Tag identity

You need To Chill! / I Believe in Me

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You Need to Chill!
Juno Dawson and Laura Hughes
Farshore

The narrator of this upbeat rhyming picture book has an older brother, Bill; but her friends haven’t seen him for a while and want to know what has happened: where is he? They put forward all manner of possibilities that could account for his absence but from our narrator come denials that all end “And, hun you need to chill.”

However these friends are persistent, caring and determined, till finally comes the revelation, “… The truth is that my brother Bill … is now my sister Lily.’ Yes it may have been something of a shock initially but despite her new name and looks, much remains the same: she’s still as kind, funny and clever as ever; her family all love her.

Both Juno Dawson’s words and Laura Hughes’ pictures are full of warmth and a gentle humour: with its themes of identity, kinship and acceptance this inclusive story beautifully conveys its message in a manner that allows young children to take what they need and ask questions if they want further explanations. Fiction books such as this one are a very good way of opening discussion with primary children in PSHE sessions: such discussions help children learn that differences make the world a much more interesting place.

I Believe In Me
Emma Dodd
Templar Books

In conversation as the two swim together through the swampy landscape, a little crocodile speaks of the self belief the Mother crocodile has instilled in her offspring. Knowing one can do anything if only you try; the importance of never giving up if something goes wrong, as well as telling yourself that those dark days are always followed by brighter ones if you keep reaching for the sky, are key for little humans as well as little crocodiles. That way keeps the entire world open for you to forge your path through life, optimistic and confident in yourself. So says this inspiring little book through Emma’s simple rhyming text and bold digital illustrations, some with gold foil, that perfectly capture the little croc’s sentiments. 

Batpig: When Pigs Fly

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Batpig: When Pigs Fly
Rob Harrell
Walker Books

Look skywards and what do you see? It’s porcine hero Batpig hurtling by. Back in the day he was Gary Yorkshire – just a borin’ old pink pig living with his parents in an apartment in Big City, USA who spent his time chomping through tasty sandwiches, reading comics, playing video games and playing cards with his pals. Brooklyn the bat and Carl the fish.

Having been accidentally bitten on the snout by Brooklyn, Gary develops super hunger, super sight, and strength, and the ability to float. Unbeknown to Gary, his friend the bat was radioactive at the time, something he only fesses up to when questioned by the pig. That night comes a revelation, with his superhero powers Gary is now Batpig. Gary tells Brooklyn of this development but keeps it from Carl who soon gets the feeling that his friends are hiding something.

Gary meanwhile is receiving flying lessons from Brooklyn who remains firmly on the ground.

Although Carl realises the current situation could well be on account of his inability to keep a secret, understandably his hurt feelings develop into anger and he decides to become the super-villain of the saga. Will he prove to be the instrument of Batpig’s undoing as the superhero goes about apprehending litter scatterers and preventing robberies? Or maybe Carl and Brooklyn could agree to work together and save the day for our superhero and that includes finding a means of covering up the ‘pimple’ on Gary’s rear end. All this is revealed through a superb blend of narration with puns aplenty, dialogue, illustrations, comic asides, and flash-backs – that’s the rocket part.

In the second episode the friends face off against a heinous human foe, the Butcher, a woman who is determined to use the power of the world’s meat for her own ends and has a robotic dough-dispensing machine that makes pigs in blankets.

Yes this might all seem totally silly but there are themes of the importance of maintaining your own identity, friendship and the issues of three-way camaraderie; and all three characters are relatable to human readers. If you know readers who enjoy graphic novels such as The Investigators, they’ll love this, as will all those who prefer stories with the emphasis on the visual.

The Perfect Fit

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The Perfect Fit
Naomi Jones and James Jones
Oxford Children’s Books

This is a story about what happens when a triangle that feels different among the circles decides to embark on a journey to find a community wherein she feels she belongs.

The squares are welcoming and invite the newcomer to play with them. With high hopes she joins in their building but then despite encouraging comments from her fellow builders, Triangle feels she must move on …

The hexagons are similarly accommodating though still Triangle worries about being different and continues her search. Increasingly despondent she begins to feel that perhaps she’s the only triangle there is, but then a star speaks and hope returns. On goes the search till finally there before her …

However there are limits to the games that triangles can play – no rolling for instance. Triangle remembers the fun she had with all those other shapes and …

A smashing celebration of difference and diversity showing that to fit in, doesn’t mean you have to be like everyone else: a variety of experience leads to a richer community. Life is much more enjoyable when people welcome those who are different, enabling everyone to feel comfortable about themselves. The key is to go beyond the confines of your perceived identity.

This seemingly simple story inspired by author Naomi and illustrator James son’s struggle to fit in when he started nursery, is a perfect foundation stage book for fostering personal, social and emotional development. It’s also rich in mathematical potential.

The Best Kind of Bear / Keith among the Pigeons

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The Best Kind of Bear
Greg Gormley and David Barrow
Nosy Crow

We first meet Bear sitting in the library trying to find out what kind of bear he is.

When a little girl Nelly, comes in and asks him the very same question he sets out on a journey of self-discovery. “Maybe there’s a bear out there who can help me,” he says.

Travelling west he meets, deep in the forest a big brown grizzly bear who tells Bear he loves ‘nice long naps’. So too does our identity seeker but he definitely does not want to sleep for the next six months and with the ‘funny little stitches’ on his tummy that Grizzly Bear points out, he knows he can’t possibly be a grizzly.

Thereafter Bear visits a polar bear in the north, a spectacled bear in the south, and finally, a Sun Bear in the east.

Each encounter only confirms what Bear is not so he decides to go home.

In the library Nelly is waiting. It’s a very dispirited Bear who enters admitting that he’s no further forward. He knows what he isn’t, but not what he is: I’m just ordinary, he concludes.

Then Nelly draws his attention to his unique features – the ‘funny little stitches … washing label on his bottom,’ soft bounciness and smart bow tie; she invites him to be her bear and … then he knows that’s the ‘very best kind of bear to be.’

Greg Gormley’s wonderfully warm story is essentially a tale of identity and belonging and with David Barrow’s superbly expressive, smudgy ursine scenes that are an absolute delight from first to last, this is a book to read and re-read over and over, perhaps with small children cuddled up with their very own special bears.

Keith among the Pigeons
Katie Brosnan
Child’s Play

When is a cat not a cat? That is the question; and the answer? Perhaps, when he is Keith.

Like other cats, Keith has a predilection for pigeons, spending much of his time observing them. Not with the intention of catching the feathered creatures; rather he wants to be a pigeon himself. His feline acquaintances certainly don’t rate him highly as a member of the feline fraternity.

His avian efforts however meet with little success until he hits upon an idea …

Foolproof it might be, but water proof – er?? …
Perhaps after all, it’s best to stick to honing one’s feline skills.

Or is there perhaps another solution that allows Keith to feel happy in his own furry skin.

This reviewer is ailurophobic but despite this, couldn’t help but fall for Keith. His’ ‘hi-coos’ are a hoot; I love his poster creating,

note taking and his sheer determination to be more pigeon. And he certainly gets across the message that being ourselves is what really matters.

I’m a Baked Potato

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I’m a Baked Potato
Elise Primavera and Juana Medina
Chronicle Books

As a stylish woman sits relaxing in her garden she admires her potato plants for she has a particular penchant for potatoes.

She also has a great liking for dogs and one day she goes out and gets a little brown terrier, likening it to her favourite baked potato food and constantly calling it “Baked Potato” as they spend their days inside together.

One day though, the two sally forth but not together.

As the dog searches for the woman, little by little he starts to wonder whether perhaps after all, he’s not a baked potato; but nor is he as the big dog tells him, a groundhog; nor is he a plump bunny like the fox says, igniting his oven and licking his lips in eager anticipation.

Happily for the ‘bunny’ an owl happens along and taking the little canine under its wing, explains that he’s a dog and points out that “dogs are very good at finding things, especially with their noses.” And the rest, shall we say is a sniffing journey and a joyful reunion.

Slightly crazy, but full of cosy charm and gentle humour is Elise Primavera’s telling; and with Juana Medina’s brightly coloured, detailed, swirling, whirling digital art, the book is a delightful read aloud either to a class or individuals with lots of possibilities for adult/child dramatising along the way.

What Makes me a ME? / Words and Your Heart

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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  

Hoot & Honk Just Can’t Sleep / Pete With No Pants

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Hoot & Honk Just Can’t Sleep
Leslie Helakoski
Sterling
A storm tosses two eggs from their nests precipitating a parental mix-up.
Hoot hatches in one nest: sometime later, Honk hatches in another. Straightaway there are problems with diet and the sleep-cycles of the hatchlings.

Their surroundings seem rather alien too and that is despite the accepting manner in which the parent birds deal with their offspring.
All ends happily however with both fledglings eventually being reunited with their own families, and adults of each are shown similarly enfolding their respective young in a tender embrace, just like a warm cosy duvet.

Helakoski’s delightfully whimsical tale told through a fusion of gentle staccato, rhyming text that has a pleasing pattern to it, and superbly expressive pastel illustrations is perfect for sharing with the very young at bedtime (or anytime). Ahhh!
In addition, the book offers a lovely gentle introduction to the fact that some birds are diurnal, others nocturnal.

Pete With No Pants
Rowboat Watkins
Chronicle Books
Seemingly pants and imaginative play don’t go together, or do they?
This book cracked me up from the opening line: ‘Shortly after breakfast, Pete decided he was a boulder.’ It’s the conclusion the young elephant, knock-knock joke lover, reaches having given it due consideration: after all he’s big, he’s grey; he’s not wearing pants. QED. But then as he basks in a kind of self-glory, his thoughts are interrupted by a knock-knock joke: result – a plummeting of his enthusiasm for boulderness.
So what about a squirrel? He definitely fits the essential critera for colour, an acorn predilection, non wearing of pants but …

And one far-from happy Mum.
Next day it’s a case of cloud contemplation, squirrel mockery and further knock-knock jokery failures with owls for Pete.

Then Mum, who appears to have undergone something of a change of heart, shows up to play. Whoppee!

Deliciously quirky, crazily anarchic and you need to read the muted pictures very carefully to keep abreast of the happenings. Share with one child, or for individuals to enjoy in ones or twos.

I’ve signed the charter  

Canine Capers

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Fred
Mick and Chloë Inkpen
Hodder Children’s Books
Hooray! More from Fred.. I fell in love with this mischievous puggish pup in I Will Love You Anyway and now here he is, bouncing right back to delight us once again with his prankish behaviour. In fact now it seems he can tick off a whole lot of ‘can do’ items from the list of accomplishments one might expect of a little dog. He can fetch a stick, come when called, sit and stay. There’s one word though that still eludes the little chap; he doesn’t understand the meaning of Fred – a word often on the lips of his young owner. And something else puzzles him too: another dog upstairs that looks just like him –mmm!

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Could he perhaps know what this strange ‘Fred’ word is all about? Strangely enough he seems to be popping up in other places too, places like the park and he has his paws on a certain ball belonging to our narrator …
After a very wet awakening, followed by a scream, a dash, and a jump, another face appears, a face that whispers a certain word over and over and then – light bulb moment …

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Adorable!

Another canine has recently won a place in my affections; he’s the Boston terrier that stars in:

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Harold’s Hungry Eyes
Kevin Waldron
Phaidon
Harold is a real foodie; he spends almost all his time either eating or day dreaming about his next meal. His dreaming is done lying in one position or another on his favourite chair – a chair he loves almost as much as he loves food. One day though, this super comfy chair is no longer where it should be when he goes to eat breakfast. A devastated Harold sees it being loaded onto the rubbish cart.

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Without another thought for his meal, he takes off in hot pursuit and is soon lost and even worse, his tummy is starting to rumble. His food obsession kicks in and Harold begins seeing things of the edible kind wherever he looks …

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Happily though, his wits and those hungry eyes of his finally lead him back home where he finds a satisfying breakfast and a delicious surprise … a new place whereon to relax.
With smatterings of edible humour, this stylish book is a wonderful visual feast that’s more than likely to have young audiences chuckling and perhaps, drooling.

Identity Puzzles: My Wild Family/Who Done it?

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My Wild Family
Laurent Moreau
Chronicle Books
On outsized pages, through a first person narrative, readers are introduced to all manner of family members and finally, as she calls herself, the ‘unique’ female narrator.
“I have a very special family” we are told on the opening spread and assuredly that is true for the girl then goes on to show each family member as a wild animal. Her older brother is ‘strong and respected’; her younger brother in contrast is ‘flighty and a dreamer, his head often in the clouds.’ Unsurprisingly he’s also an excellent singer.

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‘Sweet and generous’ her grandmother likes to stay at home whereas her aunt ‘always perfectly primped, never leaves the house without looking her best.’

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The animals themselves are never named; you have to look carefully at the respective scenes – a classroom, busy street, sandy beach, a shopping centre for instance, to discover which one each person is portrayed as.
Friends too get the ‘treatment’: her best female friend ‘makes the best scary faces’

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and, to outrun her record-breaking runner, best male pal, would be well nigh impossible – unless that is, you were another member of the same species.
Audiences will delight in hearing the narrator’s family story and if mine are anything to go by, will be inspired to think about themselves, their own personality traits and those of their families in animal terms. (A lead into the Phillip Pullman daemon idea perhaps.)
Below are two from children I know…

Gracie thought about her younger brother thus

and …

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James’ brother is often very amusing …

The retro-modern illustrations have just the right amount of detail and I particularly like the judicious use of red outlines that give an added dimension to the scenes. For sheer energy, my favourite has to be that ‘Cousins’ ‘scene

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and here the text does actually spill the beans as to the animal identity.
The whole thing is imaginative, funny and splendidly thought- and talk-provoking.

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Who Done It?
Olivier Tallec
Chronicle Books
The title question is not one of the twelve posed to young children as they work their way through this unusual shaped book. With his minimalist, not quite static art work, Tallec proffers, all manner of amusing scenarios, interrogating a delightful line-up of characters – human and animal – with such as Who forgot a swimsuit? , Who ate all the jam?

 

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And, the funniest and favourite with my testers, ‘Who couldn’t hold it? ‘ has a delicious degree of ambiguity but that’s half the fun of the whole thing.

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The same is true of the jam spread. Number one suspect is the jam-spattered fox; but equally the dark haired boy has an enormous grin across his face and the rabbit looks decidedly as if he could throw up at any moment. For those who require certainties, the final page supplies all the ‘correct’ answers.
The allure of this one is great and the promise holds good throughout. Every delightful double spread sets the scene for the development of talk and imaginative storying, culminating in what is probably the most tricky poser of all to decide: Who is in disguise?

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The book’s probably best shared with small groups or individually; and in addition, the predictable nature of the text makes this a good bet for beginning readers.

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Little and Large

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Rex
Simon James
Walker Books
Is it or is it not a case of mistaken identity, is the puzzle readers and listeners are faced with in Simon James’ latest offering. Big dinosaur, a totally scarifying T Rex and terror of the land has his peaceful sleep disturbed by the word “Dadda!” uttered by newly hatched baby dinosaur claiming to be “Rex”.

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The big dinosaur is having none of this and so, hotly pursued by Rex, he goes off on his round of scarifying whatever crosses his path. Night falls and the two bed down in a cave with Rex demanding that “Dad” teaches him to roar. Each day the pattern is repeated – our young Rex is a fast learner though

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and his ‘dad’ decides it’s time to disabuse him of his parental claim.
Poor Rex. During a sleepless night our now disowned little one decides to set out and discover where he truly belongs – a pretty scary undertaking that takes him far away from the safety of the cave. So what is his fate then ? Well, it would be a shame to spoil the end of the tale. Let’s just say Rex does some very fearsome roaring,

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some very fast running and right when it seems things can’t get any worse, he is awoken by the most alarming sound he has ever heard …

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The whole thing – words and images – is suffused with both humour and pathos as we follow the developing relationship between, and the actions of, the big and small tyrannosauruses. Anything Simon James does is a winner so far as I’m concerned; this one, with its themes of belonging, identity and finding one’s true place, is sheer delight from start to finish.
Buy from Amazon

Also by Simon James and recently released in paperback is the enchanting:

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(previously reviewed on this site in : Picture Book Picks January 2013

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Pig and Small
Alex Latimer
Picture Corgi pbk
When a tiny squeaking Bug lands on the tip of Pig’s nose, he’s hoping it could be the start of a beautiful friendship but Pig is not so sure. He definitely seems to be the one who is having to put in all the hard work.
To compensate, Bug creates a special cake and presents it to Pig. Pig however, merely tosses it whole into his mouth without so much as a glance at the craftsmanship involved. Indeed, all Bug’s efforts are in vain.

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Despair sets in and the two decide to go their separate ways. However, as Pig walks off an idea suddenly hits him – literally.

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The movie outing is a resounding success and so too is the outcome, as the pair begin to discover a whole host of things they can do together; after all, where there’s a will there’s a way.

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So, size is NOT all where friendship is concerned – or is it?

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Alex Latimer’s books seem to get better and better. The quietly comical scenes are infused with a gentle wit and combined with a whimsical telling making this a delightfully diverting read for individuals and small groups. You really do need to be up close to fully appreciate humour in the illustrations.
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