Tag Ingela P. Arrhenius

A bear, a bee, and a honey tree / Dinosaurs: A Pop-Up Book

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A bear, a bee, and a honey tree
Daniel Bernstrom and Brandon James Scott
Hippo Park

The book begins with the three natural objects named in the title each shown in an illustration of their own. The bee – a busy one of the honey obsessed kind – then flies out from the tree to visit a flower. The bear – a hungry one – sallies forth intent on obtaining some honey from that tree. On the bee’s return we see two busy creatures in the tree looking far from happy. The drama escalates as the honey hunting ursine faces a swarm of ‘fuzzy buzzing bees’, then cascades down to the ground coming to land in a weedy patch above which one angry bee searches and the bear hides before both the million buzzing bees, still busy, return to their tree and a very disgruntled, exceedingly hungry bear returns to it’s cave.

With its cleverly constructed text using minimal words by Daniel Bernstrom and dramatic story telling scenes by Brandon James Scott, this playful board book will entertain both little humans and grown-up sharers.

Dinosaurs: A Pop-Up Book
Ingela P Arrhenius
Walker Books

There are five double spreads allocated to dinosaurs in this large format novelty board book, each one introduced by popular illustrator, Ingela Arrhenius. First we meet the Long Necks, all nine featured are herbivores, each with a long tail, very long neck and small head.
Next come the Spiky Dinos – ten in all, and every one had bony plates along its back and spikes on its tail. (A Sauropelta (new to me) had spikes all over its body however.) Lifting the flap beside the Kentrosaurus (also new to me) is a sentence about its brain – despite the creature’s huge size, its brain was only the size of a walnut.
The third spread has nine dinos, all with bird-like beaks. Most also sported frills on their necks and some had horns. The least frilly of the Frilly Heads, Psittacosaurus got its name on account of having a parrot-like beak: Psittacosaurus means ‘parrot lizard’.

Fourth come the Feathered Friends, dinosaurs that walked on two legs and were often feathered and winged. The smallest known dinosaur is featured here: it’s the Microraptor.
The final spread features dinosaurs Fast and Fierce and includes Tyrannosaurus Rex, Spinosaurus and Allosaurus. Some of these beasties moved extremely fast, others had sharp claws and teeth with which they would attack and consume their prey.
Most small children are dinosaur mad so this book with its flaps, central pop-ups and brief factual snippets will be a winner for Ingela.

Board Books Treats

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Bhorta Bhorta Baby!
Jumana Rahman and Maryam Huq
Bok Bok Books


Jumana Rahman’s sweet , or rather savoury, debut board book introduces little ones to a favourite Bengali dish.
A baby sits in a high chair watching an adult dropping chopped potato into a cooking pot on the stove – the first task when making the dish. This is followed by the chop chop chopping of chillies which induces a coughing fit in the child. Next onions are sliced and dropped into a frying pan; this brings tears to the baby’s eyes. Turn the page and the infant’s hands are mashing and squishing in a mixing bowl; then in go oil and salt

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as the little one’s tummy rumbles in anticipation. A taste soon comes as the adult whom we never fully see, pops a small piece into the little one’s mouth. Even teddy gets a taste of the treat. Yum, yum aloo bhorta is delicious.


With fun sounds to copy and Maryam Huq’s illustrations that include some details of Bangladeshi culture – books, a stool, poster on the wall, label on the oil bottle – this is a book to share at homes and in nurseries. To complete the experience, why not try making aloo bhorta with little ones.

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Pip and Posy At Christmas
Axel Scheffler
Nosy Crow

Pals Posy and Pip are enjoying a game of hide and seek in the snow and it’s Pip’s turn to hide. Has he hidden himself behind a tree, a hill, the house, a fence perhaps? No, Posy will need to go back indoors to find the whereabouts of his best friend.


Little humans will love lifting the felt flaps to help Posy in her search: I suggest they snuggle up with an adult before they start. That will ensure they’re not too shivery to enjoy the fun details in Axel Scheffler’s snowy scenes.

Peekaboo Santa
Camilla Reid and Ingela P. Arrhenius
Nosy Crow

Peekaboo Santa is essentially a rhyming game with a Christmassy theme and sliders for little fingers to manipulate. So doing will reveal in turn, a pair of birds, a star atop a Christmas tree, an elf, Santa on a sleigh, a candle flame, a playful mouse, a surprise present, children anticipating Santa’s coming and finally, a mirror. With its bright colour palette and festive images , this is just right for the very youngest.

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Noisy Dinosaur
Lauren Crisp and Thomas Elliott
Little Tiger


Little ones will encounter, not just the little dinosaur responsible (with their help) for the stomping, roaring and other sounds in this book, but a number of other prehistoric creatures too. There’s Triceratops, Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus and Tyrannosaurus to name just some, as well as a tiny hatchling hiding in plain sight on every spread, waiting for keen-eyed little humans to find it.


A fun book for sharing and as an adult or older sibling reads, said little humans following the story will love pressing the main protagonist’s squishy buttons and in so doing, will be developing their own fine motor skills and powers of observation.

What Can You See? At the Zoo / Word Museum / Where’s Mr Train?

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What Can You See? At the Zoo
Katie Ware and Maria Pereira
Little Tiger

Maria Pereira’s cutaway scenes of a zoo park present an absolute wealth of animals, large and small. Reptiles and insects share the first spread, along with several frogs. Turn over to see lots of brightly coloured birds and a pair of slumbering owls; then it’s off to a more arid part of the park where meerkats await. On the last three spreads there are tigers and monkeys; a watery area with penguins, seals and sharks and finally, hippos keeping cool, rhinos, elephants, zebras and giraffes – two of each creature as well as a couple of wading water birds.
At each location there’s a ‘can you spot … ?’ question and some snippets of information. Plenty to engage little human visitors to this particular zoo.

Word Museum
Sophie Ledesma and Isabel Otter
Little Tiger

Along with Oriel ostrich and her students, little human learners can explore the word museum in this interactive book that introduces them to learning topics – museums and words. The tour starts in the ancient pottery arcade, proceeds to the animal gallery and thence, the furniture hall, after which it’s time for a quick snack break at the rooftop cafe. Next comes an exploration of gadget corridor with lots of different devices on view and the tour concludes outside in the fashion courtyard.
Sophie Ledesma’s lively, patterned illustrations and Isabel Otter’s engaging text will set young children on the road to becoming culture vultures as they explore the exhibits, peek through die-cuts, lift the gatefold on each spread and answer the questions posed, while learning lots of new words along the way. Fun learning, quality board book style that’s just right to share with toddlers

Where’s Mr Train?
Ingela P Arrhenius
Nosy Crow

The latest in this felt-flap hide-and-seek series introduces toddlers to four different means of travelling: a tram, a ferry boat, a bus and a train. Each except the completely hidden bus has a small part slightly visible before the flap is opened and the final spread shows all four in their entirety and there’s a mirror behind the flap.
With simple bright illustrations and a simple question and answer text, this is ideal for the very youngest children.

Board Books Small and Not So Small

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Hello Frog
Sophie Ledesma and Isabel Otter
Caterpillar Books

Having greeted Frog as he sets out through the jungle, toddlers can then join him in saying ‘hello’ to in turn, Hummingbird, Snake, Monkey and Moth on subsequent spreads, as well as other creatures that have hidden themselves away behind flaps shaped as lily pads, flowers, leaves and fruit.
Then, come nightfall, as the little amphibian closes his eyes after an eventful day, it’s time to bid “Goodnight Frog” and, prompted by the question on the final spread, turn back to the beginning and search for the twelve labelled items.
With Sophie Ledesma’s bold, bright, patterned illustrations, lots of interactive features and a simple repetitive text, this is a board book little ones will want to return to over and over.

Where’s Mr Puffin?
Ingela P Arrhenius
Nosy Crow

In her bold bright scenes, the illustrator Ingela P Arrhenius introduces toddlers to in turn, a kingfisher, a blackbird, a swan and a puffin each of which is all but completely hidden behind a felt flap in this addition to the super hide-and-seek series published in collaboration with the National Trust. They’ll also meet a fish, a buzzy bee, a frog and a gull before the final ‘And where are you?’ spread whereon a mirror is revealed when the yacht sail is flipped down.

When You’re Fast Asleep
Peter Arrhenius and Ingela Arrhenius
Nosy Crow

Subtitled “Who Works At Night-Time’ this large format board book is a collaboration between team Arrhenius. With a largely urban setting, Ingela’s first six lively scenes show a busy bakery kitchen with a team of people hard at work making bread and biscuits; fishing boats setting out to sea;

a guard on the night shift of an art gallery; a train driver whose train is just emerging from beneath a bridge in the moonlight, a hospital doctor doing the ward rounds; a street deserted save for the half dozen hard-hatted men and women mending the road. FInally, as a new day begins the same street shows the night workers leaving their places of work and some other people whose days are just beginning while in his rhyming narrative, author Peter Arrhenius asks youngsters to “Remember all the special things the night workers have done.’

A fun, gently educational book to share just before little ones snuggle down at bedtime.