Tag Little Tiger

Don’t Mix Up My Farm / What’s Scarier than a Spider? / I’m Not Scared, You Are!

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These are three brand new board books from Little Tiger – thanks to the publisher for sending them for review.

Don’t Mix Up My Farm
Rosamund Lloyd and Spencer Wilson

Five farm animals – a sheep, a donkey, a cockerel, a pig and a duck offer tactile fun in this matching game of a book. Little ones will enjoy creating strange-looking creatures by mismatching one of their features using the wheel. Although none of the creatures will be impressed to be given wrong horn, beak, tail or comb, so they should make sure they also match each with the small pictures on the back cover; otherwise a lot of braying, bleating, crowing, grunting and quacking might break out down on the farm.

What’s Scarier than a Spider?
Amelia Best and Becky Davies

The scorpion, wasp, cockroach, mosquito, and spider more than meet their match in this altogether different peekaboo game. The aforementioned creatures are anticipating in turn, dinner, a fight, a tasty treat, being the boss

and upsetting something or someone. However as the fly on each spread delights in announcing, each one has an unexpected confrontation of the alarming kind.
There’s some delicious alliteration – ‘massive mantis’ and ‘biting beetle’ for little ones to try getting their tongues around, along with the delightfully shocking creepy crawly surprises revealed by lifting the flaps, especially the final extra large one to revel in. Amelia Best has portrayed some terrifying minibeasts in her arresting illustrations.

I’m Not Scared, You Are!
Patricia Hegarty and Thomas Elliott

With a plethora of scary sounds waiting to spook your little ones at the press of a button, we join two child characters on a foray out into the night. Their journey takes them deep into a forest wherein bats and owls are ready to alarm with their flaps and yowls. They board a passing ghost train that drops them off outside a cottage wherein a witch is busy stirring something that’s bubbling in her enormous cauldron. Hearts thumping, on they go over the bridge, under which lurk not one but three growling, grunting trolls, as they head towards a huge haunted house. Inside they are met by rattling skeletal sounds, followed by clangs and clanks sending them hurtling towards the door once more. After a frantic dash our adventurers arrive back home safely and of course, they confirm “No, we’re not afraid!’ But are they? …
Patricia Hegarty’s rhyming text reads aloud really well offering lots of opportunities for action as well as noise making and Elliott’s scenes are jocular rather than of the shivers-down-the-spine- sending scary.

Hello Me!

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Hello Me!
Dr Naira Wilson and Elisa Paganelli
Little Tiger

Positivity is key in this gentle book wherein the author, a child psychologist, presents a young boy narrator explaining and showing how he gradually learns self-care and self-acceptance.
He begins thus: ‘Sometimes I think my mind is like a house. Just like a house, I need to treat my mind with love and care.’

Like all of us, this child has flaws and makes mistakes, but just like us all too, he acknowledges those mistakes using them as a powerful learning tool.

When jealousy rears its head, our narrator accepts that nobody is perfect and everyone is different. The important thing is to be flexible in your attitude to routines, make the best of what you have and not to be afraid to ask for help when it’s needed. Friends and their love are key but so too is learning to love yourself for who and what you are.

The final spread breaks down the key points in the narrative, augmenting them with vignettes taken from Elisa Paganelli’s beautiful larger illustrations.

Accessible and easy for young children to relate to, this would be a good book to open up a classroom circle time discussion on looking after and loving oneself.

Yomi and the Fury of Ninki Nanka / Fairytale Ninjas: The Magic Crown 

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Yomi and the Fury of Ninki Nanka
Davina Tijani, illustrated by Adam Douglas-Bagley
Little Tiger

Yomi (soon to go into her final year in primary school) and her brother Kayode, two years younger, are supposed to be on the trip of a lifetime visiting The Gambia with their Uncle Olu. But thus far their holiday has been boring, boring, boring, and involved something to do with their uncle’s research.

However after despairing there will be anything like an adventure, or the sight of any Nkara, Yomi’s sleep is disturbed by a terrible roaring and she witnesses Ninki Nanka, the Dragon King being kidnapped from the sky. From then on, things become a whole lot more exciting. Determined to rescue him, the siblings encounter magnificent beasts, unearth a number of secrets, meet a reckless boy hunter

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and face dangers aplenty. Yomi and Kayode are highly motivated and resilient, but can they save Ninki Nanka?

Vividly told, by an author who clearly has a great depth of understanding for, and love of, African mythology, this fast-paced West African-inspired fantasy adventure is the first of a new series – The Nkara Chronicles – and with Adam Douglas-Bagley’s striking illustrations, deserves to be a winner with primary readers. I thoroughly enjoyed it.


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Fairytale Ninjas: The Magic Crown  Paula Harrison, illustrated by Mónica de Rivas Harper Collins Children’s Books

This second story set in the kingdom of Waybeyond begins with Red wishing for another adventure with new magical creatures when suddenly a fireball drops from the sky and becomes a fiery little golden bird, followed not long after by a large ice dragon. Now there’s no need to go seeking adventures, instead one has found Red, Snow and Goldie (aka the Fairytale Ninjas). In fact pretty soon the entire town is full of frost fairies too.

With trouble afoot, it’s time for a visit to Redrock Canyon, dwelling place of sand dragons and firebirds declares Snow. Having, with the help of their gingerbread supplies, persuaded a unicorn to take them, they’re off at a gallop only stopping at the edge of a cliff beneath which goblins and rats are busy digging holes in the rock with saucepans and spoons. Why? They don’t stop long enough to find out though and instead continue to the icy mountains region, but now clad in their ninja suits to blend in.

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This allows them to overhear a conversation about a wooden box hidden by an old king the contents of which will make their master the most powerful person in the entire kingdom. They must be working for Sir Scallion surely? But an untimely sneeze results in the three being discovered and they have to dash for their unicorn, stopping briefly to rescue a tiny ice dragon. Whither now? Goldie has an idea and they soon find themselves in a mysterious library. I’ll leave them there and merely say ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ and recommend you get a copy of the book and find out how the magical tale ends.

With its wealth of illustrations by Mónica de Rivas, emergent readers will devour this twisted fairytale, along with some gingerbread.

Dirty Bertie: Splash! / Dirty Bertie: Mighty Mishaps / The Trapped Puppy

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These are additions to popular young fiction series – thanks to publishers Little Tiger for sending them for review.

Dirty Bertie: Splash!
David Roberts, illustrated by Alan MacDonald

This is Bertie’s 35th set of escapades and some people will be surprised that he’s still as full of crazy ideas as ever. In the first Bertie and pals, Darren and Eugene are finally being treated by Bertie’s mum to a visit to Splash City, the new waterpark. However they hadn’t reckoned on arch enemy Know-All Nick also being there and worse still, Nick’s cousin, Alex is one of the lifeguards. Alex is quick to point out the set of rules that must be obeyed or serious consequences would result.

Can the three friends still have the fun time they’d anticipated, that is the vital question.

Moggy! sees the three friends, aided and abetted by Whiffer, searching high and low for neighbour, Angela Nicely’s missing moggy, Pusskins, with a reward of £50 on offer to the finder. Eventually they find what Bertie is sure is Angela’s cat but it turns out to be a case of mistaken identity. Somebody else has found Pusskins; but who and what happens to the promised reward?

In Breakdance! Miss Boot announces that to celebrate the school’s seventy-fifth anniversary, Class 3 will dance for the parents – and rehearsals get under way immediately. Bertie is determined not to participate and comes up with a clever plan. It turns out there’s more than one way of Breakdancing: game, set and match to Miss Boot.
Ridiculous as ever, but that’s what makes these stories such fun.

If readers have missed previous high jinks of the Bertie kind, the publishers have recently released another single volume bind-up Dirty Bertie: Mighty Mishaps: containing Yuck!, Loo! and Toothy!

The first contains episodes wherein Bertie turns green at the fair, causes mayhem while dressed in his costume for Victorian Day and teaches a toddler her very first word, “Bum”.
Loo! presents a toilet emergency on the way back from a school outing; a sandcastle competition that is nothing but a damp squib; and the possibility of a house move, something Bertie will do his utmost to prevent.
Toothy! has Bertie suffering from severe dentist-itis; jetting off on holiday and having loo queue trouble during the flight and finally, some ice-cream issues of the worrying kind.
Bertie is one of those characters who, despite everything he does, is a real charmer.and all the books are great promoters of the vital ‘reading is fun’ message.

The Trapped Puppy
Holly Webb, illustrated by Sophy Williams

Amelia, her parents and older brother are out walking on the rocky hillside with their dogs, Mickey and Poppet. Amelia throws a stick for Poppet to retrieve, slips over and is a bit dazed. Coming too she realises that Poppet has disappeared but nobody noticed what happened to the puppy. They spend some time looking but with dusk descending they return home hoping to discover Poppet waiting for them. However, the puppy has fallen down an abandoned mineshaft and is unable to get out.

The following morning the search resumes, with the aid, later on of some Mountain Rescue volunteers. Eventually they hear scuffling sounds from underground. Now all they need is to work out a way of extricating little Poppet safely.

The narrative switches between the view point of the rescuers and that of Poppet, which keeps readers on tenterhooks and there are some tense moments – Sophy Williams captures several in her illustrations, but the rescue team are determined. Will Amelia go home with her beloved puppy?

An exciting addition to Holly Webb’s hugely popular puppy series.

The Ocean Gardener

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The Ocean Gardener
Clara Anganuzzi
Little Tiger

The author/illustrator of this book was raised in the Seychelles where this tale is set.
Ayla and her mum’s beautiful island home is surrounded by a coral reef and one morning while out swimming with her mum, Ayla notices that as she goes further out, something is wrong: the colours of the coral are faded and the fish are disappearing.

The girl is upset and asks her mum why these things are happening. Surely it can’t be too late to save this wonderful part of the ocean’s eco-system.

Fortunately, Mum, a marine biologist, has a plan and the very next day she and Ayla start working bringing tiny pieces of coral from the sea into their home and so begins operation coral reef rescue. It’s a lengthy process and eventually after some time Mum decides the coral growths are ready to return to the ocean and they create their ocean garden.

That place is Ayla’s destination each day for what feels like forever; she tends to the coral and awaits the return of the fish until at last …

Clara Anganuzzi’s gorgeous illustrations capture so well the beauty of the coral reef and at the same time present the highly complex issue of global warming in a positive manner that will appeal to young readers, while also offering hope that the work of marine biologists such as Chloé Pozas, whom we meet after the story in a spread giving more information about coral nurseries, can restore these precious parts of our oceans’ ecosystems.

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.

The Horse who Came Home / The Lost Bear Cub

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The Horse who Came Home
Olivia Tuffin
Nosy Crow

Hannah and her elder sister, Millie live at Heartwood, a pony farm and stables. Their dad, an ex-showjumping champion, trains and sells on only the most exclusive ponies; though in reality this means he leaves much of the day to day business to a young man, Ashley, who Hannah increasingly distrusts, despite him being the son of the highly trustworthy old Johno.

Already we see that this is no run-of-the mill pony book merely about winning rosettes and cups at gymkhanas and championships – although that is part and parcel of the story. So too is the fact that film makers, Horsetalk, want to make a six-part documentary about Heartwood.

Then Hannah rescues a dirty, thin pony, Bella, which seems to recognise their stableyard and she suspects her father recognises the pony although he denies it. However nobody appears to want to help care for the pony so Hannah decides to do so herself. She’s supported in her endeavour by her pal, ace photographer, Freddie and riding friend, Gaby.

Unlike pony books back in the day when the young me loved reading them, the internet, mobiles and social media play an important part in this one. There’s a fair bit of wheeling and dealing as Hannah discovers the further she digs into Bella’s history and she realises that Heartwood stables is not the perfect place she had always believed it to be. Can she unscramble what is going on and if so, where will her loyalties lie – with her family or with the horses she loves?

A gripping read, that includes a rescue, some heart-breaking revelations for Hannah and Millie, and an optimistic ending for the sisters.

The Lost Bear Cub
Holly Webb, illustrated by David Dean
Little Tiger

Lucy is thrilled to be spending her summer holiday in Canada, staying with cousins and her Uncle Pete and Auntie Cass. She’s fearful though, at the possibility of encountering bears, cougars, coyotes and eagles on their first hike and even more so when she goes camping with her relations, but without her parents.

Wandering along the waterside alone at the campsite looking for pebbles, Lucy suddenly has the feeling that she’s being watched. There just a few metres away, she sees a small black bear and thinks it’s most likely a cub that’s got separated from its mother.

That same evening after a pretty wet end to their camping expedition, Lucy looks through an upstairs window of her cousin’s house and there she spies a bear trying to drink from the water feature in the grounds – a small bear that looks familiar. Now it’s definitely the bear she feels frightened for, not herself. The trouble is, nobody else believes her.

The following day, after an exchange of feelings between Lucy and her cousin Kitty, the girls have a narrow escape from a cougar after which the girls see a very angry adult black bear that starts taking swipes at the big cat. Some very scary moments follow but there’s not just one, but two happy reunions, one human and one ursine.

With several nail-biting episodes, some of which are shown in David Dean’s black and white illustrations, Holly Webb’s latest story offers something rather different from her cat and dog books. Confident new solo readers will enjoy Lucy’s adventures on the wild side..

Me and the Robbersons : Bandit Karaoke

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Me and the Robbersons : Bandit Karaoke
Siri Kolu
Little Tiger

Wonderfully anarchic, this is a story translated from the original Finnish by Ruth Urbom.

Maisie has been sent to music camp for the summer but determined not to stay there, she sends an SOS to friends she made the previous summer, a bandit family, the Robbersons.

Before you can say ‘sweets’, Maisie is whisked away and embarking on her second summer of heists and much more. “Now that Maisie’s back with us, the sky’s the limit!’ declares Wild Karl as the bandit van roars on its way, kidnap successfully carried out.

Maisie quickly becomes an integral part of the Robberson’s robbing, acting as a damsel in distress standing in the road having supposedly missed the bus home. However the family’s main focus and thus Maisie’s, is the Summer Shindig at the end of which a new Supreme Bandit is to be elected, the aim being that it’s Wild Karl who takes the crown. Let the tough training regime begin.

It appears that the Robbersons have already decided which event Maisie should enter – the Fib-Off, and she’ll face some extremely tough opponents. Yes, lying is part and parcel of this, but there’s a fair bit of dishonesty in other events, by various bandit clans.

So, who will end up with the highest total score and thus participate in the Bandit Karaoke? Who will become Supreme Bandit for the next decade and whose face will it be on that special Orkola liquorice coin – a last minute prize offered by the Farnaby family?

This second title featuring Maisie and the Robbersons is a twisting, turning action-packed romp with an exciting cast of characters that will make a splendid escapist read this summer.

Everybody’s Equal

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Everybody’s Equal
Patricia Hegarty and Greg Abbott
Little Tiger

This is a follow-up to Everybody’s Welcome by the same author and illustrator team.

Mouse is standing in the forest clearing near his home when he hears a lot of banging and crashing. It’s Stoat building a tall sturdy fence designed to keep Mouse out -“because you don’t belong” he tells the little creature.

Mouse doesn’t just accept this; he responds “Everybody’s equal, / I’m sure you will agree. / I’m as good as you / and you’re as good as me.” – a verse he repeats several times during the story.

He calls all his friends together to try and form a plan to make Stoat change his mind. This causes a squabble about electing a leader but Mouse knows just what to say to move things forward. Then suddenly as Stoat puts the finishing touches to his fence, he hears a cry for help. The house in which Mouse and his pals live, having built it together, has caught fire and the animals desperately need water.

However Stoat’s fence is blocking access to the river. Will he do the right thing so the other animals can get to the water that can put out the flames?

Happily yes; seemingly Stoat has seen the error of his ways and realised that as Mouse has been saying all along, everybody’s equal.

Patricia’s rhyming text reads aloud well and together with Greg Abbot’s woodland scenes in muted hues that use split pages to build up layers of the story, and that crucial die-cut , show that life is much more enjoyable when everybody is included in the fun.

Adult readers aloud will likely see some parallels with current events that are happening in the UK and other parts of the world. Young listeners will understand the importance of Mouse’s words about equality and inclusivity and one hopes apply them to their own lives.

Friends, Shapes and Scares Board Book Style

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These are recent board books from Little Tiger – thanks to the publisher for sending them for review

Let’s Make Friends
Leah Osakwe and Becky Paige

This is a simple exploration and celebration of friends and friendship for the very young. The author uses similes to liken friends to a wide variety of things – a yummy breakfast to give you a good start to the day; a bouncy trampoline that’s ‘there for you through all your ups and downs’, a soft snuggly blanket that wraps you in warmth and love, a guide on an adventure helping you follow your dreams. On gloomy days, just like the calming glow of lamplight, they bring brightness and cheer; they’ll always make space for you. Friends help you blossom into whoever you are meant to be, just like a garden where flowers bloom and so much more. I love the concluding spread that likens friends to sets of unmatched socks.
This is one to share and talk about with nursery friends.

Nibbles Shapes
Emma Yarlett

Nibbles the book-eating monster is so ravenous he’s started sinking his teeth into shapes. He gobbles circles, chomps at squares, takes small bites from a star then moves on to attacking triangles, diamonds, rectangles, even arrows. He’s saved his favourite till last; it’s a large pink heart ‘for me and you’ so it’s said, but before we can catch him to say thank you he’s made a hasty exit right through the back cover of this, now very holey, little book. Small humans will enjoy following the shape devourer through the pages.

What’s Scarier than a Shark?
Amelia Best

Not for the faint hearted is this sequence of mock scary marine creature confrontations. First to go on the attack is crab but not for long for a biting beastie more often found in fresh waters is on the look out for something to gobble.. Next is a killer whale but according to our shrimp narrator, that too has made, not a catch but a mistake. What about the swordfish – predatory it might be, but has it met its match with that enormous octopus? Angler fish look terrifying but what is lurking nearby? Something with a tail that is more than a tad terrifying though the angler doesn’t yet know that. Finally along comes a shark intent on devouring our narrator but there’s a surprise in store and it’s lurking behind a double flap.
Peek-a-boo with a difference assuredly; little ones will enjoy the fun of discovering what is revealed when they lift the flap on each of Amelia Best’s brightly coloured spreads..

Cake!

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Cake!
Ellie Patterson and Gabriela Gil
Little Tiger

This tasty offering will surely set the taste buds of young humans tingling as they follow the events of this birthday cake whodunnit. Bunny and seven brothers are all missing their birthday cakes but who has eaten them? Was it Tiger? Not according to the large striped cat who tells the bunnies it was Rhino and indicates the cliff edge across which is a tightrope. Over teeter the bunnies plus Tiger and despite the rope snapping, they find themselves right beside Rhino who certainly looks somewhat sticky.

She though shifts the blame to Flamingo and the animals all head to the lake where they spy another pretty obvious cake gobbler among the flamingo flamboyance.

Suddenly the bunnies realise they’re the only ones in the lake so they decide to wend their way home sans cakes.

However, there’s a surprise waiting for them: the culprits have made amends and tasty treats await the home comers. But there’s one final surprise in the form of a large chunk that’s missing from one bunny’s cake. Who is the culprit this time?

With an important message about owning up to your wrong-doings, and showing you are sorry, this engaging story, deliciously illustrated by debut illustrator Gabriela Gil will delight young listeners either at home or in a pre-school setting.

Bees & Beetles / Not Just Another Book about Farm Animals / Not Just Another Book about Things That Mooove

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Bees & Beetles
Nia Gould and Molly Littleboy
Little Tiger

A surprising amount of information about bugs, in easily digestible portions, is found on the pages of this sturdy, split page ‘flip-flap’ book, the second in a series for the very young.

Children will enjoy being able to change the scenes by flipping the cut portions of the alternate pages to create a different but related scene for first ants, the second showing the inside of a nest; 

then spiders – the start and finish of a web. Following this, youngsters will encounter several different creepy crawlies – dragonflies, grasshoppers, beetles, fireflies and ladybirds on and among flowers in a meadow; transforming the habitat they’ll discover snails and slugs, earwigs, centipedes and below ground level, wriggling earthworms. Bees come next and finally various caterpillars and butterflies.

A useful book to support a minibeasts theme; one that is frequently explored by foundation stage learners.

Presenting information to young children in an entirely different, but equally effective way are

Not Just Another Book about Farm Animals
Not Just Another Book about Things That Mooove
Noodle Juice, illustrated by Jake McDonald
Noodle Juice

In the first the author offers facts in mouth- watering morsels about farms, and their livestock in a humorous style, with contributions from the animal residents along the way. There are spreads featuring hens, pigs, horses, sheep, cows, turkeys, ducks, geese, goats and even llamas. Did you know that you can tell whether a turkey is male or female by examining its poo?

Jokes abound – these are as likely to appeal to adults as the intended young audience and Jake McDonald’s illustrations are suitably comical.

The same is true in the second book that begins by giving a simple definition of transport and goes on to present spreads on myriad modes of moving from place to place. The information is presented by a cow narrator that seems to have a penchant for puns. Here’s an example. 

Readers will encounter feet (as in walking), boats, cycles, trains, cars, buses, trucks, planes, helicopters and rockets all of which have bovine drivers or pilots.

The busy final spread of both books asks ‘Can you find …’ In the farm book, readers have to try and spot the farmer; in the transport book there’s an elephant to locate.

Wacky fun for fact fanatics.

Isadora Moon Under the Sea / The Feeling Good Club: Say How You Feel, Archie!

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Isadora Moon Under the Sea
Harriet Muncaster
Oxford Children’s Books

The endearing little half-vampire, half-fairy, Isadora Moon ’s latest adventure begins when she receives an invitation to a sleepover with her mermaid friends. The prospect of spending the night away from her parents that takes her beneath the sea makes her a bit anxious but having been reassured by her parents, she accepts Marina’s invitation and as the time draws nearer she gets really excited. This excitement continues once she gets to Marina’s home and she finds herself becoming friends with another of the guests, Marina’s step sister Emerald who is rather standoffish and Isadora thinks it could be because she’s unhappy.

Later on, lying in the adjacent clamshell bed, Isadora hears what sounds like Emerald crying and knows she must go and see what’s troubling her.

What she learns results in a late night swim to the home of Emerald’s Dad. (Her parents are separated) and eventually everything is put right.

Beautifully heartwarming, this adventure touches on the subject of living in more than one home and the problems this might lead to for a child; but it’s lightly done and the most important themes are listening to one another, friendship and acceptance.
With its mix of the alluringly different and comfortingly familiar, this magical story is perfect for its intended audience of new solo readers and includes the usual offering of activities at the back of the book.

There are further Isadora things to do in Isadora Moon: Summer Fun Activity Book. Therein are lots of activities based on the world of Isadora and of course, Pink Rabbit.

The Feeling Good Club: Say How You Feel, Archie!
Kelly McCain, illustrated by Jenny Latham
Little Tiger

In this the second in the Feeling Good Club series, it’s Archie’s turn to share his journal with readers. Archie’s family consists of his mum, a marine biologist and so often away for extended periods, his dad who seems to have little or no time for his oldest child what with his work and looking after the six year old twin brothers who are a bit of a handful.

As the journal opens, it’s a Tuesday. Archie is preparing his exhibit for the school Science Fair; it’s on his favourite topic, space, about which he is passionate and he’s really looking forward to Dad hearing his talk about it at the event the following day. But when he fails to turn up Archie is understandably pretty upset; how could he have forgotten? However Archie tries pretending it’s okay, but of course it isn’t and his real feelings come out in a torrent of fury at the next Feeling Good Club meeting as the friends are working on creating a clubhouse. Archie is hugely embarrassed and storms off in a huff.

Clearly this is a time when club members need to help Archie find a way to spend sufficient time with his Dad to talk about the way he is feeling. So begins operation Surprise Camping Trip. There are many ons and offs and it seems the expedition just isn’t going to happen

but eventually Shaman and Bella come up with a plan that turns things upside down and the trip is on again. The three friends practise some of their mindfulness techniques and on Saturday it’s a camping they will go …

To discover more about that camping trip and to learn about the mindfulness activities the clubbers use, you will have to read more of Archie’s journal in a copy of the book. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable exploration of feelings, facing your worries and the importance of sharing how you feel with trusted friends, with smashing illustrations by Jenny Latham.

This Girl Can Be A Bit Shy / I Just Ate My Friend

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This Girl Can Be A Bit Shy
Stephanie Stansbie and Hazel Quintanilla
Little Tiger

Narrated by little Ruby, ‘I am brilliant. I’m also a little bit shy.’ we learn of her different days: some when she feels brave, bouncy and full of chat, and others when she wants to go it alone, not playing with anybody, not talking to others just hiding herself away in one of her favourite hiding places where no-one can look at her and she doesn’t have to join in with things her friends are doing.

Her Dad understands exactly and wisely suggests, “Tell people kindly if you’re feeling shy.’

No matter what though, there is one thing Ruby is never too shy to say: can you guess what that is?

This is the second book wherein we meet the delightful Ruby as main protagonist and it’s a pleasure to be back in her company, empowering others with her thoughts, energy and actions now that she’s turning six, as we see in some of Hazel Quintanilla’s enchanting illustrations.

I Just Ate My Friend
Heidi McKinnon
Allen & Unwin

Darkly humorous is this tale of a monster that eats its friend and spends almost the rest of the book searching for a new one – to no avail. Those asked, ‘Hello! Would you be my friend?’ find the impulsive protagonist in turn, too big, too small, too scary, too slow

and then there’s just a flat refusal sans reason. Just when it seems he’ll remain lonely evermore, what should come along but another potential candidate for friendship with alluring eyes and a beguiling smile …

This simple story with its patterned text is perfect for those in the early stages of learning to read and they will likely delight in the unexpected twist with which the story ends.

Playing and Learning with Board Books

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Little Bear Where Are You?
Little Dog Where Are You?
Ekaterina Trukhan
Nosy Crow

It’s true to say that babies enjoy playing with mirrors and this new Where Are You? series has a mirror on every spread.
Taking inspiration from the hugely popular Family Finger rhyme, Little Bear introduces in turn little frog, little deer, little rabbit and little bear by means of a text with a repeat pattern: ‘Little —— , / Little —— , / where are you? // On the opposite page, comes the reply, ‘Here I am! Here I am! / Where are you?’ When the animal’s face is flipped down we see the words, “There you are!’, and a mirror is revealed for little humans to see their faces.
The final spread shows all four animals and beneath the fold, the titular character addresses the baby whose face is reflected in the mirror.
The large card flaps are easy to manipulate and sufficiently sturdy to stand up to the frequent use the books are likely to have.
Using the same structure, in Little Dog, illustrator Ekaterina Trukhan portrays first little hamster, followed by little bird, little cat and lastly, little dog (sporting a bobble hat).

Peekaboo Lion
Camilla Reid and Ingela P Arrhenius
Nosy Crow

This latest in the novelty series with sliders and a final mirror, features wild animals, although they look deceptively friendly in Ingela’s vibrant, patterned illustrations. The playful rhyming text comprises two words per page and introduces animals large and small; and there are opportunities to meet both adult animals and their young on some spreads.
A fun way to develop tinies’ language and manipulative skills together with a surprise finale.

Don’t Mix Up My Puppy
Rosamund Lloyd and Spencer Wilson
Little Tiger

Little humans will enjoy getting their paws on this mix-and-match doggie delight, with its five different puppies depicted, one per spread, in Spencer Wilson’s bold illustrations.

First we meet a Dalmatian with a spotty, dotty tail, then a velvety tailed dachshund, next comes a sly terrier whose tail is fancy and flowy; the white poodle’s tail matches his cute, curly self and finally there’s an Irish setter with a fluffy, furry tail.

Toddlers can have fun turning the wheel, finding each pup’s tail and feeling the respective tactile rear end appendages. Just right for developing hand-eye coordination too.

Holey Moley

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Holey Moley
Bethan Clarke and Anders Frang
Little Tiger

Gus the Goat must surely be in the majority when, on encountering a mole who introduces herself as Mavis, he guesses that she lives in a hole. ‘A mole in a hole. / A moley in a holey / A holey moley!’ Not so however; and there follows a hilarious exchange between the two characters with Gus suggesting various other places where Mavis must live and the mole naysaying each one. It’s certainly not on a pole, nor in a sausage roll, 

or any of the increasingly outlandish places he puts forward.

Mavis remains cool, calm and collected as Gus gets carried away with his anarchic silliness, eventually showing the goat her home. 

That’s not quite the end of the story though but to see how the story concludes you will have to get yourself a copy of this super book.

Deadpan humour abounds in Anders Fang’s illustrations, several of which include other silent bit-part players enjoying the duo’s conversation. I absolutely love the hole-arious rhyming narrative from debut author Bethan Clarke who really has done herself proud here with her guess obsessed, rhyme obsessed Gus and long-suffering Mavis. And what a gift she offers KS1 teachers who will not only have their children laughing aloud from the outset, but also wanting to join in with Gus’s rhyming guessing, relishing the tale’s final twist and perhaps adding some of their own ideas – once the story is finished. Anyone who wants to get across the ‘language is fun’ message to young children needs to share this, though I anticipate cries of ‘Read it again’ when you do.

All Change! / Colour Gallery

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Here are two new board books from Little Tiger – thanks to the publisher for sending them for review.

All Change!
Harriet Evans and Linda Tordoff

Transformations in the natural world is the theme of this board book with its clever, enticing cover picture.
By means of the flaps integral to each of Linda Tordoff’s illustrations, we see changes brought about by the seasons, through life-cycles of insects and frogs, the weather, danger, the lunar cycle, the need to catch food, for safety and more. Executed in soft, soothing colours, each scene is pleasing to the eye and the simple text offers a starting point for discussion with very young children.

Colour Gallery
Sophie Ledesma and Isabel Otter

Ready and waiting to take the animal visitors, and readers, on a learning tour around the art gallery is Gigi the giraffe. First stop is the Red Mosaic Hall, followed by the Blue Portrait Gallery, the Green Sculpture Park and the Yellow Landscape Room. This art establishment certainly makes effective use of all its space for there’s a corridor devoted to still life paintings

and the cafe displays abstract art on its walls.
As well as reinforcing the concept of colour in an unusual manner, Isabel Otter’s interactive text, the book’s design with its shaped pages and gatefolds and Sophie Ledesma’s bright illustrations (with a tiny mouse lurking on every spread), provide a fun introduction to the world of art for the very youngest children.

Mirabelle and the Magical Mayhem / Magic Keepers: Spirit Surprise

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Mirabelle and the Magical Mayhem
Harriet Muncaster
Oxford Children’s Books

Cousin of Isadora Moon, Mirabelle, has a witch mother and her dad is a fairy. What anybody who has encountered Mirabelle in her previous stories will know and others quickly discover, is that she seems to create mischief wherever she goes. Here she and her brother Wilbur visit their fairy grandparents for a sleepover. With Mirabelle goes her little pet dragon, Violet. No magic without the supervision of the grandparents is the promise the children make to their parents.

After just one night at Granny and Grandpa’s both Mirabelle and Wilbur have broken that promise and the result is messy and mucky. 

Surprisingly Granny, who inevitably finds out about the disasters they’ve created, isn’t furious. Instead she is thoroughly understanding and helps her grandchildren put things back in order before Grandpa wakes from his nap. ‘Mirabelle you must never try and hide who you are just to fit in with who you think other people might want you to be,’ she tells her granddaughter. Wise words indeed. Moreover she doesn’t let on what has happened when Mum and Dad come to pick up their offspring.

Another sparkling story that Mirabelle fans will absolutely love and newcomers to the series will enjoy too and likely want to go back and read all her other books.

Magic Keepers: Spirit Surprise
Linda Chapman, illustrated by Hoang Giang
Little Tiger

Life has changed since Ava and her mother moved into Curio House, the large Victorian villa left to them by Great Aunt Eva, Ava and her friends Sarah and Lily have discovered a magical world that surrounds the curios left in the house and are determined to keep it secret from the world at large. At the start of this story the three friends are exploring the magical energy of the crystals – the first magical things Ava found in her new home.

Outside the house and in the surrounding town, strange things start to happen. Despite it being late autumn, pollen has become so prolific that Ava’s mum is suffering badly from unseasonal hay-fever and plants are growing amazingly fast with vines shooting up everywhere.

Could the girls have accidentally unleashed some kind of nature spirit during their crystal investigations that is causing all this? 

If so, with Sarah’s mum far from happy about the influence the other two girls are having on her daughter, can they set things to rights before any of their parents or the townsfolk discover the cause of the out of control flora?

A second engaging episode for new solo readers with just the right amount of suspense.

Wanna See A Penguin? / The Lost Leopard

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Wanna See A Penguin?
Simon Philip and Ian Smith
Oxford Children’s Books

A self-declared penguin expert and friend search the city for penguins; they see all kinds of black and white creatures striped ones, furry ones,

animals with fins, horned ones, ones with hooves, four-legged animals and others but none of the eight fit all the penguin criteria. Is there actually a penguin anywhere around?

Yes indeed and that is what makes this book such fun. Hiding in plain sight in every scene is the animal the friends seek. Young listeners will love searching the pages to find its whereabouts as well as guessing the identity of the partially shown animal on each spread and laughing at the misidentifications of the so called penguin pundit.

The author’s manner of telling is gently humorous – the ending a hoot – and Ian Smith’s delightfully droll illustrations include lots of amusing details.
There’s a fact file after the story presenting a paragraph each on the zebra, puffin, duck-billed platypus, monkey, orca, goat and dog that appear in the story.,

The Lost Leopard
Jonny Marx and Xuan Le
Little Tiger

We join Flora and Fauna (dubbed the ‘world’s greatest explorers) and their baby, Bud, on their search for the elusive clouded leopard.

Their journey takes them to various habitats along a river,

over foothills and up the Himalayan mountains, through forests and jungles and a rainforest; even down into caves. Needless to say there’s an awful lot of mud and not everywhere is accessible by road so their quest involves a lot of walking; walking through rain and snow, strong swirly winds and scorching heat until they finally arrive at a tropical forest location.

During their travels they encounter a wealth of amazing wildlife including yaks, langur monkeys, Bengal tigers,Indian elephants,

a King cobra, all labelled. Truly an epic journey but do they find what they have been searching for? Baby Bud has certainly learned a lot and so will youngsters who explore this exciting book.

Xuan Le’s vibrant detailed illustrations, which include lift the flap sections, cutaway pages, die cut surprises and a gate fold, extend Jonny Marx’s engaging, informative text making this a book that is probably best shared with an individual child or small group as there is so much to explore on every spread. Individual, more confident young solo readers will also love embarking on the adventure with Flora, Fauna and little Bud.

Who Owns the Woods? / Above and Below: Sea and Shore

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Here are two recent picture books about the natural world from Little Tiger – thanks to the publishers for sending them for review.

Who Owns the Woods?
Emily Hibbs and Jess Mason

A boy and his grandma go exploring in the woods and as they walk, the child asks ‘who owns’ various natural things. Could it be one of the tiny animals they stop to observe – the spiders spinning their webs perhaps, or the butterflies with their beautifully patterned wings. 

Perhaps the woods belong to the magnificent stag, a fox or … maybe the boy himself is the owner of all those magnificent trees.

Not so, says his wise grandma; nobody can claim ownership of this particular area of woodland forest with its wealth of awe-inspiring flora and fauna; it is there for the enjoyment of every single person and moreover, as the boy himself confirms, it needs to be shown respect and treated with care.

What is needed is stewardship not ownership; that is the key message in this book beautifully illustrated by Jess Mason. Her scenes truly evoke the magic and tranquility of these special places. I really like the way the branches of the trees speak to readers serving to re-inforce the all important theme of Emily’s Hibb’s text.

Above and Below: Sea and Shore
Harriet Evans and Hannah Bailey

Now published in paperback, this is one of an excellent spilt page, lift-the-flap natural history series; it explores ocean habitats below and above the waves taking readers to such locations as the coastline, a sub-aquatic kelp forest, polar oceans and an estuary. There’s a visit to a tropical shore, a coral reef, a mangrove swamp and more.

The information comes in bite-sized portions making it accessible to EYFS and KS1 audiences. Children will be fascinated to discover that for instance, a lobster tastes with its legs and has teeth in its stomach and that in the forests of a mangrove swamp is a grey-headed flying fox with a wingspan of 1.5 metres, making it one of the world’s largest bat species.

The spilt pages work well providing as the title indicates, above and below views of the locations featured, each being beautifully illustrated with lots of detail: there’s so much to see.

This is a book that celebrates the natural world and gives a real sense of the sheer diversity of life in our oceans and rivers and on our shores.

Bear and Bird: The Picnic and Other Stories / A Rabbit Called Clover / The Railway Kitten

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Bear and Bird: The Picnic and Other Stories
Jarvis
Walker Books

Bear and Bird are best friends and like most close pals they have their ups and downs:there are jealousies, misunderstandings and some tetchy words but fundamentally each of them wants to make the other happy. Consequently their friendship is strong enough to withstand the downs and focus on enjoying each other’s company. 

In four short stories with Jarvis’ super-cute digital illustrations, readers learn of a rather unfortunate misunderstanding with a talking flower that results from a toppling Bird; a picnic, the preparations for which Bear isn’t completely honest about, the result being the outing doesn’t quite go as intended; an afternoon of painting when Bird feels his talent isn’t quite up to the standard of Bear when it comes to representing a tree,

and finally, a warm, snuggly, fluffy blanket that is very hard to stir from under.
A lovely book for bedtime (especially curled up under a cosy blanket), for foundation stage classroom sharing and discussion; and it’s ideal for those just starting to gain confidence as independent readers.

With a rather more challenging text::

A Rabbit Called Clover
Helen Peters, illustrated by Ellie Snowdon
Nosy Crow

It’s the start of the Easter holidays and Jasmine, daughter of a vet mother and farmer father is anticipating spending lots of time looking after animals, especially keeping things trouble free. But early one evening Jasmine spies two pet rabbits and so begins ‘operation rabbit, the aim being to catch and return the two creatures, which she and her little brother name Clover and Dandelion, safely back to their owner. Not such an easy task as Jasmine first thought but with a bit of help from her best friend, Tom, it might just be possible at least to get them safely into a cage and home to Oak Tree Farm.

It becomes evident that Clover is ace at escaping and they only manage to catch Dandelion, so the hunt is on for the elusive Clover. Moreover, finding the person who is responsible for looking after the pair is only part of the battle.

Delightful, gentle storytelling once again by Helen Peters whose writing is supported by Ellie Snowdon’s plentiful black and white illustrations.

The Railway Kitten
Holly Webb, illustrated by Sophy Williams
Little Tiger

Cat lovers especially will enjoy this heartfelt tale of Scarlett and her friends. On the way to school they notice a kitten at the railway station and are so enchanted by Whiskers as they name her, that when she gets run over, they decide to do everything in their power to save her. 

They take her to the vets and are told that an expensive operation is needed to mend Whiskers’ shattered leg. Her owners can’t possibly afford the vets’ bill but Scarlett and her friends are not going to give up easily. Is there a chance they can raise the money needed to prevent Whiskers from being put down? If so what will happen to her afterwards.

Determination and friendship are key in this gentle story of a Tortoiseshell kitten for younger primary readers. Occasional black and white illustrations by Sophy Williams show just how those involved with Whiskers are feeling.

Tourmaline and the Island of Elsewhere

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Tourmaline and the Island of Elsewhere
Ruth Lauren
Little Tiger

Twelve year old Tourmaline lives with her archaeologist mother at the Pellavere University and as the story opens she overhears a conversation and discovers that her mother, Persephone, has gone missing on an expedition. Quickly realising that despite reassurances, not one of the university staff is interested in finding her, Tourmaline decides to take matters into her own hands and launch her own rescue mission. For support she has her best friend, George (son of the Dean), and a new friend of his, Mai who she is yet to trust, but whose mother has recently joined the faculty.

With clues left in her mother’s lab and hastily written warning notes, the three set off on what turns out to be an absolutely incredible adventure to find the Island of Elsewhere, the place Tourmaline thinks her mother is trapped. It involves ‘borrowing’ a motorbike; they encounter fierce female pirates – Captain Violet and her crew, a floating island that disappears, with a maze of mirrors, talking trees and enormous spiders; add to that magical artefacts, trickery and memories that start to diminish.

There are certainly challenges aplenty for the three youngsters each of whom brings their own strengths – Mai’s limitless determination, George’s reliability and loyalty as a friend and Tourmaline’s boldness, bravery and single-minded focus – to a quest that tests their friendship to its utmost. But somehow their belief in each other and in themselves is a key part of this exhilarating story. I love too, Ruth Lauren’s crafting of the relationship between Tourmaline and Persephone – Tourmaline’s hunt for her mother is as much about finding her again in her heart as it is about seeing her again in the flesh. That, and the children’s discovery that yes, there is real magic in the world, though not everyone wants to use it responsibly.

The cliffhanger ending ties up the vital threads of the story but offers further Tourmaline excitement to come. Fresh, funny and gripping this will wrap you in its enchantment sweep you away, unable to stop until you reach the final page, but then, having savoured every word, you really don’t want to it end.

Mr Leopard’s Bookshop / All the Wonderful Ways to Read

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Mr Leopard’s Bookshop
Alexa Brown and Julia Christians
Scholastic

Sophie needs to buy a present for her very best pal, her pug puppy Boss but it’s rather late in the day so the shops are shutting. However there’s one that looks as though customers would still be welcome so she tries the door. Wow! She can hardly believe her eyes at the sight of shelves and stacks of books everywhere she looks. Then suddenly the shop’s manager emerges; it’s the great Mr Leopard. The surprise causes Sophie’s mum to fall flat, but Mr Leopard is a kindly soul and offers to help the girl immediately.

He starts piling up books and bringing them for Sophie to peruse but she’s disappointed: nothing has that special sparkle she wants for a present for Boss.

Undaunted, Mr Leopard draws back a curtain to reveal something very unexpected

When Sophie has got over her initial shock sufficiently to listen to the characters that address her, she spies a rug on which is a dog holding a pen: surely it can’t be, but yes …

It can only be in a magical place such as Mr Leopard’s Bookshop where such amazing things can happen; but that isn’t the end of the amazing events, for the very next day Sophie throws a birthday party for Boss but she finds herself playing host to rather more guests than she’d anticipated.

Providing surprise after surprise, Alexa Brown’s jolly rhyming text bounces along merrily making the book an enjoyable read aloud and Julia Christians’s wonderful scenes of Mr Leopard’s establishment are a bibliophiles delight – once they’ve got over seeing the kind of characters it attracts.

All the Wonderful Ways to Read
Laura Baker and Sandra de la Prada
Little Tiger

‘Each reader is different – each one unique!’ So says author Laura Baker early on in this rhyming exploration of reading styles and celebration of the power of books. A power that takes readers on journeys to places far and near and perhaps to fantastic new worlds. It’s possible to go anywhere at all so long as you have the right book to read. Books can empower the reader, help them solve a problem, help them find meaning in their own experiences or those of others: reading can completely transform a person’s life, Reading develops the imagination and connects us; and I suspect anyone reading this picture book would find examples of ways of connecting.

Some may even become authors and/or illustrators, like those we meet in Sandra de la Prada’s scene of a group of people creating pictures and that showing a queue of eager readers waiting for an author to sign copies of her book.

The crucial thing that emerges from Laura’s text is that what’s important isn’t so much what you read, where or how you read, or how fast or slowly you read, but that you DO read. There are books out there waiting for everyone to discover and love: this fun one included.

Wake Up, Trucks!

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Wake Up, Trucks!
Jodie Parachini and Teresa Bellón
Little Tiger

A jaunty rhyming narrative and super bright scenes of a day in the life of a group of trucks and other construction vehicles: I can see this will be a hit with many small children.

We begin as, having feasted on a breakfast of fuel, the trucks trundle into life and honking as they go, make their way to the building site. There, the foreman awaits and the tugging and towing work gets going.

Each truck has a special role: there’s Dump Truck, carrier of heavy loads, Roller to smooth out the roads, the foundations pit is dug by Excavator and then little by little, Mixer does the filling. Next Loader carries wood for floors and some doors; humans fit the windows and to complete the building of one house, along comes Crane to top off the job with a roof.

Back in their yard at the end of the day, all the trucks are cleaned thoroughly and their engines allowed to cool right down. Definitely worth pointing out to all the truck enthusiastic young humans is that one of their number – a cement mixer – is plugged into an electrical charger.

Using a wealth of geometric shapes in her digital illustrations, Teresa Bellón’s vibrant scenes of those anthropomorphised vehicles provide plenty to explore and discuss.

Action-packed this surely is.

Super Poopers

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Super Poopers
Alex Woolf and Isobel Lundie
Little Tiger

The topic of poo almost invariably raises interest in young readers and this book will surely do so with its humorous approach to those often whiffy bodily emanations. Before you turn your nose up though, consider this statement that concludes the author’s introduction: ‘In short, there seems to be no end to human and animal ingenuity when it comes to finding uses for poo’.
A fair bit of ingenuity is also presented between the covers of this collaboration between author Alex Woolf and illustrator Isobel Lundie.

They start by presenting a handful or two of the weirdest facts about creatures and their poop. Did you know for instance that a hippopotamus whirls its tail while pooing. The result being flying faeces (sometimes reaching as high as 10 metres) that can be used to mark their territory and to show off to the opposite sex. 

Imagine being a pitcher plant in the vicinity of a mountain tree shrew; said animals use pitcher plants as toilets, which is of mutual benefit: the plant receives nutrients in the poo and the shrew licks the plant’s nectar.

Child readers may well be aware that poo makes a fantastic fertiliser – there’s a spread on that topic herein – but how many are aware of some of the things it can be used to make. For instance there’s a company in Thailand aptly named Poo Poo Paper that uses elephant poo to make paper. Of course, the pong is removed during a process of boiling that also disinfects the pulp before it’s mixed with plant fibres, spread on mesh trays and left to bake in the sun. The result is paper. Apparently one elephant’s daily dung dump is sufficient for over 100 sheets of paper. 

There’s also a luxury coffee that uses beans collected from the poo of Asian palm civets and it’s said to cost way, way more than your usual cup of coffee. I don’t think I’ll be trying that though.

Covering twelve topics in all, Alex Woolf’s playful, punning text is both fascinating – yes really – and full of amazing information and includes such topics as diverse as ancient fossilised faeces and what it can teach us, and ways poo can or might be utilised to produce power for heating, lighting and even vehicle fuel. In keeping with the tone of the verbal content, Isobel Lundie’s bright, detailed visuals are appropriately amusing and the resulting combination is sure to produce giggles aplenty in readers.

The Story Shop: Dino Danger! / Little Rabbit’s Big Surprise

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The Story Shop: Dino Danger!
Tracey Corderoy, illustrated by Tony Neal
Little Tiger

It’s always a treat to enter the Puddletown High Street establishment run by Wilbur and his ferret assistant, Fred. This unusual place sells stories but it’s not a bookshop, rather it sells stories you can actually be in. Dino Danger is the third in Tracey’s – if my experience is anything to go by – very popular series and offers three adventures, together with suitable costumes and characters, that are just waiting for a scaredy Bear to participate in.

Somewhat surprisingly, Fred and Wilbur suggest he dons a dinosaur outfit as does Fred who will accompany Bear. Our ursine character will definitely have to find a whole lot of courage if he’s to face a lot of prehistoric beasties, starting with a T.Rex and companions -Stegosaurus, Diplodocus and Apatosaurus. Can he avoid ending up as lunch for the terrible tyrannosaurus? Perhaps if he can outplay Big T. in a game of crazy golf …

In the second episode Bear turns baby sitter for three mischievous little Triceratopses that are leading their teacher, not to mention Bear and Fred, on a merry dance, after which the latter need to make a hasty exit.

Story three sees the adventurers on the trail of the real Veggie Nibbler(s) with just three days to catch them or they could well end up popping endless amounts of pea pods at the dinos’ Famous Allotment Club.

With plenty of amusing black and white illustrations by Tony Neal to break up the text, these stories will please followers of the series and likely win lots of new fans for The Story Shop.

Also for newly independent readers and just out in paperback is:

Little Rabbit’s Big Surprise
Swapna Haddow and Alison Friend
Little Tiger

One of the first in the publisher’s short fiction series with full colour illustrations, the original hardcover was reviewed four years back on this blog.

Kind Crocodile / Who’s Hiding? On The Farm

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Kind Crocodile
Leo Timmers
Gecko Press

Little does Crocodile know when he decides to leave his watery abode and go for a stroll that he’ll end up as an animal rescue service. First comes a mouse fleeing from a scary snake, closely followed by a warthog hotly pursued by a hyena; next is an impala chased by a cheetah and then a rhinoceros with a lion in pursuit. Crocodile sees off the chasers with some strategic and menacing GRRRRs and offers a safe haven to what becomes, with the addition of the heaviest animal, a surprised heap comprising rhino, impala, warthog and mouse each precariously balanced in a tower upon the kind croc’s back. This makes him let’s say, somewhat flattened, physically at least, as well as voiceless.

How will they see off that hungry lion now?

Happily teamwork comes to their rescue; but the last word (make that almost the last) is definitely that of Crocodile, which creates a moment of suspense before his final utterance. Then off they all go, the animal tower somewhat differently arranged.

With Timmers’ humorously expressive mixed media illustrations, simple patterned text and that fun plot twist, this a funny large-format board book to share with little ones.

Who’s Hiding? On The Farm
Pintachan
Little Tiger

When a little chick loses his mummy, he asks Pig to help him find her but they can’t do so without little readers’ assistance. Following Pig’s instructions, they can explore what’s hidden behind the flap on each spread. They will also discover several other little chicks that have tucked themselves away cheeping, and once located those too can help in the search.

With bright jolly art by Pintachan and cutaway pages of farm scenes with minibeasts too, a simple text that includes animal speech bubbles to join in with and a happy ending, there’s plenty to entertain little humans in this fun board book.

My Heart is a Poem

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My Heart is a Poem
various authors, various illustrators
Little Tiger

Feelings come and go; most of us experience a plethora of them each day, some briefly, others are with us for longer. This collection of poems from twenty poets is an exploration of these emotions and the effects they have on us. Among the voices are those of Joseph Coelho, James Carter, Kate Wakeling, John Agard, Valerie Bloom and Coral Rumble. Some of the poems included are new to me, one such is Debjani Chatterjee’s No More … about finding a way to deal with a bully. It begins like this: ‘I knew the icy grip of fear, / I knew my heart beat like a drum, I felt a pounding in my ear / And courage crumbling in my tum.’ I suspect most of us have felt similarly troubled by fear of someone. The illustrator for this poem, Nabila Adani is also new to me.

No matter how you are feeling, as Elaine Laron says in No One Else, people can certainly tell you how to do almost anything; however you and only you own your feelings: ‘But no one else, no, no one else / Can tell you how you feel.’ Annalise Barber illustrated this one 

The boy in Nikki Grimes’ Stomp describes how having been subjected to a barrage of horrible words all day at school, ‘I Come home / feet about to bleed / from angry stomping. / “Boy!” says Mom. / “Quit making all that racket.” / But what does she expect / when, day after day, / haters sling words at me / like jagged stones / designed to split my skin’. He retreats to his room and takes up his journal, ‘and unload my hurt, my rage / ’til I can breathe again. / Letter by letter, / I rediscover / my power to decide / which words matter, / which words don’t, / and whose. / Calm, now, I remember: / I get to choose.’ Powerful for the boy; powerful too for the reader.

It’s interesting to consider the situations that cause a particular feeling to manifest itself and there are a wide variety presented in these poems. Coral Rumble’s Ache is the result of disappointment at never being picked to participate in a playground game: ‘But deep inside the pit of me, I ache an ache no one can see.’ So says the child who is always left alone standing by the fence.

Wherever you open the book, you are likely to find a poem that resonates with you and it will be illustrated by one of four fantastic artists whose visual images will be powerfully evocative of the emotion the poet has written about.

Brief biographies and photos of the featured poets and illustrators are presented at the end of the book, enabling the reader to feel connected with the creators.

A great book for the classroom but equally one for individuals to curl up with and ponder.

Outside / Mole’s Quiet Place

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Inside and outside both feature large in these two Little Tiger picture books: thanks to the publisher for sending them for review.

Outside
Bee Chuck

Essentially this is a retrospective look at that happened to everyday life during the lockdowns and how it has affected our appreciation of the great outdoors.

It starts before we were instructed to stay indoors, life was frantic and the two narrators of the book never had a minute to pause and take notice of the natural world especially.
Then, the first day of the enforced period at home turned out to be fun with hours and hours to bake cakes, chat on the phone and play on-screen games. Quickly the weather and nature were forgotten. Quickly too, those indoor pursuits got more and more boring.

However, the spin off was that without the continual rushing around, there was time to stop and really take notice of what was happening outside. Through the windows could be seen nature growing and thriving in the city: so why not try to create outside, inside – or almost inside. We see the two protagonists imagining and then creating window boxes, dangling bird feeders from tree branches and making pictures of visiting minibeasts; they even made a camp in the kitchen.

In due course, in stages the restrictions were lifted: simple outdoor activities like feeding the ducks became the highlight of the day. People rediscovered the joys of chatting face to face instead of on the phone, cycling was preferable to sitting in a car and physical activities outdoors were far more fun that on screen gaming.

When finally people could spend as much time outdoors as they wanted, our narrators (along with most of the population I suspect) have decided that their priorities have changed: outside fun in all weathers is way more pleasurable than staying in. Furthermore with wildlife now much more abundant in cities, has come the realisation that rather than overly tame nature, we can enjoy a slightly slower life, a vital part of which is cherishing the natural world.

Author/illustrator Bee Chuck’s love of nature shines through in the child-like illustrations throughout the book. Let’s hope Outside will instil that love in youngsters and the adults who share it with them, be that at home or in the classroom.

Mole’s Quiet Place
Jane Chapman

Mole loves his treehouse home that he shares with his friend Beaver; best of all he enjoys their evenings together, a time when they can remember their old friend, Bear. However with its welcoming lights and welcoming atmosphere the two frequently have their peaceful evenings interrupted by visitors eager to enjoy their hospitality.

One evening as Beaver enthuses about being able to accommodate so many in their large space, the less enthusiastic Mole has, despite the heavy rain, decided to go down to the lake for some peaceful time alone.

Before long an understanding Beaver discovers the whereabouts of his friend and the following day, all the treehouse pals get busy working on a new project, just for Mole. It’s something that enables her to enjoy tranquility in watery surroundings and perhaps remember Bear; and from there she realises just how alluring their treehouse home is to the other animals.

A gentle, yet powerful tale of finding somewhere to be yourself. With her instantly recognisable illustrations, Jane Chapman’s heartfelt story will resonate with both children and adult readers aloud.

Aziza’s Secret Fairy Door and the Magic Puppy / Star Friends: Mystic Forest

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Aziza’s Secret Fairy Door and the Magic Puppy
Lola Morayo, illustrated by Cory Reid
Macmillan Children’s Books

In her latest magical adventure it’s not just Aziza who goes through her magic door; her brother visits the world of Shimmerton too. It happens shortly after Otis has been pleading with their parents to get them a dog despite the ban on flat dwellers keeping such pets in their homes. Almost immediately Aziza goes to her bedroom and sees that her fairy door is making those ticking sounds again. Suddenly the door opens and Aziza passes through, closely followed by her big brother, also pulled through by its golden beam.

The siblings arrive in Shimmerton to find the village fete is in full swing. Encouraged by Aziza’s fairy friend Peri to have a turn at the giant roulette wheel, Otis learns he has chosen the winning number and selects for his prize a puppy – a magical one. But Hainu as he names the pup is not as easy to handle as he anticipated though like most pups this one loves sticks.

Suddenly the midday bell rings heralding the unveiling of the ancient clock, a clock that represents spring and growth, without which nothing will grow. Horror of horrors! The three hands of the clock are gone and thanks to a rash action by the Gigglers, all three have returned to their places of origin. Aziza, Otis, Peri and Tiko must find them and they only have till sunset to do so.

They need to fix the clock before it’s too late.

With an abundance of magic, friendship, teamwork and a generous sprinkling of mischief this inclusive tale, inspired like the previous one by fairies and creatures from world mythology, will enchant new solo readers. Cory Reid’s quirky illustrations are a delight and the perfect fit for Lola Morayo’s telling.

Star Friends: Mystic Forest
Linda Chapman, illustrated by Kim Barnes
Little Tiger

I’ve not previously met the Star Friends, Maia et al, a group of children with a special secret: they have magical animal friends who help them learn magic and fight evil, some of it from the Shades.

In this book, Maia’s human friends Sita, Ionie and Lottie are excited about spending half term at a forest camp. They are hoping to learn all kinds of survival skills but Mrs Coates who has a farm on the forest edge is not at all happy about the arrival of campers, fearing they will upset her free-range chickens. Then strange things start happening. 

First the boots belonging to all those sharing Maia’s tent disappear and are later found in the stream where the boys went to collect water. Then the four girls discover the den they’d spent so long building the previous day has been completely destroyed. 

Add to that various objects are being moved from one place to another. Surely somebody isn’t trying to sabotage the camp, are they? If so, is it Mrs Coates or is it some kind of bad magic? No matter what or who, Maia and her friends are absolutely determined to find out and stop their trip being spoiled completely.

The author’s mix of magic, talking animals, strong friendship and problem solving works well and with the addition of Kim Barnes’ black and white illustrations, this addition to the adventure series with a difference, will appeal strongly to many newly independent readers whether or not they’ve read previous Star Friends books.

Diary of an Accidental Witch: Unexpected Guests / Super Happy Magic Forest and the Distant Desert

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Diary of an Accidental Witch: Unexpected Guests
Perdita & Honor Cargill, illustrated by Katie Saunders
Little Tiger

It’s always a delight to be in the company of Bea Black and the first thing she does according this latest journal (after having a scrumptious tea out with her dad) is to attend the inaugural meeting of Finkelspark Club along with fellow founding members.

The following day though, the spring term at Little Spellshire School of Extraordinary Arts begins and Bea has other things on her mind: a history project, her allocated famous witch from the past being Minerva Moon; then there’s the visit from school inspectors who will not be impressed if they catch sight of anything at all magical going on. 

In addition, Bea has accidentally taken home what appears to be an ancient diary written by Minerva Moon, from Old Bertie’s bookshop and she can’t return it as the owner, Bertie, has gone away.

The good news is that Bea and her dad are going to stay in Little Spellshire but with all those things going on, one eleven year old witch has a lot to keep her busy, not least making sure her school isn’t closed down.

The series just gets better and better: this fourth book seems to have even more zany magical mayhem, humour and surprises than ever. It’s a sparkling delight for primary readers.

Super Happy Magic Forest and the Distant Desert
Matty Long
Oxford University Press

This fourth book in the Super Happy Magic Forest chapter series starts at the Gnome Tashwhisker exhibition where Tiddlywink the pixie accidentally gets trapped inside a cursed puzzle cube. Endeavours to free him are unsuccessful, leaving Blossom feeling more than a little guilty about fiddling with the cube. The only hope of freeing Tiddlywink, so says Gnome Tashwhisker’s Desert Diaries, is for the five heroes ie Herbert, Tiddlywink, Blossom, Twinkle and Trevor, to journey all the way to the Distant Desert and there to consult the all-knowing Almighty Oracle. This they must do before the sands of time run out. 

The journey, despite its length is the easy part, for when they reach the Oracle, it’s fast asleep. A Desert Diary entry tells them this: “only adventurers who have completed the Desert Trials and thus earned three trial gems are worthy of waking the Oracle.’ 

Is that a possibility for our heroes? Perhaps with help from the genie, if they can first reunite her with her magic lamp. Then there are still those particularly prickly cacti to contend with, 

as well as a recalcitrant magic carpet. This quest is certainly going to test the heroes to their limits

Super clever, super silly and super fun: as ever the madcap frolics of Matty Long’s forest dwelling characters are a treat for primary readers, not to mention this adult reviewer.

The Time Tider

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The Time Tider
Sinéad O’Hart
Little Tiger

Time tiding – the art of locating and capturing a warp of unspent time lies at the heart of this fantastic book.

Constantly on the move, twelve year old Mara and her father Gabriel live in a battered old van, packed with glass vials and other strange items. This is how Mara’s life has always been, though she has never understood why. Her only bedroom is a bunk, she’s never been to school, or made any friends. It’s something to do with her father’s job, although Mara doesn’t know what that really is, though he often hurries off to secret meetings. On such occasions he returns with sufficient money for half a tank of petrol or a visit to a cafe; but what he’s traded she knows not. With their travelling lifestyle, often moving by night, the two are able to avoid those her father suspects are following them.

One morning having woken to find her father out, Mara comes across Gabriel in the middle of one of his meetings: the transaction she sees and what ensues immediately, trouble her deeply. She really HAS to know what her father actually does: after all, people ‘don’t just vanish do they?’ On his return she starts to question him but he tells her very little before their van is under attack. Telling his daughter to drive, Gabriel hastily gives her some instructions and jumps out.

Finding herself abandoned with his old bag in which is a handbook containing a strange set of instructions, ‘For the Attention of the Newly Appointed Time Tider’, it’s up to Mara to attempt to do as her father said, the first thing being to find someone called Lenny, of whom she has only a very vague recollection.

Then she encounters a boy called Jan who tells her that he knows Lenny but has bad news about the man and other things. The two become friends, Jan joins the search, which grows increasingly dangerous; but it’s hard to know who can be trusted so the pair rely largely on their instincts.

As the plot twists this way and that, the author poses a number of important questions for readers to consider about power and how it can corrupt, and the lengths one would go to for somebody you love. There’s also the issue of how isolating fear and grief can be with the result that your focus is on what you’ve lost at the expense of what you still have.

With Sinéad O’Hart’s skill at world building, the story is hugely exciting and compelling. Mara is such a credible character – hugely determined and despite her self-doubt, very capable.

I’ll say no more, rather I’ll leave you to ponder : If you could extend your life or that of a loved one, no matter how the possibility arose or the consequences for others, would you do so?

Hop, Hop! / One Little Egg

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Both these titles are from Little Tiger: thanks to the publisher for sending them for review

Hop, Hop!
Isabel Otter and Sophie Ledesma

In this interactive ‘slide and seek’ board book little humans can follow Little Bunny through an entire day from sunrise to bedtime. In so doing they will meet Bunny’s forest friends, those that live in and on the river and goodness me, behind a large rock, not completely hidden so youngsters can guess what’s there, is something growly, furry and hungry.

After all that hopping and scurrying, Little Bunny needs to sleep, zzzz.

With sliders to move up and down, or in and out, flaps to open and a wheel to turn, young children will be developing their fine motor skills, enjoying a simple story and feeling involved in Bunny’s day. Then with a final spread that asks, ‘What did you spot on the way?’ showing ten labelled items, they can also develop their observation skills.

For older children, also with a nature theme, and lots of interactive elements is

One Little Egg
Becky Davies and Charlotte Pepper

This sturdy book is part of a non-fiction series that encourages children to use all their senses to actively engage with and explore in detail, the natural world.

Starting with eggs, Charlotte Pepper presents brightly-coloured spreads of birds’ nests, birdsong, feathers and birds in flight. There’s a spread devoted to bird spotting – you can do this without binoculars no matter where you are –

the food chain and urges youngsters to become involved in helping birds (and indirectly all wildlife), survive and thrive. The text presents a wealth of facts, some of which are hidden beneath flaps adding further reader involvement, and there are questions and activity suggestion boards that will stimulate discussion with young children.

A lively, engaging introduction to the wonders of the world of birds.

High Top

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High Top
Tom Lacey
Little Tiger

Set in Shoe Town and starring a snazzy red trainer, dubbed the sneaker that just can’t stop, our hero is always on the lookout for fun in this lively romp. His unstoppability however, frequently ends in an upset, not for High Top, but for those he encounters as he hurls himself into the action wheresoever he finds it.
Having inadvertently discombobulated first Lorraine Boot, then the Shoezanne Ballerina and artist Vincent Van Toe,

High Top boings and whooshes his way to the park.

There, somewhat weary at last, he encounters Platoe, the most sagacious of shoes (and slippers). Platoe suggests High Top relaxes alongside him whereupon he cannot resist recounting to Platoe all the fun he’s had. What the wise one says in reply though, really does make High Top think hard about his actions.

Can he find it in himself to apologise and even think of a way to make amends to his fellow footwear for his ebullient actions. What would you do?

Laced with humour and soled with an important (maybe for some, a tad preachy) lesson for youngsters, this highly colourful, wacky tale with wordplay aplenty and a join-in chorus, was fashioned by Tom Lacey, which I discovered is – the ‘shoedonym’ of a group of creative ‘sole mates’ who have apparently written and illustrated a number of other books too.

Puppy Club: Coco Settles In / Dragon Storm: Erin and Rockhammer

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Puppy Club: Coco Settles In
Catherine Jacob, illustrated by Rachael Saunders
Little Tiger

The second of the series sees Elsa and her fellow Puppy Clubbers – Jaya, Arlo, Willow, Daniel and Harper – all coping with the ups and downs of life with a new puppy. Elsa especially is finding things tough with two cats in her home as well as her puppy Coco. The cats chase Coco all over the house, Coco chews everything left lying around and Mum seems stressed all the time.

Thank goodness Elsa has fellow club members ready with lots of useful suggestions for keeping Coco out of trouble and ideas for helping her bond with the moggies.

Meanwhile other things on the Clubbers’ minds are the imminent visit to the vets for the puppies’ injections and a class presentation related to an organisation that helps animals. No doubt readers will guess what Elsa et al choose as their subject. However with frequent disasters in Elsa’s home, she cannot help but feel anxious: suppose her mum has had second thoughts about keeping Coco.

With puppy love aplenty, strong supportive friendships, training advice and puppy facts and lots of Rachael Saunders’ black and white illustrations to break up the text, young solo readers with a liking for animals especially, will enjoy this.

Dragon Storm: Erin and Rockhammer
Alastair Chisholm, illustrated by Eric Deschamps
Nosy Crow

This is the sixth of the fantasy series set in the land of Draconis and it’s another exciting, action-packed page-turner that’s ideal for new solo readers. We’re plunged straight into the drama with Erin in the sand circle facing a number of opponents in some Dragonseer sword-fighting training. A training session it may be but Erin is determined to beat each of the other trainees and this she does. She’s less successful at summoning her own dragon, something that her fellow Dragonseer students seem to find easy – a click of the fingers is all they need do.

As a result Erin is somewhat lacking in self-confidence: she’s fearful of the feelings she experiences when trying to summon her dragon, Rockhammer despite the reassurance that Drun offers her. She becomes even more worried when Lady Berrin, Dragonseer Guild’s chancellor informs her there’s a place just outside the city she wants her to go to that might help with her panic attacks. Despite what she’s told, it seems to Erin that she’s being thrown out just like happened when she was in foster care.

Both Erin and fellow Dragonseer trainee, Connor (who Erin doesn’t get on with) are sent off to Stillness. Perhaps spending time here will help the two build a better relationship and maybe with Connor’s support Erin can succeed in summoning Rockhammer just when he’s most needed.

Courage, friendship and trust are key themes in this powerful tale which ends on a cliff-hanger.

Mort the Meek and the Perilous Prophecy

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Mort the Meek and the Perilous Prophecy
Rachel Delahaye, illustrated by George Ermos
Little Tiger

Mindful of the introduction to this tale, lacking a rat disguise I worked on my scuttling and creeping skills, then donned my brown jacket and trousers before settling down to read Mort and Weed’s latest adventure, which like the previous two, begins in the rat-infested kingdom of Brutalia.

Happily for the two of them, or maybe not all that happily, some of the story takes place on a different island named Bonrock. Before that though, the friends meet two girls from Bonrock, Vita and Genia. It’s to this place that, not long after, the best friends are sent on a military mission, which will likely start ringing alarm bells for if you’ve read the first two books, you will know that Mort and Meek are staunch pacifists.

Bonrock seems pretty idyllic; surely the inhabitants won’t greet them with ‘fists of ferocity’ as happens on Brutalia? Are they friendly or as it appears to the two pacifists, intent on inflicting torture on their own people? It starts to look that way to the visitors as Genia and Vita show Weed and Mort around the classrooms and kitchens respectively. However misunderstandings are abundant in this story – I’ll say no more on that topic. I will say though that Weed develops a serious crush.

So much happens before the finale: there’s oodles of excitement, the possibility of a very painful punishment and Brutalia has a new Royal Soup Sayer; but throughout Mort is as determined as ever to promote peace and harmony over fury and fighting.

Rachel Delahaye is a superb linguist – her writing is cleverer and wittier with each new book. The wordplay is wonderful; even the characters get involved in explanations of such things as homophones and this works well. Whether the essence of the story is trusting strangers and fearing soup or fearing strangers and trusting soup, you can decide when you read it.

I’m off to change out of my brown attire and have a bowl of tomato soup. Oh yes and adding to the deliciousness of the book are George Ermos’ black and white illustrations.

I Really Really Love You So

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I Really Really Love You So
Karl Newson and Duncan Beedie
Little Tiger

The adorable little bushbaby returns in a new and altogether different kind of ‘Really Really’ tale. Now the narrator has a vital message to impart; but how best to do it? That is the burning question. This particular bushbaby is prepared to go to enormous lengths to demonstrate love for somebody very important.

The possibilities are many and sometimes extreme including scaling the tallest mountain to write a loving message

and wrestling with a crocodile. More down to earth ideas come in the form of a floral bouquet, a magic trick or a model robot; perhaps studying what other animals do to say ‘I love you’ and copying such loving expressions as stamping and stomping

or squawking might work better. Assuredly there are myriad ways, but sometimes far, far simpler and most definitely the best way is … What do you think?


Karl’s first person rhyming text together with Duncan Beedie’s illustrations, which are bursting with humour, make a wonderfully warm, fun story for reading with young children.

Now We’re Together

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Now We’re Together
Nicola Edwards and Jenny Bloomfield
Little Tiger

The world around us is full of wonders – real wonders; but unless we turn off the screens that constantly distract us with their virtual experiences we all miss so much.

The adult in this rhyming story decides that it’s time she and her child start by plunging themselves into darkness, holding hands and venturing outside for a real life adventure. Wow! In the night sky the moon becomes a massive pearl surrounded by stars shimmering like diamonds.

We join the two as uninhibited, they skip, splash, dance, swish and run through puddles and tall grass, into the woods where they pause for a while. Fireflies put on a magical show just for them

and then off the pair go, out of the woods and onto the seashore just as the sun begins to rise heralding the dawning of a new day – just as it does always.

Back through the streets already busy with the morning rush they go, aware that those around them are as distracted as ever by those flickering screens.

Nicola Edwards’ lyrical text and Jenny Bloomfield’s arresting illustrations convey a vital message to children and adults in this heartfelt, uplifting book. I hope it reaches a wide audience.

We Are Love / Don’t Mix Up My Dinosaur

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These are two new titles from Little Tiger – thanks to the publisher for sending them for review

We Are Love
Patricia Hegarty and Thomas Elliott

Animal parents furry, wrinkly, scaly and feathery invite little humans to watch their demonstrations of love for their offspring. Whether it’s leaping squirrels, plodding pachyderms, diving dolphins, waddling penguins or whatever, we can find loving care in a multitude of places. Young children will be reassured to see that the final pages show a mother and her small child showing their heartfelt love for one another.

A clever cutaway design feature enables the second of the two spreads allocated to each loving parent and little one, to show them coming together to form a heart shape. 

A simple rhyming text that flows nicely and Elliott’s textured illustrations of the featured creatures make for a reassuring lap book or bedtime book to share with the very youngest, some of whom may notice that there are other unnamed animal pairs in the background also forming heart shapes and even some minibeasts forming hearts with their wings.

Don’t Mix Up My Dinosaur
Rosamund Lloyd and Spencer Wilson

Five dinosaurs provide tactile fun in this matching game of a book. By turning the wheel little ones can help Triceratops find her missing horn; enable Ankylosaurus to get back his lumpy, bumpy club, make sure Velociraptor and her fluffy tail are reunited, 

put Parasaurolophus’s crest where it should be and put Spinosaurus and her scaly tail together again.

The wheel is easily moved by little hands and young children will enjoy meeting the various brightly coloured dinosaurs – in their correct or mixed-up forms. They’ll also enjoy learning (and trying to get their tongues around) their correct names; these are provided on the back cover though not in the simple repetitive text. Interactive, inventive and appealing.

Where’s My Santa? / My Little World: Christmas

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Here are two Christmassy board books from Little Tiger – thanks to the publishers for sending them for review

Where’s My Santa?
Becky Davies, illustrated by Kate McLelland

When Santa goes missing, it’s up to little fingers (and eyes) to track him down in this touchy-feely book. Guided by the simple text with its repeat refrain and with boot prints, a snowman’s hat, sparkly boots belonging to Elf,

Reindeer’s warm coat providing different tactile experiences and the trail of colourful prints traversing the pages towards a final fold-down flap that reveals the object of the search, very young children will delight in exploring Kate McLelland’s brightly coloured festive pages to discover Father Christmas’s whereabouts.

My Little World: Christmas
Patricia Hegarty, illustrated by Fhiona Galloway

There’s seasonal counting fun for the very young as Patricia Hegarty’s rhyming narrative takes listeners and readers from ‘One little Christmas tree’ through to ‘ten presents to find on Christmas Day’.

On the way they’ll encounter a host of characters – polar bears, bunny rabbits, owls, snowmen, carol singers, penguins,

elves and reindeer, all in one way or another busy around the central die-cut Christmas tree, until those reindeer take Santa on his delivery round and the tree is adorned with baubles and lights. All this is shown in Fiona Galloway’s bright, jolly scenes of snowy fun and frolics.

The Snow Bear

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The Snow Bear
Holly Webb
Little Tiger

Sara is visiting her Grandad who lives in the north, deep in the countryside. It’s the run up to Christmas and the intention is that they will both return to Sara’s parents in time for them all to be together at Christmas. Mum is expecting a baby imminently.

However things don’t quite go to plan, a very heavy snowfall cuts them off making the journey impossible. Grandad, who is writing a book on Inuit folk tales, does his best to keep her entertained with stories about his Arctic childhood, in particular about finding a young polar bear when he accompanied his own father to the Canadian Arctic.

The following day Sara builds a snow bear of her own and in the worsening snowstorm she and Grandad make a small igloo. Then in his efforts to keep his granddaughter’s homesickness at bay, Grandad agrees that the two of them can share a midnight feast in the igloo.

There, under the twinkling stars, Sara dreams her very own magical adventure wherein she meets a bear cub looking for its mother, an Inuit boy Alignak and his grandmother, and learns something of their culture.

Beautifully written and full of charm, albeit with lots of shivers, this is a lovely story to read aloud in KS1 or for solo readers from around 7. Snuggle down and prepare to be transported by this 10th anniversary edition.

Namaste is a Greeting / Balloon to the Moon

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Namaste is a Greeting
Suma Subramaniam and Sandhya Prabhat
Walker Books

When I first started visiting India many years ago ‘namaste’ was explained to me as ‘my heart to your heart’ – a lovely summary I thought. Now the author and illustrator of this delightful book explore the meaning of the word namaste, used by Hindi speakers as a greeting. Herein a little girl discovers that in fact ‘namaste’ is all around her and can be expressed by a smile, through friendship, celebration, a yoga asana, silence and much more.

I love Sandhya Prabhat’s bright storytelling illustrations showing the interactions between the child and the grandmother character and how the former nurtures a plant for the latter.

This seemingly simple book has considerable depth and is one to share over and over with young children; it’s a delight.

Balloon to the Moon
Becky Davies and Jennica Lounsbury
Little Tiger

Drawing on mindfulness and meditation techniques, Becky Davies’ dreamy lilting rhyming text and Jennica Lounsbury’s soft lyrical illustrations encourage young children, safely tucked up in bed to let go, relax completely and gradually drift off into dreamland.

An adult switches out the light and we watch as the moonlight calls through a small girl’s window, causing her bed to lift and balloon-like, drift gently out into the star-filled, moonlit sky, guided by firefies. Silver songbirds and sheep-shaped clouds accompany the moving bed over land and sea to the accompaniment of dolphins’ songs, shushing water and chorusing whales

as it continues its journey through the velvety night sky towards the smiling, welcoming face of the moon and sleep’s loving embrace.

If you’re looking for a sleep-inducing picture book to share with young children, try this gentle, reassuring story just before bed.

The Christmas Department Store

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The Christmas Department Store
Maudie Powell-Tuck and Hoang Giang
Little Tiger

It’s Christmas Eve but Benji feels anything but festive: it seems as though Christmas has lost its magic this year. His family can’t afford either a tree or a turkey and so they’re sad. As Benji walks through the snow-filled street wishing he could buy them spectacular presents he recalls his Granny’s words about magic happening on Christmas Eve. Suddenly a huge polar bear knocks him flying and as he gets up, there before him is a large department store. But this is no ordinary store; it’s full of wonder and magic, with penguin doormen and a shiny steam train that puffs along on a glittering spiral track.

One by one, Benji discovers the most perfect gifts for his family – a funky trumpet for his sister Hana, which he pays for by singing a silly song,

an unusual imaginary hat for his gran (he tells a story to a leopard in payment for that) and a very special warm-smelling potion for his dad. Full of excitement and high hopes for a wonderful Christmas Day, he returns home.

Next morning those hopes become doubts; but when he sees the smiles on Hana, Dad and Granny’s faces when they open their presents, he realises that the real gifts he’s given them are not material things but love and happiness.

Absolutely full of heart, this enchanting tale shows that the very best presents aren’t those bought with money, but those given with love and care. With their warm festive tones of red, gold and green Hoang Giang’s illustrations on every spread are filled with the magic of the department store.

1 2 3 Sleepy Me / I Can Count

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Here are two playful counting books from Little Tiger – thanks to the publisher for sending them for review.

1 2 3 Sleepy Me
Sophie Aggett and Gareth Lucas

This die-cut counting book has a nocturnal theme and moulded textured numerals 1-5 offer a variety of tactile experiences. Strangely Gareth Lucas sets his illustrations of stars to count and talking minibeasts – a ladybird, a firefly, a butterfly, a baby bee and a glow-worm against brightly coloured rather than dark backgrounds, although the final one is rather more subdued as the glow-worm decides it’s time for sleep. The rhyming text begins thus, ‘One little night star shining over you. “Goodnight!” says a ladybird as she spots …’ and continues adding a star 

until in addition to the five twinkly stars there’s a full moon in the sky and all five minibeasts assemble to bid, ‘Goodnight, everyone!’
Simple, interactive pre bedtime counting fun for tinies.

I Can Count
Lauren Crisp and Thomas Elliott

This cleverly designed board book is intended to help little ones with both counting and number recognition. A die-cut shape through both the covers and the pages contains an arched shape plastic rod through which are threaded ten beads. The rhyming text alternates giving an instruction like ‘Horses gallop in the sun. Can you count them as they run? or asking a question such as ‘How many arms do starfish grow?’ Additionally on each page is the relevant numeral and on each spread the sentence, “Slide the beads to help you count!’

On the 10 page stands a rocket and rather than counting up from 1, the instruction is ‘Join the countdown to see it fly.’ encouraging children to count backwards 10 9 8 etc … LIFT OFF! 

Thomas Elliott provides the brightly coloured illustrations on every page with cute googly-eyed characters and in addition to maths skills little ones will develop their fine motor skills.

Timid

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Timid
Harry Woodgate
Little Tiger

Timmy is a non-binary child who loves performing and dreams of one day becoming a stage star and being able to share stories with others. However unless singing and dancing in the bedroom there’s problem in the form of a very large, grumpy lion and it’s always lurking stopping Timmy from focussing. One day Mr Stevens, Timmy’s teacher announces to the class that there’s to be a school play, Timmy feels no excitement on account of that lion.

At lunch break Timmy sits watching the other children playing together when a classmate approaches

and a friendship begins to blossom between the two. It turns out that both children are actually shy and with mutual encouragement they create costumes,

rehearse, meditate and use positive affirmations. Little by little the relationship between Timmy and the lion becomes calmer and Timmy becomes more self-assured.

Come the night of the show however, Timmy has a crisis of confidence. Can it be overcome with Nia’s help? It surely can and as for the show: it’s a dazzler.

This uplifting story of getting the better of shyness will surely resonate with almost any young child. Youngsters will understand that the lion is a metaphor for Timmy’s anxiety and love the vibrant illustrations. There’s lots to explore in the opening scene set in Timmy’s bedroom and take a look at the various flags shown during the story.

Magic Keepers: Crystal Chaos / Theodora Hendrix and the Snare of the Shadowmongers

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Magic Keepers: Crystal Chaos
Linda Chapman, illustrated by Hoang Giang
Little Tiger

This is the first of a new series wherein Linda Chapman establishes a magical world based at Curio House. Ava and her mother have just moved into what was her archaeologist great aunt Edith’s home, where she has left her collection of curios saying in her will that this must remain there and not be sold. Rather it was her hope that one of her relations would find this collection ‘special’. 

Enter Ava and her dog, Pepper. Pretty soon Ava discovers that special means magic or perhaps ‘Magyck’ in the case of the crystals. Each of said crystals holds its own potential energy. It’s into this magical world that Ava, together with her new friends Sarah and Lily fall. Ava discovers an ancient mummified crocodile that is affected by the resurrection crystal and it’s down to the three girls (and Ava’s dog Pepper) to discover how to control and make use of the other crystals’ powers, and do so pretty snappily, if they are to prevent the scaly creature terrorising the entire town.

As well as an exciting adventure this is a tale of new beginnings and of friendship that demonstrates that everybody is different and that working together is the best thing to do for them all.

A thoroughly enjoyable read for primary age children, strikingly illustrated by Hoang Giang. I wonder what comes next for the Magic Keepers and that curio collection.

Theodora Hendrix and the Snare of the Shadowmongers
Jordan Kopy, illustrated by Lisa Hunt
Walker Books

Theodora, the girl raised by monsters, is back for a third adventure along with Sherman (spider) and friend Dexter. Theodora is excited at the prospect of visiting New York for the Christmas holidays (other than having been given homework on the very last day of term, which she’ll have to take with her). She can’t help thinking of all the pizzas she will be able to consume. On arrival they discover that the Big Apple is packed with the horrendous Shadowmongers, supposedly banished to the Antarctica several thousand years back; and then they come upon the sinister Hilda who says she has unbanished them and now they have joined forces. Their aim is to bring down the Monstrous League of Monsters and with it Theodora, once and for all, thus putting humans the world over in the most terrible danger, causing them to have nightmares every night for the rest of their lives.

Facing perils aplenty, Theodora (the one who sees the Shadowmongers), Dexter (who doesn’t) and Sherman (he seems to know a fair bit about these vile creatures) have to navigate the city where the ghastly beings seem to reappear whenever they think they’ve escaped them.
With New Year over, it’s time to head back to face another school term but is that the last of the Shadowmongers? That would be telling …

With Lisa Hunt’s expressive black and white illustrations throughout, this is just right for autumnal reading, especially for those who enjoy spooky stories tinged with humour.

Who Will Kiss The Crocodile?

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Who Will Kiss The Crocodile?
Suzy Senior and Claire Powell
Little Tiger

Suzy Senior puts a hilarious spin on a favourite fairytale in her snappy rhyming take on Sleeping Beauty. It starts on Princess Liss’s first birthday when her family hold a big fancy ball for all the town’s residents, or rather, all but one. With the party in full swing there’s a sudden chill as in sweeps a furious fairy who proceeds to shout, “… In fifteen years, she’ll bump her knee.And then the princess DIES!” and with a wave of her wand she turns the infant into a baby crocodile. All is not quite lost though thanks to a life-saving pixie who informs the princess’s distraught parents that instead of dying, their daughter will sleep `til woken with a kiss. But who would be willing to kiss a crocodile, especially one with increasingly long claws?

On her sixteenth birthday the princess injures her knee while swimming in the lake and takes to her bed for what turns out to be a snooze lasting around a century, during which numerous princes have shown up at the castle only to flee when they realise what slumbers within the increasingly crumbling castle.

Eventually the neighbours decide to call upon the services of the Handy-Grans to carry out some urgent work on the thorny hedge surrounding the castle. This they do and after a day’s slog they discover the slumbering crocodile within.

Rather than running for their lives, they run back to their van for some knee soothing salve…
Surely there couldn’t be a happily ever after to this story – or could there?

Claire Powell’s comical scenes are simply bursting with bright colour, her cast of characters is inclusive and Suzy’s text is a delight to read aloud. If you like fractured fairy tales, don’t miss this one.

The Arctic Railway Assassin / Solve Your Own Mystery: The Missing Magic

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The Arctic Railway Assassin
M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli
Macmillan Children’s Books

Hal flies off to Sweden where he is to meet Uncle Nat. From Stockholm the following day they will take a Christmas trip aboard the sleeper train bound for the Aurora Sky Station to see the Northern Lights. Uncle Nat announces that his friend Morti, who has just won the Nobel Prize, is to accompany them, but then she suddenly changes her plan. After the announcement of her prize she’s been scared by some inexplicable events with things of hers disappearing and now Hal and Nat are to travel without her.

While waiting to board the train Hal sketches a group of musicians,

then as they leave Stockholm, he and his uncle think they are being followed, and Nat tells the boy that one of the people in his drawing is an assassin from his past, supposedly long dead. Something doesn’t quite add up with this picture of Hal’s. And what about the sudden appearance of Hal’s mum on board too?

Full of suspense, and with some great new characters, this truly is a gripping page turner with some really perilous episodes when readers will find themselves fearing for the lives of some of the characters. Hal’s drawing skills really come to the fore in this adventure, considerably helping to solve the mystery of what the assassins are after and where it is. Elisa Paganelli’s illustrations do a wonderful job bringing his sketches to life and adding to the reader’s involvement in solving the mystery.

My only regret is that this is the final book in the brilliant Adventures on Trains series.

Solve Your Own Mystery: The Missing Magic
Gareth P. Jones, illustrated by Louise Forshaw
Little Tiger

In the third interactive adventure from Gareth P. Jones there’s another puzzling mystery waiting for readers to solve. Like previous titles it’s set in the town of Haventry, a place where with its unusual population almost anything can happen at any time. Now it’s the opening day of Magicon, the world’s biggest magic convention and everyone is gathering for the great event when suddenly disaster strikes: all the magic in the town disappears. Who is responsible for this catastrophe?

It’s up to readers to don their detective hats, find out, and get it back in time for the opening ceremony. Could the thief perhaps be Evil Enid; or maybe Nigel Rigmarole whose business is magical energy? These are just two of the possible suspects that detective you, along with boss Klaus Solstaag (a yeti) need to consider. There are also the likes of meditative unicorn Moondance (too good to be true maybe)

and powerful Magic Circle head, Grandmaster Dimbleby.

There’s not a minute to lose: time to make the sparks fly – unless you want to shoulder the responsibility of allowing an ancient monster to waken from a century-long sleep beneath the town.

With a multitude of possible routes to take, this is terrific fun and with Louise Forshaw’s splendid portrayal of the weird and wonderful characters, this diverting read will delight primary age readers who like fantastical tales.

Crimson Twill: Witch in the City / Midnight Magic: Witch Trap

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Crimson Twill: Witch in the City
Kallie George, illustrated by Birgitta Sif
Walker Books

Crimson Twill is anything but your typical witch. Instead she wears a hat to match her name, giggles rather than cackling and she’s a dreamer. She can hardly wait to pay her very first visit to the world’s biggest department store, Broomingdale’s in New Wart City. There she will spend her hard earned money, but what will she buy? After some deliberation, she heads off to the Cat floor and yes there are plenty of cats, but what interests Crimson most is actually a puppy; this she rescues from a highly disapproving saleswitch, Ms Whiskers.

It’s not until she reaches the hat floor that the quirky little witch finds something she likes, a hat completely different from all the pointy ones: this one has a huge bouncy bow but there is only one of them and just as she’s about to make a purchase, Crimson encounters another witchling whom she learns has been saving up for this very hat for weeks. What will Crimson choose: the hat for herself or happiness for her fellow witchling? 

This turns out to be only one of the opportunities Crimson has to demonstrate her compassionate nature and in the end she realises that not only is it okay to be different, but also that there is something more valuable than any purchase she might have made – friends.

With its theme of being true to yourself, full of witchy whimsicalness and gentle humour – I love the fun word plays – this is the first of Kallie George’s chapter book series. Birgitta Sif’s black and white illustrations are a delight, depicting an inclusive city community.

Midnight Magic: Witch Trap
Michelle Harrison and Elissa Elwick
Little Tiger

This is the third in the rhyming series starring black cat Midnight and her human friend Trixie. It’s October half term and the two are building a den in the garden (‘their own top-secret lair’), while Nan plants bulbs and Dad sweeps up leaves. With his magic, Midnight creates a leaf dragon and the friends are so excited they fail to notice that somebody is watching them. That somebody is a witch called Wendy who is especially interested in Midnight’s special powers and tries to buy her. Trixie gives her a flat refusal and the witch flies off with a worrying glint in her eye, leaving Trixie a tad concerned.

That night into the room where Midnight and Trixie are fast asleep creeps Wendy, who takes the cat away in a cage. The following morning Trixie discovers a clue to the identity of the catnapper 

and off she goes on a rescue mission, accompanied by Dad and Nan. Readers meanwhile discover why Wendy has taken Midnight and the cat in turn learns that her family is coming to her rescue. All ends happily with further revelations, a promise, understanding, kindness and more.

Huge fun for reading aloud or reading solo, this sparkling story has an autumnal feel thanks to Elissa Elwick’s choice of orange to predominate in her bold illustrations of the action.

Britannica’s Baby Encyclopedia / Night-Night Animals

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Britannica’s Baby Encyclopedia
Sally Symes, illustrated by Hanako Clulow
Britannica Books

With just over seventy pages in all, this board book first encyclopaedia is divided into sections: our world, animals, plants, body, food, machines, art & music, shapes and numbers, every one of which is beautifully illustrated in bold colours. Each section begins and ends with a full page picture and the accompanying suitably simple text is thoughtfully worded to read like an opening and finale. 

For example Our World starts thus: ‘Our world is a place called Earth. In the morning, the sun comes up and the day begins.’ and concludes, ‘At the end of the day, the moon and stars light up the night sky.’ So, it would work well if an adult and child shared the book, one section per sitting. Little ones will love joining in with all the ‘sound’ words: this section has ‘Plip-plop!’ ‘Flitter! Flutter!’, ‘Gurgle! Burble!, ‘Crash! Smash!’ and several farm animal noises. 

Just the right amount of information is included in each section to engage small children, while also enhancing their vocabulary and knowledge.(A consultant Dr Amanda Gummer was used to this end.) It’s good to see that care has been taken to include a diverse range of humans in every topic presented.
A book to add to family collections if there is a very young child.

Night-Night Animals
Patricia Hegarty and Thomas Elliott
Little Tiger

This ‘pull the sliders, change the picture’ title takes little ones to various natural locations where it’s time for the fauna to go to sleep. First visit is the forest wherein there are rabbits, deer, a fox, a mouse and a nesting bird. Which one is nocturnal and needs waking with the help of the slider?
The savannah animals all seem to have shut their eyes already except for one; he needs help to get to sleep. The deep sea has lots of sleepy creatures large and small but one with eight limbs needs the reader’s help. After helping whichever of the rainforest animals is wide awake, it’s the turn of little humans including one very bouncy person who has to stop all those boings.

A fun, interactive bedtime book for the very youngest children who will enjoy assisting the animals before nodding off themselves.