Tag Ben Faulks

Once Upon A Storytime / Grandmas are the Greatest

jillrbennett Leave a comment

These are both Bloomsbury Children’s Books publications – thank you to the publisher for sending them for review.

Once Upon A Storytime
Gareth Peter and Natelle Quek

Every night Nia and her mum lose themselves in a bedtime story, usually featuring the story components Nia likes most. One night after the story ends, Nia asks, “What if I get lost, like the children in that book?” She describes a scary scenario from a fairy tale, going on to ask if her mum would rescue her and her mum explains just how she’d rescue her. Nia continues conjuring up scary scenes and for each one her mum describes a rescue operation prefacing her plan with a reassuring “Yes, always!”

Nia comments on how brave her Mum is.

Mum then turns things around asking Nia, “But what if I was lost?” Her daughter responds positively and having established that they are both brave and always there for one another, it’s time to switch off the light, Mia safe in the knowledge that their adventures will always have a happy ever after ending.

With dragons, unicorns, wicked witches,

brave princesses, treasure and faraway lands, this is an enchanting bedtime book and one that shows young children stories can empower them. Natelle Quek’s scenes call forth wondrous images and with her clever use of dark and light hues, truly bring the nicely flowing story to life. Young listeners will love identifying the classic fairy tales from which Nia gets her storylines.

Grandmas are the Greatest
Ben Faulks and Mia Tudor

Taking little ones through every type of brilliant grandma, author Ben Faulks and illustrator Mia Tudor’s elevating book is a heartfelt celebration of intergenerational love. Prompted by a question from one small child to her Grandma, readers are introduced to all kinds of grans, each one special in her own way. Among others we meet an actor, a gardener, an ambulance driver, an acrobat and a mountaineer, there’s even a secret spy grandma. The important thing though, is that every one of them shares a relationship with her grandchild that is as precious and dependable as the Grandma who responds to the opening query.

Joyfully written and illustrated, this is a delight for any Grandma to share with her own grandchild or grandchildren.

Zeki Goes To The Park / Grandads Are the Greatest

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Zeki Goes To The Park
Anna McQuinn and Ruth Hearson
Alanna Max

Another wonderfully loving little book starring the adorable Zeki. It’s a hot, sunny day and we join him and his Mummy as they set off for the park. There they meet up with some friends, Yu, her mummy and little baby sibling.

Zeki and Yu do the usual things that toddlers do in such situations such as use the swings (with parental help of course), build sandcastles

and bury themselves in the sand before sitting down with the others for a yummy picnic under the trees. Come sundown, they bid farewell to one another and set off home with their respective parents.

Anna McQuinn’s use of joyful, sometimes exuberant language as befits Zeki and Yu’s rides on the springy horses and their splashing in the cool water is a delight to read aloud and every one of Ruth Hearson’s illustrations radiates the wholehearted playfulness and focussed concentration of small children when engaged in activities they enjoy.

Perfect for sharing with toddlers around the age of Zeki and sufficiently robustly constructed to stand up to all the re-readings the book will surely have.

Grandads Are the Greatest
Ben Faulks and Nia Tudor
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

It’s the day of a special picnic – Grandads’ Summer Picnic – and it’s being held in a large field full of wild flowers and trees; an idyllic spot for each child to introduce his or her own very special grandad. This they do through Ben Faulks’ jaunty rhyming text and Nia Tudor’s wonderfully warm, inclusive illustrations, each with a wealth of details and an evident abundance of joy being able to share that special intergenerational love.

One grandad is a baker, famed for his yummy cakes, another is a retired builder; there’s an explorer,

an inventor, a barber, a fisherman who likes to tell salty tales, a magician who appreciates help from his young apprentice, a hang-gliding enthusiast, and a grandad who spends lots of time sharing books and singing songs with his young grand-daughter, someone who’s always there when a bit of extra comfort is required. Every one of them is different but all show an abundance of love to his grandchild.

Ideal for sharing with a grandparent on their special day in early October, but equally one to read with young children on Father’s Day coming up in June. (in the UK)

What Makes me a ME? / Words and Your Heart

jillrbennett Leave a comment

What Makes me a ME?
Ben Faulks and David Tazzyman
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Here’s a diverting book about identity: “What makes me a ME?” Who am I and where do I fit into this world? – these are questions that everyone ponders.
For the boy narrator it’s a mind-stretching poser as he acknowledges that at different times he’s like a whole range of things: sometimes he’s slow like a snail but he’s not slimy and his eyes don’t stand out on stalks.

He doesn’t have a tail so he can’t be exactly like his puppy Monty, despite being full of energy.
Is he perhaps like a sports car; he’s certainly lightning fast, but that’s thanks to his legs rather than wheels.

No matter what he likens himself to, essentially he’s just himself – special and unique.
Faulks’ funny rhyming stanzas documenting the five year old narrator’s search for an answer to his philosophical question provide Tazzyman plenty of space to conjure up some wonderfully comical scenes, and the boy himself with snub nose, specs and bobble hat is cheekily enchanting.

Words and Your Heart
Kate Jane Neal
Simon & Schuster Children’s Books

Words are powerful things: they can make your heart soar; they can make your heart sink; they can make your heart sing; they can make your heart hurt.
Words can be a force for good; or they can be a force for causing pain.
All this and more is demonstrated through characters Pip and Cat in author/illustrator Kate Jane Neal’s debut picture book.
‘This book is about your heart.
The little bit inside of you that makes you, you!’
So begins this unassuming book that goes on to say ‘the words that enter your ears can affect your heart.’
Her simple, but compelling message is a wonderful demonstration of how we can all contribute to making the world a better place by being mindful of the words we use to, and about, other people.

Executed with minimal colour, the illustrations, together with the empathetic and compassionate text that is orchestrated by means of changes of font, put forward a message too important to ignore.

A book to share and talk about at home, in playgroups and nursery settings, and in schools.

I’ve signed the charter