Tag Anna Kang

Will You Help Me Fall Asleep? / I’m Not Grumpy!

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Will You Help Me Fall Asleep?
Anna Kang & Christpoher Weyant
Hodder Children’s Books

Little Frog is anxious to fall asleep and asks readers to help him for if he doesn’t get sufficient sleep his mother won’t allow him to participate in the Frogatta boat races the following day; in other words he’ll be in BIG, big trouble and there’s no fooling his observant mum.

He tries our (supposed) suggested counting sheep, a bedtime book – definitely not the best idea – and a chat with last year’s prize caterpillar toy all of which fail and then he recalls his teacher, Miss Chon’s advice to breathe long and deep then mind travel to his ‘happy place …

and joy of joys, zzzzzzzz.

Whether the final wordless spread is Monty’s blissful dream or the young frog’s elated presence (along with his parents) at the next day’s Frogatta is left open to readers to decide: no matter which, one cannot help but root for little amphibious Monty in this frog-a-licious bedtime tale.

With Christpher Weyant’s super, lively, cartoonish scenes of Anna Kang’s dramatic telling, the book is enormous fun for pre-sleep sharing, especially for little ones with a touch of insomnia.

I’m Not Grumpy!
Steve Smallman and Caroline Pedler
Little Tiger

Waking up to discover a huge furry bottom blocking your door might put most of us in a bad mood; it certainly does Mouse whose mood further deteriorates when he’s splatted on the nose by – so he thinks – a splashy raindrop.

In fact it’s a tear shed by a distraught little badger just outside his window wailing, “Where’s my Mummy?”

Together the two animals set off in search of the Mummy Badger only to find themselves lost.

Encounters with Squirrel and Owl both of which recognise Mouse as ‘that grumpy mouse”, (hotly denied by said Mouse), are willing to help in the search and off they all go deep into the forest.

There they come upon a large bear. On learning that Mouse is in fact helping Little Badger get home, the bear changes his grumpy accusation to “a kind friend”; a first for Mouse.

They travel deeper into the forest until Mouse becomes overwrought

which results in Owl giving him a cheer-up hug – another unusual event for the little creature. Suddenly out of the bushes emerges a very scary, very hungry predator.

Does that mean Squirrel, Badger, Owl and Mouse become a lupine’s evening meal?

Happily not. I won’t divulge the ending, but what ensues will certainly bring a happy smile to the faces of young listeners.

With opportunities for audience participation, Steve’s warm-hearted story with Caroline Pedler’s expressively portrayed woodland animals provides a good starting point for circle time discussion with early years children on themes of friendship, kindness, and on how their moods might affect other people.

Can I Tell You a Secret?

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Can I Tell You a Secret?
Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant
Hodder Children’s Books
I loved both You Are (Not) Small and That’s (Not) Mine; now the same husband and wife team have created an entirely new character, Monty, a green frog. Immediately endearing, this little fellow introduces himself with a “PSSST!” directed straight at readers. What follows is a confession dialogue conducted between young Monty and his audience, for Monty has a secret: “I can’t swim. Not even a little bit. And … I’m afraid of water.” he says looking somewhat abashed.
Some questions and responses clarify the whole sorry cover-up situation …

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“What’s that? You think I should tell someone? Like my parents? Are you sure? POSITIVE?”
Suggestion taken, but it takes Monty three attempts so sum up the courage to do it …

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and the “We know sweetie …” parental response sets the scene for a grand aquatic finale …

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Weyant’s portrayal of Monty is splendidly expressive: that fearful frog says so much with his eyes; and Anna Kang’s amusing direct speech narrative gets listeners on board straight away, keeping them thoroughly involved until his final “Can you come back tomorrow?” and is likely to encourage the fearful among the young frog’s audience to confront their own fears too. Great fun.

I Can Read It: That’s (Not) Mine & What’s An Apple?

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That’s (Not) Mine
Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant
Hodder Children’s Books
The Anna Kang/Christopher Weyant partnership take the two characters – one large and one small – from their wonderful You Are (Not) Small and feature them in this equally hilarious incident from childhood.
The ownership of a big comfy chair is in dispute as the two furry creatures both claim it as theirs. Big, with needles a-clicking – is occupying said chair at the start of the book when in bursts Small. The squabble starts to escalate (parents and early years teachers will immediately recognise the scenario) with the knitter refusing resolutely to budge …

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But then in comes Small wheeling a deliciously squeaky, revolving office chair: guess who wants a go …

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and is more than happy to leave his previous perch, hurl himself onto the inviting-looking alternative and ZOOM wildly … oops! – till there comes the inevitable – tee hee! Argument over: err, no: it looks as though it’s starting all over again …

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Will those two ever sort things out?

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Well yes –but … there’s a lovely final twist to this delicious cracker of a tale. A brilliant lesson in sharing and taking turns but equally it’s a perfect book for beginner readers. The dialogue is punchy, the humour spot on and the illustrations wonderfully expressive. It’s a universal experience – emotionally intense – that deserves a universal readership.

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What’s An Apple?
Marilyn Singer and Greg Pizzoli
Abrams Appleseed
If you’ve never thought beyond the title question, your immediate response will probably be, ‘It’s the fruit of an apple tree.’ So it is; but this little book takes a look beyond the obvious, although it does start there. ‘You can pick it.’ we are told on the first page but thereafter the imagination starts to take over, as a girl and boy explore all manner of possible uses for apples alongside the conventional ones. You can, so we’re told, kick it, toss it and use it to play skittles with …

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or even baseball perhaps. Or why not try a spot of juggling, although you’ll need rather more than one for this

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as you would if you follow some of the other suggestions. Apple sauce requires a fair few of the fruit, as does making juice or even apple bobbing. You can give an apple a wash – always advisable especially if you intend using it for a smile …

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you might even give it a bit of a cuddle. My favourite suggestion though is this one …

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although I’m totally in favour of this ‘You can eat it anyplace.’ sentiment too.
The quirky rhyming text is easy to read, making the book a good one for early reading and Greg Pizzoli’s illustrations are sure to bring on a smile, or many.
As a beginner reader wouldn’t you much rather read something fun like this that a dull scheme book?

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Alternative Viewpoints

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You Are (Not) Small
Anna Kang and Chris Weyant
Hodder Children’s Books
Size is relative, something that is explored in a very amusing manner courtesy of some fuzzy, ursine-looking creatures herein. When one orange and large encounters one much smaller and purple, he tells him so in no uncertain manner; the purple one however insists he is not small, rather, orange is big. A shouting match ensues with each side growing in number and yelling across the gutter at the other. Both sides are suddenly brought up short by an almighty

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followed by the descent of a number of parachute-borne pink creatures to further complicate matters, or rather, to enable the opposing sides to start seeing things from a different perspective. After all that, it’s time for some nosh chaps … However, it seems the new arrivals may have issues of their own.

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Minimal words per page in large type, allow the comical, cartoon-style illustrations to do much of the talking.
And talking there surely will be after a sharing of this with any group of children from around five. Not only is there the matter of size, this could be the starting point for discussions about racism, sexism and more.

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It’s an Orange Aardvark!
Michael Hall
Words and Pictures (Frances Lincoln Childen’s Books)
Five little ants (sporting hard hats of various colours) residing in an old tree stump are disturbed by a sound outside. What can it be? One – (yellow-hatted) ant decides to make a hole “Like a window!” to see what’s going on. The red-hatted alarmist ant suggests the possibility that a sneaky, grey aardvark might be out there waiting for its next meal – ants! But through the window they see orange. Not an aardvark then… “Aardvarks turn orange when they are hungry for ants” says guess which ant. More drilling by yellow hat… THUNK! blue seeps in through the next hole… “An orange aardvark wearing blue pyjamas!” alarmist ant again. And so it continues : with each new hole comes a new colour … red,

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green, yellow … and an even more outrageous elaboration on the ant-eating aardvark notion. Savvy listeners will work out what the ants will eventually see before yellow-hat makes his announcement and the ants emerge to …

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Well four of their number anyway.
Crazy cumulativeness, amusing ant talk – “Goodness!” “Gracious!” “Yikes!”, die-cuts (a-la Carle) delight audiences as do the brightly coloured collage-style images and the anticipation as each new idea is added to the imagined creature outside the tree stump. And, so cleverly written – every single word is measured for maximum impact.

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