow dogs and the ‘sniff-sniff’ aromas emanating from the tasty meal laid out on the table. But therein lies both disaster and satisfaction:

now what does the little human residing in the same home think of all this? …

Chris’s action-packed scenes portraying the predilections and pranks of Dog are hilarious and provide the perfect complement to Peter’s bouncy, splendidly onomatopoeic text.

I Am Am Artist

jillrbennett Leave a comment

I Am Am Artist
Kertu Sillaste (translated by Adam Cullen)
Graffeg

Who or what is an artist? That lies at the heart of this picture book by illustrator/art teacher Kertu Sillaste. My experience of teaching young children indicates that it’s not until they reach about seven that they start saying such things as “I can’t draw” when what they mean is more like “I can’t create what I consider an accurate representation of this or that” – a tiger is the exemplar this book’s creator uses – but art is so much more.
This is what the young artist main character and narrator discusses and demonstrates herein.

First, with reference to a self-portrait, he presents the variety of processes that an artist might use, ‘An artist thinks and draws and paints and glues and sketches and moulds and photographs and films and considers and constructs and assembles.’ Most important at the outset is ‘a good idea’ and this can be generated in different ways including using one’s imagination, looking at art, taking out your paints and paper or perhaps you don’t even know what sparked it but you feel so inspired that you just have to get to work right away.

I love the playful ways the boy creates memorials for his grandparents 

and others, as well as his creative putting together of found objects. 

At other times art might be story-telling through pictures, and these pictures can perhaps be about worrying events or people, or in contrast reveal what makes that particular artist happy.

Not all creative ideas reach fruition though – some remain as ideas while others might be possibilities for another day. Indeed some days can go particularly unsatisfactorily with nothing at all working out; 

but still the creative spark is re-ignited the following morning.

There’s also the consideration of revealing what you’ve done to others – what will the reaction be? … ‘An artist really needs praise’ says John. Over-ridingly though the narrator loves to make art; that is what the author hopes he’ll put across to young readers of this book and in so doing, expand their boundaries of art and being an artist. Thinking outside the box is what we want to encourage.

Undoubtedly Kertu Sillaste succeeds in her mission and I suggest this is a book to share and discuss with KS1 children especially, ‘before that “I can’t draw’ notion takes root.

This Book is Pants

jillrbennett Leave a comment

This Book is Pants
John Kane
Templar Books

John Kane seems to have something of a penchant for a certain type of undergarment: I well remember groups of children enthusiastically chorusing, ‘underpants, underpants’ whenever I’ve shared his I Say OOH You Say AAH.

There’s certainly a plethora of pants in this interactive, intergalactic adventure starring a boy narrator and his alien pal, Buzzly, that he meets on the moon.

By donning the appropriate pants – courtesy of the reader aloud who has to wear them – the boy launches his rocket moonwards and having landed, encounters Buzzly who wants to visit planet Earth. Pants alert!

But what pants do you need to beat a hasty retreat,

climb a tree, escape from a dark scary place, warm an increasingly chilly rear,

or sate your hunger? And what are the very BEST PANTS EVER?
That, you’ll need to discover for yourself …

All you need to do is bag yourself a copy of the book, wear the appropriate snazzy pants as required and prepare for action: pantalicious fun assured. I forgot to mention that for the best results you’ll also need an audience of one or preferably quite a few, young listeners. Think of the fun you could have with a class creating their own pants stories using appropriately chuddies shaped books.

Tiptoe Tiger

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Tiptoe Tiger
Jane Clarke and Britta Teckentrup
Nosy Crow

Tara is a little tiger cub – a lively one – and so, despite it being sundown in the jungle, she’s not ready for bed just yet.

But who can she find to play with? Could it be the fluttering Butterfly and her spotty-winged friends, the strutting peacock with his beautiful tail, or maybe those hooting owls sitting on the branch?

She’ll surely need to tread warily along the river bank on account of the scary-looking crocodile lurking in the water. I doubt if even Tara’s bouncing and pouncing will scare that away even if it frightens off all the other potential playmates.

This is another of Jane and Britta’s smashing interactive neon bright picture books that will delight little humans at bedtime (or any time). They’ll love delaying their own shut eye as they follow Tara on her nocturnal search helping her on her way with whispers of “Tiptoe, tiger,” spotting the animals lurking part-hidden in Britta’s neon bright, vibrant illustrations, fluttering their arms, stretching them wide, ‘Raaaaar-ing’ and finally, when the cub does settle down for the night, joining in with her yawn and bidding her, ‘Night, night, little tiger. Sleep tight!’

1,2,3, Do the Shark / The Horse that Jumped

jillrbennett 1 Comment

These are two picture books ideal for bedtime sharing kindly sent for review from Farshore

1,2,3, Do the Shark
Michelle Robinson and Rosalind Beardshaw

Get ready for a bit of funky action deep beneath the ocean where Bess’s fishy pals are somewhat disturbed by a storm. Not so Bess though; clad in her shark attire, she urges them all to join her in a bit of boogieing. “Copy me and do the shark!” she says performing the appropriate moves

until all the sea creatures are joining in with the stretching, fin waving, tail swishing and generally strutting their stuff.

That achieved, it’s time to take a dive down deeper, right to the ocean bed where something rather scary is peering out from the mouth of a cave.

Crab gives a Shark alert. Time to take evasive action suggests Bess and so they do.

But perhaps that shark isn’t as scary as they first thought? Has he another reason for watching them so closely perhaps …

With a lovely switch from imagined to real, the story has a perfect ending 1,2,3 zzzzz.
An ideal pre bedtime book for those around little Bess’s age told in Michelle’s splendidly readable rhyming text and through Rosalind’s delightful mainly subaquatic, scenes.

The Horse that Jumped
Thomas Docherty

This is a thoroughly enchanting tale of a little girl and a horse that jumps and keeps on jumping. It jumps over a flower, over a rock, over a fence, out of its field, across a steam, over a bench and through an open window right into the girl’s bedroom.

On jumps said girl and off they go right out into the world, galloping and then jumping through a series of richly illustrated scenes of mountains, sea

and skyscapes

until the girl falls fast asleep, is transported back to her own bed and thence into dreamland.

With mounting excitement, so evident in the eyes of girl and horse, as the journey moves from location to location, Thomas Docherty, tells this exhilarating story of freedom and friendship using relatively few well chosen words, leaving his gorgeous illustrations of a fabulous flight of fancy to do most of the talking. It’s impossible not to feel that joyful freeing sense of movement be you listener or reader aloud: what a splendid celebration of the power of the imagination.

Nothing Scares Spider!

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Nothing Scares Spider!
S Marendaz and Carly Gledhill
Little Tiger

Spider is a fearless creature and is ready to set off and explore the ‘Whole Wide Garden’. First though she bids farewell to her minibeast friends and in so doing hears of their worries at being left without their protector.

Spider leaves a web thread that can be pulled to call her back but only in emergencies and then off she goes. Almost immediately however comes a tug TWANG!

and back home she dashes only to discover that her return is seemingly, unnecessary.

Away she goes again, but whenever Spider herself is unknowingly in danger there comes a tug on the thread – just in the nick of time. Back she goes on several occasions merely stopping to admonish the thread puller before she sets out once more. Now Spider is really getting irate but YANK! On her return this time she comes face to face with Frightening Frog.

Now it just might be Spider’s turn to feel scared …

Fortunately for them all, Caterpillar offers some sage advice which is followed by some nifty work, first by Spider and then her friends. Thereafter comes a deal with their captive and an invitation from Spider.

Carly Gledhill’s vibrant illustrations show what the text doesn’t, enabling young listeners to relish being in the know along with the book’s creators in this tale of friendship and teamwork that will go down well at storytime. Youngsters will also enjoy the humorous touches such as spider’s assorted footwear and the characters’ changing expressions in Carly’s deceptively simple scenes.

It Could Be Worse

jillrbennett Leave a comment

It Could Be Worse
Einat Tsarfati
Walker Books

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? In this story we meet one of each – Albertini is the latter, always placing a negative slant on a situation; his fellow sailor, George is an optimist, remaining cheerful no matter what.

Stranded out on the open sea on what’s left of their ship after a disaster that took place prior to the start of the story, we see them facing a series of incidents that get progressively unlikely. First comes a cloudburst with the rain falling only on the two sailors, followed almost immediately by a torrent of excreta from a school of flying fish suffering from diarrhoea, that strangely amuses George (perhaps none fell on him).

Their disparate viewpoints continue as they encounter half a dozen crooning mermaids whose song lodges itself in lamenting Albertini’s brain; then while George renders the mermaids’ tune on his harmonica, a ghost ship of pirates suddenly appears, closely followed by an ark brimming over with animals – very hungry ones on account of being food deprived for forty days.

Their adventure then takes a subaquatic turn as the tentacles of a massive sea anemone pull them to the ocean floor

where George’s oft repeated “It could be worse” starts to wobble somewhat as they’re surrounded by jellyfish, engulfed (albeit briefly) by a whale

before landing unceremoniously on a rather smelly island where they bed down for the night. Or attempt to before they get the surprise of their lives …

Now how on earth (or in water)? did that happen?

Comical illustrations of the unlikely scenarios and George’s oft-repeated refrain will likely keep young listeners anticipating the possibilities of the next unlikely happening, while causing lots of giggles along the way.

Ten Delicious Teachers

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Ten Delicious Teachers
Ross Montgomery and Sarah Warburton
Walker Books

In all my time as a teacher I’ve heard teachers called many thing but never ‘delicious’. Get hold of this yummy counting down rhyme though and you’ll immediately see the reason for the adjective.

Many youngsters have recently bid farewell to their teachers but here you’ll not see a single child for as the book begins what we have is those ten teachers, tired and weary coming out en masse only to discover that they’ve missed the last bus home: no cars parked in a car park- what a ‘green’ lot they are.

Maybe though, I should use green in another way, for following Mr Smith’s suggestion to take the shortcut, they head off into the Dark Forest wherein lurks a hungry horde of hirsute beasties of all shapes, sizes and hues, ready and waiting for that next tidbit.

One by one, the easily distracted teachers are gulped down by the waiting monsters

until just one, Miss Hunter the nursery teacher remains.

Then comes a brilliant twist to Ross’s jaunty rhyming tale: who will have the last laugh though? Surely that will be the youngsters who savour this number narrative so dramatically illustrated by Sarah Warburton whose mock-scary monsters are hilarious. I love all her witty details too.

10 Silly Children

jillrbennett Leave a comment

10 Silly Children
Jon Lander
Pavilion Books

Here’s an altogether new and huge fun take on the customary counting book by debuting picture book author/illustrator Jon Lander.

It begins with ‘1 sensible child / sitting quietly’ but not for long though for behind her back she has something hidden – something with which to make a great deal of noise. You discover what by lifting the flap.

And so it goes on with every sentence on the verso being a great whopping lie: there are for instance ‘3 sensible children drawing quietly’, or not …

‘4 sensible children / helping with the washing’ as they do …

(or rather, don’t).

Actually I told a lie earlier (as did the author) – it’s related to the 5 sensible children – good on them, but I won’t reveal why I say so.

Keep going and you’ll discover 8 children brushing their teeth

and more …

This hugely entertaining, tongue in cheek book will delight young listeners (and one hopes their adult sharers) with its inherent silliness and repeat phrases. I love his ‘Dear reader’ introduction and finale too. Jon Lander’s seemingly laid back illustrative style is just right for the children portrayed in both their sensible and exuberant modes.

I shall watch Lander with interest.

Jack and the Beanstalk & Cinderella / Vocabulary Ninja Workbooks

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Jack and the Beanstalk
Cinderella
Stephen Tucker and Nick Sharratt
Macmillan Children’s Books

When I was a KS1 class teacher these lift-the-flap fairy tales were very popular with children just taking off as readers. The fact that youngsters were in the main already familiar with the stories, their rhyming texts, and Nick’s trademark cartoon bright, bold humorous illustrations made them ideal choices for confidence building as well as entertainment and getting across the vital reading is fun message.

Now with new editions that include a QR code to scan to access audio versions read by actor Anna Chancellor, the playful, witty tellings will be sure fire winners with a new generation of learner readers and listeners in school or at home.

Vocabulary Ninja Workbooks
Andrew Jennings
Bloomsbury Education

This series of six vocabulary books is intended to support home learning. There is one for each year group from Y1 through to Y6 ie covering both KS1 and KS2 and providing the vocabulary likely to be needed in the National Curriculum topics such as geography, history and science.

With most children missing a lot of school over the past eighteen months these books are likely to be a boon for parents struggling to help their youngsters and not knowing where to turn.

Aiming to extend vocabulary and literacy skills in general in a fun, imaginative way, the activities on the pages of each book are grouped into levels: grasshopper, shin obi, warrior, samurai, assassin and grand master. In his introduction, the author (a teacher) suggests that a child should attempt to do the first two levels as independently as possible while from level three and beyond, he recommends some adult support to ensure full understanding. However those of us who are teachers or work in education will know that a great deal of differentiation may be required within a class, so parents will have to be guided by their own judgement and assuredly children will enjoy some adult interaction.

With their colourful graphics, straightforward instructions and activities that never overwhelm,

these books offer engaging and much-needed support and empowerment for learning at home, especially at present.

A Cat Called Waverley

jillrbennett Leave a comment

A Cat Called Waverley
Debi Gliori
Otter-Barry Books

Born in a park in Edinburgh, moggy Waverley has learned much about life, not least being how to make friends, his very best friend being Donald with whom he has supper every night for years.

Then one day Donald packs his bag and leaves his place of residence instructing Waverley to stay behind. One after another, all the cat’s other friends vanish from his life and unbeknownst to Donald who is at war,

his house is demolished.

What next for Waverley?

Off he goes to the railways station to wait for Donald. He waits and waits and it’s not long before people notice him, take photos and even bring him food, though he allows nobody to pick him up.

But despite the kindnesses shown by the station staff, nothing assuages his loneliness. Indeed Waverley misses his best pal more and more over the years.

Then one day as he makes his way down onto the platform, the cat hears, “Spare change. Spare a few pence for the homeless.” Surely that familiar voice belongs to his beloved Donald?

Debi’s story is written and illustrated with such empathy and sensitivity, it will surely bring a tear to your eye as you turn the pages of this book. Perhaps even more so when you read at the end that it’s about a real homeless war veteran for whom she wrote the book (as well as for all the countless other homeless people who share our world.)

When I Was a Fairy

jillrbennett Leave a comment

When I Was a Fairy
Tom Silson and Ewa Poklewska-Koziello
Flying Eye Books

A grandmother shares reminiscences with her grandchild about the days back when she was a youngster. “When I was a fairy, I lived in an ancient willow, / Inside a homely hollow with a round red door. / When I was a fairy I slept on dandelion pillows. / Back when I was a fairy, do you want to hear more?” 

She goes on to talk of summers spent leaping over lily pads,

meandering through meadows, gathering blackberries, meeting up with all the other fairies to share letters from children. Then in winter, skating on snowflakes and painting holly berries. 

Those were times when everything was possible and days were for exploration.

And so it can be once more, only now it will be in the company of her grandchild for whom as yet, untold adventures await. 

So, invites gran, “Let me show you … clap your hands, flap your wings and come fly with me.”

With magical creatures aplenty adorning the pages so richly illustrated by Ewa Poklewska-Koziello, this rhyming tale of intergenerational love, memories and delighting in the natural world is a lovely one to share especially between grandmothers and their young grandchildren, particularly those who like stories with a touch of whimsy and enchantment.

Let’s Get Ready for School

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Let’s Get Ready for School
Jane Porter and Carolina Rabei
Walker Books

Meet Marley, Maya, Theo, Akiko, Ella and Zakir. These young children are about to experience one of the most important days of their lives: they’re starting school. Yes it may well feel exciting but that feeling is perhaps tinged with nervousness too.

The little ones share with readers, not only their feelings but their actions as they make themselves as ready as possible, trying to do such things as putting on their own coats and shoes and opening their lunch containers.
Then come two questions: ‘why do I have to go to school? and how will I get there?, both of which are answered with a spread for each.

Safely at school, there are lots of new faces.

We see them meeting their teacher and getting to know what happens in the classroom; how best to become a member of a largish group – working in a team, taking turns, how carpet times operate and more.

One of the most important lessons is a social one: accepting and understanding difference among your classmates and always being kind no matter what.

Then there are routines that help the day go smoothly: snack time, lunch time and playtime.

Not every single day will be the same however – sometimes there are special occasions to look forward to, but before you know it, the entire first day will have whizzed by and it’s home-time. Your grown ups will be waiting, having wondered about how you’ve got on and you may well be bubbling over to tell them all about it, or perhaps you aren’t ready to share your experiences just yet: it’s up to you.

With Jane Porter’s reassuring narrative (including a ‘worry page’), the plethora of speech bubbles and Carolina Rabei’s realistic illustrations of classroom life (why no story time, I wonder), this book will certainly be one to share in those days leading up to that big step, especially as due to the pandemic, youngsters may not have had those taster sessions normally offered before a child starts school.

Beep Beep!

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Beep Beep!
Max Low
Otter-Barry Books

Prepare yourself for a very noisy book session when you share this with little ones.

Not only will they relish beeping along with driver Big Bobby’s yellow bus – punctual as always, but there’s also Friendly Fern’s fire engine NEE NAWing its way to the rescue, Tremendous Tracy’s tractor

and Little Lemmy’s extremely lengthy limousine driven in a novel way by the owner. Then who could resist the offer of a spin in that sports car belonging to Super Speedy Susan – once she gets through those traffic lights, of course; or perhaps a ride on board Trudy’s spotty train. If you reach the sea, there’s always the enormous parp parp-ing ship with Captain Cool at the helm.

However if your preference is for flight, then why not accompany Harold in his helium balloon, RWAAAR! off with Jennifer in her jumbo jet (along with a host of feathered friends), or maybe if you hear that WUM WUM of Zappy Zurgle’s spacecraft you’d like to join the alien in a spin around the galaxy.

Hey! They’re all offering a lift so if you could only pick one, what it might be. Think I’d stick with that moggy character on the final page: now what would that entail?

With Max Low’s characteristic playfully quirky illustrations and all those sound making opportunities there’s plenty to entertain young audiences here.

Ergo

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Ergo
Alexis Deacon and Viviane Schwarz
Walker Books

For me there’s nothing worse than feeling trapped between the walls of my home however safe and secure it might be. And I suspect most of us have experienced some claustrophobic feelings during the last sixteen or so months, though I’m lucky to be living at present in the countryside surrounded by green spaces that I’ve taken advantage of no matter the weather. Hurrah for the big wide world waiting outside your immediate cosy environs, both physical and mental.

So let’s now meet the aptly named Ergo, a cute baby chick that’s just woken up to her own physicality. She decides to explore the world: first she finds her toes, ‘wiggle, wiggle ‘ now that’s a GREAT START and it’s followed by wings, beak and legs. Now that’s a small world: AM I THE WORLD though?

Ergo concludes that she is. Until she notices the wall surrounding her – a roly poly world then.

Suddenly into this hitherto perfect world intrudes a sound – BUMP and it’s closely followed by a realisation. Time to embark on a journey of discovery perhaps …but it’s going to take some pluck to reach out. Can Ergo make that vital truth searching move? …

What Alexis Deacon and Viviane Schwarz have so cleverly created here is a philosophical demonstration of freeing oneself, of going beyond the information given and of reaching out to others. Seemingly simple perhaps, but this is a highly thought-provoking and a smashing starting point for a philosophy for children discussion in the primary classroom.

Caterpillar Cake

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Caterpillar Cake
Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Krina Patel-Sage
Otter-Barry Books

This is performance poet Matt Goodfellow’s second poetry book and it’s aimed at younger children. Embracing a wide range of topics in his sixteen poems – playing on the beach, space, wild animals, play, movement,

school related things – a visit from the school photographer, a classroom carpet session for instance, as well as things related to the natural world. Here are the opening verse and the final one of My Shell: ‘there is a shell / alone on a beach / over the sand-dunes / out of my reach // we’ll sing of the sun / and the salt and the sea / together forever / just my shell and me’.

Perfect for reading aloud to young children and once they’re familiar, perhaps those in KS1 could read some to one another. Which ever you do, take time not just to enjoy Matt’s writing but also debuting illustrator Krina Patel-Sage’s inclusive, vibrant digitally created illustrations. So, if your taste is for pebble skimming, a slice of chocolate caterpillar cake, the smashing word play of Kitty Cat, or a gentle River Lullaby at the end of the day, you’ll find it herein.

If you want to engender a love of language, this is definitely one to add to early years settings, KS1 classrooms, and family bookshelves (if you have little ones).

The Viking Who Liked Icing

jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Viking Who Liked Icing
Lu Fraser and Mark McKinley
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Here’s a story set long, long ago and far, far away.

When it comes to the traditional Viking skills or indeed anything else that requires some kind of sporting finesse, Nut, in contrast to his big sister Leaf, falls well short of the mark. Indeed whenever he picks up his bow and arrow, everyone else takes cover. He’s not entirely without talents however: he’s passionate about baking cakes and does so with lashings of creativity, dreaming about so doing at night too.

There’s one day in the Viking calendar that young Nut dreads more than any other: Viking Sports Day has him shaking in his boots. Nonetheless off he goes, cake in hand to the venue, a reluctant participant if ever there was one.

Things go pretty disastrously

and then comes the Great Horn-Throwing Race …

Is there any way Nut might redeem himself?

With its combination of Lu Fraser’s dramatic rhyming narrative and Mark McKinley’s hilarious scenes of Nut’s sporting ineptitude as well as his mouth-watering confections, and the other characters’ reactions to both, this is a fun demonstration of the fact that everybody has a talent that will win through if nurtured. That way lies happiness.

This will surely be a hit with young listeners at school or at home.