Category Picture Books

The Garden of Hope

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The Garden of Hope
Isabel Otter and Katie Rewse
Caterpillar Books

Isabel Otter and Katie Rewse have created a touchingly beautiful picture book story of loss, love, sadness, hope, transformation and beauty.

Maya’s mum is no longer on the scene (we’re not told if she has died or absent from the family home). Those remaining though – Dad, Maya and dog Pip are feeling bad and seem surrounded by desolation; that’s certainly so in the now overgrown garden.

Dad struggles to keep things going; Maya’s loneliness is in part compensated by Pip’s company but still she feels the loss, despite Dad’s stories.

One day when Maya feels particularly sad he tells her a story about Mum, relating how her remedy for down days was to go outside, plant seeds and wait for them to grow, by which time her worries would be replaced by something of beauty.

On the table are some packets of seeds.

A decision is made: it’s time to transform that neglected garden.

Little by little Maya prepares the ground for planting, her first seeds being Mum’s favourite sunflowers. Gradually along with the burgeoning plants, gardening releases something in Maya, allowing calming thoughts to grow.

From time to time, Dad too takes comfort in gardening alongside his little girl. Lightness grows and with it some happiness. The flowers bloom attracting tiny creatures,

then larger ones until the entire garden is alive with hums, buzzes, flutters, flowers and, the first bursting of transcendent hope and … joy.

In a similar way Mum’s absence has left gaps in the family’s life, the author leaves gaps in the story for readers to fill. Her heart-stirring telling has a quiet power that is echoed in Katie Rewse’s graceful scenes.

Poignant, powerful: an understated gem.

My Book about Brains, Change and Dementia

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My Book about Brains, Change and Dementia
Lynda Moore and George Haddon
Jessica Kingsley Publishers

In picture book form, author Lynda Moore (a family counsellor who works with children impacted by dementia in Australia) and illustrator/cartoonist George Haddon, deliver an explanation in straightforward terms that will help young children understand something of the sensitive subject of dementia.

Starting generally, there’s an explanation of brain function; how it is a vital organ involved in everything we do.

The author then moves on to say that like other parts of the body, a person’s brain can also get sick and we generally call the disease dementia.

Youngsters are reassured that the changes that may happen to someone with dementia, (a relative perhaps)

are not their fault or indeed that of anybody else.
The importance of care and kindness are stated, as is the fact that dementia is incurable.

Readers/listeners are then given the option to skip the next few pages, which explain that ultimately, dementia can end in death.

Finally and also reassuringly, the book concludes by saying that if you know someone with dementia it is acceptable to feel happy, sad, scared or angry (mad) but it’s important and helpful to share your feelings.

Concise, compassionate and young-child friendly, with amusing illustrations, this is an excellent book that should be in  all early years settings, every school, nursing home and when appropriate, a family library.

Anna and Otis

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Anna and Otis
Maisie Paradise Shearring
Two Hoots

Imagine befriending a snake. Not keen probably, but snake, Otis is the unlikely best friend of young Anna and the two spend happy, adventurous days together safe in the confines of the garden.

One day though, Anna announces to Otis that tomorrow they ought to go exploring the town, a suggestion that leaves Otis lost for words. After all neighbours and delivery people tended to tread very cautiously when they spied the reptile, so an entire town, Hmmm!

Nevertheless, next day, Anna having attempted to allay Otis’ concerns, the two sally forth.

Anna’s words however are very soon proved wrong: seemingly everyone in the town gives the impression of being as she’d put it earlier, ‘very silly mean’ people.

Inevitably, Otis is sad; Anna angry, though she tries to be reassuring. Bravery and direct approaches are her suggestions, first stop being Silvio’s hairdressing salon. The visit proves a success and word starts to spread.

Emboldened Anna purchases a skateboard for herself and a set of wheels for Otis.

Pretty soon, people at the skate-park are impressed at his wheelie prowess; the bush telegraph springs into action again and come lunch time it’s more of a party than a meal for two.

By the time the day’s over the friends are very tired. Anna invites Otis to spend the night and thereafter the friendship continues apace, sometimes just the two of them but on other days it’s a trip into town to visit all their wonderful new and very welcoming pals.

In her funny tale of overcoming fears and gaining acceptance, with gently humorous illustrations full of wonderful details to delight and linger over, the author portrays an unusual friendship that should, if not endear readers to Squamata such as Otis, at least help overcome their angst about them.

Stuck for more summer reading for your children? Try Toppsta’s Summer Reading Guide

Little Owl’s First Day / This is the Way We Go to School

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Little Owl’s First Day
Debi Gliori and Alison Brown
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Leaving a parent to begin school or nursery for the very first time, particularly when a younger sibling is still at home, can be a bit bothersome for little ones and so it is for Little Owl.

We first met the delightful character when a new sibling arrived and now he’s facing his first day at school.

When he wakes up on the big day, he isn’t feeling full of excitement as his Mummy Owl anticipates; instead the little fellow doesn’t even want to get out of bed. “I want a small day. I want to stay at home with you and Baby Owl,” he tells her.

After a lot of cajoling, they’re all ready to sally forth but then Little Owl is reluctant to pick up his new owlbag. Eventually, with Little Owl calling the tune, he sets off pushing his baby in the pram while Mummy carries his bag.

At the school door Miss Oopik is ready with a welcoming greeting; and reassuring farewell’s over, Little Owl is gently encouraged to try his wing at painting.

His picture is Mummy and Baby Owl moonbound in a rocket, and they seem to occupy his every thought for a considerable part of the morning until snack time is announced. And then it looks as though Little Owl might just have found a friend as he and Tiny Owl share the contents of their owlbags with one another.

The rest of the session seems to pass in a flash before Miss Oopik calls them all together for a story.

Soon, who should be waiting outside but Mummy and Baby Owl; but Little Owl is much too sleepy to tell them all about how he spent his time.

Debi Gliori’s gently humorous tale is a real situation soother that will embrace a first timer like a warm comfort blanket, especially since it’s woven together with Alison Brown’s scenes of adorable strigine characters small and not so small.

This is the Way We Go to School
illustrated by Yu-hsuan Huang
Nosy Crow

Ideal for little ones about to start, or already at nursery or playschool, is this board book version of a favourite song, complete with sliders. With these your child can help the little tigers in the early morning to get out of bed; eat their breakfast, brush their teeth

and walk to school, where they smilingly wave a farewell to their parents before rushing inside to join their friends.
In addition to the sliders that facilitate getting up, teeth brushing and waving, there’s a wheel to turn that brings into view a host of other animals all hurrying schoolwards.

Both the tigers’ home, and the journey to school spreads have plenty of interesting details for little humans to spot and discuss.

Inside the front cover, is a QR code to scan onto a phone or tablet and download that provides a sing along version of the song.

Sorrell and the Sleepover

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Sorrell and the Sleepover
Corrinne Averiss and Susan Varley
Andersen Press

Have you ever kept something about yourself or family a secret from a best friend so as not to feel inferior? That’s what one  of the main characters in this lovely story decides to do.

It revolves around best friends Sage and Sorrel (squirrels). Pretty much everything about the two is the same: they like the same games, sing the same songs and say the same things at the same time. Even their tails have identical stripes.

Sorrel is thrilled when Sage invites her to stay at her house for a sleepover; rather than feeling nervous about her first night away from home, Sorrel is excited as she packs her overnight nutshell.

Sage’s home is impressive, a huge branching conifer that includes nests for her aunties and her cousins as well as Sage’s immediate family. But as the two friends snuggle up for the night, Sage’s comment about looking forward to a reciprocal visit causes Sorrel to worry so much about the difference between the two homes that she decides not to invite her friend back. Best friends don’t have differences, she tells herself.

Sage however is persistent and so Sorrel invents a series of excuses: a poorly mum, a burst pipe; the painting of their home resulting in the newly pink leaves being too wet for visitors to stay.

It’s this pinkness however that finally puts paid to further inventive excuses on Sorrel’s part. It also results in the truth being revealed about her home.

Sage, being a true and empathetic friend, isn’t at all concerned about their difference; to her it’s a cause for celebration.

Telling it with tenderness and understanding, Corrinne Averiss has created a story of two trees and two squirrels that will particularly resonate with under confident children who have done the same as Sorrel, but it’s a book that needs to be shared and discussed widely in schools and early years settings.

Susan Varley echoes the warmth of the telling in her beautiful illustrations. I’ve been a huge fan of her work ever since Badger’s Parting Gifts: her art never fails to delight and so it is here: delicate, detailed and utterly enchanting, every spread.

Sweep

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Sweep
Louise Greig and Júlia Sardà
Egmont

We all find ourselves in a grumpy mood from time to time but for Ed it’s massive.
Ed is in a BAD mood. It had begun as a very small trip induced one but rapidly escalates until it’s blown up into a huge raging storm engulfing everything in its wake.

All the while Ed keeps his head right down, eyes to the ground where so his mood seems to say, are interesting things.

If only he’d chosen to lift his gaze he’d have felt uplifted by the sight of beautiful things, but no. Determined to proceed in this manner, on he goes, Ed and his bad mood.

Finally it’s become so bad, the whole town is in its thrall: no birdsong, no flowers, just a huge blackness.

Now Ed is conflicted: his bad mood still wants him continue in this way but Ed begins to wish the whole thing had whirled and swirled its way into oblivion.

How much longer can he keep this up, especially as fatigue and hunger pangs begin to manifest themselves.
But has he gone just too far? Can he give up this overwhelming bad mood?
Something must change surely?

And sure enough something does. Up springs a new wind, small at first but growing and growing until the world looks different: much brighter, making Ed feel a little foolish. Was it all for naught?

Not quite, for he suddenly spies something before him on the ground,

something that might possibly be a spirit lifter … a bad mood extinguisher that enables him to see the beauty surrounding him. Not only that, he knows he has two ways to look at life; it’s up (or down) to him …

Author Louise Greig delivers another powerful story, rather more punchy than Between Tick and Tock and The Night Box. This one, with Júlia Sardà’s dramatic, sombre hued illustrations feels altogether different, but equally absorbing and finally, uplifting.

Wild Violet!

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Wild Violet!
Alex Latimer and Patrick Latimer
Pavilion Children’s Books

Following on from Woolf, the brothers Latimer return with their second collaboration and it’s young Violet who is star of the show. That’s not quite how others see this extremely spirited little miss however.
By all accounts she was born wild and despite predictions, has failed to outgrow this wildness on reaching four years old.

Washing isn’t on her agenda, nor is anything that might vaguely resemble good table manners; her hair is disgusting – full of all manner of undesirable bits and pieces; wall art and nocturnal shrieking are more her thing.

Imagine how tiring all this is for her parents. One day as exhaustion overwhelms them, they decide to call on her grandmother, begging for an afternoon’s respite.

Gran obliges and decides the zoo with its calming fresh air and plethora of birds is a good place. However the animals are not good role models for the little miss and by the time they reach the Monkey House gran is shattered.
So shattered, that come home time, she catches hold of the wrong hand,

delivering a rather different looking ‘Violet’ back to her parents.They too fail to notice; after all the new Violet’s habits are almost the same as those of the old.

Violet herself meanwhile is having the time of her life in her new abode, until that is, night comes and with it insomnia. Now there’s nobody to clear up her mess or read her a bedtime story; there’s no morning bath or tasty breakfast, let alone warm parental embraces.

A quick phone call by the zoo-keeper soon has the switch sorted out, but it’s a rather different little girl who greets her parents when they come to collect her.

Is Violet now a reformed character? Well yes and no. Mostly it’s the former but on the days when her mum takes her to visit her simian pals, that’s the time her wild side manifests itself.

We adults all know a Violet-type character and I’ve certainly taught a few children who could give her a good run for her money. This makes Alex Latimer’s story all the more enjoyable for readers aloud; children on the other hand will simply revel in Violet’s utter irrepressibility so wonderfully portrayed in Patrick Latimer’s scenes of mischief and mayhem.

Another winner for the Latimer partnership.

Tomorrow

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Tomorrow
Nadine Kaadan
Lantana Publishing

Over the past couple of years there have been several excellent picture books featuring families or individuals fleeing a war-torn home country and seeking refuge in another, often far distant land. But what of those who remain in such a place, a country such as Syria say, where war is all around?

This is the way of life for Yazan and his mother and father.

Yazan no longer sees his next door neighbour and friend, nor does he go to the park. In addition, school has stopped and surprisingly, Yazan misses it.

Artistically inclined, Yazan’s mother used to spend a considerable time painting, sometimes with her son watching, sometimes painting alonlgside.

It’s the news on TV that occupies much of her time and attention nowadays though, and his father is also preoccupied.

Yazan meanwhile does his best to keep busy himself; but how much doodling, pillow building and paper aeroplane making can you do before boredom sets in?

Going stir crazy he yells his ”I want to go to the park NOWWWWWWWW!!” request to his parents.
Then, ignoring his mum’s “Not today,” response, the boy ponders and then the temptation of his shiny bike is just too much.

Once outside however, nothing looks the same: no stall holder, no playmates, only alarming explosions all around. What should he do: continue his journey or return home?

Suddenly, catching sight of another person, his mind is made up. Then Yazan and his dad walk back quietly hand in hand.
Once home, what his mother does after giving him a huge hug and a warning about going out alone again, makes his heart soar. If he can’t go to the park, then at least she can bring one to him …

And that, for the foreseeable future, will have to suffice.

Over the years I have taught a good many young children who, with their parent(s), have fled conflict in various countries including Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and more recently, Syria; and although one never questioned them about their experiences, in time some did open up, often through their art, about what they had been through.

At that time there were no picture books such as this one for me to draw upon and it’s impossible to imagine what life for a young child must have been like.

Originally published in Arabic in 2012, Nadine Kaadan’s spare, matter of fact telling, in combination with her sometimes sombre, colour palette, create a powerful portrayal of the stark reality that expresses something of what she has witnessed. Towards the end, her watercolour and pencil scenes bring the light into the darkness of a child’s initial confusion, and one family’s near imprisonment within their loving own home.

I close by quoting the author’s final sentence in her letter to readers at the back of this moving book: ‘Today, we wait for a time when “tomorrow” can be a better day for all Syrian children.’ This is surely something we all hope for.
In the meantime, let’s share Nadine’s story as widely as possible.

Ballet Bunnies / We Are Family

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Ballet Bunnies
Lucy Freegard
Pavilion Children’s Books

Young Betty bunny aspires to be a ballerina but she’s only ever performed for her baby sister Bluebell.

At home Betty dances at every opportunity, in every room, but when it comes to dance class it’s not the same, especially with the end of term show fast approaching. Unlike her fellow dance students Betty feels clumsy and she can’t remember the right steps.
She does however, put her own interpretation on those moves and fortunately her teacher sees the best in every one of his students, providing fun rehearsals and a part for them all.

Betty works on losing her nerves but what will happen come the big day when among the audience will be her biggest fan, Bluebell?

Lucy Freegard’s cute characters and ballet scenes executed in pen and watercolour are sure to appeal particularly to budding dancers of the human kind, while her story of doing one’s best, over-coming your fears and finding confidence should resonate with all.

We Are Family
Claire Freedman and Judi Abbot
Simon & Schuster Children’s Books

A celebration of sibling love is exemplified by an array of endearing young animals small and not so small.
Be they lively lion cubs, diving ducklings, mischievous monkeys, milkshake slurping polar bears, fighting foxes, cake consuming kitties or frolicsome frogs,

brothers and sisters can be enormously irritating at times, but no matter what, even the trickiest of tasks become less bothersome with a sibling to assist.

Claire Freedman’s fluently flowing rhyming text combined with Judi Abbot’s captivating scenes of animal activities will enchant toddlers (with or without siblings) as well as their parents and carers.
We all love a little bit of mischief and there’s plenty of that herein.

The Cook and the King

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The Cook and the King
Julia Donaldson and David Roberts
Macmillan Children’s Books

In this tale the king, being of a hungry disposition is desperately seeking not a handsome rich prince to wed his daughter but, a cook.

Having eliminated almost all of those who apply – supposedly the finest in the land, but serving up runny eggs, tough meat and worse, he’s left with just one pretty desperate looking fellow going by the name of Wobbly Bob. Yes, he’s dressed in cook’s gear but his name is far from promising and he’s a self-confessed wimp. Masterchef material he most definitely is not. But could he be?

The guy lacks the courage to tackle any of the tasks needed to ensure his highness gets his favourite fish and chips meal.

No prizes for guessing who does more than the lion’s share of the work.

Finally though, the two sit down to dine together, but does the meal pass muster, or must the king keep on looking for a cook?

Splendidly funny: Julia Donaldson serves up yet another winner. With its inbuilt 3Rs – rhythm, rhyme and repetition, this is a splendid read aloud, join-in story.

There’s plenty of food for thought: why are those courtiers pinning up the ‘Wanted Royal Cook’ poster? And what has happened to make the king resort to unappetising pizza deliveries? Both of these questions spring to mind in the first few pages, both scenarios being shown in David Roberts’ fine equally winning, hilarious illustrations of same.

(The story is, so we discover on the credits page, based on one the author’s son made up for his daughter– the story telling prowess is seemingly, in the genes.)

Where in the Wild

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Where in the Wild
Jonny Lambert and Poppy Bishop
Little Tiger Press

Poppy Bishop gets poetical in her passion for wildlife and its protection in this visual and verbal evocation of the world’s animal habitats and how crucial it is to save these wonderful wild places from further destruction by human actions.

She takes us to meet creatures of the land and sea as we visit nine different faunal homes, the first being the river where otter speaks out.

We also spend time in the tropical rainforest alive with screeching monkeys, beautiful butterflies and other insects and a leopard introduces itself.

The hot savannah comes next, home to elephants, leopards, vultures, bats and scorpions: here a tunnelling meerkat tells of his digging prowess.

Scorpions are also found in sun-scorched desert regions, the next stopping place; home also for snakes, mice, lizards and the camel that describes its flat feet.

Next to cooler climes and a beautiful woodland inhabited by roosting jays, a bluetit sings about its home and diet,

and badgers roam both here and on grassy plains.
Thereon too reside wolves, buzzards, deer and other birds of prey.

Evergreen forests, the Arctic tundra and oceans are the three final locations, each with its own array of wonderful creatures large and small.

Strategically placed die cuts and a related question cleverly provide a link between habitats on each spread.

The last page and inside back cover are a rhyming plea for readers to act as advocates, speaking out for and doing whatever they can to save these precious places and their creatures; and short paragraphs about special adaptations, destructive human actions and a last plea to care for what we have for the sake of the animals.

Heartfelt, beautifully illustrated with Jonny Lambert’s fantastic collage style art, this is I hope, a book that will stir young readers and adults alike to play their part in the preservation of our precious planet.

More Would You Rather

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More Would You Rather …
John Burningham
Jonathan Cape (Penguin Random House Children’s Books)

There’s been a recent spate of books celebrating the amazing achievements of women and men from all walks of life and from all over the world, as well as others putting forward the notion that where girls are concerned, they can do anything they set their minds to.
In his new book, John Burningham, (or rather the cheeky-looking child on the cover) invites readers to do something rather different; to ponder somewhat more unlikely possibilities posited in a series of questions. He wants us to consider the unlikely, and to make a choice about such rather disgusting sounding scenarios as having a camel being sick down your neck, an elephant emitting an extremely stinky toot, or falling flat in a field full of cows and your face landing in a pile of s— .

Pet ‘perhapses’ are – a cuddly koala, a vicious-looking vulture, a jagged-toothed alligator or a winsome woolly sheep. Hmm?

Just imagine the excuses you’d have to come up with should you be careless enough ‘to break Granny’s favourite jug’, ‘scratch the car’ or ‘spill paint all over the carpet’ – whoops!

Then, supposing if for no apparent reason you were the source of amusement to all and sundry; would that be better than having an eagle steal all your clothes? (Even worse might be the latter happening in front of that crowd.)

I’ve never got sufficiently close up to a hippo of any sort, let alone one with bad breath, and I don’t have an Aunt Zelda, but I wouldn’t relish having to cope with either of those bestowing a kiss upon me. On with the trainers and a hasty retreat, would be my response.
Think about having to spend a night under the stars – no not at a seaside campsite – but with your bed on the moon; is that preferable to nestling up with a whole lot of baby birds, or is the safety of your own bed the best option?

I wonder …
And that phrase is the key to this fabulous book. I’ve spent countless happy hours with various classes of children UUUUGGGHH! -ing and YUCK!-ing, laughing over, deliberating on, , discussing and generally having a whole lot of fun, with Burningham’s original Would You Rather so I cannot wait to share this one with all its imagination-rousing potential.

Need more ideas for your children’s holiday reading: try Toppsta’s Summer Reading Guide

The Only Way is Badger

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The Only Way is Badger
Stella J Jones and Carmen Saldaña
Little Tiger Press

Which would you rather have, complete conformity or fabulous friendships? I know which I’d choose every time but not so the main character in Stella Jones’ super story. Badger is a separatist and has started posting ‘BE MORE BADGER’ type signs all over the forest causing consternation among the other woodland animals.

Supposedly to make matters easier for his so-called friends he presents a list of activities, badger-like digging being number one.
This immediately eliminates ungulate Deer, and Badger sends him packing most unceremoniously.

Requirement number two is fitting through the doorway of Badger’s sett. In go Racoon, Skunk, Squirrel and the other small creatures. Outcast, and over the wall are large bummed Bear and massive-antlered Moose.

So it continues with further ejections: those of Hedgehog, Bunny and Beaver for their badger-barking attempts.

Of the remainers Racoon and Skunk pass muster on account of their black and whiteness whereas the colourful birds, butterflies and bugs become persona non grata.

Badger is now revelling in his monotonously coloured surroundings; not so Racoon and Skunk especially as they hear  happy sounds issuing from behind that wall and spy Badger wielding a paint brush standing beside paint cans that match his colours.

By the end of the day Badger’s task is complete but as he stands solo among the trees a thought strikes him: what has he done?

There can only be one way forward here …

Hurrah for difference; long live divergence and inclusivity; oh and learning from your mistakes too as yes, Badger does finally see the error of his ways in this timely picture book.

There are just SO many ways this can be interpreted depending on what you bring to the story eloquently illustrated by Carmen Saldaña. The gentle humour of her scenes, in particular the expressions and body language of the animals speak volumes.

A book that’s absolutely perfect for a community of enquiry discussion in schools and should be shared and celebrated as widely as possible. I certainly intend to do both of those.
In addition pairs of children could co-create story boxes or dioramas using the book as a starting point; there are puppet possibilities, ditto hot-seating and MUCH more.

Professor Astro Cat’s Space Rockets

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Professor Astro Cat’s Space Rockets
Dr Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman
Flying Eye Books

With Brian Cox-like charisma, Walliman and Newman’s Professor Astro Cat blasts off on a new adventure, launching us into space courtesy of the prof. It’s he that describes first, in easily comprehendible terms for young readers, the workings of rockets.

Next comes a brief (and selective) ‘History of Space Travel’ that begins in 1947 with fruit flies, and is followed by Laika (her reportedly ‘painless’ death in orbit is not mentioned), monkey Albert and then in 1961, Yuri Gagarin, the first human space traveller who managed to orbit the earth.

The huge Appollo 11 features thereafter with the famous first moon landing of two of the crew’s three astronauts in 1969.

Readers also hear of ‘Modern Space Shuttles’: Columbia, Discovery (that carried the Hubble Space telescope), Challenger that was especially memorable for carrying Sally Ride the first American woman, in space and the first African American, Guion Bluford.

Looking to the future, the final spreads are devoted to NASA’s work in progress, Orion and the Space Launch System; the possibilities of space tourism for ordinary mortals, a brief mention of star travel and on the last page, a short glossary.

In all this, the Prof. is accompanied in Ben Newman’s characteristically stylish retro looking illustrations, by his two pals, the similarly clad feline and sidekick mouse.

Sufficiently powerful to send the youngest of primary children rocketing on their way towards becoming ardent space enthusiasts, and into potential science careers I suspect.

How to Nab a Rabbit

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How to Nab a Rabbit
Claire Freedman and Monika Filipina
Simon & Schuster Children’s Books

All kinds of people write books but it’s less often that one reads one penned by the Big Bad Wolf and he appears rather confident in his prowess as author of How to Nab a Rabbit. Not that I have any particular interest in so doing, but I am exceedingly interested in picture books and the fellow appears to have hired a super illustrator to aid and abet him, hence I’m sticking with it.

Despite all the bragging, said author looks to be rather less adept at carrying out his recommended ploys than he’d like readers to think, certainly if the demonstration of The Stalking Strategy is anything to go by. Obviously as he says, the first thing is to locate their lair but when it comes to the second and sly part ‘just pretend you’re passing by’, our writer is well and truly out-smarted by his prey. To make matters worse, there’s a Bear in the vicinity with a penchant for wolf pud.

Next comes The Hole-in-the-Ground Hoax and once again, ineptitude on the writer’s part means he lands himself in it – literally!

And guess who’s there ready and willing to give him a paw out …

He has an audience of the undesirable kind when he executes this one: it’s called The Love Lure and at first glance it appears pretty successful.

Notion number four is even more of a disaster: the guy can’t even have himself delivered to the correct address and gets himself well and truly stuck at the wrong one too.

By now you’re probably thinking that our wolf-writer is a total disaster and you’re not far wrong: maybe his advice about cooking up a veggie alternative is the right way to go, so long as it doesn’t give this particularly bungling wolf any fresh ideas about authorship…

What a smasher of a book this is. Absolutely luscious faultless rhyming narrative from Claire Freedman stirred in with equally appetising illustrations from Monika Filipina will have listeners – not to mention adult readers – dribbling with delight and the former salivating for immediate further helpings. So says this reviewer, who just happens to be a vegetarian!

Millie’s Missing Yawn

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Millie’s Missing Yawn
You Jung Byun
Pavilion Children’s Books

We’ve probably all, in the UK at least, had trouble sleeping these past few weeks on account of the heat, so perhaps it’s one of those kind of sultry nights for young Millie. Sleep eludes her despite carrying out her usual warm bath, putting on of favourite pjs, sharing of her favourite book and the bestowal of a goodnight kiss on teddy Milo. What’s missing is her yawn, she tells her ted, and the two spring out of bed to start a search for it.

Dozy dog Barley certainly hasn’t seen it, neither have equally sleepy moggy Cucumber and pigeon Douglas.
Millie decides to look further afield, calling on Lady Liberty, the Moai Heads

and Mona Lisa. Even from the penguins her query receives a sleepy ‘’Oh no, sorry”; they’ve spent all day skiing, sledging and snowball making.

Hippo is eager to show off his own gaping yawn but hasn’t seen so much as a glimpse of Millie’s. Ditto the Great Sphinx.
If that world trip with all its yawners hasn’t got your listeners doing enormously wide AAAAAAHHHHs then nothing will. But what is Millie to do? Seemingly there is only one thing;

but her lunar voyage too proves yawnless, at least for her, although the bunnies certainly appear ready for some shut eye.

Feeling defeated, Millie decides to return home and as she lies back tucked up safely in her bed once more, contemplating the night sky and those she’s met, no doubt your audience will be able to predict what happens next …

This superbly soporific story is full of yaaaaawing characters all beautifully portrayed by the author You Jung Byun whose illustrations are full of lovely patterns and textures. Aaaahhhhh, I feel another yawn starting to engulf me …

Girls Can Do Anything

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Girls Can Do Anything
Caryl Hart and Ali Pye
Scholastic
Let’s hear it for girl power!
This is a celebration of what girls can do narrated in Caryl Hart’s enormously empowering jaunty rhyme:
“I’m a GIRL! I’m FANTASTIC! I’m strong, brave and proud!” so say a huge diversity of girls in no uncertain terms as they talk about their attire – anything goes; demonstrate their unique prowess as sports participants and students favouring a huge variety of subjects – maths, writing, science, music, art and more.
The older they get, the more amazing they become: there are environmentalists, vets, zookeepers, scientists of all kinds, machine operators

and life-savers.

They can be rough and tough or soft and gentle, they can speak up for others …

and a great many help improve people’s lives.

Ali Pye’s cast of splendidly inclusive young females have enormous va-va-voom;

and the front endpapers are a gallery style presentation of possibilities for the future, while those at the back are fifteen named portraits (some more recognisable than others) of high achievers in many walks of life including Malala Yousafzai, Serena Williams, Olympic medallist LGBTQ boxer Nicola Adams, first woman-British firefighter Josephine Reynolds and author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Having read the book together with a five year old in the park after school , I spent 15 minutes exploring the endpapers with her; a woman came and sat on our bench with her phone. After a couple of minutes she put it away asking if she could listen as she thought the book ‘so brilliant’. I said ‘Be my guest’. She then called her friend over to share the experience. Five-year-old Emmanuelle instantly recognised Serena Williams but I had a fair bit of explaining to do with several of the others. Well worth the effort though.

In short, in this highly infectious adulation, it’s a case of no holds barred when it comes to girls; they’re undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with, cheered and applauded. Once again, let’s hear it for girl power!

Cyril and Pat

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Cyril and Pat
Emily Gravett
Two Hoots

The super-talent that is Emily Gravett adds another book to her roster of read aloud crackers.

It stars a squirrel named Cyril, a lonely creature until that is, he meets Pat, another ‘squirrel’.
Thereafter the two spend happy times together in Lake Park inventing fun games, putting on puppet shows, skate-boarding and playing Hide-and-seek and Pigeon Sneak.

Cyril is completely oblivious to the outward differences between them despite being told time and again that his friend is not like him.

So what, I can hear you thinking; it was certainly my reaction.
Eventually though, Cyril heeds the negative comments of the other animals and he and Pat part company.

Inevitably Cyril is lonely once more: those games are no fun when played all by himself and he leaves the park putting himself in great danger.

Will he now realise his mistake and find his erstwhile friend once more?

Worry not: the author in her inimitable way provides a wonderful resolution that is altogether satisfying for both her main characters and her audience, although not for pooch, Slim, pursuer of the friends throughout most of the book.

Yes, this fine friendship story is wonderfully funny and stunningly illustrated in lush colours, but like all good stories it raises questions for readers to ponder as well as an important unspoken environmental message. (Love the Tidy rubbish bin.)

100 Dogs / Hey Duggee Sticky Stick Sticker Book

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100 Dogs
Michael Whaite
Puffin Books

No this isn’t 101 Dalmations, it’s a mere one hundred pooches all packed between the pages of this romping, racing, rhymer of a book.

Herein you’ll meet dogs of every kind you can imagine and some you probably can’t: dogs big and small, bad and sad, dogs shaggy, baggy and wag-wag-waggy, fluffy ones and scruffy ones. Watch out for whiffy and sniffy ones, or those that might drool all over your best shoes.

There are dogs of the expected hues -with or without spots – but also a red one, a pink one and a yellow one.
Some look friendly (even to dog-phobic me); others appear decidedly vicious

or just downright weird.

One has even had the audacity to leave its calling card right there on the page.

Each and every one of these canine beauties has been lovingly portrayed by Michael Whaite especially for the delight of readers, canine lovers of all ages in particular.

There’s just one dog in:

Hey Duggee Sticky Stick Sticker Book
Ladybird Books (Penguin Random House Children’s Books)

Young children who are familiar with the CBeebies series featuring Duggee and his pals, and in particular his Hey Duggee Stick Song will not be surprised that sticks feature large in this activity book. It is after all a sticker book but the first activity is to greet all the members of the Squirrel Club and shout ‘Woof’. Only then can you proceed.

What follows are ten stick-related activity pages and a centre spread of stickers to use in some of the activities. These include a stick-collecting route to follow in order to build a campfire; a find two the same game; a spot the difference spread, a word search, a maze and a game of ‘sticks and ladders’.

Just right to entertain little ones over the school holidays, especially on a journey or should the warm sunny days disappear.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Aleksandra Artymowska
Big Picture Press

Graphic designer and illustrator Aleksandra Artymowska has taken Jules Verne’s novel and created an absorbing picture book puzzler.

At the invitation of Captain Nemo, readers are invited to set sail seeking adventure and a treasure beyond price. All they have to do is to enter the hatch of the Nautilus and descend, then search the seven seas for seven locks with which to open his secret sea chest.

Easy enough surely? Not quite, especially as there’s a giant squid lurking somewhere ‘neath those seas.
Those who embark on the treasure hunt will however be participants in a unique sub-aquatic experience taking them deep, deep down under the sea..

First of all there’s the correct button to find that will get the submarine started and of course, the steering wheel, to make sure you stay on your chosen course.

With a variety of challenges including hidden symbols and keys to detect, mazes to navigate, art works to locate, corals and shells to compare,

a reef to steer through, weird and wonderful creatures aplenty to surprise and perhaps alarm, all of which are part and parcel of the host of strange seascapes and labyrinthine mazes explorers encounter. Surreal sights abound.

Dive down in Nautilus and you’ll more than likely remain submerged for several hours, before you surface, with or without having spotted the compass hidden in plain sight in each and every scene. And just in case you haven’t solved all the posers, the author/artist has provided the answers at the back of the book. Happy exploring.

Cinderfella

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Cinderfella
Malachy Doyle and Matt Hunt
Walker Books

I do love a fractured fairy tale and Malachy Doyle has smashed the Cinderella story well and truly with this funky, bang up-to-date rendition.

The star of the show is undoubtedly Cinderfella himself but he has two thoroughly undesirable, enormously lazy, extremely bossy older brothers named Gareth and Gus.

You can just imagine their reaction when an invitation arrives announcing junior karate champion Kayleigh’s birthday bash. Cinders is most definitely not on the guest list, they inform him.
However, once the two have scooted off to strut their stuff at the dance, Ruff comes upon the invitation and all is revealed …

With his brothers out of the way, there’s nothing to prevent Cinderfella from raiding their wardrobe and sure enough, therein he finds the perfect gear to disguise and make himself look the height of cool. Ruff too discovers something that’s just the ticket. Now all they need to do is make sure they get home before Gus and Gareth. Gear and carriage sorted and it’s off they go.

At the party, Kayleigh is singularly unimpressed at the preponderance of Groovy Chicken dancers but then she catches sight of somebody whose moves are altogether different: he and his canine pal are doing the Funky Monkey and she wants to join them …
They dance the night away – well almost

– but then Cinderfella’s watch reminds him that it’s time to scoot and off he and Ruff dash, Cinders dropping his sunglasses in his wake.

No prizes for guessing who picks up those shades and then the search is on.

Will the ace disco boppers be reunited and live as far-out friends ever after.

Matt Hunt is the perfect illustrative partner for Malachy Doyle here: his hip guys and gals are a wonderfully inclusive cast of characters and those party scenes are certain to make you want to get up and swing your hips to and fro, swing those hips and go, go, go as you too join in with that Funky Monkey. You might even be tempted to try a few karate kicks too.
Utterly irresistible.

Please Mr Magic Fish!

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Please Mr Magic Fish!
Jessica Souhami
Otter-Barry Books

Jessica Souhami has taken the traditional story of the fisherman and his increasingly greedy wife and turned it into something even more magical, tossing in some silver sparkles along the way.

Here the fisherman goes by the name of Jack, and his insulting, constantly complaining wife is Liz.

Their wish to the magic fish Jack catches and agrees to release,

for a ‘small dry cottage, a blue teapot and some bread and cheese in the larder’, once granted, soon won’t do

and escalates first to a large sunny house, then after another week, to a palace full of luxurious items fit for a lord and lady.

Now that obliging fish grants all these wishes without receiving a single word of thanks from the acquisitive couple until finally he’s had enough, so when they return for yet another, instead of making them King and Queen of the land he gives Jack and Liz the biggest surprise of all.

I wonder if they were ever satisfied … Did they learn from the error of their ways? What do you think?

The direct manner of telling as befits the tale works so well as a read aloud and those stylish collage illustrations for which Souhami is renowned are just SO superbly expressive.

If looks could kill, those the fish bestows upon the greedy couple would knock them stone dead in an instant.

Toby and the Tricky Things

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Toby and the Tricky Things
Lou Peacock and Christine Pym
Nosy Crow

If the consequence of young Toby’s burgeoning independence – able to pour his own milk, read his own bedtime stories and reach the snacks intended “just for mummies” – means bothersome breakfast,

‘Bad Buttons’, for an entire day, ‘Wrong Wellies’ likewise and even worse, problematic pants and loopy loo paper, then Mummy Elephant’s Big Boy isn’t happy.

Even when he’s managed to get her attention for two minutes on account of the bathroom disaster, Baby Iris is demanding that attention YET AGAIN! Hmmm!

If that’s how it’s to be, then Toby is off on his own Big Boy’s adventure.

Suitcase packed with potentially useful toys, garden door successfully opened, stairs down duly descended, he’s off flying solo on the swing.

Soon though hunger pangs strike and a sudden downpour dampens his spirits (and those Toys That Might Be Useful aren’t at all so), then who should be there, just at the right moment with words of comfort and encouragement but his very own Mummy Elephant.

Yes, there will still be occasions when sharing a Mummy will be the trickiest of all things but now Toby knows that however big he gets, he will always be her baby.

Lou Peacock’s gently humorous tale looks at one of those bothersome situations that many older siblings have to contend with, doing so in a reassuring warm-hearted manner that will surely resonate with adults and children alike.

Samuel and Ruby absorbed in the story

The Elephant family as portrayed by Christine Pym is absolutely enchanting. She captures the changing feelings of Toby wonderfully and Mum’s love of her offspring shines out despite her obvious dilemma of being torn between two little ones. “Hey, I know that story,” one of my listeners said of the book being shared by the three characters on the back cover.

The Night Dragon

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The Night Dragon
Naomi Howarth
Lincoln Children’s Books

Let me introduce a totally awesome dragon by the name of Maud. I should say that at the start of the always awesome, Naomi Howarth’s story, said dragon doesn’t feel at all awesome. She’s shunned by fellow dragons on account, so they say, of her lack of strong wings, A “weedy wimp” is what Gar calls her, while Brimlad is sure she’s insufficiently tough to take on the sun.

Poor Maud despairs she’ll ever be a night dragon.

Her only friend, Mouse, is encouraging, telling her that to be dragon of the night she need only be herself. Maud has her doubts.

One afternoon, Brimlad decides to celebrate his 557th birthday by throwing a party, but there’s one dragon that doesn’t get an invite. Instead she watches from behind a rock as the others drink, fight and one after another, fall into a deep sleep.

Time passes and still the dragons slumber as Maud notices a complete lack of clouds in the sky, and of nightfall there isn’t a sign.

Maud is at a loss. Mouse however isn’t. He knows what Maud must do and all he needs to do is encourage and persuade her that with him alongside, or rather behind her, she can spread those gorgeous wings of hers and fly.

Slightly emboldened, Maud leaves the mountain edge, tumbling at first and then suddenly, soaring. Soaring and emitting the most amazing clouds of rainbow hued smoke from her nostrils.

Over the mountains and fields, above winding rivers, winging over cities they go, filling the entire sky with the most fabulous shades of many colours,

until finally, as they pause for a rest, the sun starts to sink and night begins to fall.

Mouse’s words of thanks also let his friend know that just by being herself, Maud has made everything beautiful.

Now both Mouse and Maud have a new and very important role to perform – every single day …

Friendship, self-belief and daring to be different shine through in this dazzlingly beautiful picture book fable that reads like a neo folk tale. For me at least, Naomi Howarth has outshone her previous bobby-dazzlers and that’s no mean feat.

Get it, celebrate it and share it wherever you can. From cover to cover, it’s a stunner.

The Worry Box

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The Worry Box
Suzanne Chiew and Sean Julian
Little Tiger Press

It must surely be a symptom of our troubled times that there’s been a spate of recent picture books on the theme of anxiety, and the mental health of young people is constantly under discussion, due in no small part to the prevalent pressurised education regime, a legacy of a certain politician currently championing the dreaded BREXIT.

The most recent of such books to come my way is The Worry Box wherein we meet the worrisome Murray Bear along with his big sister, Milly.

It’s waterfalls with their potential for ‘bigness’ and loudness that present the first of Murray’s worrying possibilities. Fortunately though, his fears in this respect are allayed by Milly as they make their way home.

Back inside Milly introduces her coping tool, a worry box, to her sibling, explaining how it works. They make one for Murray and they head off to meet their friends at that waterfall.

Once there Murray remembers to use his special box when he starts feeling worried about climbing a tall tree.

After a fun-filled afternoon, the mislaying of Milly’s backpack delays the friends and they’re not ready to leave until sunset. It’s then that Lara reveals her worries about the dark. Now it’s Murray’s turn to offer reassurance, a helping paw and co-use of his special box until they’re safely home,

after which the sibling bears stand in the moonlight contemplating their amazing day together.

Enormously reassuring for all little worriers is Suzanne Chiew’s story while Sean Julian’s gorgeous illustrations of the verdant natural landscape setting make you want to pause on the dragonfly littered riverbank, refreshing waterfall and scale the tree along with the animal characters so beautifully portrayed herein.

When I taught KS1 children we’d often have a worry tree (branches standing in a container) in the classroom. Children wrote their worries on leaf-shaped coloured paper, hung them from the twigs and then every day or so, those that wanted to shared what they’d written with the class. A discussion could arise or the mere act of hanging up the leaf often worked on its own. After sharing this book, children might create their own worry box for use at home or the class could make a communal one that is used in a similar way.

No matter what, a shared reading will help listeners let go of their concerns and enjoy embracing new challenges.

The Night Watch Ninjas

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The Night Watch Ninjas
Lily Roscoe, Lisa & Damien Barlow
Simon & Schuster Children’s Books

HIYAAAAAAAA! The Night Watch Ninjas are here, charged with keeping the town free from nocturnal mischief makers and there’s one in particular they’re eager to apprehend; the year’s most wanted bad guy.

Do not be fooled by his cute-looking demeanour: what lies beneath that bushy tail of his is, so we hear, ‘THE BOTTOM OF TOXIC DESTRUCTION’.

That badass has escaped from gaol and there’s a red alert. No time for midnight feasts when he’s on the loose and now he’s dropped one of his gross, malodorous bombs.
He has to be stopped before the entire world is engulfed in egregious odours. Off go the ninjas in their warrior wagon and before long Koala spies a huge green cloud issuing forth from the cinema.

False alarm! Stinker has tricked them.

But who is that little old lady offering her assistance? Don’t be fooled guys; that talk of the object of their search entering the Bat Cave Café might well be another dupe. And it is!
The Ninjas are trapped, well and truly; or are they? One of their number, Koala, is the other side of the door. Perhaps she can release her pals.

Luckily she can and once free, Fox reminds the gang of a vital ninja rule: get inside your opponent’s mind. That’s what they put into practice as they follow their prey into the all-night supermarket. Can they track Stinker down, and if so where?
I’m sure young listeners will be eager to supply suggestions as to what might be the favoured fare of a fiery-bottomed skunk.

It seems that the Ninjas have made a catch. Game over, or is it? …

A bedtime tale quite unlike others: this one will definitely not lull your little ones into a soporific state. Rather they’ll be cheering for those Night Watch Ninjas so colourfully portrayed in Lisa and Damien Barlow’s zany scenes of nocturnal shenanigans, that or issuing a series of ‘EEEEUUUGGHHHs’ and ‘YUCKs’ as you share Lily Roscoe’s wonderfully windy tale.

Up the Mountain

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Up the Mountain
Marianne Dubuc
Book Island

Old Mrs Badger is a kindly soul residing at the foot of a small mountain. She loves to walk and does so every Sunday, climbing up to the top of the mountain and sometimes stopping en route collect things such as mushrooms for a friend

or to help one in need.
One Sunday she comes upon a little cat eager to accompany her on her journey though he lacks the confidence. Fortunately Mrs Badger knows just the thing to make the challenge easier for Leo

and so the two continue climbing together.

Her companion is inquisitive and quick to learn; Mrs Badger encouraging, wise. and generous with her wisdom.

Finally they reach their destination.

There follow many Sundays when the two friends climb together and gradually week by week, month by month Mrs Badger starts to grow weary on their walks and now it’s erstwhile mentee Leo’s turn to take on the mentoring role.
Then comes a day when Mrs Badger doesn’t feel strong enough for an uphill hike so Leo heads off alone. And so it continues with the cat bringing back treasures to share with Mrs Badger.
Eventually the mountain has become Leo’s but then one day that too changes: now Leo has a new friend with whom to share all that natural beauty.

Marianne Dubuc’s moving cyclical tale has a quiet beauty that holds readers in its thrall throughout, and demonstrates so touchingly the power of intergenerational friendships. Her scenes, both intimate and expansive, are superbly detailed and beautifully textured, and her colour palette spot on for the rural setting.

Give Peas a Chance (Dinosaur Juniors)

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Give Peas a Chance (Dinosaur Juniors)
Rob Biddulph
Harper Collins Children’s Books

Hurrah! There’s a whole story starring Nancy, one of the Dinosaur Juniors brigade we first met playing a bit part, strumming her guitar in Greg’s Happy Hatchday tale.

Yes that little dino-guy does put in an appearance too in the form of a co-consumer of Nancy’s unwanted peas. The problem being Nancy detests all things green so when she’s called in for her dinner

and told in no uncertain terms that she can’t go out and join her pals until her plate is empty, peas and all, she just has to cook up a quick plan.

As Greg passes beneath her window, Nancy utters these words loud and clear, “Mmmm, peas! / I’d eat them all day long. / Dad says they’ll make me / super strong.”

This utterance immediately has Greg salivating and asking for a share, which of course Nancy is only too willing to provide.

A similar thing happens when Sue comes along and her desire, as Nancy knows, is to be super speedy so all she needs to do is alter her pea praising poem to include the words “super fast” and Sue too is at the ready to receive a forkful of the little green veggies.

Chess-playing Otto is likewise attracted to the window and Nancy’s promise of the bestowal of super smartness upon those that consume those little green balls, so he cannot wait for a brain-boosting mouthful.

Now Nancy’s plate is completely clean. Mission accomplished and off she can go to play …

Err, maybe not quite yet, for Dad is about to become the bearer of some good news.

Again a super-stylish Rob Biddulph feast for ears and eyes, not to mention taste buds: those vibrant colours, especially the green hues are just SO appetisingly alluring.

Absolutely brilliant, the prehistoric pals do it once more: I wonder which of the dino-littles will star in the next of the series. Will it be Sue, or Otto; or perhaps Winnie, Wilf, Hector, Martin or Boo? There will be a huge number of fans waiting in eager anticipation after consuming this rhyming treat.

“You’re Called What?!”

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“You’re Called What?!”
Kes Gray and Nikki Dyson
Macmillan Children’s Books

Spluttersome delight is guaranteed in the latest of Kes Gray’s comic outpourings.

He takes us to the Ministry of Silly Names where there’s a queue of weird and wonderful creatures all intent on changing their monikers.

As each one reaches the counter and reveals what it’s called: Cockapoo, Monkeyface Pricklebat, Pink Fairy Armadillo, Blue-Footed Booby,(thanks to Jonny Lambert I’d heard of that one) Ice Cream Cone Worm,

Shovelnose Guitarfish, Blobfish

and yes, Bone-Eating Snot Flower Worm … the hoots of laughter from those behind get ever louder (and longer), in tandem, if my experience is anything to go by, with those of listeners.

Nikki Dyson’s hilarious portrayal of each animal with its peeved, or perhaps acquiescent countenance, is rib-ticklingly funny; but perhaps the best bit of all – no make that the second best bit – is the discovery that each and every one of these animals actually exists.

The funniest bit, at least for me, is when the final creature, the Aha Ha Wasp announces what its new name is to be.

Revealing this would most definitely spoil the fun so you’ll just have to lay your paws, feelers, fins or other appropriate appendages on a copy of the book pronto.

With its impeccable comic timing, this one’s beyond priceless, probably as much so as the author’s Oi Frog! and if your audience’s love of language isn’t boosted 100% after hearing the story, then I’m off to stick my head under the frill of that Tasselled Wobbegong.

I might have to do that anyway: one read aloud, with all those ‘HA HA’s, has left me utterly exhausted.

Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam The Missing Masterpiece

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Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam The Missing Masterpiece
Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton
Nosy Crow

A fox with a penchant for paintings – really? Yes really; one going by the name of Cunningham Sly and he steals them – in Paris no less.

However, that’s where the famous canine bakers Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam have just arrived with a special commission, to create a culinary edifice – a gingerbread Eiffel Tower- in time for the opening of the art exhibition at Galerie Bonbon. With only an hour to complete their work before the doors open, there’s not a second to lose despite the fact that Sam has spotted a ‘wanted’ poster displayed outside and is already on the alert.

En route to the kitchen Sam points out the location of a masterpiece, so he thinks, to Shifty, but his pal is on his way back to their van to collect something they’d left therein.

Once in the kitchen Sam is surprised to encounter a dapper-looking vulpine character and has a strange feeling he looks familiar. The dapper gent however assures him this can’t be so on account of his being an artist who spends all his time indoors on his work. Sam is impressed. But then as he dashes to inform his pal, they see something alarming and immediately, the chase is on.

Can they apprehend the wily thief and if so, will that dip in the River Seine have ruined the priceless Bone-a-Lisa portrait;

or is there perhaps a possibility that two masterpieces, one culinary and one artistic will be on view for the celebratory opening party of the exhibition?

Time after time in this series Tracey delivers a faultless rhyming narrative that is sheer delight to read aloud and full of tasty titbits. Steven Lenton’s scenes with their Parisian backdrop, portray with panache, the bakers’ plight as they strive to complete their double task and avert disaster. (There’s that spider to spot on every spread too.)

Another successful culinary caper with the crime busting canine duo: this would make a cracking TV cartoon or even perhaps, a stage show.

Caterpillar and Bean

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Caterpillar and Bean
Martin Jenkins and Hannah Tolson
Walker Books

Here’s a beautifully illustrated, narrative information book that cleverly combines two life cycles, that of a runner bean and an unnamed butterfly. (I’m not aware of a butterfly whose food plant is the runner bean.)

Written by conservation biologist and author, Martin Jenkins it’s the latest in the Science Storybook series for young children with growth and change as its themes.

Starting with a wrinkly bean seed ‘neath the ground, readers can follow its development as first a tiny root emerges, followed by (above ground) green leaves, then more green leaves onto one of which a white dot of an egg appears.

From this hatches a caterpillar that nibbles and grows, nibbles and grows,

shedding three skins, almost stripping the plant of its foliage.

Fortunately though, the plant too continues growing apace, but of the caterpillar there is no sign. Instead, dangling on a thread is a chrysalis.

Meanwhile bean pods have replaced the flowers and are swelling ready to shed new bean seeds after which, come winter the plant dies.

Not so the chrysalis however, that is awaiting spring when …

Simply and effectively told in a reader-friendly chatty style, alongside growing your own beans and caterpillars this is an excellent introductory book.

Ten Minutes to Bed Little Unicorn

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Ten Minutes to Bed Little Unicorn
Rhiannon Fielding and Chris Chatterton
Ladybird Books (Penguin Random House)

I must admit having seen it’s sparkly cover with that pink hued unicorn I didn’t want to like this book but having had children’s responses to it, and shared it one to one with several individuals, I’ve changed my mind.

Essentially it’s a tale about a spirited little unicorn named Twinkle who, like many young humans, does all she can to resist her dad’s “Ten minutes to bed!” warning.

Thus begins a countdown as the lively, far from tired unicorn, begins frisking through the forest, dancing and prancing, chasing the little creatures in the first three minutes and then she discovers a trail of footprints. Footprints that lead first to the sighting of a huge hairy troll,

then this being flashing across the sky, as well as the star.

Be honest, what would you do in that situation?

The problem is with four minutes left, Twinkle is, she realises, lost. There’s just one thing to do to get herself back in time, but will it work? Will she get home and if so, will she do so before the ten minutes expire? Remember, this is a magical story so …

With its rhyming text that reads aloud well, Rhiannon Fielding’s story works nicely as a bedtime tale, but equally as a shared read with a nursery group, or as an individual supported read for someone just gaining confidence as a reader of texts other than the boring schemes schools offer. Its predictable, patterned counting down nature and Chris Chatterton’s child-appealing, other worldly illustrations that also help when it comes to predicting the words coming next, contribute to its relative ease of reading. How magical is it for a six year old to be able to say, “I read that myself” like the little girl in the photo.

Alesha was over the moon to be  able to read this story herself.

.
Don’t forget to explore the Land of Nod maps back and front, one is a daytime landscape,

the other shows the same panorama at night. There’s a great deal of potential in those alone for further exploration and perhaps 3D map making, especially if you happen to have a little toy unicorn.

A Stone for Sascha

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A Stone for Sascha
Aaron Becker
Walker Books

I could just write a single word in response to this story– awesome – but that wouldn’t help those who have yet to encounter Aaron Becker’s new wordless picture book. Nor would it do justice to his remarkable lyrical endeavour.
My initial reading called to mind two poems of T.S. Eliot, the first being the opening line of East Coker: ‘In my beginning is my end.’

In Becker’s beginning we see a girl collecting flowers and discover they’re an offering for her beloved dog, Sascha’s grave.

The family – mother father, daughter and son – then leave home for a seaside camping holiday.
As night begins to fall the girl heads to the water’s edge and we see her standing beneath a starry sky about to throw a smooth stone.

Thereafter, time shifts and what follows are spreads of a meteor hurtling earthwards to become embedded in the ocean floor and we witness the evolution of our planet as the stone works its way upwards and out, as life transitions from water to land, dinosaurs roam and then give way to early mammalian forms.

Having broken the surface as an enormous protrusion, the stone is quarried and transported to a huge ancient royal edifice where it’s carved into an obelisk.

Wars, looting, fragmentation and remodelling occur as the stone moves through history becoming part of first a religious monument, then a bridge; is fashioned into a fantastical dragon and placed in an ornate carved chest; taken to an island and installed in a chieftain’s dwelling, stolen,

lost at sea and eventually, having moved through eons of time, is polished smooth and carried by the waves to the shore where stands the girl who finds it.

Now, as she presses the stone to her cheek she appears to have made peace with the situation and perhaps, her loss and grief.

The stone’s final resting place – as far as this story goes – is atop Sascha’s gravestone.
(You can also trace the whole journey through the timeline maps that form the endpapers.)

Becker’s layered pastel spreads – digitally worked I think – have in the present time, a near photographic, quality. The scenes of bygone eras where the degree of sfumato intensifies are, in contrast imbued with a dreamlike quality, being as Leonardo da Vinci said of the technique he too employed, ‘ without lines or borders’.

This intensely moving, unforgettable, multi-layered, circular tale is open to countless interpretations and reinterpretations depending on what we bring to the book, at any particular time. Assuredly, it makes this reviewer think about our own place in the cosmos and our connection to past and future, for to return once more to T.S. Eliot:
‘Time present and time past / Are both perhaps present in time future, / And time future contained in time past.’
Burnt Norton

10 Reasons to Love a Lion / 10 Reasons to Love a Penguin

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10 Reasons to Love a Lion
10 Reasons to Love a Penguin
Catherine Barr and Hanako Clulow
Lincoln Children’s Books

The latest additions to this environmentally concerned series that introduces children to, and encourages their positivity towards, animals in the wild, takes readers to some highly contrasting locations.
In 10 Reasons to Love a Lion we discover that sadly, there is only one species of lion remaining in the wild, living in central and southern Africa

and the Gir Forest National Park in Gujarat, India.
Unlike other big cats, lions are social animals, living in prides and in Africa, so we learn, huge territories of arid savannah are patrolled by each pride which might comprise as many as three magnificently-maned males, plus lionesses and their offspring.

I was unaware that despite their having quills that are potentially lethal to lions should their skin be pierced and become infected, the large cat predators – the females do the hunting – like eating these prickly creatures. Ouch!

In addition to this information we’re told about lions’ ability to see in poor light when hunting, thanks to their ‘glow-in-the-dark eyes; hear of the playfulness of cubs; their manner of greeting and becoming friendly towards, other lions using their individual oily scent; and their propensity to sleep, particularly after fully sating their appetites.

Other birds and animals are also featured in Hannah Clulow’s realistic-looking scenes; so for instance we can tell which location – African or Indian – it is by say, the presence of an Indian peacock, or ostriches.

Scattered throughout the book are 5 ways in which we all can show our appreciation towards lions and thus perhaps help in their preservation.

In contrast there are 18 penguin species, which, with the exception of the Galapagos penguin all live in or near Antarctica. Each one is pictured on the opening spread of 10 Reasons to Love a Penguin.

Ecologist and environmentalist, Catherine Barr adopts a similarly engaging style as she writes of these flightless birds as ‘super speedy swimmers’ using their ‘underwater wings’ to ‘twist and turn’ as they hunt for fish. She talks of their specially shaped eyes that help underwater vision while searching for ocean food, some of which unfortunately is being depleted by large floating nets that might also entangle the penguins.

We see and read of penguins tobogganing on their tummies,

sneezing salty water, some species huddling close together to fend off the chill – their feet still suffer though; discover the mating habits of adelies; the chick rearing of emperors penguins; the loss of waterproofing during their ‘catastrophic moult’ and more.

Again, interspersed throughout are 5 ways we humans can help the cause of penguin preservation.

Written in collaboration with the Natural History Museum, these are two to add to primary classroom collections, and for ecologically aware individual readers.

The Dog that Ate the World

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The Dog that Ate the World
Sandra Dieckmann
Flying Eye Books

Down in the valley the various animals live alongside each other peaceably, birds with birds, bears fishing with bears and fox playing his fiddle to other foxes.

Then, one fateful day across the pastures comes an unwanted canine intruder, large and greedy. He helps himself to whatever he wants in the way of food and drink, growing ever larger.
In an attempt to assuage the hunger of the beastly dog, the fox with his fiddle approaches him and plays a song.

He’s rewarded for his efforts by being consumed by the dog, but despite this the fox continues playing his song from within.

It’s heard without by a trio of brave bunnies that resolve to rescue the fox,

but they too end up inside the dog.

Peace-makers attempt to talk, trick and tire the beast, all to no avail; the dog swallows the lot.
Trapped within, the animals light a fire, talk and work, until eventually as life continues to flourish, so too does hope.

Nonetheless the gluttonous and now prodigious, dog continues stuffing himself until finally, down too, goes the sun and the entire sky. The beast has eaten his entire world.

And what of the other animals? Let’s just say that brightness surrounds them. In their world, there’s no place for such an animal as that voracious dog and all is peace, harmony and togetherness.

The forest animals in Sandra Dieckmann’s second picture book demonstrate so well to us humans, the importance of friendship and community when disaster strikes. Her striking colour palette, mixed-media, richly detailed scenes of flora and fauna, and slightly mystical landscapes draw one in and hold you while you ponder both composition and meaning.

Surely an allegory of our times and one that is open to many interpretations. However one sees that all consuming metaphorical dog, be it as consumerism, capitalism, or evil itself, this book is sure to engender discussion no matter the age of the audience.

A First Book of the Sea

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A First Book of the Sea
Nicola Davies and Emily Sutton
Walker Books

Award winning team Davies and Sutton present a fine, diverse collection of sea related poems that subtly blend information within.
Starting down by the shore readers can experience a paddle, sandcastle building, watch a flock of seagulls, have a spending spree on the pier, ride a wave, become creative with shells and pebbles, or stop still and watch a Shore Crab:

‘Delicate! / As a dancer, / The crab sidesteps / To a dead-fish dinner. / Wary! / Periscope eyes up, watching. / Its big claws pinch tiny scraps / And pass them to its busy mouth. / Dainty! / Like a giant eating fairy cakes.’

I love that observation.

Equally beautiful, from the Journeys section, is Star School wherein, ‘The old man draws the night sky out in pebbles / to teach his grandson the pattern of stars. / They will steer his path across the ocean / like stepping stones laid out in the sky, / They’ll steer him safe to tiny islands, / green stars lost in seas of blue.’

I’ve never been a particular lover of beaches and the sea other than in tropical climes, but Nicola Davies’ superb word pictures in tandem with Emily Sutton’s remarkable watercolours have made me want to head to the nearest coast and look anew at those seagulls, limpets, shells and ‘bits of beauty that are pebbles.’
I know I’ll have to travel a bit further in search of puffins though, and I can wait a few more months to watch fishermen on palm-clad shores, perhaps in Kerala or Goa, tossing their nets ‘spider web’ like, endeavouring to ‘catch just enough fish for dinner’.
This is an outstanding and wondrous evocation of the sea – beside, upon, above and beneath –

‘A festival of flashlight fish! Off-on, off-on. It’s a morse code fiesta of living lanterns.

for every book collection, be that at home or in school. A ‘First Book of the Sea‘ it might be, but this is one that will go on being appreciated over and over and …

Baby on Board

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Baby on Board
Allan Ahlberg and Emma Chichester Clark
Puffin Books

Storyteller extraordinaire, Allan Ahlberg, has teamed up with some wonderful illustrators over the years and here he is partnered by another; Emma Chichester Clark, who provided the pictures for his Mrs Vole the Vet, one of the Happy Families series.

This is a story – an epic adventure – that has its origins in the author’s infancy when two girls used to call at his home in the Black Country, asking to take baby Allan out for a walk in his pram.
It begins thus:
‘Once, many years ago,
there was a baby,
in his pram,
with his sisters
and their sandwiches and lemonade
and toys,
and their friends
and a kite,
and a dog or two … ‘

From there it takes off into a lilting tale wherein baby and minders are separated on account of a kite, and the infant in its pram sails off, along with a trio of toys, into the open seas.
Fortunately the toys are able to make the babe warm and comfy; but coping with the sudden storm that blows up is much more of a challenge, though it’s one the three are up to.

Unexpectedly however, three becomes two thanks to an inquisitive puffin, the arrival of which precipitates a fall overboard by panda. Happily the other two are able to perform a timely rescue and the pram sails on into the setting sun, with its complete crew and a somewhat whiffy baby.

Eventually the baby carriage drifts to shore once more with its four passengers safe and sound, albeit pretty exhausted; and all ends happily thanks to terrific toy teamwork.

Stunning artwork by Emma Chichester Clark – love the 1930s pram and children’s attire –  transforms Allan Ahlberg’s super story into a super, super story. It’s perfect as a bedtime book, or equally as a shared read at any time of the day.

Lunch on a Pirate Ship

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Lunch on a Pirate Ship
Caryl Hart and Kristina Stephenson
Simon & Schuster Children’s Books

Pirates rule yet again, or is it young Jack, in this lipsmacking adventure that rollicks and rolls along apace in Caryl Hart’s seemingly effortless, rhyming narrative.

Let’s meet Jack then: he’s something of a fussy eater – I’m sure we all know a few of those – and one day, a fine one perhaps like today, he decides that cold chips and crunchy baked beans do nothing to tempt his taste buds.

Instead he fantasises about the possibilities of lunch aboard a pirate ship. Now what might those salty souls sink their gnashers into by way of a lunchtime treat, he wonders – pongy pickled crabs and rancid rotten fish maybe?

Rejecting this unappetising dish, both pirates and Jack set off in search of other more promising fare.

What the giant offers is little better …

so he too joins the hunt – as passenger carrier – and off they all go following a sweet-smelling scent, eventually coming upon a fantastic feast laid out in a field.
Uh-oh! First they must cross a bridge and we all, children in particular, know what might be lurking somewhere in the vicinity of one of those.

What takes place thereafter, I won’t reveal for fear of spoiling your appetite for the remainder of the tale, but let’s just say, they do all, or almost all, get home in time to appreciate their tea that includes some pretty delectable offerings, so long as they eat their greens, that is.

Kristina Stephenson eschews her ‘stinky socks’ for a sojourn on the high seas doing it with absolute appetising aplomb as befits this truly tasty story that so brilliantly mixes food and fairy tale.

You Can’t Let an Elephant Drive a Digger

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You Can’t Let an Elephant Drive a Digger
Patricia Cleveland Peck and David Tazzyman
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

After their successful collaboration with You Can’t Take an Elephant on the Bus, team Cleveland-Peck and Tazzyman return to entertain readers with another selection of silly scenarios involving an array of unlikely creatures all endeavouring to lend a hand, a tusk, paws or perhaps fins, flippers or some other part of their anatomy, all with gigglesome outcomes.

Patricia’s rhyming possibilities or should I say, impossibilities, will surely deter even the bravest of readers from say, letting a polar bear anywhere near their hair with a pair of scissors, engaging an octopus as a dressing assistant,

attempting tooth cleaning in the vicinity of a crocodile, particularly of the hungry kind, or allowing a wolf to read the bedtime story,

while David Tazzyman’s portrayals of the creatures carrying out their self-set tasks are a scribblesome treat of the disastrous – sometimes life-threatening – consequences of ignoring the author’s advice.

Maybe the rejected animals are right – if you can’t join ’em then beat ’em and party instead!

Spencer age 5, who thoroughly enjoyed the book, has come up with two playful ideas of his own.

Joy

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Joy
Corrinne Averiss and Isabelle Follath
Words & Pictures

Where can you find joy, and once found, how can you capture it? That’s the conundrum young Fern sets herself in this gorgeous story.
Fern’s Nanna has not been her usual self recently; her sparkle’s gone and with it her love of cake baking and even worse, her smile. That’s what upsets Fern most.
“It’s like the joy has gone out of her life.” is what her Mum says when Fern asks what’s wrong with Nanna.
Once she’s understood that joy involves experiences that generate a ‘whooosh!’ factor, Fern packs her catching kit into her bag

and sets out for the park to catch some and bring them back for her Nanna.

Sure enough, the park is brimming with joyful moments, but try as she might, those whooshes refuse to be caught in her various receptacles …

and she trudges sadly home.

Now it’s Nanna’s turn to notice how sad her granddaughter is. As Fern recounts her abortive attempts to bring home some joy for her, lo and behold, Nanna’s face breaks into the ‘BIGGEST, WIDEST WHOOOSH! of a smile’ and next day they’re off to the park together.

Corrine Averiss’s empathetic tale showing that unique bond between grandparent and child, is in itself elevating and a gentle demonstration that love is the true generator of joy however manifested: coupled with debut picture book illustrator Isabelle Follath’s tender, mixed media scenes of both sadness and jubilation, this very special book makes one want to break into WHOOOSH-induced handsprings of delight.

The Princess and the Pitstop / Cleopatra Bones and the Golden Chimpanzee

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The Princess and the Pit Stop
Tom Angleberger and Dan Santat
Abrams

A princess racing car driver – Yeah! We first meet her as she makes a pit stop with one lap of the race left and is told by her Fairy Godmother that she’s in last place. ‘She might as well give up!’ is the suggestion from our narrator.
This particular princess is not however, a quitter: she’s one determined young woman and so it’s time to hit that accelerator – HARD!

Off she zooms, outstripping various opponents so the cleverly punning commentator tells us, leaving a trail of rainbow coloured exhaust in her wake.

Before long she’s whizzed past scores of nursery rhyme characters, and pretty much every fairy tale character you can think of, (‘She spun out Rumpelstiltskin and butted in front of the The Three Billy Goats Gruff!’ we hear) as well as Beatrix Potter’s Flopsy, Mopsy and Peter Rabbit (what happened to Cottontail one wonders), until the only cars still in front are those belonging to the two ugly stepsisters ( I guess Cinderella’s elsewhere engaged) and after a lot of bumping and blocking on the sisters’ part, whoppee! – our princess, who isn’t at all alarmed by a bit of biffing and bashing, is declared the winner.

That however isn’t quite the end of the tale: there’s another competition still to be won and that involves taking a partner.
I’m not sure I wouldn’t rather have had her perform solo again, but still, this telling, coupled with Dan Santat’s computer game animation style art work will surely give you an adrenalin rush.
Reading the break-neck speed narration of royalty and racing aloud left this adult reviewer more than a little breathless.
Long live girl power!
There’s another race in:

Cleopatra Bones and the Golden Chimpanzee
Jonathan Emmett and Ed Eaves
Oxford University Press

When news of the location of a priceless statue, The Golden Chimpanzee breaks, the race is on to get to the spot in the Jungle of Junoo on the shore of Lake Lazoo and secure the treasure.
Can canine explorer Cleopatra Bones, finder of the treasure map showing exactly where the statue is to be found, beat the opposition, in particular the dastardly driver of an armoured aqua-car, Al McNasty, and discover the hidden gold?

Cleo. spies something interesting, a monkey statue assuredly but it’s not a golden one and then suddenly Al McNasty skids to a halt at the base of the statue. He’s convinced the place to look is underground.
Al however isn’t prepared to pick up a spade and dig down deep in the hope of booty: instead he has another plan up his sleeve, one that entails creating a blast.

But when his ruse backfires in no uncertain terms, he inadvertently precipitates a rather exciting waterfall …

A fun, fast moving, rollicking rhyme from Jonathan Emmett accompanied by Ed Eaves’ detailed scenes of zany vehicles that travel over land, through water and air, driven by an array of funky animals is just the thing to keep youngsters on the edge of their seats as they root for Cleopatra and her pals, all of whom, along with the evil-intentioned reptile are catalogued inside the front and back covers.

My Town

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My Town
Ingela P Arrhenius
Walker Studio

This large format picture book urban exploration is absolutely bursting with potential for discussion and language development with a group of preschool children.

The artist, Ingela Arrhenius has selected an exciting assortment of town-related places from a bookshop (I love that she’s included her Animals book in the window display)

to a building site, a police station to a port, a skyscraper

to a school and a museum to the metro.

Each of these and others are illustrated in a striking graphic style that has a retro feel.
Readers will enjoy following various characters who move from one page to another; but where will say, the woman serving in the bookshop and the guy buying a book next pop up?

Observant children will notice that the cyclist at the beginning of the book passes the hotel before ending up as a patient in the hospital on one of the final pages.

An almost wordless book (apart from the labels of the scenes, each with an aptly chosen typeface), there will be no shortage of words generated by, as I envisage it, groups of youngsters sharing the book while lying flat out on the floor, poring over each of its pages and making connections and storying excitedly, (perhaps with the occasional gentle nudge from a teacher or other adult), as well as making use of the picture dictionary front and back endpapers.

Ruby’s Worry

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Ruby’s Worry
Tom Percival
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

All children have worries from time to time and so it is with young Ruby.
She’s always felt upbeat doing the things she loves until the fateful day she discovers, uh oh! a Worry.

At first the worry is tiny, barely noticeable in fact, but the trouble is it begins to grow … and grow, day by day until it seems to be there all the time no matter what she does or where she goes.

Nobody else can see the thing and Ruby tries to stay positive but the Worry gets in the way of her doing her favourite things. Suppose it never goes away, she worries. Oops! Big mistake – the thing expands,

until it’s completely filling her every waking moment.

Then one day as Ruby is walking in the park she comes across a sad-looking boy and, something else is lurking beside him. A worry perhaps?

What happens thereafter is of enormous benefit to both the boy and Ruby herself.

Yes of course, she still does have the occasional worry but now Ruby has a coping strategy so that she’ll never feel so overwhelmed again.

Tom Percival is such an empathetic story maker. Once again he explores a subject that affects so many young children through an empowering, book that all can relate to.

I love the way he adjusts the colour balance of his illustrations so that as Ruby’s worry grows, the pictures take on an increasingly grayscale appearance, with full colour returning when the two children’s worries are banished in an exuberant rainbow of joy.

A perfect book for stimulating discussion about worry sharing.

The Station Mouse

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The Station Mouse
Meg McLaren
Andersen Press

Maurice is a Station Mouse bound by the rules in the Station Mouse Handbook. The first rule states ‘A Station Mouse must remain unseen.’ The second is, ‘A Station Mouse must never go out in the daytime.’ Rule number three says, ‘A Station Mouse must never approach passengers.’
Clearly these rules are there for the benefit of humans, particularly that large majority who DO NOT like mice.

Now Maurice being a rule-abiding, recent employee of the railway spends his days (after sleeping late) hiding away and, it’s a pretty solitary life that gives him opportunities to contemplate such things as why nobody ever comes back to enquire about their lost things.

His nights in contrast, when nobody is about, are busy times when the mouse is occupied collecting all the items that have been left behind during the day.

One day Maurice spots a small child dropping a comforter; but what about that third and most important rule? Perhaps, if he values his life it would be safer to remain out of sight like the handbook says.

What about though, if you are absolutely sure that the lost thing IS a wanted thing? Maybe after all, it’s right to break the rule just occasionally whatever the consequences …

Seems there’s a price to pay for so doing which makes Maurice decide to keep to himself henceforward.

But then we are met with rule number four:’ If the bell rings, pull the alarm and return to your duties.’ That’s because a station mouse must not under any circumstances answer the bell – or should this rule too be ignored for it appears that the business about passengers not liking mice might just have some exceptions.

Time for a new rule and perhaps a different modus operandi …

Make sure you peruse both endpapers; they’re an important part of this cracking book. Its story really resonated with me as someone, who as an educator, is frequently accused of being a rule breaker or subverter. Good on Maurice for following his heart rather than sticking to the rule book.
Knowing when so to do is a vital lesson for children and one I believe they need to start thinking about right from their early days in nursery or even before.

Meg McLaren just keeps on getting better and better; this is my favourite of her stories so far. There are quirky little jokes, both visual and verbal wherever you look – even on the back cover. As well as creating superb characters, there’s an impressive sensitivity about everything she draws and she has an amazing eye for detail.

Dinosaurs Don’t Draw / Tyrannosaurus Wrecks!

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Dinosaurs Don’t Draw
Elli Woodward and Steven Lenton
Macmillan Children’s Books

‘Of course they don’t’, children will be thinking in response to hearing the title of this book, but they’re in for a surprise thanks to Picassaur and his strange find. Said find is a white object and it’s not long before the young dinosaur has transformed his surroundings.

His mother is less than impressed: “We’re fighters and biters, as fierce as can be!” is what she tells her dino. infant.

Far from being put off, Picassaur continues with his creative endeavours, in glorious technicolour this time, but his father’s reaction is the same as his mother’s.

Despite his amazing third artistic effort, Picassaur’s cousins too respond negatively, telling him to forget his drawing and do battle instead.

Then all of a sudden they get the surprise of their lives …

Is that the end for all the little dinosaurs?

It certainly seems likely they’ll be the next meal for that T-rex; but something even scarier than himself meets his eye when he turns around …

Whoever thought pictures could be that powerful … Three cheers for peaceful solutions rather than conflict and another three for Picassaur who dared to be different.

Elli Woodward’s zippy rhyming text flows nicely inviting audience participation and in tandem with Steven Lenton’s spirited scenes of dinosaurs and the artistic outpourings of one of their number, makes for a fun story-time read aloud.

A rather different dino. character stars in:

Tyrannosaurus Wrecks!
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and Zachariah OHora
Abrams Appleseed

We all know that tyrannosaurs are renowned for their destructive ways and so it is for young Tyrannosaurus rex here. This young terror is not intentionally bad but his lack of awareness and over-exuberance results in a pre-school setting of angry-faced characters whose creative activities are ruined,

and whose quiet endeavours are disturbed.

Eventually thoroughly infuriated by all this wrecking, his classmates have had enough. “Tyrannosaurus – go!” comes the cry.

This causes contrition on the part of the antihero but even then his attempts to make amends flounder due to his ungainliness, at which point his fellow dinos. muck in, overseeing and facilitating the reparation.

However, just when harmony seems about to be restored we see that the little Tyro.dino. isn’t the only one capable of precipitating a disaster …

Zachariah OHora’s stand-out bright scenes of the classroom will attract pre-school humans but also include the occasional visual joke such as the Styracosaurus writing ‘climate change’ over and over on the chalk board to amuse adult readers aloud.
With its fun rhythm and rhyme, this stomping romp invites noisy audience participation.

Belinda Brown

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Belinda Brown
David McKee
Andersen Press

Belinda Brown is fanatical about bananas, insisting on dining upon them at every meal and in-between times too, even going to the lengths of keeping a spare in her sock should she feel peckish. None of her family or friends shares her ultra-enthusiasm for the fruit; in fact her friendship with best pal, Felicity Jones is terminated thanks to the curvy fruit.

So convinced are her parents that the child is merely going through a faddy phase that they aren’t troubled by this over-indulgence:

it’s left to her Grandma to worry about Belinda’s obsession.
She becomes increasingly troubled until eventually on a walk together, she begs her granddaughter to cut down on the bananas for fear her body should start to mimic the form of same.

Belinda has no wish for her back-bone to take on a banana-shape and so, rather than give up what she loves so much, the girl tries her own method of offsetting any possible curvature that might occur.

The results however, are not quite what she’s hoping for …

Rhyming nonsense from McKee to tickle the taste buds and bring on the giggles. Belinda’s a totally zany character but you’ll also love her small brother Bryan, the balletic, skinny Aunt Sally and the banana-sharing toddler twins, all portrayed in McKee’s signature style.

World of Birds / My RSPB Sticker Activity Book: Woodland Animals

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World of Birds
Robert Hunter
Wide Eyed Editions
This is the first of a new Sounds of Nature series, which has ten 10-second natural soundscapes available at the touch of a button.
Herein readers can visit and explore ten diverse habitats—from the Himalayan Mountains

to the wetlands of Kenya’s Lake Nakuru, and the tropical rainforest of New Guinea to an English forest

and listen to birds in the wild with this exciting book, strikingly illustrated by Robert Frank Hunter.
There’s a brief paragraph of facts about each bird species included and their respective numbers relate to the order in which the sounds they make can be heard.
An interactive book for young, and not so young nature lovers that called to mind an alarm, sounded by ecologist and musician, Bernie Krause in his recent book: ‘A great silence is spreading over the natural world even as the sound of man is becoming deafening.’
Let’s hope that it doesn’t spread over the wonderful habitats featured by Hunter.

My RSPB Sticker Activity Book: Woodland Animals
Illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman
Walker Books

There’s a range of activities to engage young children in this woodland setting book. Readers can enjoy dot to dots,

colour in some of the creatures including completing and ensuring the symmetry of the peacock and red admiral butterflies (they’d have to check elsewhere for the colours of the latter), add stickers to scenes (in some cases completing a puzzle), hunt for partially hidden nocturnal animals, complete a maze and spot differences.

The semi-matt finish and reproductive quality of the stickers, along with the illustrator’s attractive collage style art work and the factual information integrated into the various scenes make this a book to keep and return to after the tasks have been completed.

The Secret Sky Garden

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The Secret Sky Garden
Linda Sarah and Fiona Lumbers
Simon & Schuster

Funni loves to visit the disused rooftop airport cark park, coming almost every Saturday to fly her kite or play her recorder but always she feels a lack of something.

She can imitate the notes from the airport tannoy, the whine from the engines of landing planes and the music of the bells in City Square, but something else is needed. Something visual perhaps?

Funni decides on operation transformation and each week for the next three months she brings a sack of soil and collects up all the litter until eventually, the entire surface is covered with soil.

Then it’s time to plant seeds and wait …

Now in addition to flying her kite and making her music, Funni has the flowers to tend but even so, still she feels something is missing.

Then the very first visitor arrives …

What happens thereafter will make your heart sing: I won’t reveal what that is, but suffice it to say it involves a flourishing of flowers aplenty, and friendship, a city soundscape with beautiful music, kite flying and thanks to Fiona Lumbers’ glorious floral scenes, the most gorgeous colours you can imagine.

Linda Sarah’s Funni is an enchanting child and her story, although sparely told is pitch perfect for her themes and has touches of poetry.

With its inherent creativity motif this is altogether an uplifting book that will delight both children and adults alike.

Picking Pickle

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Picking Pickle
Polly Faber and Clara Vulliamy
Pavilion Children’s Books

Here’s a story from the dream team, Faber and Vulliamy, creators of the Mango & Bambang series who now take us to a dogs’ home and, courtesy of longest term resident canine narrator, help us find just the right dog. But which one will it be? There are just so many potential companions to choose from it’s a veritable canine conundrum.

Who better though to introduce fellow residents; our narrator knows the ins and outs of them all so let’s meet some.

There’s incredible handsome, silky-haired, prize winning Geraldo; what about him? Or he of the voracious appetite, Harvey?
Perhaps we might prefer Dumpling, a clever pooch, chewer of news, views and crosswords at super fast speed as well as being multi-lingual.

Maybe Matilda – she of the perfect teeth – and an excellent guard dog; or super-cute Boo-Boo, bouncy as a ball.

Then again, there’s Poochy Petunia Wuffles-Winstanley, undoubtedly the poshest pet of the lot, although on occasion her manners leave something to be desired.

Oh what a dilemma, a real pickle indeed. Perhaps it’s easily sorted; I know which I’d choose. The one that bears a close resemblance to the canine, Chester, my best friend is currently caring for, the one  that I sometimes accompany on walks in Bushy Park:

I wonder; might it be our faithful narrator himself …
Full of fun and heart, Polly’s laugh-out loud text combined with Clara’s cracking, brilliantly observed, canine portraits make for a deliciously silly pooch-filled romp that ends just perfectly.
Make sure you check out the end papers, they’re a delight too.

Steve, Terror of the Seas

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Steve, Terror of the Seas
Megan Brewis
Oxford University Press

Steve is not a very big fish, his teeth aren’t really razor sharp,

he’s no angelfish certainly, but why, he wonders, is it that the very sight of him sends not only all the fishes large and small, but other sea creatures too, and even humans, into a terrified tizzy.

Let me introduce some of the most alarming varieties of the fish Steve shares the ocean with: here they are, each one appearing decidedly more likely to have you for breakfast than Steve;

but I’ll leave him to do the honours when it comes to an introduction to his best pal, George. “We go EVERYWHERE together” Steve tells us “And George doesn’t think I’m scary at all!’ Now why would that be?

This is just a made up tale, you’re probably thinking but actually it is and it isn’t. Steve is a Pilot fish for George; and they share a symbiotic relationship. He keeps George free from harmful parasites and is even allowed to clean his teeth. Ooooh!

Essentially this is an extended joke of a story with a factual sting in its tail. It’s amusingly illustrated with interestingly textured, sub-aquatic scenes by relative newcomer to the picture book scene, Megan Brewis.