Category Picture Books

The Emperor of Absurdia & Wendel

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The Emperor of Absurdia
Chris Riddell
Macmillan Children’s Books
This is a smaller format edition of a wonderful dream of a story from the pen of Children’s Laureate, Chris Riddell. It’s told with a delicious humour and through his fantastical and amazingly detailed illustrations. The whole thing revolves around an endearing young character who has something of a wardrobe crisis and that’s despite facilitations from the Wardrobe Monster: the Emperor’s scarf has gone missing.
A hunt ensues, and the scarf retrieved – just in time for breakfast. Thereafter another hunt happens; but not before supper is served and the seeker is suitably replete –

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or almost – for his lunch has hatched and taken flight.
This chase is done courtesy of the Emperor’s wonderful vehicle, his tricycle chair …

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and culminates in the finding of not one but two dragons. And the mama dragon is anything but pleased to see him, chasing him back into the hugging arms of none other than the Wardrobe Monster.

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Time to sleep …
Crammed with wonderfully whimsical imagery and sometimes, minute details, every scene, large or small, is simply superb. The delicacy of Riddell’s drawing is out of this world: do take time to compare the landscapes of the front and end papers …

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Such wonderfully detailed endpapers – feast your eyes…

Quite early on in the story, the Emperor himself declares, “This is exciting!” What child (or adult) could fail to agree? For the latter, the whole thing is a joy to read aloud – wonderful word combinations abound – ‘crumply coat, jingle-jangle socks’, ‘a loud, pointy-sounding squawk’; and smatters of repetition are judiciously dropped in to the text.
If this one doesn’t set the imagination of youngsters flying, nothing will. Me, I’m off to revel in the realm of Absurdia for a while. It rather reminds me of an adventure from The Edge, one of my all time favourite fantasy worlds.

In the same format and also from the current children’s laureate is another wonderfully quirky creation:

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Wendel and the Robots
Herein inventor, Wendel’s latest robotic creation has gone out of control and doesn’t know when to stop: even the inventor mouse himself ends up being tossed down the rubbish chute and onto the scrapheap. The question is can Wendel and his team seize back control of his territory from the dreaded tidying fanatic, Wendelbot?

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Enormous fun; but I certainly wouldn’t take a leaf out of Wendel’s ‘never threw anything on the scrapheap’ book. (although there’s one person in my household who definitely has!)
Both of these are great for those slightly older readers who may have missed out on the publication of these delicious books in their original, larger picture book format.

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Don’t Think About Purple Elephants

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Don’t Think About Purple Elephants
Susan Whelan and Gwynneth Jones
EK Books
Meet young Sophie, she’s something of a worrier; not during the daytime however when she’s having fun at school,

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nor at home afterwards playing with her sister and brother. Not even at weekends when she can read, bake cakes, help in the garden, ride her bike or simply cloud watch. NO! The worries manifest themselves at bedtime. Without other things to occupy her mind, Sophie would allow those worries to come creeping in.

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Needless to say those bothersome worries interfered with her sleep, making her rather fractious in the mornings. Helpful suggestions from her family don’t work, they only add more worries …

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not until that is her Mum says this: “Go to bed, close your eyes and DON’T think about purple elephants. … No purple elephants at all.”
We all know what happens when somebody tells you not to think about something: that very thought pops right into your head (unless you’re a meditator but even then sometimes in they crowd).
It’s no surprise then that into sceptical Sophie’s mind comes not one, but a veritable herd of elephants engaging in all manner of un-elephant-like activities.

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And next morning, joy of joys, Sophie wakes up full of energy and you can guess what the theme of her artistic endeavours is at school that day.
Sophie is a wholly credible character. Indeed in my experience, many young, particularly creative, highly intelligent, emotionally sensitive children are very similar to the young protagonist. Seemingly, being of a creative bent can have its drawbacks too.
However, among the coping mechanisms adults can offer is children’s literature and in particular, picture books such as this delightful one. From the safe place of a story world youngsters can explore ideas and find solutions: the inherent humour of Susan Whelan’s narrative and Gwynneth Jones’ detailed, slightly whimsical illustrations offer one such. Jones portrays how those worries of Sophie’s take hold: as the worries come, the colours drain away, the scenes becoming almost black and white, with just the particular worry colourfully highlighted. Watch that mischievous moggie too.

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All in all, a super book for home, early years settings and primary schools.

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Skimbleshanks/Patch’s Grand Dog Show

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Skimbleshanks The Railway Cat
T.S.Eliot and Arthur Robins
Faber & Faber Children’s Books
It’s 11.39, time for the Night Mail train to depart; so it’s all aboard and off we go! Not quite: where is Skimbleshanks?

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The train can’t start without him.
In the nick of time, he appears, the ‘All Clear!’ is given and the train leaves bound for the ‘northern part of the Northern Hemisphere.’ And there’s no doubt about who’s in charge.: ‘From the driver and the guards to the / bagmen playing cards/ He will supervise them all, more or less.’

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Up and down the corridor he paces, patrolling and keeping watch for any bad behaviour on the part of the passengers …

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Those sleeping berths must be kept just spotless with all the amenities in full working order …

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And there are people to meet and greet while all the passengers are fast asleep: that too is Skimble’s job as is summoning the police (that’s at Dumfries)

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or helping passengers to descend (at Gallowgate). All this and more takes place if you join another feline star in Arthur Robins’ third picture book interpretation of verses from T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
Once again, Robins’ cartoon style visuals are full of deliciously dotty details. No matter if you’re a cat lover (I’m not), a poetry lover (that’s me) or neither, you’ll still find plenty to amuse herein. Share it, shout it or simply enjoy it alone or with others, young or not so young.

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Patch’s Grand Dog Show
Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne
Pavilion Books
Loner and slightly strange-looking dog, Patch is passing his time as usual sitting in the park when he hears from the other side of same, a whole lot of woofing, yapping and barking. On investigating he discovers …

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His inquiry, “Can anyone enter?” is met with derision from the other dogs so a downcast Patch goes off to hide himself. But then he has an idea: an idea involving his ball and a special trick. Even then though, the sight of all those seemingly perfect pampered pooches adopting all manner of prize-seeking poses and performing all kinds of clever moves to impress the judges – here are a couple of the former …

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his courage fails him. In the face of such finery, poor Patch feels even more inferior and lonely until he hears an announcement: “AND The Dog The Judge Would Most Like to Take Home IS …”
No prizes for guessing which one that is.

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I’m no dog lover, far from it (having been mauled by an Alsatian as a child), but these knitted creatures are delightful. What’s more there are instructions on how to knit a Patch at the back of the book. Do look closely at each illustration and you’ll see how cleverly textured each one is. The artwork itself is likely to be an inspiration for children to create their own woolly scenes.

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Fairy Tales Old, Fairy Tales New

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The Orchard Book of Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Savoiur Pirotta and Emma Chichester Clark
Orchard Books
Readers and listeners enter a world full of enchantments, mystery and a scattering of frights when they open the covers of this re-incarnation of ‘The Sleeping Princess” first published in the early 2000s. The magic still holds good though as each of the ten stories is visited or revisited through Pirotta’s appropriately direct retellings of favourites such as Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, the Frog Prince, Rumpelstiltskin, the Twelve Dancing Princesses and Snow White and Rose Red.

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Emma Chichester Clark’s wonderful jewel-like illustrations – large and small – bring an extra glow, an occasional frisson of fear;

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and in many cases, a degree of gentle humour …

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to the verbal renditions.

Equally full of enchantment, occasional scares and sadness, and plenty of Celtic humour is:

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Magic!
edited by Siobhán Parkinson, illustrated by Olwyn Whelan
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Subtitled ‘New Fairy Tales by Irish Writers’ this collection of stories has many of the same ingredients: princesses, (one features in a tale by John Boyne), frogs – ‘the other’ one gloriously named Hildegard. I love this story with its princess who wears a red cloak and happens upon a wolf as she walks in the forest;

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it comes from the pen of Ireland’s first laureate for children’s literature, Siobhán Parkinson.
Then there’s an ogre – gruesomely green although he, Finbar the Furious, is capable of no wrongdoing.

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Every one of the seven stories reads aloud beautifully and Olwyn Whelan’s gorgeous watercolours delight at every turn of the page. Here’s one from Darragh Martin’s ‘The Sky-Snake and the Pot of Gold’

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This wickedly funny story had my audience in fits of giggles, especially over the stripe-stretching Síle transforming himself into what young Nora refers to ‘GIANT’S STICKY SNOT’
A book to treasure alongside other fairytale collections.

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The Crow’s Tale & The Wild Swans

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The Crow’s Tale
Naomi Howarth
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Right from the dazzlingly beautiful cover, this book is sheer magic. Told through a lyrical rhyming text and gorgeous, iridescent lithographic/watercolour illustrations, every turn of the page brings new delight – visual and verbal as we are treated to this tale inspired by a Lenni Lenape Native American legend.
It centres around Crow, a beautiful rainbow coloured bird: well that was then. Moreover, at that time, he had a sweet singing voice. So how/why did he end up with that black plumage and harsh-sounding call?
This pourquoi tale tells just that. It begins one day in the depths of winter, snow has covered the ground and the animals huddle together to forge a plan.

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One of their number must take on a perilous journey to bring them some of the Sun’s warmth. The one chosen is none other than Rainbow Crow:
‘The magnificently coloured kaleidoscope Crow
was the one who would battle through ice, wind and snow.”
His flight is swift but hard and long, taking him through the blizzard and into the dazzlingly bright Sun’s realm.

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Awoken from his deep slumbers, Sun however is unwilling to return; instead he gives Crow a burning branch to take back to the animals. During his return flight, Crow’s feathers are blackened by smoke and soot, and his voice becomes nothing more than a harsh croaky ‘caw’.

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A successful mission, yes and his friends praise him wholeheartedly, but still, Crow has lost his beauty and is despondent.
No matter the Sun tells him: “it’s not how you look but how you behave.” that matters … ‘your beauty inside is the heart of the matter.’
In truth however, there is about Crow, an altogether different kind of beauty – a special gift from the Sun.

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It’s the arresting artwork that really steals the show here, wonderfully highlighting the message inherent in the text. Wow! What a debut for Naomi Howarth.
And what an exciting group art project it would make with every member of a group/class contributing a feather for Rainbow Crow and another for his new plumage.

Probably for somewhat older readers/listeners is this amazing retelling of another old tale

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The Wild Swans
Jackie Morris
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Everything Jackie Morris does is brilliant and this is no exception. Here, she takes what is a fairly short story and expands it to 175 pages, enhancing it with her wondrous watercolours

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and turning it into something quite out of this world, a coming of age story with new twists and glorious descriptions of the natural world through which Eliza moves and has her being.
‘In the morning, Eliza woke to a chorus rich with the singing of birds. She walked, and soon came to a place in the trees where the branches arched over a clear-water pool. Surrounded on all sides by brambles, with a space where the delicate deer came to drink… also on the smooth surface, so still in the forest glade, a mirrored image of sky and leaves, each crystal sharp.’
And as she reaches the sea: ‘’the waves, slate and gold, wind-wrinkled water. The sun was sinking, lower, lower. Soon it would touch the water, slip down behind the horizon.’ Such mesmerisingly beautiful words.
How brilliantly too, we are allowed to share Eliza’s thoughts and feelings, as well as gaining some insights into various characters. The queen, Eliza’s stepmother we are told, ‘learned the ache of loneliness and the sharp pain of jealousy.’ These are truly three-dimensional characters rather than those one often encounters in the fairy tale genre.

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…the bishop…drew the  spider’s web of his plan closer around him like a net.

A book to savour and to revisit, to give and to keep and treasure for oneself; a book to share in the classroom, or, if you can bear to let go of it, for the family bookshelf .

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The Pebble in My Pocket

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The Pebble In My Pocket
Meredith Hooper and Chris Coady
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
How can a small, insignificant-looking pebble generate a strong sense of wonder and give readers an exciting overview of 480 million years of evolution? Well assuredly it can if it’s the one held by the girl narrator on the first page of this excellent book. “Where did you come from, pebble?” she asks and we are then zoomed back to the volcanic eruption, the ‘beginning’ of earth’s history.

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Then, spread by wonderful spread, we are moved forwards, millions of years at a time, right through the entire evolution of the geosphere, to a field beside a recently built road and houses of the ‘almost’ present. (I cannot believe it’s almost twenty years since this book was first published.) As the narrator tells us her pebble has ‘been on top of mountains and under the sea. … buried in ice and in rock. … covered in drying sand and tropical forest… flung and dropped, frozen, soaked and baked, squeezed and squashed. … stood on, sheltered under and used… travelled huge distances, over immense periods of time.’ WOW! If that doesn’t inspire readers then little will.
And all the while, the text keeps track of the pebble: ‘A furry, two-horned rodent pushes past the pebble into its burrow.’ That’s 15 million years ago.

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The whole text reads aloud beautifully: ‘Gradually the sand hardens, forming a new layer of rock, a conglomerate ‘pudding-stone rock.’

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How easily exciting new words are, pebble-like, dropped into the narrative; but equally, Meredith Hooper presents us with the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Chris Coady’s wonderfully textured watercolours are the perfect complement for Hooper’s words; and a final spread provides a timeline with explanatory note that ‘pictures are not drawn to scale’.

Also newly re-issued from the same team is ‘The Story of Water on Our Planet’

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The Drop In My Drink
Meredith Hooper and Chris Coady
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

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Bear With Me

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The Bear Who Went Boo!
David Walliams and Tony Ross
Harper Collins Children’s Books
I put this book down in a classroom belonging to nine year olds and it was eagerly seized on by one girl who’d been attracted by the author’s name splashed across the cover. She sat silently reading it to herself, then excitedly called some of her peers and saying ‘Listen to this, guys.’ began reading it aloud to them. ‘Can you read it?’ they asked and so I was given the book and proceeded. The group loved it: ‘It’s hilarious,’ one said and ‘he (little cub) really asked for it.’

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That about sums things up.
Essentially, this performance stars a cheeky little polar bear residing at the top of the world who enjoys nothing better than creeping up on his poor unsuspecting fellow creatures and letting out an enormous “Boo!” He pays no heed to his mama’s “How would you like it if someone went boo to you?” and when a TV crew arrives to make a film of the animals, he continues with his boos. He boos the wrinkly walrus as he’s topping up his tan for the camera, the puffins as they preen their feathers, with disastrous results for the birds and the killer whales working on their synchronised swimming routine.

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Then along comes an altogether different creature – one unknown to little cub – and he’s about to film a snowy owl. Of course, the booing bear lets loose with one final …

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Needless to say its recipient is far from pleased and he’s not fooled by little cub’s claim to be a member of the penguin species either, so it’s a case of TV show filming cancelled.
Off flies the helicopter taking with it the film crew – next destination the Antarctica – leaving behind some very angry would-be famous TV stars and a somewhat downcast little cub.
But even after being treated to a dose of his own medicine and ending up looking like this …

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our irrepressible young chief protagonist just has to have the very last word and you’ll know what that is …
What a tour de force this Walliams/Ross team is: indeed just as irrepressible as little cub himself.

 

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How to Hug with Hugless Douglas
David Melling
Hodder Children’s Books
The famous hugging bear is back with lessons in – you’ve guessed it – hugging and it’s altogether generous hearted of him, as he and his pals are engaging in a hugging contest. Still that’s Douglas for you and as he says, “Some of the nicest hugs are with your friends.” But, you can hug pretty much anything, one way …

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or another.
There are prizes for all manner of hugs and huggers; but will Douglas win anything? What do you think? …
An exuberantly warm-hearted board book for apprentice huggers of all shapes and sizes.

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Identity Puzzles: My Wild Family/Who Done it?

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My Wild Family
Laurent Moreau
Chronicle Books
On outsized pages, through a first person narrative, readers are introduced to all manner of family members and finally, as she calls herself, the ‘unique’ female narrator.
“I have a very special family” we are told on the opening spread and assuredly that is true for the girl then goes on to show each family member as a wild animal. Her older brother is ‘strong and respected’; her younger brother in contrast is ‘flighty and a dreamer, his head often in the clouds.’ Unsurprisingly he’s also an excellent singer.

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‘Sweet and generous’ her grandmother likes to stay at home whereas her aunt ‘always perfectly primped, never leaves the house without looking her best.’

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The animals themselves are never named; you have to look carefully at the respective scenes – a classroom, busy street, sandy beach, a shopping centre for instance, to discover which one each person is portrayed as.
Friends too get the ‘treatment’: her best female friend ‘makes the best scary faces’

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and, to outrun her record-breaking runner, best male pal, would be well nigh impossible – unless that is, you were another member of the same species.
Audiences will delight in hearing the narrator’s family story and if mine are anything to go by, will be inspired to think about themselves, their own personality traits and those of their families in animal terms. (A lead into the Phillip Pullman daemon idea perhaps.)
Below are two from children I know…

Gracie thought about her younger brother thus

and …

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James’ brother is often very amusing …

The retro-modern illustrations have just the right amount of detail and I particularly like the judicious use of red outlines that give an added dimension to the scenes. For sheer energy, my favourite has to be that ‘Cousins’ ‘scene

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and here the text does actually spill the beans as to the animal identity.
The whole thing is imaginative, funny and splendidly thought- and talk-provoking.

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Who Done It?
Olivier Tallec
Chronicle Books
The title question is not one of the twelve posed to young children as they work their way through this unusual shaped book. With his minimalist, not quite static art work, Tallec proffers, all manner of amusing scenarios, interrogating a delightful line-up of characters – human and animal – with such as Who forgot a swimsuit? , Who ate all the jam?

 

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And, the funniest and favourite with my testers, ‘Who couldn’t hold it? ‘ has a delicious degree of ambiguity but that’s half the fun of the whole thing.

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The same is true of the jam spread. Number one suspect is the jam-spattered fox; but equally the dark haired boy has an enormous grin across his face and the rabbit looks decidedly as if he could throw up at any moment. For those who require certainties, the final page supplies all the ‘correct’ answers.
The allure of this one is great and the promise holds good throughout. Every delightful double spread sets the scene for the development of talk and imaginative storying, culminating in what is probably the most tricky poser of all to decide: Who is in disguise?

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The book’s probably best shared with small groups or individually; and in addition, the predictable nature of the text makes this a good bet for beginning readers.

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Finding Winnie

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Finding Winnie
Lindsay Mattick and Sophie Blackall
Orchard Books
When already past bedtime, young Cole requests a story, a true one, about a bear he gets just that. And so do we in this enchanting book about one that became the inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh. The story is told by the great granddaughter of Captain Harry Coles a vet ,who met and bought an orphan bear cub on a station just as he was about to depart for a World War 1 training camp.

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Named Winnipeg (after his home town), the bear captures the heart of Harry’s Colonel and is allowed to join the troops, becoming their mascot and eating them out of house and home. When they reach camp, Winnie becomes a fully fledged army member and even accompanies the soldiers across the Atlantic to England.

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Once there she has to contend with the rigours of regimental training on Salisbury Plain; but it’s there in the depths of winter that the call to fight comes. Harry then has a difficult decision to make; should he find a safe place for Winnie? It’s then that mind wins over heart: London Zoo is that safe place and there Winnie is soon charming its many visitors.

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There one story ends – kind of – and another begins for one of the zoo’s visitors is young Christopher Robin Milne. And the rest, we know is storybook literary history. A final ‘Album’ includes pertinent photographs (snapshots of Winnie, Harry and the soldiers, and Winnie and Christopher Robin), as well as some documents.
How deftly and magically the author weaves this historical story: it’s one that includes not only history but geography too. I particularly like the way Cole’s interjections move the story forwards: “ What do trappers do?” asked Cole.
“It’s what trappers don’t do. They don’t raise bears.” comes the response.
Equally magical are Sophie Blackall’s watercolour illustrations. Brilliantly expressive

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and gently humorous, every one is a delight to behold.
A winning combination through and through.

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War or Peace? Ninja Baby/Green Lizards vs Red Rectangles

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Ninja Baby
David Zeltser and Diane Goode
Chronicle Books
An original take on a new sibling is offered in this hilarious book written in a wonderfully wry manner. Born a ninja for sure, Nina immediately shows her nature by karate chopping the doctor in return for her ‘make sure she’s breathing thump on the behind’.

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We then follow her path as she masters the sneak attack, hand-to-hand combat, obliteration, even advanced infiltration:

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total independence no less. Life is, one might say, pretty peachy for young Nina until that is, the arrival of a new prodigy: a veritable Kung Fu Master.

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In no time at all, this creature has wormed his way into his parents’ affections by doing nothing other than being utterly adorable. Guess who is far from happy.

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And seemingly young Nina has a few things to learn from the Master and vice-versa …

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Together they can become an indomitable force …

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I love the way the different, contrasting energies are portrayed in Diane Goode’s delectable watercolour and ink scenes: Fast moving, Ninja Nina’s success is her stealth. (That all out tantrum scene is sheer genius in its demonstration of the art of ninja.) Her placid, manipulative baby brother is altogether other. A total heart-stealer if ever there was one (or two!)

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Green Lizards vs Red Rectangles
Steve Antony
Hodder Children’s Books
The Green Lizards and the Red Rectangles wage war on one another as first one side – the GLs – is in the ascendant, and then the other, as tricky tactics from the RRs truly test the strength of the GLs.

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Until one Green Lizard has the audacity to question the whole thing.

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He however is firmly squashed and the battle then quickly reaches epic proportions …

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culminating in total exhaustion on both sides.
“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” declares a small Red Rectangle and indeed it is for the two sides then face one another for a truce.
And, finally they work together to construct a way of living in peace and harmony.

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Long may it continue …
Seemingly simple, this is a brilliantly clever, totally original fable of our time. It packs a powerful punch about peace (and the futility of war), delivering a message that one hopes young children will take on board and keep with them as they mature. Indeed the questions raised here in this allegorical story are equally relevant to older children and adults. I suggest teachers of children in KS2 and beyond share it with their classes too.

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Love London

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L is for London
Paul Thurlby
Hodder Children’s Books
If you didn’t make it to London over half term, don’t worry. You can take a virtual trip courtesy of this fine alphabetic offering from Paul Thurlby. Delivered with tremendous panache, his instantly recognizable retro-modern style graces every page from its Abbey Road zebra crossing …

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to the (London) Zoo; it quite simply exudes style.
Must visit landmarks include the London Eye, the Globe theatre,  

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Tower Bridge, the Millennium Bridge …

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and Nelson’s Column. You can savour the produce on the stalls at Borough Market, enjoy at least one of the eight Royal Parks, or Kew Gardens …

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travel in a black Cab or board a London bus or the Uunderground.
And no trip to the capital city would be complete without spending time at the V&A museum, browsing in Foyles bookshop or, Harrods for the ultimate shopping experience. Other ‘must dos’ would be to see the Royal Guards in front of Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, the residence of the Prime Minister and the Olympic Park.
In June/July you can watch the tennis at Wimbledon or if it’s a Christmas visit there is day and night outdoor Ice skating at Somerset House.
Although you might have to Queue, the crown Jewels can be viewed at the Tower of London, which is guarded by those legendary Yeomen warders better known as ‘Beefeaters’.
Finally, if one has time, on the South Bank is the oXo Tower, further along from the Royal festival Hall.
Those heading out of London for an international destination might leave from St Pancras station …

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With a scattering of famous faces, a fox to spot at every landmark and fascinating facts as well, this is assuredly a buy to keep and buy to give book.

An altogether different look at our capital city comes in

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Mr Chicken Lands On London
Leigh Hobbs
Allen & Unwin
In his second adventure, the travelling Mr Chicken descends on London – literally, landing gently in the Thames with his waterproof camera safe and sound. He then hotfoots to his favourite hotel the Savoy, having pre-booked the River View Deluxe Room prior to his trip.
After a Thames view breakfast, it’s off to visit her Majesty the Queen for morning tea. This has to be a brief meeting for Mr Chicken has many other things on his itinerary: a climb up St Paul’s Cathedral, an exploration of the Tower of London, a brief column-sharing view of Trafalgar Square with Lord Nelson and a hasty tour of the National Gallery, all before lunch.
After which comes a bus-ride to the London Eye …

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a perch atop the fountain at Piccadilly Circus and an evening visit to the opera; all that before nine fifteen because at precisely that moment he is inside Big Ben itself. Then it’s back to his hotel – briefly – before a moonlit foray along the Thames. Phew! What a busy day; but next morning it’s farewell to London for Mr Chicken and off he flies in his trusty air-balloon. Whither next one wonders …
Told with a tongue-in-cheek text, there’s an abundance of visual humour in this frenetic madcap extravaganza.

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In My Heart

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In My Heart
Jo Witek and Christine Roussey
Abrams Appleseed
I received this book on the day we heard the terrible news about the second terrorist attack on Paris. So today (and yesterday) are days on which, as the small girl narrator says, “my heart feels heavy as an elephant. There’s a dark cloud over my head, and tears fall like rain. This is when my heart is sad.”

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Indeed it could be said that one feels that way whenever there’s a news item about those seeking sanctuary from the crisis in Syria, and in other parts of the world.
However, right from its rainbow die-cut layered heart shown on the cover (its depth decreases as the pages are turned), this is  largely a book of hope and joy, wonder and positivity; as the child narrator tells readers, “My heart is like a house, with all these feelings living inside.”

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Every turn of the page reveals a new feeling or emotion be it bravery or fear, happiness or sadness, anger or calm; it might be a heart that feels hurt – broken and in need of healing with extra kisses, or one that is hopeful and “grows tall, like a plant reaching toward the sky.”

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How beautifully the author selects similes that help young audiences better appreciate each feeling: “Sometimes my heart feels like a big yellow star, shiny and bright.” – that’s happy; or when calm, “I bob along gently like a balloon on a string. My heart feels lazy and slow and quiet as snowfall.” This is mirrored by the choice of colour the artist employs for the symbol on the recto of each double spread.
As the heart-size diminishes with each turn of the page, we have a heart full of giggles (silly), a small treasure to hide away – a shy heart …

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and eventually, a garden full of hearts and a final question “How does your heart feel?” to ponder.
Elegantly and appealingly designed, gorgeously and sensitively illustrated and so full of heart, this is a must have book for all early years settings and families with young (and not so young) children.
As I said, I came to this with a heavy heart: I left it with one full once again, of hope … it’s the only way to be.

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Historium

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Historium
Richard Wilkinson and Jo Nelson
Big Picture Press
This handsome, outsized volume offers a virtual museum experience within hard covers. The opening pages – the ‘Entrance’ provide a brief rationale for what is included, ‘ only a selection of the civilisations that have ever existed, but we hope it will inspire future exploration.’ and a short explanation of archaeology. Next comes a timeline that illustrates the objects featured in the six galleries: Africa, America, Asia, Europe, The Middle East and Oceania.
Gallery 1 includes Southern Africa, Western Africa …

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and Ancient Egypt with each culture being given a short overview followed by a key to the artefacts that includes description, cultural context and anthropological significance.
In Gallery 2, America, five civilisations feature: The Olmec, The Maya,

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The Aztecs, The Hopewell (I hate to admit my ignorance about this one), and the Pueblo.
Enter Gallery 3 and you’re taken to Ancient Asia – India (the ancient culture I’m most familiar with),

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China, Japan and Korea.
Gallery 4, Europe encompasses The Celts, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome …

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and The Vikings.
The Middle East is the location for Gallery 5 and here Jo Nelson offers readers five Mesopotamian objects, another five from The Ancient Levant, a frieze from Ancient Persia; and Early Islam has fragments of a woven tapestry, wall painting fragments and an earthenware bowl.

 

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The 6th Gallery, Oceania includes items from the Indigenous Australians,

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Melanesia, Polynesia and The Maori.
Wilkinson’s digital illustrations are not photos though they have a considerable degree of photorealism in the detail and some truly stand out from the page.

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Moving from early Stone Age (a hand axe) right through to the 19th century (a Polynesian head of a staff god) is indeed an ambitious enterprise and of course, it can never take the place of a real museum visit; but you would need to visit a great many to see everything Historium presents. There is a final index citing the museums (with locations) of the artefacts displayed in the whole fascinating enterprise. It certainly does give the next best thing: a basic introduction to a number of ancient cultures (mostly no longer in existence) and an exciting visual experience that will one hopes, inspire readers to go (coining a phrase from Bruner), ‘beyond the information given’

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Box & Hop Along Boo

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Box
Min Flyte and Rosalind Beardshaw
Nosy Crow
Those of us who have dealings with young children know that they love to play with, in and on, boxes, the bigger the better. The idea is delightfully explored with Thomas, Alice, Sam and Nancy in this book subtitled ‘What would you do with a box?’
Thomas’s box is the smallest; he and we ponder over what might be inside and then open the flap to reveal …

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a drum.
Then it’s bang, bang , march to see Alice and her medium-sized box containing …
Well you can guess by the pedal, pedal manner in which she visits Sam and his very big box with a blanket within …  Last comes Nancy with her ENORMOUS box wherein there’s not one but four further boxes

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and finally  the real fun begins – imagine …

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Imagine ….

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And imagine again …

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They might even make a bed and snuggle down for some well-earned rest.
With those adorable preschoolers, an interactive text and a surprise constructive opportunity inside the back cover, this is a great book to share with an early years group and I suggest you make sure there are plenty of boxes at the ready thereafter. There’s tremendous potential for mathematical learning and creative play from this beautifully simple book.

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Hop Along Boo Time For bed
Mandy Sutcliffe
Orchard Books
Belle and her bunny Boo return for a nocturnal foray.
As the moon peeps through Boo’s window he hears Belle strumming and singing him a lullaby down below.

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Young listeners can join them in an enchanting pyjama-clad adventure wherein they’ll meet cowboys, dancers, fairies, elephants,

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babies, pirates even, on the way to the world of slumbers.
Beautifully dreamlike and soporific are Mandy Sutcliffe’s rhyming text and appropriately cosy bedtime scenes.

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The Bear Report & Land Shark

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The Bear Report
Thyra Heder
Abrams Books for Young Readers
Homework – bor-ing!
That’s certainly the feeling of most children when faced with something as seemingly dull as Sophie is in this beautiful book. Hardly surprising then that her response is thus …

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That’s it, she thinks as sits down to watch TV. But then …

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The bear – Olafur by name – invites young Sophie to visit his Arctic home. And ignoring her indifferent “Um, no thinks. I’ve seen the pictures.” response, he whisks her away to a glorious world of ice-floes, snowy landscapes inhabited by whales, seals, Arctic foxes and snow rabbits; a place where she can fish with a stick, scramble across moss-covered rocks, birdwatch lying on her back – BRRR!

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and even slide down glaciers.
Inevitably such adventures make for sleepiness so the two snuggle up for some shut-eye but then suddenly find themselves struggling through the sea as the ice-floe melts. Then it’s Sophie’s turn to take charge as she dives beneath the waves calling – summoning – and help comes in the form of a Humpback Whale …

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And as darkness begins to fall, Olafur has one last surprise for Sophie …

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who now has a whole lot more to add to her homework assignment –thanks to that mind stretching adventure.
Inspired by Thyra Heder’s own Arctic visit, this truly impressive book really does, in comparatively few well-chosen words and stunning watercolour scenes in icy blue, grey and green shades shades, paint a breathtaking world while at the same time one hopes, sparking the imagination and engendering a fascination for wild places with their amazing flora and fauna. A delight through and through.
Perhaps homework can be worthwhile after all …

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Land Shark
Beth Ferry and Ben Mantle
Chronicle Books
Shark-obsessive, Bobby is determined to get his parents to buy him a pet shark for his birthday. What is he to do then, when the big day comes and he’s given a puppy? Certainly not fall immediately in love with her no matter how charming she might appear to be. This shark lover’s not for turning …

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Maybe then, the best solution is to sit by and observe as the pup begins to leave a trail of devastation throughout the house, chewing shoes, chair legs and stuffed toys and that’s before she starts on the neighbours’ property.

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Hold it there: didn’t Bobby’s original raison d’etre for that shark demand something like this: ‘frightful, bite-ful, delightful’? Couldn’t that equally well be applied to the most recent resident in Bobby’s household? But no: ‘Shark lovers can NOT be converted to dog lovers.” Not just yet but … then comes a bite to beat all bites and guess whose gnashers are responsible?

 

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That little canine beauty has chomped her way right into Bobby’s heart. QED
This slightly off-beat story, told with wit and charm, and great fun to read aloud is perfectly complemented by Ben Mantle’s deliciously dynamic visuals. Chock full of detail and delivered with aplomb, every character is beautifully realised, best of all being Bobby with his funky fin hairstyle: and what a range of perspectives Mantle uses.
There’s a wonderful ‘tail end’ too: one that leaves audiences free to unleash their own imaginations along with Bobby, as well as perhaps signaling follow-up possibilities. This reviewer says ‘More please!’

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Refuge

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Refuge
Anne Booth and Sam Usher
Nosy Crow
Anyone who has been watching the news over recent months and seen the refugees fleeing, desperately seeking safety from Syria and other conflict-ridden countries cannot fail to be moved to the core by this heart-achingly beautiful rendering of the Christmas story, in particular, the flight into Egypt of Mary, Joseph and their new baby. Now today, just before writing this review, I have heard Chris Morris on the World at One reporting from Malta saying that the Mediterranean has become a graveyard for all too many who had hoped to find refuge.
I admit to having tears in my eyes as I read Anne Booth’s spare prose. By using the donkey as narrator, she makes the whole thing feel much more intimate and immediate: ‘When the last king left, the scent of frankincense lingering in the air, we all slept and the man had a dream. A dream of danger. …

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And we set off … under starlight, through empty streets, whilst people were sleeping, hoping for the kindness of strangers. Again.’

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Achingly poignant too in their stark simplicity, are Sam Usher’s largely grey, black and white illustrations. Rendered in watercolours and ink they evoke the spirit of the precarious plight of families fleeing both then and now.
May others, like myself and like that oil lamp strategically centrally placed in that final scene of Sam’s, to borrow a phrase from Auden, ‘show an affirming flame.’ 

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Indeed, the creators of this book – author, illustrator and publisher (and others listed on the copyright page) have all collaborated to get this to publication in just six weeks and £5 for every copy sold will go to the publishers’ partner charity, War Child. https://www.warchild.org.uk

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Blue Penguin

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Blue Penguin
Petr Horáček
Walker Books
There’s a magical and luminous quality to the icy landscapes dazzlingly rendered by Petr Horáček in this sublime story on the theme of insiders and outsiders.
Into a penguin colony, in the far south, is born a new baby – a blue penguin. His fellow penguins are amazed. ”Are you a real penguin?” they ask and indeed Blue Penguin does all the penguiny things like diving and jumping (although he doesn’t excel); but he is ace at fishing.

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Bemused though, they begin to shun him leaving a very sad, empty-feeling Blue Penguin with no company save his night-time dreams.
Into one, repeatedly, comes a beautiful white whale that transports him far from his lonely place every night; and every morning Blue Penguin sings the whale a song sending it out across the ocean.

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This song catches the ear of another penguin drawing her closer day by day until finally, “Teach me your song,” she asks.

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Thus the two forge a friendship as Little Penguin learns to sing Blue Penguin’s song and they play and sing together.
Then comes a night when Blue Penguin decides they should sing a new song. Such is its magic that it draws in the other penguins, who, enchanted by its beauty, also want to learn the song. But his teaching is halted in its tracks by the arrival of a huge white whale that has heard the song and responded to its call.

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Now Blue Penguin has a decision to make: old song or new? Go with his dreamtime friend or remain with his new friend Little Penguin: maybe the other penguins will have some influence on his decision …
Sometimes a book comes along that sends shivers of delight right through you. Such a one is this. If only Blue Penguin’s song could be taught to everyone, the world over; maybe a copy of this beautiful, big-hearted tale should be given to each and every child, educational establishment, organisation and every nation’s leader.

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Gracie and Leo enchanted by Blue Penguin and the beauty of the book

Imagine …

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Life’s Lessons from Pom Pom & Arnold and his Whale

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Pom Pom the Champion
Sophy Henn
Puffin Books
Pom Pom the adorable bear is back and he’s all at sixes and sevens: that’s what comes of having SO many toys. Thanks to his mum’s ‘let’s play a game’ suggestion though, he’s discovered his competitive streak and for Pom Pom it’s all about winning. That will certainly sound familiar if you have dealings with young children.DSCN0601 (800x600)

Having won the game, he goes on to win ‘being first at getting ready to go out’ – admirable! – followed by fastest shopping trolley packer (OOPS! Pom Pom)…

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fastest library book finisher – maybe not so clever either…

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When he hits the park, Pom Pom encounters Baxter and friends on scooters but they leave him standing when it comes to a race. Swinging highest and climbing are equally disastrous for the young bear: so what about catch? Drop would have been better for our little Pom Pom who storms off in a big huff: “It’s NOT fair! I’m a winner! I’m going to GO and WIN on my OWN!” he shouts. And that’s exactly what he does, though it’s not very satisfying and certainly no fun. It’s a good job then that his friends are on hand to show him a better way of being a winner …

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Another sure winner (couldn’t resist that) for Sophy Henn. Her use of subdued shades but strong colours is perfect for the story and especially apposite for the underlying messages that youngsters need to come to understand: winning isn’t always all important especially when that winning isn’t well done.
Pom Pom is one cute character and the perfect vehicle for conveying life’s lessons to the very young.
A must have book for all early years settings and families with young children.

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Not Without My Whale
Billy Coughlan and Villie Karabatzia
Maverick Arts Publishing
Arnold has a pet – a whale; he also has a problem – a whale sized one – on account of his reluctance to go to school without said pet. Fortunately however, he has a friend, Dora, resourceful and determined. “I think we can manage,” she confidently assures Arnold’s relations all of whom are convinced school and whales don’t go together. And manage they do .

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But then comes assembly, followed by maths. Dora manages both situations beautifully and I’m sure Mrs Oates’ class is delighted with their outdoor numeracy session.

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And so the day proceeds with Dora finding a way to manage each and every potentially tricky situation although after a lunchtime packed with so much fun and games, they miss the bell and incur the wrath of Mrs Oates. And then finally, it’s Arnold’s turn to manage one last challenge (with a bit of help from his whale) …

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With suitably silly, bright cartoon style illustrations and a decided sting or rather stink, in its tail, this story about gaining self confidence was well received by my audience of 4s to 6s who particularly enjoyed the idea of a soccer playing whale and that whiffy finale.

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Tahmineh’s Beautiful Bird

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Tahmineh’s Beautiful Bird
Parviz Kalantari
Tiny Owl Publishing
We first meet young Tahmineh as she sits playing her flute and minding the family flocks high up on the grassy pastures. Suddenly she notices a beautiful bird singing the most beautiful song she has ever heard. A song that causes her to daydream in school the following day and to distract her as she tries to read her favourite storybook.

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Wanting to capture the beautiful bird so she can enjoy its song whenever she wishes, Tahmineh tells her father of her desire.
“A bird would be unhappy to be trapped, and an unhappy bird won’t sing.” is his wise response. Equally wise, her mother says, “Even if you can’t catch the bird, you can catch the memory of it.” thus sparking an idea in Tahmineh’s mind.

 

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Inspired by her mother’s words, she weaves an image of the beautiful bird into a “chanteh”. – her finest ever. (A chanteh is a small bag, one of the artefacts woven by female members of the Qashqai tribe of which Tahmineh and her family are members.)
As summer draws to an end, and the tribe makes ready to descend to lower pastures, Tahmineh’s father gives her a letter asking her to go to the carpet fair in the big city.
It’s there that she wins first prize with her bag that is truly magical, for the bird still sings that glorious song.

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This allegorical tale can be interpreted in several ways: as a straightforward story of a young girl using her imagination and skill to get what she wants, as an illustration of mankind’s desire to capture something and use it for pleasure-giving purposes of his/her own and, peel off another layer to reveal an anti assimilation parable on behalf of the Qashqai people many of whom have had to give up their traditional free lifestyle and resettle in towns and cities.
Beautifully illustrated in striking colours, the scenes depict a culture virtually unknown to most Western readers and listeners. A fascinating and enriching book for primary audiences (and adults interested in ‘artistic anthropology’).

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Talking Points

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

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Flip the acetate sheet to the right and you have …

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Fashion purposes – exotic skins,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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more talk potential!

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

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Open the gate-fold to reveal …

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

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

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Two Crazy Tales

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

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

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

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

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

Nearly as bonkers in its own way is:

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

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

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

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

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

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Have You Seen Elephant?

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

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

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

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

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

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The Nonsense Show

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

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Transport – of sorts – features in:

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And …

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

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

 

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

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Bother with Babes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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She applies several hearty pats and then …

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

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

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The Snowman and the Sun/Dandelions

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

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

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

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

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

Also showing the circular nature of things is:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Once Upon a Northern Night

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

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

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

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

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

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The Big, Big Bing Book/Big Bear little chair

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

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

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

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

Also full of opportunities for language development is:

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

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And continuing with …

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and finally, after the butterfly has hatched –

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The second story introduces little bear and moves on to …

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and eventually …

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

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

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Being a Hero/Being Brave

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

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

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

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

More lessons about being a hero to be learned in:

 

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

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

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

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

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

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Showing and Sharing Love

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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It might hold exciting adventures or baking yummy things …

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

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Fun with Numbers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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and then ten, twenty, thirty, forty

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

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

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

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Aliens Love Dinopants & Aerodynamics of Biscuits

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

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shortly followed by …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Princes, a Princess and a Dragon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

C090B987-9FD4-47C9-A6E5-CEEE0DD83F4E[6]

 

Friends Return: Old Bear & The Beast

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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Bothersome Bedtimes: Max at Night and Whiffy Wilson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Fabulous Frogs, Elephants and other creatures

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Of Men and Mice (and the odd elephant)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Polar Exchanges

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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If Music Be the Food of Love

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Feline Encounters Featuring Gracie Grabbit & Gawain Greytail

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Fairytales for Mr Barker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Hauntings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Definitely other winner from the stupendously clever Elys Dolan

For older readers:

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

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For plenty of visual thrills visit the wonderful Children’s Books Illustration Autumn Exhibition at Waterstones, Piccadilly 23rd-29th October         C090B987-9FD4-47C9-A6E5-CEEE0DD83F4E[6]

The Ride-by-Nights / Tickle Monster

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Hallowe’en Frights, Spooky Skeletons and Boos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Pablo & Jane and the Hot Air Contraption

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Fabulous Children’s Book Illustration Autumn exhibition at Waterstones, Piccadilly 23rd-29th October
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Sparky Spellers: the Littlest Witch and Winnie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Monster Encounters

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

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

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

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

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

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twin skeletons in the bathtub and an itchy werewolf …

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With such visual jokes as dancing toothpaste tubes, hairbrushes …

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

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

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

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

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

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Deep in the Woods

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Loss and Leaving: Shine & Double Happiness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Crazy Car Rides

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Don’t miss the Children’s Book Illustration Autumn Exhibition in Piccadilly if you’re in London between 23rd and  29th   October              C090B987-9FD4-47C9-A6E5-CEEE0DD83F4E[6]

Robin’s Winter Song

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

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

 

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

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

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

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