Here are two recent picture books from Little Steps Publishing

Polly Profiterole’s Little Town Good Enough to Eat
Maggie May Gordon and Margarita Levina

Imagine living somewhere where the only ‘shop’ is the front porch of your house. That’s how it is for Polly Profiterole, pancake maker par excellence who has mixed more pancakes than she cares to remember for way, way too long in a little town without a school, a bank, a pub or a church.

Then one night as she lies in bed Polly decides something must be done to change things. With her brain in over-drive she enlists the help of her husband and the following morning Polly bakes and Percy builds

the most delicious town you could ever envisage, from the Choco-Chip Church at the very top of the hill, all the way down to the Pork Pie Pub at the bottom with some yummy establishments in between including the Cup Cake Coffee Shop

and the Honey Roll Hairdresser (shame there’s no bookshop)., Finally of course, they make ‘Polly Profiterole’s Proper Pancake Parlour’.

Thus Polly and Percy co- created a unique little town that must surely have become a go-to destination instead of a drive right through one.

If your taste buds aren’t in overdrive after sharing this fun book with youngsters, then I’d be very surprised. Poet, Maggie May Gordon and illustrator Margarita Levina serve up a tale of teamwork and enterprise, that all began because despite everything, Polly never lost the ability to imagine.

My Grandma is 100
Aimee Chan and Angela Perrini

What a wonderfully warm book is this one narrated by a small child whose Grandma Edna (great grandma) is celebrating her 100th birthday.

Plenty of thought goes into getting the day just right. What kind of food can 100 year-old teeth cope with? What should the birthday cake be like? Then there’s the consideration of a suitable present for somebody who now lives in a special home with lots of other people and doesn’t really need anything.

Next morning with mounting excitement at the prospect of having thought of the perfect present, it’s time for the narrator and family to drive to Grandma’s special party. And what a wonderful celebration it is, especially with so many relations,

as well as Grandma’s letters from The Prime Minister, the Governor General and the Queen of England. Grandma Edna is some lady with three children, four grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

The author, Aimee Chan is the granddaughter in law of ‘Grandma Edna’ and wrote the book as a celebration of Edna Phillips’ life.

I love the way the narrator’s imaginings are given substance in some of Angela Perrini’s quirky illustrations.