Category Picture Books

Counting Lions & Actual Size

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Counting Lions
Katie Cotton and Stephen Walton
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Right from the amazing cover image I was blown away by this one. What strikes you first about this large format book is the stunning, incredibly life-like charcoal drawings of the ten animal species portrayed, so accurate and detailed are they that at first glance one could almost think they’re photos.
Starting with One lion and finishing with Ten zebras …

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this is of course a counting book but it’s so much more. Both text and pictures radiate a sense of awe and wonder at the magnificence of the natural world.
Katie Cotton’s poetic descriptions capture verbally the creatures’ physicality and what it might be like for each of the animals in the wild at particular times in their lives so ‘Two gorillas / breathe the same breath./ The child was born a tiny, two-kilo thing of hair and bone and not much else, / so the other keeps him close./ For two or three years, they clasp each other,/ one creature, while he grows and grows and grows./ Later, as he climbs the trees alone,/ he may forget they were once/ two together./ Two gorillas.’

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Many of the animals portrayed are threatened species:

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Some of the descriptions themselves mention the animal’s endangeredness, for instance “Does she know they are too few?/ What future is there for/ these four fighters?/ Four tigers.’
In ‘About the animals’ notes at the end of the book, Virginia McKenna provides additional information about each animal featured including its conservation status.

Readers also get right close up to the animals in:

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actual size
Steve Jenkins
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Eighteen creatures great and small feature in this engaging book that introduces readers to a wide variety of fauna from insects to mammals although in some instances Steve Jenkins shows only a part of the animal in his layered collage style illustrations. Alongside each of these is a descriptive sentence giving additional facts such as body height and weight.
Eyes figure quite prominently in several of the spreads and in one instance virtually all we get is an enormous squid eye 30cm across staring up from the page;

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but we also get quite close up to that of the Alaskan Brown Bear, the largest bird – an ostrich, and one belonging to the salt water crocodile. Here however, thanks to a fold out, our view is expanded to take in its awesome jaws.

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In a spread where we are shown a gorilla hand and that of the pygmy mouse lemur one’s instinct is to hold one’s own hand up against the former (children will want to do likewise) and to cover completely (if you’re an adult) the latter.

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If you missed out on the original hardcover version, get hold of this new paperback edition for your primary classroom or school library.

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The Queen’s Handbag

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The Queens’s Handbag
Steve Antony,
Hodder Children’s Books
There sits Her Majesty in the royal coach set to depart on her Great Britain tour when ‘swoosh!’ along comes a swan and away it swoops clutching her handbag firmly in its beak. Abandoning the coach, the Queen speeds off in her Aston Martin convertible hot on the trail of the sneaky thief all the way to Windsor Castle …

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and thence to Stonehenge.
From there it’s next stop Dover, followed by Oxford, Snowdonia, the Giants Causeway, Edinburgh Castle and all the way back to where she started. In the course of her break-neck chase Her Royal Majesty changes vehicle many times from motor bike, to Red Arrow plane, to penny farthing,

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then a parachute, a speedboat, a steam train

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– what an amazing acrobat she is – and a final gallop right back to London where she finds herself and the thieving bird caught up in the London Marathon. WOW! See her go …

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but can she catch that sneaky swan and retrieve the object of her chase? That would be telling wouldn’t it…
Delivered with considerable aplomb, and rendered in an appropriately regal colour palette, with a Union flag strategically placed in almost every location spread, not to mention a royal corgi, this is more than a worthy successor to The Queen’s Hat.
One cannot help but wonder just how many police officers got themselves involved in the chase (their antics are hilarious), and Her Majesty’s butler too makes a special appearance.
A laugh-on-every-page follow up to The Queen’s Hat and a veritable visual feast of British landmarks and the constabulary.

There’s an exciting event coming up in London on 23rd to 29th October: the Children’s Book Illustration Autumn Exhibition

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Home Tweet Home

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Home Tweet Home
Courtney Dicmas
Templar Publishing
Courtney Dicmas’ delightful story follows Pippi and Burt swallows’ forays into the big wide world in search of a new abode that will more comfortably accommodate them and their eight younger brothers and sisters. They fly forth from their cliff top nest into the night sky looking for somewhere that is a better fit for Rupert’s stinky feet, Maude’s judo and Cecil’s band practice.
Morning comes and with it a likely looking place certainly large enough and pretty sturdy looking …

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But perhaps a bit on the hard side.
Maybe a fluffier spot would be better but not that one – (a cheetah’s back), nor the pointy place they discover next …

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Why is nothing quite what they’d expected?

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Eventually the two together come to a realisation that it’s a case of ‘east, west home’s best’ for none of the places feels as homely and snuggly as that small nest of theirs with all their siblings for company.
Cleverly constructed and totally engaging at every turn of the page; those birds are adorable, every one of them. And the other animals are equally winningly portrayed in Courtney Dicmas’ super spreads.
Her best book so far in my opinion.
(Some of my audience of 5s to 9s were inspired to create their own birds to add to the family.)

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A super hero swallow, a recorder player, a hockey player, a ballet dancer, a school bird and a book reader.

 

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If you’re in or near London at the end of October don’t miss the opportunity to visit the exciting Children’s Book Illustration Art Exhibition on in Piccadilly from 23rd to 29th

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SPLATS & BURPS: A Pooping Bird and Burping Twins

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What a Naughty Bird!
Sean Taylor and Dan Widdowson
Templar Publishing
A story about a bird that flies around the world dropping splats of poo upon all manner of unsuspecting animals and some humans too, is bound to be a hit with young children. But when it’s delivered (courtesy of Sean Taylor) via a wicked rhyming narration from the poo dropper himself and coupled with Dan Widdowson’s hilarious renderings of the recipients of said splats it cannot fail to make its mark.
Every spread will brings giggles but my favourites are the large brown bull that gets one right between his horns

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and the bear in whom our inveterate splatterer more than meets his match. TeeHee!

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Young children love this one because they, or at least some among them, know more about ursine skills than does our avian narrator …

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Great fun for an early years storytime session, especially with that oft repeated ‘What a Naughty Bird!’ refrain to join in with.

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The Burp That Saved the World
Mark Griffiths and Maxine Lee-Mackie
Simon & Schuster Children’s Books
Meet young Ben and Matt the Mustard twins, burpers extraordinaire whose noisy eruptions drive the townsfolk to despair.

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So much so, that they issue the pair with an eviction notice. But then from outer space appears a fleet of alien raider invaders that seize the toys and books of all the town’s children and seemingly nothing can be done to stop them. Or can it? Maybe those burping boys might just save the day …

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With a fun to read aloud rhyming text, crazy and suitably garish, action-packed scenes and plenty of opportunities for adding sound effects, this is the sort of thing that appeals unashamedly to early years children who particularly seem to relish anything that involves bodily functions of the gaseous variety.

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A Bounty of Board Books

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Walter’s Wonderful Web
Tim Hopgood
Macmillan Children’s Books
Walter is a spider with a mission: he wants to spin a perfect web, not a wibbly- wobbly one that is whisked away whenever the wind blows.
His first effort – a triangular one is destroyed by the first puff of wind so he tries another – a rectangle, but with no more success.

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The diamond meets a similar fate but what about his circular-looking one, could that be the answer?
But three wooshes and Walter plus web hit the ground. Nearing despair, Walter stops to think before making one last attempt and by nightfall it looks as if he’s got it the design just right –

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WOW! Walter, you certainly deserved to succeed – top marks for perseverance and a wonderfully intricate web.
This delightful story for the very youngest provides a great opportunity to introduce ideas about not giving up when things get tough and of course, built into the narrative are those six basic 2D shapes.

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The Butterfly Garden
Laura Weston
Big Picture Press
Twenty words and a sequence of half a dozen super-stylish, beautifully patterned black and white illustrations: nothing much to get excited about – right? Wrong: look closely at the first of those black and white spreads.

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How many caterpillars can you spot? Look again at the silhouetted leaves and blooms and you notice there are flaps to lift. Open the top left-hand flap to reveal …

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And then the other four flaps and you’ll see a whole lot going on in vibrant colours …

 

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The subsequent spreads show the life cycle and life journey of the Monarch butterfly. (In North America, the Monarch migrates en masse to Mexico during the course of its life.)

 

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Essentially that’s it and every spread is beautifully designed and arresting first in black and white and then with its flashes of flamboyant colour.
Although the Monarch isn’t a breeding British butterfly, this book is a striking visual account of a butterfly’s life cycle.

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The Tiger Prowls
Seb Braun
Simon & Schuster
It’s hard to choose a favourite from the five animals that pop out from the pages of this seemingly simple yet impressive book. I love the shape and feel of the whole thing – its arresting cover, the way it whizzes through the various habitats the colour palette used and the clever paper engineering. Then there’s the elegant prose of the sentences used to describe each of the iconic creatures that grace the spreads.
First off is that tiger from the cover described thus:
‘The tiger prowls, stalking the jungle. Paw after heavy paw crunches on the forest floor. And so he does emerging from a gentle hint of vegetation straddling that first spread across which slides a muted snake.
Turn over and meet a graceful whale with its cleverly upturned tail and snout;

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the brown bear padding slow through the forest, the mighty elephant taking a shower in the hot sun (If I’m fussy I’d like to have seen an upturned trunk and slightly sharper tusks here ) and finally …

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Gentle, elegant, treetop nibbling, cloud-high grazer giraffe ‘pitching his way across the savannah, like a ship adrift on the open plain.’ (love those bird silhouettes)
Aimed at the very young but I can also envisage older children who get hold of this being inspired to try their hand at making their own pop-up animals.

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Dinoblock
Christopher Franceschelli and Peskimo
Abrams & Chronicle
MEET THE DINOSAURS says the sign across the museum doors and on opening them readers (and the two child investigators) find two key questions ‘Who are the dinosaurs?’ and ‘Where are the dinosaurs?’
From then on the book’s clever design really comes into play with a formula that is used to great effect for the next ninety or so pages using a mix of cleverly crafted cutaway pages and a series of similes likening each of the twenty three dinosaurs introduced to something a young child is likely to be familiar with, followed by another spread showing the particular dinosaur in its natural habitat and a sentence giving the dinosaur’s name with its phonetic pronunciation. Thus we have for instance, ‘I have a neck like a goose …’

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turn over to ‘I am a Coelophysis (SEE-low-FYE-sis)’…
Or this one:

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The grand finale comprises a spread of drawn-to-scale dinosaurs on a gate-fold that opens out into a farewell display of skeletons of all the dinosaurs featured.

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Of those a fair number are relatively uncommon in books for young children and indeed a few such as Micropachycephalosaurus and Edmontosaurus) were new names to me.
Assuredly a block-buster for the very young but also a book that offers a great opportunity for them to see and think about a favourite topic in an exciting and imaginative new way. And, a jumping off point for further investigation and children’s own creativity.

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Forays into Fairytale

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The Wolf Who Fell Out of a Book
Thierry Robberecht and Grégoire Mabire
Ragged Bears Publishing
An overcrowded bookshelf in Zoe’s room precipitates an adventure for the black wolf that spills out of a falling book as it hits the floor. With his pointy teeth, said wolf, in his own environment is a scary creature but once out of the book he becomes something else altogether – a frightened creature anxious to escape from the resident moggy. In some desperate attempts to keep himself out of the cat’s clutches he gets into all manner of testing situations

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and tries to escape into other story books. None of the first few he tries can furnish a safe hiding place

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but our lupine friend isn’t giving up which is a good thing because on entering the next one he finds himself in a large forest wherein he meets …

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This little character is much more welcoming: in fact it turns out the wolf is just what she needs by way of a shoulder to cry on and of course, he’s more than happy to offer a helping paw to ensure a safe passage through the forest to Grandmother’s house.
Superbly subversive and with its sprinkling of fairy tale references and such a beguiling main character this is enormous fun to read with under 7s and a great book to spark off children’s own wolf adventures. Grégoire Mabire’s comic rendering of that toothy wolf and his larger than life feline adversary are both hilarious and wonderfully dramatic.

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Fairytale Frankie and the Tricky Witch
Greg Gormley and Steven Lenton
Orchard Books
I like a book with a twist to the tale: with its plethora of fairytale characters and diverting illustrations this playful modern story certainly has one or two.
Frankie is a fairytale fanatic and one morning as she’s enjoying a peaceful read in her bedroom, a princess bursts in asking for a hiding place and thus begins a visitation from a whole chain of unlikely intruders large

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and small …

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all asking for somewhere to hide from the witch.
When Frankie realizes she too should take cover, the witch bursts in demanding to know where the other characters are. Frankie doesn’t let on so the witch has to resort to more drastic measures to discover their whereabouts before uttering some words that finally cause the confused Frankie to understand what is going on.

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Help!
Sally Grindley and Peter Utton
Hodder Children’s Books
From the partnership that created Shhh! and Keep Out! is another playful foray into the world of traditional tales. This time there’s a big bad wolf at large and three porcine characters are rather keen to apprehend him and they’ve enlisted the reader to assist in the search, not to mention a teddy bear and a whole drove of their fellow swine.
There are so many possible hiding places to check out and lots of false starts although plenty of evidence that the BBW isn’t far away.

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So it’s on with the search and the poster pinning …

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… until they discover more evidence of tricky doings.
But the creature’s still at large and the search continues till the seekers come upon a sturdy-looking house that might just be THE place.
Engaging, entertaining and from the opening lines, totally involving. There’s even a pair of mouse observers/commentators to add to the fun.

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The Wonder Garden

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The Wonder Garden
Kristjana S.Williams and Jenny Broom
Wide Eyed Editions
Prepare to be dazzled when you open up this sumptuous volume; it truly is a wonder to behold. Then, step through the shiny golden gate and you’re inside the wonder garden that is our planet earth and thence, explore five amazing ecosystems. First is  …

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with its superabundance of reptiles and amphibians and its plethora of beautiful birds large and small.

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Next destination is the Great Barrier Reef where we learn amongst other things, of the interdependence of coral and elaborate fish.
The Chihuahuan Desert with its hugely fluctuating temperatures is the next stop. It’s a place where harsh conditions and food scarcity make survival difficult for many of its 130 mammal and 3,000 plant species.

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The Black Forest with its tall pines (a bird haven), mountains, eight rivers and several hot springs, all of which help make a place that has a rich variety of flora and fauna is featured next.

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And the final stop is the mighty Himalayan Mountains and the only one of the locations I’ve visited and so recognize some of the animals and plants shown.

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Every one of the locations is spectacular in its own way and the overall experience is one of awe and wonder, but there’s also an almost magical feel to the whole thing. At every turn of the page Kristjana Williams presents a visual feast of insects, reptiles, birds, mammals (or marine species) set against land- (or sea-) scapes of greens and browns splashed with vibrant carmine and fuschia.
Four double spreads are given to each habitat: the first being a spectacular panoramic view jam-packed with its living inhabitants so powerful one can almost for instance, hear the croaking of tropical frogs in the Amazon Rainforest. Every location is introduced by a verbal visualization of what one might feel, see and hear on first arrival and panels containing factual information about the habitat. On the subsequent pages, filling the spaces between the stunning artwork, are blocks of text giving factual information about the habitat.
The superabundance of fauna and flora at every location means that comparatively few species get a mention and that’s fair enough in a book of this kind, though as someone with more than a passing interest in botany I would have liked some more details about the glorious flora depicted.
Assuredly a book to return to again and again and one that might well spark a lifelong interest in some aspect of the living world in the person fortunate enough to come upon this in a bookshop or library or even better, receive it as a gift.

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Magic Forest Forays

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Super Happy Magic Forest
Matty Long
Oxford University Press
Billed as Tolkien for toddlers, this epic quest assuredly has the right ingredients to engender enthusiasm for the fantasy genre in young children. So, let’s go to Super Happy Magic Forest wherein our story starts. It’s full of fun, frolics and picnics all year round; life’s pretty peachy you could say.

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But then disaster strikes the Forest: the Mystical Crystals of Life – source of all that’s joyous therein – are stolen.
It must be Goblin work announces Old Oak at an urgently called meeting of forest residents. Five brave heroes are selected to reclaim the Mystical Crystals …

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And despite their reluctance off they set on the journey of a lifetime but of course, their epic quest will not be an easy one. There are frozen tundras full of fearsome creatures to battle through, a haunted forest and dreadful dungeons to test their nerves and skills to the utmost and even then there’s no escape from enemies …

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Finally Goblin Tower is in sight but will the five locate the missing crystals within its walls? There’s plenty of unexpected confectionary items but crystals well err …
Certainly it’s a celebratory finale but is it cake or crystal induced?? Hmm …
Let’s just say, there’s a twist to this crazy magical saga of epic mischief and silliness. I’m not sure who will get more enjoyment out of this one – the ‘toddlers’ billed as its target audience or those older readers/adults who are the book’s mediators to the very young. Certainly the former will enjoy spotting items in the fantastical visuals but some of the subtle and not so subtle humour will definitely go way over the heads of most four or five year olds. But then that’s the thing about a good book – that multi-layering, which means it offers something to a wide audience.

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Ella Bella Ballerina and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
James Mayhew
Orchard Books
Young Ella Bella returns once again and on this occasion, dance teacher Madame Rosa’s magical music box is playing Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream for the ballet class to dance to.

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Inevitably, after the lesson Ella Bella cannot resist opening up the musical box lid for one last dance in her fairy costume. And thus she meets Puck who whisks her, with her floral headband, away to a fairyland forest where Oberon waits for the ‘magic flowers’ with which he hopes to cast a spell upon Queen Titania.

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James Mayhew’s elegant watercolour illustrations evoke a timeless quality to this engaging tale of magic and mischief and dance.

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A Tree Climbing Cow and a Mowing Toad

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The Cow Who Climbed a Tree
Gemma Merino
Macmillan Children’s Books
The sight of a cow perusing a book and wielding a magnifying glass on the first spread immediately predisposed me to like this book and endeared me to its chief protagonist. Tina is her name and seemingly she has an insatiable thirst for discovery. Her sisters however remain unimpressed by the wonderful things that occupy their sibling’s mind.
One day as she explores the woods, Tina takes it upon herself to climb a tree and there at the top a rather large surprise awaits her in the form of a vegetarian dragon. The two forge a friendship

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and spend the afternoon in dreams and stories.
Comments of “IMPOSSIBLE! RIDICULOUS! NONSENSE! are thrown at her by her sisters as she regales her adventure. But the following morning Tina is notable by her absence though she has left a message.

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Off go the disbelievers to track her down and as they venture out of their comfort zone something unexpected overtakes them – literally – and so up they go …
Then all it takes is an invitation from Tina and …

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a leap of faith. And after that? Well, who can say…
I love the understated humour in both words and pictures of Gemma Merino’s latest offering. Her colour palette is mouthwateringly delicious too.

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McToad Mows Tiny Island
Tom Angleberger and John Hendrix
Abrams Books for Young Readers
Subtitled ‘A Transportation Tale’, this wacky book is certainly that in more ways than one. Its one and only character is McToad, mower of islands; one is Big Island– that occupies his time every day but one.

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The other’s small and is aptly named Tiny Island; it’s here McToad spends Thursdays, his favourite day of the week. There’s nothing exciting about that I know, but it’s all about the getting there. Having driven his mower from the shed, McToad drives it onto his truck, drives to the train loading it thereon with a forklift. The train heads to the airport where a plane flies to the opposite side of Big island and from there it’s a helicopter journey to the docks, onto a steamboat and across to Tiny Island where a crane deposits the mower onto its destination. Back in the mower Mc Toad proceeds to mow the island pausing only briefly for a drink and refuel.
Then job done and it’s erm, back from whence he came.

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Utterly bonkers with its anti-climactic finale but there are so many unanswered questions: Is McToad a transport magnate? (His logo is brandished across each and every vehicle in the story.) Are there no other inhabitants on either island? Does he own both and everything thereon? Where’s the crane while McToad is mowing Tiny Island? Isn’t he lonely? These are a few that immediately come to mind. Children will come up with many more I’m sure.
Even for those who aren’t big machine enthusiasts, there is plenty to appeal in the illustrations. The plethora of witty details are bound to make anyone smile – the row of objects behind the steering wheel in McToad’s truck

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and this …

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not forgetting that patched straw hat of course.

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Imelda & the Goblin King

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Imelda & the Goblin King
Briony May Smith
Flying Eye Books
Imelda lives next to a wood, but this wood is a magical one populated by fairy folk and their fairy queen. It’s a place of peace and harmony and Imelda loves to spend her days frolicking with, and learning from, the fairy folk.

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Then one day into this life of tranquility bursts a foul-tempered Goblin King and his green goblin horde. His manners are appalling, despite the fairy queen’s best efforts …

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and he has the effrontery, after gobbling up the whole solstice feast, to seize his host and imprison her in a cage.
The other fairies call upon Imelda’s help and together they cook up a clever plan that offers the greedy goblin king one final chance …

 

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The happily ever after finale isn’t quite the one you might expect, or perhaps it is, given that pretty much everything about this cracking book is delightfully idiosyncratic, not least the manner in which the anti-hero becomes the agent of his own downfall,

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an outcome which had my young audiences cheering in appreciation.
What a dazzling cast of characters: Imelda, the heroine, is an unflappable young miss, the epitome of all that’s good but still not afraid to turn her hand to a spot of subtle trickery to further a worthy cause; the Fairy Queen with her rosy cheeks and flowing golden hair certainly isn’t always as soft and sweet as she looks …

 

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and as for that Goblin King, he’s a pretty terrifying-looking bullying beast unlikely to worm his way into anyone’s affections.
And every single fairy has its own distinctive appearance – there’s even a blue one that looks like a mini Martian and the goblins, they pretty much resemble their king though they look a lot less threatening at least some of the time. Add to all those, a scattering of dragonflies, butterflies, birds, and other creatures and you have a veritable visual fest.
With a compelling narrative that doesn’t pander to whimsy and has just a tiny frisson of fear, this enchanting book is like nothing else I’ve encountered in the fairy tale genre of late.
Cracking stuff.

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The Prince and the Porker

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The Prince and the Porker
Peter Bently and David Roberts
Andersen Press
“Pignatius was passing the palace one day
when he saw ten fresh buns left to cool on a tray.’
So begins another tasty Bently/Roberts collaboration of the highest order.
As you can guess, the young Pignatius cannot resist sampling said buns and where one goes, the rest must surely – or where the young pig is concerned, -must definitely, follow. But even then he ‘s not replete so into the palace he goes, where he soon finds himself having to bolt from cook.
Up the stairs he charges and into a fine bedroom where he happens upon a “dressing-up chest.” and in no time has transformed himself into a dashing young thing. Which is just as well and pretty much saves his bacon so to speak, for in burst the palace staff wielding all manner of weapons, only to stop dead in their tracks and pay due respects when they discover the presence in the room…

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And what does the cheeky chap do then? He takes advantage of their misidentification and orders himself a slap-up tea.

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That demolished, it’s time to carry out his princely duties, which he does with mischievous gusto. But all good things must come to an end – or must they? It certainly looks that way when Pignatius finds himself face to face with the real prince and de-wigged into the bargain.

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So is it to be sausages, gammon and bacon in the royal household?

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Well, perhaps having an alter ego might just prove advantageous to a young prince …
Bently’s hilarious romp is an absolute gift to the reader aloud, and an out and out winner with young audiences. David Roberts’ visuals are finely detailed and at times, utterly priceless. Take for instance his rendering of the palace staff paying their respects to ‘His Highness’ or the blowing up of the pumpkin…

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The Lion Inside

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Emmanuelle relishing the encounters         between Mouse and Lion

The Lion Inside
Rachel Bright and Jim Field
Orchard Books
A wide, dusty savannah. One rock, two occupiers: beneath ‘in a tinyful house,  

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Lived the littlest, quietest, meekest brown mouse.’: atop, an enormous, toothsome creature with a roar to beat all roars, Lion.

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So very wee is the mouse that his life is one of frequent squashings and being overlooked.

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Lion meanwhile lives a life of constant adulation.

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How that tiny brown creature wishes he could be more like King Cat. Perhaps a roar would win him some friends. But who can be his roaring teacher?
Fearing for his life, the mouse summons up all his courage and ventures forth into the night to scale the heights towards the slumbering lion,

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until …

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But what is forthcoming in response to mouse’s request to be taught how to roar isn’t quite what he’d expected …
Mouse’s bravery and subsequent discovery is a game changer for both parties: mouse discovers his true voice, and lion? He still roars but it’s with laughter now. And they both know, as the finale to this super-dooper story says, ‘no matter your size. We all have a mouse AND a lion inside.’
With its vital message about ‘being the change’ and a tuneful text that reads aloud like a dream, this book is truly, all heart. Jim Field uses close-ups and a variety of viewpoints and perspectives to dramatic effect making both wide-eyed, wide-eared mouse and bristle-maned lion with his cavernous jaws appear larger than life and truly awesome.
Two great new partnerships: mouse and lion, and Rachel Bright and Jim Field.

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Childhood Pleasures: Alfie Outdoors and The Jar of Happiness

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Alfie Outdoors
Shirley Hughes
The Bodley Head
The delectable Alfie is up with the lark and outside in the garden eager to start the day: it’s to be a gardening day with Dad but it’s one that involves a whole lot of digging and clearing, for the plan is to create a vegetable patch and plant some seeds. First though it’s back to the digging, which Alfie actually enjoys or rather, he enjoys investigating all the minibeasts he unearths from the soil.

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Come the weekend Alfie is allowed to choose his own seeds from the garden centre and he has a plan. He wants to grow carrots, not for himself but to feed to his friend Gertrude the goat at the goat sanctuary. The trouble is though, seeds don’t come up overnight, there’s a lot of waiting and watching involved. Just as Alfie is beginning to give up on his carrots, Dad notices some tiny seedings starting to sprout and with Alfie’s daily watering it’s not long before the first carrots are ready for pulling.

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Imagine Alfie’s disappointment then when he gets to the goat sanctuary to discover no Gertrude: she’s gone missing. Almost a day passes, a very sad one for Alfie and then yippee! Good news – Gertrude’s been found and is back where she belongs. All ends happily in true Alfie fashion next morning when he’s finally able to offer a juicy carrot to his favourite sanctuary resident.

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This is such a gorgeous book – another Hughes classic for sure. Shirley knows exactly the kinds of things that make young children content and never loses sight of them: Alfie’s preoccupations are those of every small child …

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and in her own inimitable way Shirley provides another tour de force every time she creates a new Alfie story.

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The Jar of Happiness
Ailsa Burrows
Child’s Play
Is happiness something you can put into a jar and keep bottled up? Young Meg seems to think so when she invents her very own kind, tasting of chocolate ice cream, apple juice and sunshine, smelling of warm biscuits and the seaside and containing all the best colours. Meg however doesn’t keep this happiness to herself; she uses her jar to cheer up glum friends

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or poorly relations; she seems to know just how to use it to maximum effect.
But, one day, Meg’s jar is nowhere to be found; so has her happiness gone forever?

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Fortunately not, thanks to all those Meg has shared her happiness jar with. It’s now their turn to show her their own special ingredients for happiness and none of them comes from a jar.

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Ailsa Burrows’ softly coloured characters have an endearing squidgy, cushiony appearance that make one want to snuggle up with them. And with its warm-hearted feel, this is a lovely snuggle-up-together and share with a young child kind of book.

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I Will Love You Anyway/How to Be a Dog

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I Will Love You Anyway
Mick and Chloë Inkpen
Hodder Children’s Books
We share a puggish pup’s thoughts directed at his small boy owner in this delicious book from the Inkpen father and daughter team.
Said pup is anything but your ideal dog; he’s a furniture wrecker, thief and inveterate chaser …

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he cannot follow instructions and worst of all, he keeps on running away – with disastrous consequences sometimes.

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But does this pup ever learn? Oh dear no and when he and his boy hear the terrible words, “We cannot cope! He cannot stay!” he takes off once again running and running into the inky black, wet night.
Being lost, out all night and wet

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and scared is no picnic even for our canine hero. It’s fortunate then that a certain small boy happens along at the crucial moment and back they go to share a blissful moment or two.
You might now be thinking that at last this runaway has finally come to his senses but the trouble is, as we hear, “I don’t do words. They make no sense. I jump for joy …”  

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and er …
The spare rhyming text takes the form of the pup’s reportage narrative recording of what he does and what he hears, cleverly conveying the animal’s lack of any real understanding of what is expected of him. An unusual manner of telling for sure but it’s really effective and affecting here.
Chloe Inkpen truly does capture the full gamut of the emotions of both pup and boy in her captivating illustrations. I’d love to show you every single one but you will just have to get your paws on a copy of the book for the whole experience.

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How To Be a Dog
Jo Williamson
Scholastic Children’s Books
A mischievious, tongue-in-cheek guide penned purportedly, by a dog for his fellow canines. It’s full of need to know tips and advice on such topics as choosing the right human, sleeping arrangements,

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how to meet and greet, toilet training …

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getting the best food by whatever means, “To get the best treats, pretend that you have not been fed. If that doesn’t work … you may need to learn some new tricks … “, games to play with your human,

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forging new friendships with neighbours’ dogs and more.
The narrator is a delightful character (even to non dog lovers like me), full of mischief and endearingly portrayed, as are all the other characters – canine and human – we meet. My only wish is that some recognition had been given to the multi-ethnic dog-owning society we live in.
With a restricted colour palette, Jo Williamson has created a highly entertaining and engaging debut book and I look forward to seeing more of her work.

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Hector and Hummingbird

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Hector and Hummingbird
Nicholas John Frith
Alison Green Books
In this smashing picture book debut, set in the mountains of Peru we meet unlikely best pals, bear, Hector and a hummingbird called, err, Hummingbird. The latter is a garrulous creature who appears to intrude in Hector’s activities at the most inopportune moments …

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so much so that Hector, desperate for some peace and quiet finally loses it with his friend

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and storms off deep into the jungle.
But it turns out that the peace and tranquility he sought isn’t quite so fulfilling as he’d imagined.

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And when darkness falls there’s nobody there to share a bedtime story

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… or is there?
There’s so much to love about this one: the fantastical colour palette with its contrasting sludgy greens and browns and contrasting flashes of brilliance, the fusion of flat, retro (almost Dahlov Ipcar style) design and the contemporary –rhomboid, coloured speech bubbles, those sprinklings of off beat, up-to the minute dialogue and the inherent dissonance in a relationship between the two characters. One really wants to spend ages perusing each and every spread, lingering over the details of the deliciously droll manner in which this friendship of the tiny frenetic bird and the large, languorous bear is portrayed. Not forgetting the opportunity to spot the fifteen other creatures who act as observers of the action. Observant young audiences will particularly relish the fact that Hummingbird too is a silent onlooker in many of the scenes.
A humdinger of a book in every way and one not to be missed.

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This ORQ. (he cave boy.)

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This ORQ. (he cave boy.)
David Elliott and Lori Nichols
Troika Books
Anyone who has had dealings with young children and their speech development (or indeed their emergent writing ) will know that initially they go for the content words and omit the functors from their utterances. A similar thing happens when someone – child or adult – learns to speak an additional language. So it is with the small child protagonist in this story, which begins thus:
This Orq.
He live in cave.
He carry club.
He cave boy.
And continues in similar cave-boy speak vein.
Orq has a pet baby woolly mammoth Woma, but like all infant animals Woma grows and grows …

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From his mother’s point of view, Woma is far from the perfect pet: he sheds his hair, he’s extremely whiffy and he leaves large deposits of pooh on the cave floor.

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Woma has to go she decrees.
Orq is devastated and resolves to demonstrate his beloved Woma’s desirability by teaching him tricks (with a bit of assistance from some of his other smaller pets). The results are a series of wonderfully comic disasters …

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and a far from impressed Mother: No chance of her allowing Woma to set even one tusk tip back in the cave.
Some time later Orq’s imaginary play ‘He mighty hunter!’ turns alarmingly real when a sabretooth tiger with his mind on lunch appears on the scene. A face-off between said tiger and Woma ensues. The latter’s love for Orq proves superior and results in an indebted Mother having a change of heart about Woma.
The spare narrative style with its oft repeated ‘Orq loves Woma’ works well for this emotionally charged prehistoric tale. Elliott succeeds in conveying the strong feelings between boy and mammoth with gentle humour and occasional stabs of pathos, both elements being echoed in Lori Nichols’ splendidly quirky, digitally coloured pencil illustrations. There are some delicious details such as the stone age tricycle on the title page

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and the sign on the cave wall. And that final throwaway twist is just superb. Me love ending. Me love book.
Definitely a winner where young children are concerned and I suspect a proliferation of caveboy speak to ensue temporarily whenever it’s read aloud.

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The Bear and the Piano & Little Bear

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The Bear and the Piano
David Litchfield
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
There are some amazing picture book debuts this season: here’s one from David Litchfield that absolutely oozes style and panache.
A young bear cub discovers something unexpected in the forest one day and it’s something that, once he gets his paws on it, draws him back again and again and again for days,

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weeks, months and years as his plinking and plonking slowly becomes beautiful music with a power to transport him to magical places far away from his arboreal home.
Now a large grizzly, his musical prowess attracts other bears and then, some talent spotting humans. Thus, he leaves home and heads for the bright city lights of Manhattan …

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and stardom …

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What price fame and fortune though without your friends? Time to head for home thinks the bear and back he goes bursting with tales of life as a celebrity. But all he finds when he reaches the forest clearing is …

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Surely it can’t all have been for nothing, can it?
Executed with remarkable finesse, a fine virtuoso performance all round. It has all the qualities of a classic in the making.

Here’s one that’s already established itself as such:

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Little Bear
Else Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak
Red Fox pbk
Many moons ago in an edition of Learning to Read with Picture Books I featured this book in its previous I Can Read incarnation. It was the first of my key ‘Taking Off’ titles and I said of it, ‘a classic whose literary quality is indisputable.’
With four short stories in which Little Bear discovers the value of his own fur coat, makes birthday soup, visits the moon, and makes some wishes, together with its wonderfully warm illustrations by Maurice Sendak, this remains a book that all young children should encounter on their journey as readers. It’s great to see this Red Fox publication of a very special book.

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What the Ladybird Heard Next

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What the Ladybird Heard Next
Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks
Macmillan Children’s Books
Clothes pegs ready for this fantastically stinky sequel to What the Ladybird Heard and with a sparkly cover too.
When the listening ladybird learns of the mysterious disappearance of red hen’s new laid clutch she realises there’s a case to be solved and off she flies. As the stars begin to twinkle over the farmyard she spies and hears two men – ex cons. Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len – plotting to steal not the eggs this time, but the fat red hen herself.

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Back she flies to report to her farmyard pals and a cunning plan is quickly formulated – a plan that perhaps owes something to the Billy Goats Gruff – so that when the thieves seize the hen she sets in motion a chain of events that will supposedly, lead them to an altogether superior egg producer, the super-duper Snuggly Snerd, layer of rugby ball sized eggs.

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Off go Lanky Len and Hefty Hugh armed with torch and spade, deep into the big brown heap as per instructions – a very pongy heap I should add – seeking the shy egg layer extraordinaire. (You can almost get a whiff as you turn the pages.)

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Just imagine their wrath when they realize they’ve been duped. But their come-uppance is not yet quite complete: that job is left to some other small winged creatures and they’re more than willing to oblige …

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After which, it’s peace and harmony once more down on the farm.
‘Trippingly on the tongue’ comes to mind when one reads this rural romp aloud; it’s brilliant fun to do so and listeners equally, will delight in the rhythmic rhyme whether or not they’ve already met the star of the show and farmyard pals in her first adventure.

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Emmanuelle demanded at least 10 re-reads in one afternoon!

The humour and pizzazz in Lydia Monks’ illustrations is the perfect accompaniment to the text. The sight of the thieving twosome digging into, and plastered in, that muck is a real hoot; and I love the scene where those buzzing bees see them off.

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Aspects of Love

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Evermore Dragon
Barbara Joosse and Randy Cecil
Walker Books
The friendship forged in Lovabye Dragon between Girl and Dragon grows deeper here as the two decide upon the game for the day. Hide-and-Seek it will be and off goes Dragon to hide – supposedly.

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Like the good friend that she is though, Girl plays along searching diligently high and low although she can surely see that Drag-enormo self until …

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Then it’s Girl’s turn to hide and off she runs and runs … to a faraway hidey-hole where she waits … and waits and yawns and …
Dragon meanwhile continues to search but where oh where can Girl be?

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Girl awakes in the ‘Deep, deep, dark night.’ Dragonless and entirely alone and,
‘she cried silver tears/ worry worry tears/ and her heart thumped a sound/ a trem-below sound/ that only Dragon friends,/ very very special friends, can hear.’
And Dragon hears the summoning cry and, lighting up the sky with his dragon breath he flies to her rescue, enveloping her in his wings.

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“I am here,” to which she responds “You’re a dear,”.
With its sprinklings of innovative language, and just the right frisson of fear, the beautifully constructed lyrical text combined with the dream-like scenes in muted greens, greys and blues into which are dropped Girl and her glowing yellow gown, is perfect for story time sharing, especially at the end of the day, be it at home or school. It certainly went down a treat with my audience of fives and sixes.

An altogether different celebration of love comes in:

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Big Book of Love
Catherine and Laurence Anholt
Orchard Books
Bursting with joie de vivre is this small child’s rhyming recitation of everything he (I think, but could equally be, she) loves. There’s the playful pup that leads child and reader across fields to meet friends, frolic in the waves, run in the rain, ride on a train to the colourful bustling city

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full of all manner of people and places of visit not least the library…

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And that can, in turn lead to exciting adventures with animals large and small and sometimes even a bit scary. But then there’s always the safety of home and a house full of love to come back to. …

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If only every child could be so lucky …
There’s so much to explore in Catherine’s child-centric scenes: every spread is brimming over with things to talk about, count or simply enjoy.

A look at love from a canine viewpoint in
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Love is My Favourite Thing
Emma Chichester Clark
Jonathan Cape
This book is based on the author’s own dog, a character that became the star of Plumdog Blog. Here, Plum is that narrator of her own story, a story wherein readers learn just how much love there is in her life. She loves among other things, wind, snow, sun, treats and sticks; she loves the children next door and of course, her ‘mummy and daddy’ aka Emma and Rupert and the things they do together. Equally they love her too.
Occasionally though, Plum’s zest for life and love gets her into trouble and once she’s got into a little bit of trouble …

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things seem to escalate till she’s in a whole lot of trouble …

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Even that’s not the worst part of the whole sorry chain of events – there’s the ice-cream episode too, after which poor Plum is banished to bed. Has love finally run out where this particular dog is concerned? Of course not but she definitely does need to rein in some of that canine enthusiasm especially where ice-cream and water are concerned.
A charming celebration of unconditional love, pooch style. I’m no lover of dogs but Plum as portrayed by Emma Chichester Clark, certainly won my heart.

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Tree

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Tree
Britta Teckentrup and Patricia Hegarty
Little Tiger Press
This glorious celebration of nature and the seasonal changes it brings is presented through the focus of a single apple tree standing in a forest.
I’m a huge fan of Britta Teckentrup’s work and in this instance she makes ingenious use of die-cuts that increase in number as we move towards midsummer and then decrease to the single owl’s look-out as midwinter comes around once more, disappearing completely in the final two spreads.
The story begins as the forest is gripped by the icy chill of midwinter; no animals are visible save the single owl peeping from its hole in the tree trunk and watching …

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As winter gradually gives way to spring, shoots begin to peep through, leaves unfurl and bear cubs frolic. Then slowly more animals appear, nesting birds and more can be seen in the tree’s branches:

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birdsong fills the air showing summer’s on its way with its bees, butterflies and ripening fruit.

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Then come the glowing colours of autumn and the animals start to prepare for the coming of another winter when once again it’s time to take shelter.
Not only do we follow scenes of the changing seasons but also the changes as day turns to night

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in this superbly crafted book.
Patricia Hegarty’s lyrical text takes the form of rhyming couplets that are a real pleasure to read aloud and have the effect of making the reader slow down to allow for listeners to savour not only the gorgeous scenes as they subtly change, but the words themselves.
One thing is certain, no matter what the season, this is a book to treasure.
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Toby and the Ice Giants

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Toby and the Ice Giants
Joe Lillington
Flying Eye Books
In the company of Ice Age tundra dweller, Toby the bison, readers are taken way back some 20,000 years in time to the last glacial period when earth was home to some gigantic animals. With an assurance to other family members, “I’m big now. I’m not scared!” young Toby ventures out to explore. So begins a series of encounters with a host of amazing megafauna, the first being via a head-on collision with a bad-tempered woolly rhinoceros spoiling for a fight.

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Thankfully the massive-clawed magatherium he meets next is more interested in using its claws for procuring food from a tree so Toby moves on seawards.
“I’m Toby, I can run really fast!” he informs a Glypton. This thick-shelled beast is friendly enough unlike the ferocious long-toothed predatory Smilodon

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from which Toby rushes,  past the short-faced bear, the flying Teratorn before coming upon some ice age humans

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whereupon he decides it’s time to head home.
This book successfully interweaves narrative and factual information making this one that can be enjoyed on more than one level. Into Joe Lillington’s dramatic watercolour illustrations are inserted the storyline and speech bubbles and the factual details appear alongside (or below). In addition there is a comparative size spread, a basic explanation about the ending of the ice-age, some additional animals from the time that Toby didn’t come upon together with an author’s note stating that Toby’s adventure has been telescoped into a single day, and a glossary.
All in all, another quality production from Flying Eye, a hugely appealing introduction to the period and a likely starting point for further Ice Age forays.

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Ursine Talent: GRRRRR! and One Bear Extraordinaire

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GRRRRR!
Rob Biddulph
Harper Collins Children’s Books
Grizzly bear Fred is the star of the show: he’s been Best Bear in the Wood for three years and is unbeatable at growling. Or is he? Well, he’s determined to be champ once again and so training becomes his everything; there’s just no time for friendship, he declares.
Enter Boris, new bear in town reputed to have a GRRRRR to beat all GRRRRs and determined to knock Fred off his throne.

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And, he seems to be taken with nocturnal wandering …

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Come competition morn and disaster has struck, Fred awakes roarless. But despite his strict training regime, it seems he’s not without friends after all. First there’s Eugene a young owl ready and willing to help Fred track down his missing roar.

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A search ensues but it yields a big zilch.
The hour of the contest arrives. Despite being roarless, Fred has his supporters and after three rounds the contest is neck and neck …

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But then comes that crucial round with Boris, having first growl and it looks like a winner …

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That is definitely not the end of this corker of a book, but without spoiling the story finale let’s just say it ends satisfactorily for all concerned.
I just love those bits of throwaway humour in Biddulph’s splendid rhyming text
‘The sound is so loud that it makes Boris jump –
And look what just fell to the ground with a bump!’
which, when combined with his visuals are just priceless. What a talent.

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One Bear Extraordinaire
Jayme McGowan
Abrams Books for Young Readers
Meet Bear, an itinerant entertainer of legendary repute, known for his ‘honey harmonies and twinkle-toed grace.’ One day when working on a new song however, he decides “Something is missing,” and sets off in search of this elusive ingredient. As he travels, he encounters a whole host of musicians one after another and each one joins him “wherever the tune leads”.

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Eventually the ever-growing band discovers a Wolf Pup has tagged along. He too is keen to become a band member but lacks an instrument. Bear offers something from his sack but Wolf Cub just cannot get to grips with any of them …

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and as a last resort Bear suggests the kazoo: “Anyone can play it.” he mistakenly tells the despairing little chap.
But it’s as the others practise in the moonlit campsite that night, that Wolf Cub suddenly discovers he has a vocal talent like no other

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and, it’s just what’s needed to make everything finally sound ‘just right’.
There’s a pleasing musical lilt to Jayme McGowan’s text: ‘he watched the music SWIRL and HOVER across the ridge … ECHO through the canyon … and fill the sky as he and his wayfaring band whooped and hollered their song to the stars.’ But it’s her wonderful illustrations – three-dimensional scenes composed from individual painted cut-outs, that are arranged and photographed in situ – that are the real show-stealers.
A picture book debut of great promise.

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Hindu Tales Retold

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Ganesha’s Sweet Tooth
Sanjay Patel and Emily Haynes
Chronicle Books
Ganesha is the Hindu deity said to be the remover of obstacles and a very popular one he is too. With those extremely large ears he is reputed to be a good listener and Hindus often pray to him before embarking on a new venture or going on a journey. I have a large collection of Ganesha murtis collected on my numerous visits to India and each and every one seems to have a slightly different personality; all have a pot belly and many of them have him accompanied by his vehicle, a small rat (called Mr Mouse in this story).
There are many stories about Ganesha – how he got a broken tusk being one of the most popular and this colourful book is a modern version of the particular episode. It tells how as a young child, Ganesha liked nothing better than to eat sweet things, in particular laddoos, the Indian confection. This predilection results in a tragedy when our young hero comes upon a new kind of laddoo – The Super Jumbo Jawbreaker Laddoo. Despite warnings from Mr Mouse, Ganesha cannot resist chomping down on the thing – “I’m invincible.” he reassures his friend – and snaps off one of his tusks.
So furious is young Ganesha that he hurls the broken tusk at the moon. It misses, landing at the feet of the ancient sage and poet, Vyasa who just happens to have a special task for the tusk thrower and thus Ganesha lands the job of scribing the great epic of Hindu literature, the Mahabharata.

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The whole book is a riot of dayglo colour in which Sanjay Patel so brilliantly creates ultra-modern visuals, some of which are reminiscent of what you might see in a temple in South India.

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Others are decidedly closer to some of the contemporary Pixar animations he has worked on.

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By adding their own embellishments and playing slightly with the original plot, Patel and Haynes have between them concocted a wonderfully playful rendering of a classic legend that will surely have wide appeal.
It’s just the thing to read around the time of Ganesha Chaturthi the festival, which celebrates Ganesha’s birthday and falls in 2015 on 15th September.

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Rama and the Demon King
Jessica Souhami
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
My original hardback edition of this book has been read and recommended more times than I care to remember and after its publication soon became the ‘must share’ book for teachers at the time of Dussehra/Diwali. So, I’m thrilled to see a new paperback of Jessica Souhami’s wonderful rendition of the ancient Indian tale. For those who have yet to discover this gem, it’s wonderfully illustrated with wondrous scenes based on Jessica’s own shadow puppets (She has an amazing travelling shadow puppet company).
If like me, you had a copy from the 1990s and it’s been lost, read to death or perhaps, stolen, then you’ll welcome this opportunity to replace it. For those yet to discover this gem, I urge you to get a copy now. Souhami’s spare storytelling style is splendid for reading aloud and her visuals of Rama and his monkey army led by Hanuman, overcoming the evil demon King Ravana are magnificent.

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T-Veg / Peanut Butter & Brains

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T-Veg
Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Katerina Manolessou
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Having the courage to be different is the nub of this delicious prehistoric tale of a carrot-crunching dinosaur.
Reginald ate BROCCOLI, Reginald ate BEANS,
Reginald ate bowls and bowls of GARLIC, GRAPES and GREENS.  

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Reginald’s diet is a disaster so far as his parents are concerned: “For goodness sake what’s wrong with you?” a despairing Papa T-rex demands to know and at school, despite being their equal in speed and toughness, Reg becomes the laughing stock of his schoolmates. Consequently – and who can blame him for it – Reg packs his dino-sack and leaves home determined to find some more understanding friends and discover more about vegetarianism. “The truth might be that actually I am a HERBIVORE! I’ll try and do some herbie things. “
However, it appears herbie style activities aren’t quite Reg’s thing …

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So it’s time to consult with those in the know. Befriending them though doesn’t go to plan at all …

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Back home meanwhile, Hugh and the other T-Rexes are starting to see the error of their ways when it comes to Reg; perhaps his differences aren’t a bar to friendship after all. Off they hurtle to find him. But disaster in the form of an enormous rock, strikes – or does it?

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Bright, appropriately veggie coloured illustrations combine with a rhythmic rhyming text that’s a gift to the reader aloud to make a sure fire storytime favourite that celebrates individualism, difference, being brave enough to stand up for your beliefs and admitting when you’re wrong. As the final line reminds us, ‘the best thing in the world is being happy being YOU!’
Tasty stuff says this veggie reviewer.

With similar themes and starring another Reginald is

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Peanut Butter & Brains
Joe McGee and Charles Sanatoso
Abrams Books for Young Readers
Herein it’s his penchant for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that single Reginald out from his fellow zombie residents of Quirkville and he has more than a little trouble getting hold of his favourite food

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until he comes upon little Abigail Zink. This young lass just happens to have exactly what he’s looking for in her lunch bag and as the other (brain-eating) zombies are about to seize the young miss, Reginald’s quick-thinking averts a crisis

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and saves the day causing the marauding zombies to discover something even more delicious than brains. And from then on everything is different in the town of Quirkville.
Quirky this one surely is, but it too delivers a powerful punch when it comes to daring to be different.

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Rocks and Sharks

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A Rock is Lively
Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long
Chronicle Books
I was hooked by this book right from its provocative title and dazzling blue front endpapers. Essentially it’s a basic introduction to petrology but the author’s enthusiasm for the topic shines through in her poetic text that begins thus:
‘A rock is lively … bubbling like a pot of soup deep beneath the earth’s crust … liquid … molten … boiling.’
A rock is also, so we hear , ‘mixed up …

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galactic, old, huge … or tiny, helpful, surprising, inventive, creative, recycled and finally once more … lively.
Each of these statements is explored in its own double spread and illuminated with Sylvia Long’s stunning watercolour visuals, making the whole thing a combination of science, poetry and art.
Thus we learn about the range of temperatures at which various rock types melt, the mineral composition of rocks and that some rocks were formed not on earth but far out in space. We are told about some of the very oldest of all rocks from between 2.5 and 4.5 billion years ago – awesome! And I was surprised to learn that sea lions, seals and crocodiles ingest rocks to act as ballast that helps them stay steady or dive deeper in the water.

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I did know though that various other animals use them as tools as did early humans and indeed humans today use rocks in the manufacturing processes of bricks, glass, cement, paper, pencils, toothpaste even.
Some rocks – the surprising ones – have wonders hidden within. These geodes when opened reveal wonderful jewel-like crystals: agate, tourmaline, amethyst, azurite.

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Then there are amazing sculptures and monuments all over the world, some dating back thousands of years, others a few decades …
If like me, you believe that science should engender in children feelings of awe and wonder, then this is a book that will surely help to do just that. And assuredly it will make you look at and think about mountains and grains of sand in a different way.

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Would You Rather Have a Shark for a Sister or a Ray for a Brother?
Camilla de la Bédoyère and Mel Howells
QED Publishing
This is one a series of books that presents information on a specific topic, sharks in this instance, in an offbeat manner. The reader is invited to make choices in response to such questions as ‘Would you rather visit … a Greenland shark, a frilled shark, or a whitetip reef shark?’ This is followed by some fascinating factual snippets and a visual relating to each species mentioned.
The whole thing has a light-hearted feel to it and is likely to appeal to those who prefer a touch of humour alongside the basic facts, for instance with parents in mind …
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And siblings?

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Or in response to the consideration of teeth …

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A book such as this could well result in youngsters, with appetites whetted, going on to look beyond the information given. And of course, there are possibilities for all manner of flights of fancy too, as well as some activity suggestions.

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New Pet Arrivals

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Rosie’s Special Present
Myfanwy Millward and Gwen Millward
Jonathan Cape
It’s Rosie’s birthday and she’s eagerly anticipating a very special present. Said present meanwhile is having a crisis of confidence from within its wrapping. Suppose all the other gifts look more exciting, will it be overshadowed? What if its owner is a princess or a trapeze artist, a pirate with a squawking parrot even?
As Rosie and her pals party in one room,

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the present has managed, after considerable effort, to get out of its box to investigate the opposition.

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Satisfied that its own wrapping out-sparkles the others, another troubling thought arrives – suppose, despite its superior exterior, Rosie feels disappointed at its contents. So, to counter this, the present climbs up the bookcase and, as the birthday tea is reaching its conclusion in the room next door, the over-anxious gift has wrapped itself in bunting, ribbons and more and crash-landed onto the carpet.

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Thereupon in dashes Rosie and a new friendship is immediately forged…
Winsome characters and an unusual perspective angle on the birthday theme make this a delight to share with young listeners whether or not they are celebrating a birthday: friendship is worth celebrating at any time. Illustrator Gwen’s portrayal of the ‘special present’ – that picture of it clinging desperately to the bunting – is a hoot.

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A delightful joint enterprise from the Millward sisters.

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Lara of Newtown
Chris McKimmie
Allen & Unwin
I’m a real fan of Chris McKimmie’s wonderfully quirky illustrative style and this book wherein Misty/Nigella/Lara seeks a permanent home charmed even cat phobic me.
When we join our feline narrator, she has just been let go by her first owner who has become too old to continue caring for her moggy, and Misty is wandering the streets looking for a new home. Eventually she becomes a Christmas present for one Noni Nice of Pymble where she gets her second name and little else before being shown the door.
There follows a night under the stars for Nigella and then along come the Kafoopses,

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an eccentric couple who are more than happy to add ‘Lara’ to their household residents. From then on life becomes more than satisfactory in every way.
Lara can even do her own entertaining from time to time …

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though on occasions when the Kafoopses have visitors, she finds an alternative place for a retreat. But now she is in her own words “a lucky boots”, loved at last.
Cat owners may well be horrified at the treatment of the long-suffering feline protagonist but despite the two abandonments, this is a story where hope and kindness win through. Chris McKimmie’s collage style is like no other and combined with the array of fonts make for a unique visual narrative whole.

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I Love My Puppy
Giles Andreae and Emma Dodd
Orchard Books
The small boy narrator of the latest Andreae/Dodd offering is the recipient of a new pet – a cute pup. Everything has been made ready for his arrival …

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but even so the little chap is a bit shy initially. It doesn’t take long for the pup to settle in though: he’s playful and affectionate but rather too eager to nibble at things that he really shouldn’t

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and of course, has still to be housetrained. A walk in the park is lots of fun and just the place to try out his bark

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before heading home for a snuggle with his diminutive owner.
As with previous books in this series, the combination of Giles Andreae’s gentle rhyming text and Emma Dodd’s super-sweet scenes bring delight at every turn of the page.

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From Small Beginnings ….

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Who Woke the Baby?
Jane Clarke and Charles Fuge
Nosy Crow
Using the narrative structure of The House that Jack Built as a basis, Jane Clarke has penned a wonderful rhyming tale set in the jungle early one morning. But what has woken that baby who’s ‘smelly and yelly and all forlorn.’? Well, Hippo yawned, Zebra fussed, Lion roared, Crocodile snapped,

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Frog croaked and Bee buzzed. And what about that stunningly coloured butterfly that just happened to float along and land gently on the particular flower occupied by Busy Bee …
If nothing else, it’s certainly caused a change of mood in that baby gorilla, no longer forlorn but full of delighted giggles and gurgles, as it watches the dancing butterfly in the sunlight.

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The story reads aloud beautifully and Fuge’s eye-catching illustrations convey the changing moods of the various animals with verve and a droll, at times befittingly languid, humour.
This should be a real winner with early years listeners.

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Emily’s Balloon
Komako Sakai
Chronicle Books
What a quiet, gentle unassuming book but such a delight is this story about a little girl and her balloon. We follow the course of the interplay between the  child and the balloon during the course of a single day, as the girl becomes ever more enchanted by the object that has assumed the role of friend. Once her mother has devised a tethering device, the girl and balloon enter a special world of their own as they play in the yard.

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But then their blissful idyll is interrupted by a sudden gust of wind that whisks the balloon aloft depositing it in the branches of a tall tree. Try as she might, Emily’s mother is unable to retrieve it and it’s a very sad little girl who sits at the dinner table contemplating what might have been …

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Despite her mother’s promise to get a ladder and rescue the balloon in the morning, Emily goes to bed worrying about her precious object until, through her bedroom window, she spies its comforting moon-like presence glowing outside in the darkness.
This is one of those books that really stays with you, so tenderly realized are those moments shared between Emily and her balloon, and Emily and her mother …

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conveyed through the sparely worded text and enormously eloquent drawings executed in minimal colours. Each and every vignette speaks volumes about the precious vulnerability and innocence of early childhood and the way children can get enormous pleasure from very ordinary everyday objects.

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Milo’s Dog Says Moo!

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Milo’s Dog Says Moo!
Catalina Echeverri
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Milo, the narrator is celebrating his seventh birthday and he’s super-excited. We join him and other family members as they visit Waggy Tail Dogs Home to select Milo’s longed-for pet. Despite his parents’ reservations, there’s no doubt in Milo’s mind which dog it will be that accompanies them home.

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Once through the front door, Beans begins to make himself familiar with his new surroundings showing a distinct preference for vegetarian fare.
Dog lessons prove something of a challenge for both Milo and Beans …

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and the latter certainly doesn’t appear to be exhibiting the usual canine characteristics like bone chewing and cat chasing. And as for barking well …

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However, the one thing beans excels at is increasing in size and before long, he needs new accommodation. Even this though, cannot contain the voracious eater and after just one night in his new abode, Beans has made a spectacular exit …

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seemingly never to be found again.

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But could that training be about to pay off after all …

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Milo and his family’s failure to notice the difference between a dog and a calf is the key to the reader’s enjoyment of this wonderful story. As with all good jokes, it’s the way you tell them that counts for most. Here, Catalina Echeverri’s text is the ‘straight man’ so to speak giving hardly a hint that anything is amiss. In the know young listeners though will spot what’s really going on in her deliciously playful illustrations and will revel in recognizing Beans’ true identity from the outset.

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Learning About Art

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Matisse King of Colour
Laurence Anholt
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
This is a reissue of one of Laurence Anholt’s excellent series featuring famous artists and the children who knew them. It tells of a special friendship that developed between young nurse Monique and the artist Matisse who is in bed recovering from an operation for abdominal cancer. When Monique first enters the artist’s home it seems to her almost like a vividly coloured jungle. Gradually as the old man recovers, a special bond grows with Monique helping him to a chair to sit and paint, and taking on the role of artist’s model as well as nurse.

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Then it’s time for Monique to move on: she becomes a novice nun but still remains a nurse working in the local community. One day she discovers that an empty house, called The Dream, is to have a new owner and it’s none other than her own dear friend, Henri Matisse who is overjoyed to see her again and eager to demonstrate his new way of creating colourful scenes.

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When the artist hears of the sorry state of the nuns and their lack of a chapel he is inspired to build them a ‘house of colour’. Despite the skepticism on the part of some of the nuns Matisse perseveres with his project and finally the ‘Matisse Chapel’ is complete.

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This heart-warming account is based on the true story of the friendship between Henri Matisse and Monique Bourgeois (who he names as his principal co-worker in the chapel project). Anholt’s artwork in vibrant colours beautifully evokes the style of the famous artist and further details of Matisse’s life are given on the final page of the book

Another entirely welcome reissue is

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Katie and the Bathers
James Mayhew
Orchard Books
When Katy and her Gran find the swimming pool packed to capacity one hot summer’s day, they decide to head for the nearby art gallery instead.
There, while grandma takes her customary snooze, young Katie goes exploring and before long finds herself plunging into the river to join the Bathers at Asnières. Therein she meets young Jacques and the two then find themselves embarking on a whole series of watery adventures via the other Pointillist pictures on display.

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Katie saw a little girl in a white dress in Seurat’s SUNDAY AFTERNOON ON THE ISLAND and climbed inside the picture.

But then with the whole place awash …

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Katie hears the guard and so hastily seeks the help of a magical looking man, subject of Paul Signac’s Portrait of Felix Fencon.

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With a flick of his stick and an ALLA-KAZOOM, Felix succeeds in reversing the mayhem and restoring the room to order in the nick of time.
Totally engaging and an excellent way to introduce children to Pointillism if you cannot get to see the real thing, or before visiting a gallery with a Seurat, Pissarro or Signac on view. The final page provides a brief note about how readers can create their very own Pointillist pictures after the style of the artists in the book.

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Unlikely Criminals

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The World-Famous Cheese Shop Break-In
Sean Taylor and Hannah Shaw
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Situated between the Greengrocer’s and an underwear boutique is The Cheese Shop.

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This entirely bonkers story featuring Daddypops, a paternal rat is narrated by one of his offspring and relates how this father-figure involves his family of mischievous rodent children in a plot to break into the Cheese Shop and steal its tasty wares. Several failed attempts later, there is a complete change of plan: tunneling is the order of the day but this too proves rather more challenging than anticipated …

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Worse is to come though – when the ratty robbers finally resurface, they discover that they’ve actually burrowed into the shop next door: the Fancy Pants Boutique.

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And then, it’s a case of ‘If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.’ Daddypops becomes the proud vendor of stylish underwear for his fellow rodents…
The sight of those rats with their carrier bags of new undergarments is a real giggle maker,

 

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as are many of the other tasty visual tidbits proffered by Hannah Shaw.
Only Sean Taylor would think of calling a young rat robber Shanice; that’s just one of his crazy verbal details and, as Daddypops’ daughter rightly says “What a cheesy ending.” Tee hee! Delicious endpapers too.

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Molly Maybe’s Monsters: The Dappity-Doofer
Kristina Stephenson
Simon & Schuster
Meet Molly Maybe and her dog, Waggy Burns residents of a sleepy little place called Smallsbury. We first encounter them as they peer out at their neighbour Mr Bottomly who seems to have discovered something unexpected while digging a pond in his garden.

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Thus begins a strange adventure for Molly and Waggy courtesy of their amazing contraption called The Mundervator. This secret contraption conveys them from their treehouse, deep down beneath Smallsbury to the magical monster world of Undermunder where they see this …

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Off they head (guided by Waggy’s Walkie-Talkie collar) to the town square where there are monsters in abundance awaiting the appearance of their leader the Monster Meister. This creature informs the crowd of the loss of The Mydol Idol from its plinth. Shock horror! Banishment of the thief will result unless the precious mascot is back in its place on the stroke of midnight. But which of the throng is responsible?

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It looks like it’s down to Molly and Waggy to solve the mystery of the missing statue and the holes in Mr Bottomly’s lawn …
With its pair of adventure seekers, a whole host of mock-scary monsters inhabiting a subterranean world, and a magical machine to connect one to the other, I suspect Kristina Stephenson has concocted a recipe for another successful series.

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Stay!

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STAY!
Alex Latimer
Picture Corgi
Buster is the best dog in the whole world: that’s Ben’s opinion at any rate though his parents might not endorse that …

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And that is why when it’s time for the family holiday Buster will be left in the care of Grampa.
Ben, like the majority of pet owners is worried about leaving his pet for others to care for so, he acts on Mum’s suggestion to write instructions for Grampa. He doesn’t write just one note though, he creates a whole host of them with detailed instructions and information on every ‘Buster’ topic you could imagine and some you probably couldn’t …

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And not only that but once he reaches his holiday destination, Ben continues to send further instructions – on postcards this time, dozens of the things.
There’s one vital communication though, that fails to arrive on time because Grampa and Buster have
gone for a walk to collect a parcel …

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and the result, as you might expect is disaster – from the postman’s point of view certainly.
Grampa’s too, so he decides it’s time to take matters into his own hands: a bad behaviour cure is the order of the day, or rather, many orders of some pretty exhausting days I suspect. It’s time well spent however and by the time the family returns Grampa has Buster pretty well trained and is himself ready with some notes for Ben.
And future holidays? Well that would be telling …
Love that ending!
Alex Latimer’s illustrations are chock-full of witty details that should amuse adult readers aloud as much as children. I love the way he incorporates scraps of paper torn from notepads, postcards and various other bits and pieces of mark-making paraphernalia into his artwork. And, the sight of Buster hurtling down the middle of the road after that departing car is hilarious.

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Focus on Traditional Tales

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HONK! HONK! Hold Tight
Jessica Souhami
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Anyone with an interest in traditional tales will likely be familiar with versions of stories about a sad-faced princess who never so much as smiles being reduced to laughter when she sees a procession stuck to a goose or other magic object; or a king offering his daughter’s hand in marriage to any man who can make his sad daughter laugh. These elements are the basis of Jessica Souhami’s latest folk-tale style rendering of a traditional story that has variants in Russia, Egypt and various parts of Europe.
Here we meet po-faced princess, Alice and her despairing father who has announced that he’ll share his kingdom with whomsoever can make his daughter laugh. This news reaches a poor young fellow, Peter who then sets out to try his luck carrying only a loaf and a carafe of wine. These he gives to a hungry old woman on the way and she in return gives him a gold-feathered goose, a warning and some instructions.
Following her instructions to the letter results in an ever-growing procession of adherents

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as he journeys to the palace and the spectacle duly works its magic upon the doleful Alice. Her laughter breaks the ‘sticking’ spell and the delighted King keeps his bargain. And young Princess Alice? She gradually comes to appreciate the possibilities in a young man who can make her laugh and proposes, resulting in …

 

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Jessica Souhami sets her story in what looks like the early twentieth century from her jewel-bright, cut paper collage style illustrations. With its direct telling, and funny scenes, it’s sure to bring a smile to the faces of audiences young and not so young. It would also be great fun for children to act out – with or without puppets. Get that hooter ready …

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Favourite Mixed Up Fairy Tales
Hilary Robinson and Sarah Horne
Hodder Children’s Books
This is the third in the series of Mixed Up split page books and has a new illustrator, Sarah Monk. Herein readers meet all manner of characters large and small, good and not so good: The Pied Piper, The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio, Rapunzel, Tom Thumb, Rumpelstiltskin, The Gingerbread Man, Thumbelina, Hansel, The Wizard of Oz, Robin Hood, even the Frog Prince and can involve them in all manner of likely or unlikely adventures and encounters with lesser characters such as a wicked witch or a spotty toad. The possibilities are seemingly countless (I’m certainly not going to bother working out the possible number of permutations) and hours of playful fun are assured. One random opening resulted in:

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For those who enjoy being the co-creators of off beat scenarios, this will doubtless prove as popular as its predecessors.

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Gracie exploring the possibilities.

Sarah Horne’s zany, brightly coloured cartoon style images are full of fun and there are some particularly playful mini freeze frames such as that of the yellow brick road …

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that would make interesting starting points for further flights of fancy.

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One Hundred Bones

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One Hundred Bones
Yuval Zommer
Templar Publishing
Rascally mongrel Scruff leads an independent, free-spirited existence much to the disgust of the other inhabitants of his neighbourhood. His penchant for excavating leads to tirades of hostile comments from the human owners of the pampered pet dogs until Scruff finally decides enough’s enough and sets out in search of somewhere more welcoming. He follows his nose (a nose that is particularly expert at sniffing out juicy bones.) And on this occasion his olfactory organ picks up on that most desirable osseous scent leading him up hill and down dale to a spot from which said awesome odour emanated.
You should see those little paws go as down, down he burrows until he finds …

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Oh joy! Our canine pal is almost beside himself with pleasure at the sight of the stash.
Back he dashes to call for some assistance, only to meet with considerable resistance to his pleas until that is, he mentions the b- word. Then it’s a case of follow-my-leader and all paws on deck so to speak.
There follows a conflab as to the nature of the find until Percy the pug has a light-bulb moment after which it’s public transport all the way in a mad dash to – you’ve guessed it – South Ken.

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and in particular, the Natural History Museum and its resident palaeontologist, Professor Dinovsky.
The outcome is a win/win situation as our lovable Scruff and the prof. both come up trumps one way and another.

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What a delicious canine caper and it’s great to see Scruff emerging as top dog (and digger) in the end.
Wittily written with plenty to make adults smile as well as children. I love the dog-eyed view from which Yuval Zommer portrays the action and his characterisation is splendid. Each of those dogs – Percy the pug, Pixie the poodle, Sidney the sausage dog and Ada the Afghan has a distinctive and wholly apt personality.

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Another sure fire winner from Yuval Zommer who brought us The Big Blue Thing on the Hill.

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School Is Fun

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Hugless Douglas Goes to Little School
David Melling
Hodder Children’s Books
Miss Moo-Hoo certainly has her hands, or rather hooves, full when Douglas spends his first day in her care at Little School, especially when he gets that characteristic TICKLE in his tummy in response to her question “what do you like doing best?”

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Indeed I suspect she was somewhat surprised at the responses from some of Douglas’ classmates too, especially “Thinking“.
I’m pretty sure that everyone thoroughly enjoyed the art activity especially bottom printing; now there’s a thought!

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And the interpretation of “wash before you eat” is interpreted rather liberally by her charges

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but at least they get rid of all that paint before lunch.
Probably the best bit of the day was the co-operative block play … Oops!

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I’ve no doubt young Douglas will eagerly join that walking bus when it leaves for school on the next day and the next and … wouldn’t you?
Enormous fun (despite the ‘naughty step’ – one of my pet aversions) and just the thing for those starting nursery or reception when term starts once again.

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Owl Wants to Share at Moonlight School
Simon Puttock and Ali Pye
Nosy Crow pbk
It’s time for the pupils at Miss Moon’s School to get creative: They are to draw “a FAVOURITE night-time THING.” Mouse announces hers will feature “a dark and glinty SEA.” Bat’s will be a “dark and whispery TREE.” Cat chooses a BEE, one that’s dark and mysterious; but Owl’s picture is top secret. Because he’s so slow in starting, all the night-time colours are in use and his classmates refuse to share

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(selfish lot) so Owl is forced to use daytime shades instead.
His effort is belittled by the others, but Miss Moon, (the subject) is more supportive

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commenting that Owl has made her look special and different.. This leads to a swapping of crayons, additions to each picture and a satisfactory outcome for everyone.
A story about learning to share resources and making creative use of what’s available to you. The gently humorous text, with its unusual characters and setting, is delightfully brought to life in Ali Pye’s glowing lunar-lighted scenes. Her characters all look enchanting despite some unfriendly behaviour towards Owl; and their pictures really do look as though they’ve come from a nursery setting.

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Terry Perkins and His Upside Down Frown

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Terry Perkins and his Upside Down Frown
Felix Massie
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
No matter how hard he tries, little Terry Perkins just cannot get his words to come out properly, something that greatly saddens the lad and turns his smile into a frown. His concerned mother takes Terry to see the doctor whose solution to this speech difficulty is to turn the boy on his head. He does now seemingly have a smile – of sorts – but the fact is the child is far from happy and he now has a different problem, or more than one if truth be told. Being stuck on one’s head rules out walking and at playschool he becomes a laughing stock.

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How cruel those bullying children are. It’s a very sad boy who daydreams of living in space, a place where there is ‘no upside down or sideways’.
But then, seeking refuge and solitariness in the park, Terry discovers Jenny (a playschool classmate) who is happy with Terry just as he is; indeed she thinks he’s pretty cool. Good for her, say I.
As the friendship develops both children come to understand just how much more life has to offer when it can be viewed from more than one perspective …

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and then at last, Terry really does have cause to smile.
The final lines of this quirky story that celebrates uniqueness, strength of character and the power of friendship really say it all:
‘You never need a reason
to stand up proud and tall:
being upside down or different
doesn’t matter … at all!’

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It certainly shouldn’t, but it’s a message that still needs repeating over and over; and this thought-provoking story is one that should be shared with, and discussed by, children in early years settings everywhere. The rhyming text reads aloud beautifully and the bold, off-beat art work by an established animator has enormous appeal.
Long live Jenny’s understanding, Terry’s resolve and resilience, and their individuality.

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Herman’s Holiday

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Herman’s Holiday
Tom Percival
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Unable to afford the fabulous destinations featured in the glossy brochures, Herman, desperate not to disappoint his best pal Henry, discovers just the thing – a bargain break offer.

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In no time at all he’s packed and ready for a fun-filled trip and so excited. Henry however, doesn’t share his enthusiasm as they wait for their transport to arrive.
Once at the campsite Herman throws himself heart and soul into the experience.

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Poor Henry on the other hand, is finding life under canvas pretty tough.

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No holiday is complete without sending a few postcards decides Herman, but the sentiments expressed thereon differ somewhat ‘Amazing’ writes Herman. ‘Awful” is Henry’s comment. Once again Herman puts pen to postcard – several postcards in fact and soon all manner of packages start arriving.
Nightfall finds Henry sleeping; not so Herman. He spends the hours of darkness on his transformatory plan …

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And from then on life at the camp-site becomes pretty peachy for both of the friends, so much so that Henry’s parting message is ….

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Deliciously droll scenes of the delectable duo, lift the flap postcards and an overloaded rucksack, and Tom Percival’s understated verbal humour are all part and parcel of this great follow-up story, at the heart of which once again, is friendship.

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Dolci was impressed with Herman’s building skills and asked for the story at least 5 times in quick succession

It’s a pity this book is published so near to the end of the summer holidays. I would have loved to send it to any friends and relations about to go off on camping trips; still there’s always next season for that.

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Pirates Ahoy!

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Are You the Pirate Captain?
Gareth P. Jones and Garry Parsons
Andersen Press
The ship’s a-ready, the deck swabbed, even the crew’s had a wash but there’s still something stopping those pirates setting sail: what ever can it be? Even the best pirate ship is no good without a pirate captain – a giant squid consumed the previous one – so, the search is well and truly on. First Mate Hugh, with his trusty telescope, is on the lookout for a worthy successor:
               A buccaneer
           Who will strike fear
         In every sailor’s heart.
Several misidentifications later – a coat-hanger for a hook,

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a brolly for a parrot …

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a shopping list for a treasure map, but surely the chap sporting pirate gear must be the one.

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Not quite but he does help the crew find a solution to their leadership dilemma and then it’s a case of brains to the fore …
    ‘He diddle-he and a hey diddle-hey,
     Weigh the anchor, we sail today!
     Hey diddle hey and a he diddle-ho,
       Hoist the flag … and off we go!’
With its jaunty rhyming telling and gigglesome visuals, this swashbuckling tale, complete with sea shanty is likely to appeal to would-be young sea dogs especially those who enjoy a book where things are not quite as they seem.

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Dolci absorbed in the piratical doings

Pirates in Pyjamas
Caroline Crowe and Tom Knight
Little Tiger Press
There seems to be a plethora of pirate picture books at present and now here’s first time author Caroline Crowe answering the question ‘Do pirates wear pyjamas when it’s time to say goodnight?/ Do they have a skull and crossbones, are they stripy, black and white? that two small children are pondering.
The answer is seemingly, where pirates and pyjamas are concerned, pretty much anything goes

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as we see when we join Captain Grotbeard and his crew aboard the Leaky Parrot as they perform their ablutions, then step into their night attire. Before retiring for the night however there’ll probably be the obligatory pyjama party, not to mention the odd spot of pillow fighting.
All this action calls for a nightcap though …

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And finally, it’s time to bed down for some shut-eye wherever you are.

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Tom Knight illustrates the nocturnal frolics illuminating the rhyming text with verve and humour, adding chucklesome details here and there.

Finally, a reissue of a classic piratical tale from over fifty years ago is:

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Captain Pugwash
John Ryan
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
This is the very first of what became a popular series of picture books featuring Pugwash the pirate captain, his arch enemy Cut-throat Jake and Tom, the cabin boy: the latter being the only person able to do the important jobs aboard The Black Pig – sailing the ship, working the compass and making tea.
In this adventure we discover what happens when Pugwash attempts to seize the treasure stashed aboard the ship belonging to Cut-throat Jake and is taken prisoner and made to walk the plank by Jake and his crew.
As becomes the norm in subsequent stories, it’s really down to trusty young Tom to save the day and the Captain. …

 

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Great stuff.

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The Marvellous Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty

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Gracie is enchanted by the wonderful scenes

The Marvellous Squishy Itty Bitty
Beatrice Alemagna
Thames & Hudson
Five and a half year old Edith, commonly known as Eddie, longs to be good at something, like the rest of her talented family and when she hears her sister using the words “present… Mum… birthday… fluffy… squishy…itty… bitty…“ she is determined to get her Mum an amazing present too; but what?
Off she sets on her search, first stop Bruno’s bakery, crammed full of tasty treats. He doesn’t have a “Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty” on sale though he does offer a sticky bun. Into Eddie’s bag it goes and off she dashes to the florists.

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Wendy has no “furry squirty” objects and offers instead a lucky four-leaf clover. That too goes in the bag and it’s on to Mimi’s fashion shop, a promising establishment full of furry, feathery things. There however, she has to accept a pearl button and move on towards the antique shop owned by her friend, Emmett.

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His misinterpretation results in the addition of a Threepenny green – a very rare stamp – to her unlikely assortment of bits and bobs; and it’s a somewhat disheartened Eddie who wanders on to her last hope, the butcher’s shop but Theo sends her packing straightaway. (I have to say this veggie reviewer dashed past Theo’s establishment rather than join the long queue.)
So, it’s an even more dispirited little girl who seeks shelter from the snow beneath a roof; but it’s there that she discovers a very odd-looking creature that just happens to be all that she’s been seeking for that perfect and amazingly versatile present.

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… useful for so many things!

That’s not quite the end of the story though. Suffice it to say however, after some further trials and tribulations, our young heroine is able to present her Mum with the an absolutely splendid birthday gift and in so doing has discovered her own special gift too.
This quirky tale is full of wacky characters, the most delightful of all being of course, the fluorescent pink coated Eddie herself: her perseverance and resourcefulness and imagination are assuredly something to celebrate.
I love everything about the book: its richly detailed scenes of the various shops inside and out, that Eddie visits:

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the playful language of the first person narrative, and the matt ivory paper which makes for a seductive French ambiance. Delicious.

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Toddler Bookshelf

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Where’s Bear?
Emily Gravett
Macmillan Children’s Books
Bear and Hare are back in their third amusing adventure, or game actually. The adorable duo engage in a game of Hide and Seek with Bear hiding first. Unsurprisingly to readers his chosen hiding places – in front of a lamp, or a pile of books, and behind a fish tank (albeit a large one) – are a dismal failure and the roles are reversed. Bear is now the finder: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 … but where, oh where is Hare? Here perhaps?

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But now Hare cannot find Bear and oh dear, he’s getting in a bit of a tizzy

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until finally …

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Nobody can turn a small episode into high drama with quite the consummate skill of Emily Gravett.
I do hope the publishers decide to offer it other formats: it’s perfect for beginning readers but the board book edition may well put them off.

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How Many Legs?
Katja Spitzer
Flying Eye Books
Off beat illustrations of all manner of items from ice-creams to bugs and ‘mischievous monkeys’ to ‘stylish shoes’ to count, are presented in the small pages of this quirky little counting and number book. It’s divided into two distinct parts: the first introduces numerals and counting to 10 (the number being displayed on both sides of the spread);

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the second provides practice in getting one to one correspondence between the number names spoken and the items being counted without the visual number symbols.

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There’s plenty of potential for talking with the very young ones as well as the mathematical opportunities offered here in this mini volume, which is one of a new series from this artist and Flying Eye. I love the bold retro images and the feel of the whole thing.

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SNAP! SNAP!
Cocoretto
Child’s Play
There are five animals hiding beneath the flaps of this ‘Guess the Animal’ board book, each introduced by a noisy clue and the repeated question What’s that noise?’

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the answer being revealed by lifting the flap on the opposite page.

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Those from just a few months can enjoy the sounds and bold, bright images, slightly older toddlers will delight in the playful scenarios and the chance to be noisy along with the various animals large and small each spread provides; and those just beginning to match the spoken word to the print on the page might try doing just that. The experience will be hugely more enjoyable than that provided by the first books of a dreary reading scheme and in addition there’s the opportunity to begin to develop prediction skills.
In similar vein is

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CHOO! CHOO!
The format is the same but herein the animals are the drivers or operators of wonderfully noisy vehicles. There’s a train, a tractor, a digger, a motorbike and a fire engine. Playful, cacophonous fun aplenty.

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Characters Bold and Not So Bold

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I’m A Girl
Yasmeen Ismail
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Let’s hear it for the wonderful female protagonist – an aardvark I think –  in Yasmeen Ismail’s latest book. She’s messy, super fast, brave, spontaneous and an independent thinker and doer.

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She’s a great music maker, likes to play games of all kinds

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and is determined to be the BEST. She is – in her own words – “sweet and sour, not a little flower!” But, she has a hard time convincing others of her gender. “I’m a girl!” she asserts at every wrong assumption, and there are many.
Then she makes friends with another person who is also determined to be true to his own nature

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… and it’s time for a celebration of individuality.
Brilliantly exuberant, funny and full of joy: a book to cherish. If only all children had the confidence to be true to themselves like the girl and her new-found friend herein.
If I had my way a copy would be given to all young children before they start school or nursery.
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Max the Brave
Ed Vere
Puffin Books
Meet kitten Max. Despite appearances he’s a fearless mouse chaser, or would be if only he knew what a mouse looked like. He decides to do a search; but encounters with Fly, Fish, birds, Elephant and Rabbit all of whom have had sightings, yields nothing. Or so it seems despite …

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But the wily animal professes to be a Monster, so what about this slumbering creature?

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Time to find out Max …

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Oops! Perhaps Mouse chasing isn’t quite what you’d anticipated fearless one: Monsters instead, perhaps?
I’m a great fan of Ed Vere (of Banana fame). Here, his clever use of space, a bold, flat colour palette and minimalist style sit well with the direct, dead pan narrative that is delivered largely through Max’s internal dialogue and his interactions with the animals he meets.
A great one to share and I anticipate multiple re-readings will be the order of the day (or night). Equally, it’s a super story for emergent readers to try for themselves.

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The 5 Misfits

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The 5 Misfits
Beatrice Alemagna
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Let’s hear it for the misfits – five of them as served up by the hugely talented Beatrice Alemagna. This motely quintet somehow manage to reside together in a tumbledown house despite – or perhaps because of – their shortcomings.
Misfit number one is a holey individual …

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Number two is neatly folded, concertina style …
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The third is feeble – floppy, tired and sleepy …

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The fourth is an upside downer

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and last and least, the fifth is a complete catastrophe and probably best forgotten.

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Enter stage left the Perfect One with an amazing hairstyle and sporting stylish pantaloons.

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This faultless being proceeds to interrogate the residents of the lopsided house making them feel even more worthless – well actually no. Maybe that was his intention, with his talk of ideas,

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but the result is something altogether else.
Alemagna’s tongue-in-cheek allegorical extravaganza is delivered with wit and panache. Inclusivity and finding your own unique inner self are two of the themes that emerge loud and clear from this wise and thought-provoking offering.
Philosophy for primary children is creeping onto the curriculum in more schools (and not before time). Here’s a great starting point for a ‘community of inquiry’ style discussion with sevens and above.

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Hooray For Small Girl With Big Imaginations

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Lion Practice
Emma Carlisle
Macmillan Children’s Books
In this warm-hearted story that celebrates the imagination we meet Laura: she has a penchant for practice, pretty much any kind of practice so long as it involves being big and/or noisy.

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So when her mother suggests she should practise being something small and quiet, Laura is having none of it – no way; her sights are set on something rather different.
But what is all this about you might be wondering. Her parents certainly don’t appreciate it.
Well, perhaps Laura just wants to be in the limelight because…

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Maybe she’ll settle for being a little lion after all – it does have its compensations

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and there’s always tomorrow for this resilient little miss …
Emma Carlisle is an emerging talent. Her free flowing illustrations have the uninhibited spirit of the unselfconscious artist one images Laura herself would be.
I look forward to what comes next…

Another small girl with a large imagination is featured in debut author Jenna Harrington’s:

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Katie McGinty Wants a Pet!
Jenna Harrington and Finn Simpson
Little Tiger Press
The great day has finally arrived: Katie McGinty is big enough to have a pet

 

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– but this tricky miss doesn’t want a common or garden hamster, cat, or dog. Oh no! What she has set her heart on is something much more exciting  …

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And seemingly she’s thought things through pretty carefully as she demonstrates to her perplexed parent on their walk to the pet shop: “Don’t be silly Daddy! … He’ll eat pizza and fish fingers and spaghetti with us at the table … “ is her response to his concerns about the lack of grass in their garden and of course, their bath isn’t large enough. “I’ll have to wash him at the swimming pool!” she informs him.
Dad tries to let her down gently as they reach their destination but he hasn’t quite anticipated the very special bargain on offer …

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Finn Simpson’s exuberant scenes show much more than is said in the words. He captures the gentle playful humour of Jenna Harrington’s deliberately straightforward delivery, much of which is dialogue, extending and embellishing it with laugh out loud fantasies.

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Captain Jack and the Pirates

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Captain Jack and the Pirates
Peter Bently and Helen Oxenbury
Puffin Books
In this timeless tale we join a family at the seaside and in particular three small children Jak, Zak and Caspar as they embark on a sandcastle-building extravaganza.

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With construction complete it’s a case of “Anchors aweigh!” and with mainsail hoisted, off sail Captain Jack and his pirate crew through uncharted oceans far from shore. Once on the high seas adventures abound: there’s a confrontation with an enemy ship and its dastardly band of buccaneers

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and a tropical gale to contend with,

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not to mention …

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The ‘marooned’ pirates abandon ship and set out to explore the terrain in search of treasure – well two do but Caspar remains on watch.
And do they discover any treasure? Definitely – if you have an imagination akin to that of the small pirate trio so gorgeously portrayed.
Told in rhyme, Peter Bently’s enchanting story is a real pleasure to read aloud. In her scenes of small children engrossed in their play, both real and imaginary, Helen Oxenbury flawlessly evokes those childhood days of family seaside holidays when everything seemed perfect no matter what.

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Lovely Old Lion

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Lovely Old Lion
Julia Jarman and Susan Varley
Andersen Press
What a gorgeous book but one would expect no less: its illustrator, Susan Varley is the creator of the classic Badger’s Parting Gifts. Here, she’s worked in partnership with Julia Jarman and the result is an equally sensitive picture book, on the tricky topic of dementia.
As with most grandchildren and their grandparents, there is a very special bond between young Lenny lion and his grandpa, King Lion. But lately Lenny has noticed changes coming upon his beloved Grandpa: he forgets the rules of games,

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what objects are used for and even, on occasion, Lenny’s name.
Gradually King Lion becomes more and more confused but young Lenny is determined to continue bringing light and life into his Grandpa’s days. First he chastises the other animals in no uncertain terms when they laugh at King Lion and then he enlists kindly Hippo’s help to ensure that for the remainder of his life, those neighbours and friends keep grandfather provided with objects that help trigger memories of his earlier years when for instance, he was able to outplay or trick his pals,

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or come to their rescue on occasion.

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Every illustration is suffused with tenderness; the details are gently humorous and enormously appealing to the young (and not so young).
Compassionate as the telling surely is, the essentials of the condition such as bad temper are dealt with in an honest straightforward manner. And, the final part of the story in particular serves as a reminder that no matter what our age, the whole of life is an inevitable cycle of growth, change, ageing and eventual loss.

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Adults can choose to fill in specific family details if relevant or, as one would hope, share the story with all young children and let listeners ask their own questions.
This one deserves a place on every family bookshelf and should be in every primary school library and early years setting.

For much older readers is:

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Stonebird
Mike Revell
Quercus
Moving home and starting at a new school, bullying, dementia and the power of stories and storytelling are some of the themes of this book. It centres on the eleven year old narrator Liam, who has moved with his sister Jess and mum, in order to be closer to his Gran who has dementia and now lives in a care home.
Exploring the locality of his new home one day, Liam comes across an ancient-looking stone gargoyle in the crypt of an old church. It’s this gargoyle, Stonebird, and a symbolic marble egg shaped stone his new teacher uses with his class during storytelling circle time sessions, that together play an ultimately transforming part in Liam’s life as he gradually comes to comes to terms with, and begins to cope with the changes he has to face in his new life.
Written by debut author Mike Revell, this powerfully affecting and convincing story is a haunting and ultimately, uplifting read.

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A Sky of Diamonds

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A Sky of Diamonds
Camille Gibbs
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
When Mia hears that her mother has died (in an accident at work), the colour drains right out of her world. She tells readers just how it was for her: some days she was unable to get out of bed, on others she couldn’t sleep. “There were days when my heart hurt so much it was hard to eat, hard to breathe and sometimes it felt hard even to be me anymore.” she says. Her dad explains that Mia is grieving and there will be up days and very down days, rather like being on a roller-coaster. She feels a volcanic kind of anger deep inside ready to explode at any time; perhaps she’d done something to cause the death; what if her dad died too?
After the anger comes sadness and it’s then that Mia’s dad suggests a memory box …

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wherein they can both put things connected with special memories and at the same time, have a time together when they could talk about Mia’s mum and she could ask questions.
Slowly there come times – her birthday is coming up – when Mia is able to feel a little more positive about life  That’s what her mum would want, Dad tells her. Eventually Mia finds her own way of coping: she looks at the stars and talks to the brightest one.
Written by a social worker who has much experience with children who have suffered the loss of family members, this is an extremely helpful resource for children having to cope with the loss of a loved one and those adults having to support them through their grieving; it’s strength is most definitely the first person narrative and the activities embedded within the text.

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Tree of Wonder

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Tree of Wonder
Kate Messner and Simona Mulazzani
Chronicle Books
I loved the author’s Up in the Garden, Down in the Dirt. Now for her latest narrative information book she takes readers to a more exotic habitat, the tropical rainforest  and in particular one Almendro tree.
This tree, which we are told, is able to produce over a 1,000,000 flowers when it blooms, is in fact the centre of an ecosystem of its own with over 1,000 different living things depending on it.  Among those creatures that rely upon it for shelter and/or food are brightly coloured birds – Great Green Macaws and Keel-Billed Toucans,

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both of which feast on the ripe fruits, and Howler Monkeys (they help disperse the seeds of the fruits. Then there are the nocturnal fruit bats that also help in seed dispersal as do the Agoutis, which snuffle around the tree’s base gorging on the fallen fruits. The Blue Morpho butterflies sip the juice of the rotting fruits, roosting in groups to deter predators. For further protection, they flash their brightly coloured wings …

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then fold them up with the brown undersides against the trunk, the spots thereon giving their wing undersides a hawk- or owl-like resemblance.
Among the residents of the Almendro are tadpoles of Poison Dart frogs carried by their parents for safety into the tree where there are small pools of water; and spiders, and leafcutter ants.
Maths is also embedded within this fascinating book. The number doubles as the page is turned and a new species is featured: thus we are shown for instance 4 toucans, 8 Howler Monkeys,

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16 Fruit Bats and so on until we reach 1,024 – that’s the number of Leafcutter ants symbolically represented. And if readers want more maths, then there are, at the end, ten problems, some more challenging than others, just waiting to be solved.
Simona Mulazzani’s detailed scenes of the rainforest fauna and flora are beautiful. Every turn of the page offers a new and glorious painting to linger over.
Engagingly written and superbly illustrated, this book has much to offer primary schools using a topic-based approach to the curriculum. (I came upon several classes using the tropical rainforest as part of their investigative studies recently.)

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Board Book Beauties

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What Does Doggy Want?
David Wojtowycz
Walker Books
Clever design, bright visuals, an endearing character and a simple repeating patterned text combine to make a delightfully playful, interactive book for babies. By placing a finger in the hole and moving it up and down, small hands can make the Doggy shake his head to say “NO”

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to various items offered until at last, he gets exactly what he’s been waiting for;

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and then he nods his head affirmatively.
The same formula works for a companion volume

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What Does Monkey Want?
David Wojtowycz
Walker Books
In this instance a series of actions is suggested all of which receives a “No”

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(A side-to-side movement is needed this time) because, as we eventually discover, Monkey just wants to …

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In addition to enjoying a simple story, these two books offer the very young opportunities for the development of manipulative skills.

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All Shook Up!
Alain Crozon
Chronicle Books
Manipulative opportunities abound in this playful board book that features animals of all shapes and sizes. You can make the chick flutter its feathers, the butterfly flap its wings up and down,

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the elephant swing its trunk and shake its ears, or the hippo poke out its tongue, for instance.
Primary colours (and black and white) are used to great effect in this rapping, rhyming flap book.

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Chooky-doodle-doo
Jan Whiten and Sinéad Hanley
Walker Books
‘One Little chooky chick/pulling at a worm. /Clucky cluck, worm’s stuck./What should chooky do?’
Thus begins an enormously appealing board book that combines counting fun, rhyme and a delicious final twist. Oh! and there’s teamwork too.

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I love the slightly acid tones and the textural effects of Sinéad Hanley’s amusing illustrations.
Just the thing to share with the youngest listeners.

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Tomas Loves …

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Tomas Loves …
Jude Welton and Jane Telford
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Herein we meet Tomas and his canine companion Flynn (ever present to provide support and comfort). Tomas lives with his loving parents who understand his likes and disilikes and help him cope with his autism. Mum provides him with a daily visual diary

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and ensures that as far as possible, he is forewarned of any changes in routine early in the day;  and Dad is always there to read him a goodnight story. Thus they create a calm environment wherein Tomas is able to enjoy books with repeating words …

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He loves strange-sounding names like ‘thingamybob’ or ‘flipertyjane’ and will repeat them over and over, he also loves to play with his toy trains on the track and also with tiny toys, bouncing on a trampoline, riding a horse and feeding it; and he has a special diet ‘that won’t hurt his tummy’. Sudden loud noises are one thing Tomas hates …

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and sometimes if he is feeling very stressed he might start flapping his hands
Although we are told of all the things about Tomas in particular, things that are fairly common in children who have autism, the overall impression is that he is not so different for:
Tomas loves Flynn, and his Flynn loves him too.
Tomas loves fun and friendship – just like you.
Warmly illustrated and affirming with a gentle rhyming text, this is a book for all early years and primary settings and one that offers a good way to introduce the idea of autism to young readers who haven’t come across the behaviours Tomas exhibits.
Buy from JKP

For a slightly older audience is

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Can I Tell You about Pathological Demand Avoidance syndrome?
Ruth Fidler and Phil Christie, illustrated by Jonathon Powell
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
This informative little handbook is narrated by Issy, an 11 year old girl with PDA (an autism spectrum condition). She shares with readers what it is like to have this condition – one that relatively little is written about in comparison with other ASDs. (Although I have taught a fair few children on the spectrum I’ve never known one with a PDA diagnosis although retrospectively I can think of at least one child who perhaps should have had one.)
We learn from Issy what makes her feel particularly anxious – “loud noises, new shoes and sitting on the smelly floor at school” and being asked to do something someone else wants them to. The latter can make her come up with rather outlandish excuses and if pushed, a long-lasting tantrum or meltdown can result. On particularly sensitive days, Issy and those like her need special consideration and help.
The last part of the book is written from an adult perspective and takes up this topic in the section ‘How other people can help’. Careful prioritisation of the issues to address, making requests in an oblique manner (‘I’d like someone to help me with this task’, rather than ‘do this’, flexibility of approach, anxiety reduction and support with friendship making/maintaining are some of the topics discussed.
For me, what is particularly good about this useful resource is its positive approach to the topic.

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London Bound

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Katie and the British Artists
James Mayhew
Orchard Books pbk
In this recent Katie reissue, our charming young heroine accompanies her Grandma to The National Gallery. On route she ponders on the question of what job she might have when grown up. Then, in the gallery while Gran has a snooze, she takes a look at some of the pictures, starting with Constable’s The Cornfield. Her comment that she’d love to be a shepherd, receives a surprise response from the shepherd boy in the painting (called Ben in the story) and the two then strike up a friendship …

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and together go in search of alternative occupations. Turner’s Rain, Steam and Speed offers a train-driving experience, George Stubbs’ Whistlejack leads to an opportunity for Ben to try his hand as a horseman, albeit not very successfully,
The two then climb into a Gainsborough – The Painter’s Daughters Chasing a Butterfly

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and therein Ben discovers an artist’s life isn’t for him and finally Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire furnishes a brief sea voyage after which Katie returns to her gran and Ben to his sheep.
For anyone visiting the National Gallery with young children or a primary class, this delightful book is an excellent introductory starting point to some of the 18th and 19thC paintings therein.

 

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London Through Time
Nick Maland and Angela McAllister
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Nick Maland (of the Oliver series fame) has illustrated what is essentially a concertina fold-out time line of London. We join two children, Maisie and Max (and a friendly pigeon) as they time travel from Roman Thameside London, through the plague ridden city of the Black Death, thence to Fleet Street of Tudor London, on to 1666 to view the Great Fire and along a Georgian street with its aromatic, mid 18thC coffee houses. From there we drop in on the city in 1865 where chimneys belch filthy smoke and poor children work for a mere farthing and thence, onto Victorian times where the city is shrouded in a filthy black smog. Flip the fold out and move into Edwardian times with the Votes for Women marches, then in 1914 watch the soldiers leave for the Great War; visit the Roaring Twenties, the Blitz of the World War 2 and join the Coronation parade of 1953 for Elizabeth 11. The swinging sixties are the penultimate destination when boutiques grew up all over London and finally after almost 2000 years, our guides bring us back to the present, to Trafalgar Square and the familiar sights of Big Ben,with the London Eye in the background.
A final page asks readers to spot items shown in fourteen tiny vignettes which will in all likelihood send them back for a second look at this fascinating visual trip through England’s capital city.
Nick Maland’s art work is packed with fine details and superbly executed and Angela McAllister supplies the informative written accompaniment to Max and Maisie’s historic wanderings.

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ZIPPO The Super Hippo

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Emmanuelle more than a little concerned at the sight of the crocodile’s open jaws as Zippo plummets, seemingly  towards them.

ZIPPO The Super Hippo
Kes Gray and Nikki Dyson
Macmillan Children’s Books
Bottoms up for Zippo the hippo. As he wallows in the swamp, said hippo bemoans to his best pal, Roxi the oxpecker, the fact that he lacks a super power. What he wants is something BIG and exciting and he needs Roxi’s help to discover what exactly IS that personal speciality of his. Plodding, getting muddy and swimming don’t cut it in the super power department, nor do splishing, sploshing and splashing. Flying maybe, suggests Roxi leading Zippo to the top of a waterfall for his maiden flight …

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Several attempts later, not to mention a few splatted creatures …

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our would-be super hero declares that flying isn’t his thing after all. But, as Roxi tells him, “You didn’t just squash’em… You got’em with your bottom!” Super hippopotamus he isn’t; but super hippobottomus, well certainly …

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Who wouldn’t fall for (though definitely not under) Zippo with his massive rear and those wonderful super-pants. Giggles galore will result from sharing this one I predict. Like those Zippo landings, it will be a whopping hit for sure. I’m off to find some children to help launch Zippo into superhero stardom. They’re bound, like me, to give this super story a massive BUMS UP: It’s BUMBALICIOUS!

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