These are both recent Allen & Unwin books – thanks to the publishers and Laura Smythe for sending them for review

Bun
Hana Kinoshita Thomson

When Bun wakes up she brushes her teeth and gets ready to head out to her vegetable patch. There she pulls up some of her very best carrots to use later on – well she can’t resist eating one there and then. Off she goes to visit her friends for other things she requires; first she gets eggs, followed by cream cheese and walnuts. With everything she needs, back she goes to her kitchen where she sets out the ingredients and utensils and starts work. It’s clear she enjoys baking, after which she washes up and hangs some bunting outside ready to welcome her friends who come to share in the tasty treat what awaits them.

Part and parcel of each double spread is a snail and little humans will have fun finding the tiny mollusc in the engaging scenes at every turn of the page. A sweet story about sharing.

Dog Stayed
Tammy Forster and Margeaux Davis

One morning after a slight altercation between gruff old Mr Hindbottom and a door-to-door sales person, a dog appears by the old man’s front door. Despite him not wanting the creature, it stays no matter what Mr Hindbottom does and so eventually against the odds, they become companions and friends. The old man takes good care of the dog and is more welcoming to other people,

but little by little he becomes worn out and he leaves the dog forever.

Dog remains in the house with his quilt promising he’ll never love anybody again. People come and move out Mr Hindbottom’s furniture and new people move in, including a little girl but despite her efforts, things are never the same again. I wonder if Dog ever grows to love the child.

A sensitive story of love and loss beautifully illustrated in watercolour and pencil by Margeaux Davis.