Tag birthdays

When’s My Birthday?

jillrbennett Leave a comment

When’s My Birthday?
Julia Fogliano and Christian Robinson
Walker Books

For young children, birthdays are possibly even more eagerly anticipated than any other day of the year and here we have a book that can be shared in the days running up to that special celebration.

Everything about this is sheer delight. First there’s the unusual, attention grabbing shape of the book. Then come the striking but simple candle endpapers, after which begins  Fogliano’s spare chant of a text wherein she captures perfectly the voice of the child.
‘ when’s my birthday? / where’s my birthday? how many days until / my birthday? ’ asks the repeat refrain that holds the whole narrative together as the excitement builds.

That artist Christian Robinson has a deliciously playful sense of humour is evident in the joyful collage style illustrations such as this one with its visual pun on ‘ice-skating’ …

No child’s birthday is complete without other vital ingredients including singing and dancing: ‘will we sing so happy happy? / will we dance around and round? / will we jump and jump and jump?’

Presents and cake too are contemplated: how wonderfully the artist plays with size as here …

and

and these children know precisely what must comprise the birthday tea, but when it comes to the party, everyone is invited both human and animal and any kind of dress is acceptable.

Spirited, inclusive and the ideal gift for a small child whose birthday is fast approaching; a ‘happy, happy day’ for sure.

I’ve signed the charter  

Nursery Bookshelf

jillrbennett Leave a comment

You’re Three!
You’re Four!
You’re Five!
Shelly Unwin and Katherine Battersby
Allen & Unwin
Here are three little books dedicated to being a particular age, each one using different animal characters – a small one and an adult.
Celebrating being three is a little alligator; a small meerkat and a parent look at the specialness of becoming four; and a young goat plus parent explore what being five brings.
Weaving in such concepts as basic one to one counting, addition, numbers, shapes, change, seasons, and the senses into her rhyming text, the author gently builds in opportunities to extend the listener’s language while at the same time celebrating each specific age.
Thus being Three encompasses some favourite fairy tale titles, being halfway up and the idea of triplets.

Four introduces compass points, quarters and the seasons;

and Five mentions the vowels, days of the week, questioning words and the senses.

Each book will need a fair bit of adult/child discussion and exploration with the aid of Katherine Battersby’s engaging art; but the most important element every time is the specialness of the child at which ever age they are.
As a teacher I’ve always been concerned about parents trying to make their children look and act older than they are; these small books are a helpful counter to that.

Archie’s First Day at School
Archie Goes to the Doctor
Emma Brown
Cico Kids
The creator of the Shady Bay Buddies books and soft toys, Emma Brown, a crochet expert, started making up the stories when her daughters were young, and these two titles are part of a series that aims to provide reassurance and information to help very young children overcome their ‘first time’ anxieties.
In the first story Archie sets off for his first day at school with Bunny his toy, his big sister, Amber and his mum. He’s greeted at the door by his teacher, bids his mum farewell, chooses a coat peg and then is allocated somewhere to sit
Soon he’s busy making a model and accidentally spills paint on Bunny.

He spills milk on him at snack time: seemingly Archie is rather excited.
Outside play is followed by lunch with his friend Breeze.
After a story, it’s time to go home and Amber is waiting for him, although surprisingly, not his mum. Archie says he’s enjoyed himself but isn’t too sure about Bunny.
In the second story Archie is outside with his sister and being very adventurous on the swing when suddenly he finds himself on the ground with a hurt arm.
He’s somewhat alarmed to hear he has to go to the doctors with Mum.
In the waiting room he meets his friend Breeze who has earache. Soon it’s time to go into Doctor Hodge’s surgery where after an examination of his arm, Archie learns nothing is broken but he needs to wear a sling.

Then after a quick reassuring chat to Breeze, he goes off home.
With interesting mixed-media backdrops (listeners can search for Archie’s bunny at every turn of the page), appealing cuddly toy characters, and stories told simply and directly, these books should help allay first time nerves.

Pants, Birthdays and Robo-Snot

jillrbennett Leave a comment

dscn9554

The Prince of Pants
Alan MacDonald and Sarah McIntyre
Scholastic Children’s Books
Prepare to be dazzled by Sarah McIntyre’s illustrations for this crazy pants-centric tale of little Prince Pip and his nearly calamitous birthday. The young lad leaps from bed on the morning of his special day and his first task is to choose which of his many pairs of underpants are best suited for the occasion.

dscn9555

But when he opens the drawer marked ‘Pants’, disaster has struck; it’s completely empty.
Thus begins a search all over the castle …

%0a

and its grounds, a search that yields nothing to the birthday boy, though listeners will enjoy spotting the whereabouts of the various patterned articles; mine certainly did.
But just when it seems as though this is to be a birthday sans pants, Pip opens a door and receives not one, but two, pantalicious surprises.

dscn9557

This is one more to add to the collection of underpants picture books for which many youngsters have a seemingly insatiable appetite.

%0a

If a T.Rex Crashes Your Birthday Party
Jill Esbaum and Dasha Tolstikova
Sterling
Now there’s a thought – a T.Rex at your birthday party; but that’s exactly what happens to the small boy narrator of this book when he opens the door and discovers a Tyrannosaurus standing on the threshold holding a birthday present.
Seems there’s only one thing to do, though perhaps the birthday boy should have thought twice before allowing this particular guest an entry.
Those T-Rex toenails are not good for the bouncy castle; he gets more than a tad angry when he isn’t allowed to blow out the birthday candles or open the presents, and games are a total no go area.

dscn9401

In short the whole party turns into a roaring disaster. What’s more, the interloper refuses to help clear up; he flatly refuses to leave when asked, gives his host a funny look and …

%0a

Hmm.
There’s a surprising final twist to this whole silly scenario to add to the fun, humorously captured in Dasha Tolstikova’s concluding spread.

Another favourite topic with early years listeners is featured in:

%0a

Robo-Snot
Amy Sparkes and Paul Cherrill
Scholastic Children’s Books
Robots and snot: surely not? Perhaps never before, but when Little Robot’s nose starts to feel uncontrollably itchy and a vast amount of gooey green stuff shoots from his nostrils, that’s what he decides to call this strange nasal emanation.
Pretty soon his siblings have designs on the sticky stuff – seemingly it can be put to all manner of uses – but Little Robot isn’t prepared to share; he has his sights set on the big time …

dscn9546

Everything goes swimmingly for a while but then disaster strikes in the form of an unexpected sneeze; Little Robot is left alone and well and truly up to his knees in the now-infamous, green goo of his own making.

%0a

Time for some snot-blotting but what can he use …
Told in jaunty rhyme and through brighter than bright, action-packed illustrations, this is a laugh aloud tale that I suspect will become a ‘read it again’ story time choice.

 

Snail Mail

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Snail Mail
Sharon King-Chai
Hodder Children’s Books
The majority of us receive much of our communication by text, e-mail and social media nowadays; letters are mainly junk with the occasional thing to delight – a letter from abroad, an exciting piece of publishers’ information, and of course all those wonderful books to review; I only ever receive picture postcards from one person. As a young classroom teacher in the 80s and 90s, before social media, one of my most favourite books to share was Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s The Jolly Postman and there have been other books with letters and cards thereafter. These can be a great stimulus for children’s own writing and now, there’s one more. Herein we meet 4 year old Seashell Snail, Sam, our narrator who has a large group of adventure-loving family and friends. Take big brother Tiger; it’s he who generates the snail mail, which gives the book its title. Tiger sets out on a world trip promising to write to Sam every day.

Good as he word, Tiger sends Sam a picture postcard from every place he stops at -. Brazil on Monday, the USA on Tuesday, India on Wednesday, Japan on Thursday, France on Friday. Goodness he does get around and those communications surely do keep Postman Perry busy, not to mention sparking off exciting activities for the seashore residents. Each card is delivered in a beautifully designed envelope appropriate to its place of origin; here’s the one from India.

The final communication contains something very special – a birthday treat for Sam; and it’s one that will undoubtedly inspire its recipient to start making some international travel plans too.
A super-silly story with appropriately crazy illustrations to delight – lots of fun to share and perhaps, a classroom stimulus to some imaginative written correspondences.

Petunia Paris’s Parrot

jillrbennett Leave a comment

DSCN7149 (800x600)

Petunia Paris’s Parrot
Katie Howarth and Jo Williamson
Templar Publishing
Petunia is one indulged infant: she has everything she could possibly want – a swimming pool, countless toys, a thousand dresses, her own library (well maybe that’s not spoiling) and even a bike with chauffeur …

DSCN7150 (800x600)

It ‘s no surprise then that when her parents ask what she’d like for her 5th birthday, the young miss cannot really come up with anything. “… a parrot, please …” she replies, that being the first thing that came to mind.
Come her birthday a lavish party is duly organised and the parrot presented –

DSCN7151 (800x600)

a Peruvian scarlet macaw.
Once the final guest has departed, young Petunia sets about teaching the bird to talk, a task she finds a whole lot more difficult than she’d anticipated. Fancy foods, pertinent conversation topics, piano playing and outlandish outfits are all resounding failures: “Squarrk!” being the parrot’s only response. After months of failure Petunia finally loses it, stamping, stomping and yelling …

DSCN7153 (800x600)

Silence from the parrot: a suggestion from the butler. “Suppose you try asking him nicely, Miss Paris?” Miss Paris does and receives the following response:
“I DO NOT WANT a perfectly presented pile of prawns. I DO NOT WANT a pleasantly played piano. I DO NOT WANT to ponder parrot philosophy. I DO NOT WANT to wear a pink parrot poncho. I DO NOT WANT ANY of it, Petunia Paris!”
Well that certainly told her but she asks one final question and learns the parrot’s softly spoken, heartfelt wish, “I want to go home.”
One year later Petunia’s parents ask her the usual ‘what would you like for your birthday?’ question and this time, Petunia has an answer at the ready …
With its plethora of alliterative ‘p’ words, the predominantly deadpan text is a real delight to read aloud. The alliteration is even picked up playfully by Jo Williamson in one of her delectable retro style illustrations …

DSCN7152 (800x600)

For the most part she restricts herself to a limited colour palette with just splashes of blue or pink (apart from the parrot) but breaks into glorious technicolour in the final fold-out spread of the Peruvian parrot paradise, of which I’ll say no more for fear of being a story spoiler. This is definitely one not to be missed.

Use your local bookshop      localbookshops_NameImage-2

WNDB_Button

New Pet Arrivals

jillrbennett Leave a comment

DSCN5126 (800x702)
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,

DSCN5128 (800x353)

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

DSCN5127 (800x355)

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.

DSCN5130 (800x712)

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.

DSCN5129 (800x358)

A delightful joint enterprise from the Millward sisters.

DSCN5220 (800x600)

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,

DSCN5222 (800x600)

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 …

DSCN5223 (800x600)

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.

DSCN5185 (800x600)

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 …

DSCN5186 (800x600)

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

DSCN5187 (800x600)

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

DSCN5188 (800x600)

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.

Use your local bookshop    localbookshops_NameImage-2