Tag Mark Sperring

If I Were The World

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If I Were The World
Mark Sperring and Natelle Quek
Bloomsbury Publishing

By making it sound personal this book really gets across the crucial messages about our precious environment and climate change. Written in rhyme and using ‘If I were the world’ repeatedly to introduce topics including plastic pollution, the toxicity of fossil fuel gases, the loss of animal species for various reasons, over-fishing of the oceans and catastrophe-causing climate change Mark Sperring presents the harmful things we are doing to our planet.

Then comes a rallying cry, “It’s time to take ACTION! We must do ALL WE CAN!” and the focus shifts to what can be done by each and every one of us to heal the damage. Things like recycling our waste, stopping deforestation, the greening of cities by planting seeds really can make a difference. Either we do so or the harm will definitely be irrevocable.

Natelle Quek uses three children to champion the environmental cause showing them first witnessing the harms mentioned in the words and then participating in the actions called for. Her illustrations are powerful and arresting, causing the reader to stop and look carefully at the wealth of detail included in each one

and in so doing extending the already impactful text. A smashing book both to share in primary classrooms and with individuals at home.

Hot Dog

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Hot Dog
Mark Sperring and Sophie Corrigan
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Totally and adorably silly is the latest offering from the creators of Jingle Smells. It’s the tale of a hot dog sausage that yearns for just one thing – to be a real-life dog that can frolic on the beach, play with sticks and generally do doggy things. Standing on a shelf close at hand just as the little hot dog is making that wish, is none other than the Mustard Fairy. With a few squirts of mustard she grants his wish and off dashes one transformed pooch to enjoy himself.

There’s a problem however: with their superior sense of smell, the other dogs on the sandy shore, sniff-sniff something they seem to like just a bit too much. YIKES! Off dashes poor Hot Dog towards Flo’s ice-cream stand, begging for help.

Now being a kindly woman, Flo immediately responds positively to Hot Dog’s plaintive plea by launching a counter-attack with her wares, causing the marauding and increasingly hungry hounds to turn tail and flee.

That leaves – hidden ‘neath a parasol – our little Hot Dog, albeit with some adornment near his rear. And Flo? Well, she has something super-special to offer her new friend.

Infused with summery sunny feelings, Mark Sperring’s rhyming romp together with Sophie Corrigan’s splendid seasonal scenes showing Hot Dog, hilarious high spirits and much of the action at close quarters, make this book one to share and relish over and over, this season and beyond.

Jingle Smells

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Jingle Smells
Mark Sperring and Sophie Corrigan
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Mark Sperring’s rhyming story introduces readers to Jingle the stinky little skunk.

It’s Christmas Eve and the stripey-tailed creature is on his way into town to see the shiny lights. En route however, in true skunk style, he emits a particularly pungent aroma and as he passes it, the tree in the old town square is so overcome by the whiffy odour that the thing topples right over, sending baubles and lights flying every which way. Poor skunk is devastated that he’s spoiled Christmas for everyone and is just about to turn back home when he hears a cry for help.

Now Jingle has a chance to do something for the good of all the town’s residents, for up on the roof he discovers that robbers are at work and Santa is in big trouble.

What better way to get rid of the villains than for the little skunk to emit a a mega-stinky blast. It certainly has the desired effect 

and Jingle realises that perhaps after all, he has saved Christmas. But the night is long and Santa still has all those presents to deliver – with a little bit of help for one time only, from one small stinky skunk.

Jingle is such an endearing character and Sophie Corrigan brings this out in her fun festive illustrations that are a perfect accompaniment to Mark Sperrings’s deliciously different tale, which is a delight to read aloud.

The Night the Reindeer Saved Christmas / Santa Jaws

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The Night the Reindeer Saved Christmas
Raj Kaur Khaira and Kasia Nowowiejska
Studio Press

On the eve of Christmas Eve at the North Pole, Mr Claus is feeling chuffed: everything is ready, so he decides a short period of relaxation is in order.
Suddenly though there comes a message calling him to an emergency meeting: the rockets on the Christmas sleigh have exploded. At the prospect of Christmas being cancelled by their leader, the elfin team are at a loss.

Not so though Mrs Claus. She suggests calling on the creatures whose homes are nearby to assist in the delivery of the gifts. It’s not long before all the animals are assembled and ready to demonstrate their suitability. The polar bears are certainly strong, the narwhals speedy, the kittiwakes willing but inept

and the arctic foxes just disappear. Sleepy bears, a lack of waterproof wrapping and vanishing foxes are enough to send poor Mr Claus crazy. Off he goes for a meditative wander and as he’s contemplating his plight, he spots two creatures flying past.
Then Mr C. gets the surprise of his life. There before his eyes are Comet and Blitzen and he follows them back to their herd and there discovers some creatures that just might save Christmas after all.

Let’s hear it for the women and of course, the female reindeer.
I loved this clever story (complete with a few final creature facts) and it’s especially good to see Kasia Nowowiejska’s portrayal of such a diverse cast of characters in her zany illustrations.

Santa Jaws
Mark Sperring and Sophie Corrigan
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

A snappily fun seasonal story is this one of Mark Sperring’s set beneath the sea as Christmas Eve approaches.
Meet Shelly who’s been shopping at the Deep Sea Christmas Store where she’s bought a special bobble hat.
Back home she makes a snazzy sign which she affixes to her front door.

It doesn’t fool the local undersea population; they beat a hasty retreat but Sid squid is a newbie to the location and is beguiled by the sign as he contemplates stars, candy cane and snowman building. His lucky day has surely come. Up to that front door he goes and what he encounters when it’s opened is certainly alluring

but then comes a BIG sharp-toothed surprise.
All is not what it first seems though, but faced with a dilemma, what will Sid do next?

Sophie Corrigan’s sub aquatic scenes of corals decorated with Christmas decorations as well as the sight of the hapless Sid and the sharky Shelly are sure to make your little ones giggle in delight.

Things New and Things Old for Christmas

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The Most Wonderful Gift in the World
Mark Sperring and Lucy Fleming
Little Tiger

Friends, Esme and Bear, discover one last present under their tree on Christmas morning but it isn’t for either of them. Its tag reads ‘For Little Bunny Boo-Boo, Love Santa.’ They decide to find its intended recipient and donning their warmest clothes, off they go into the snow. Guided by signs that give specific instructions ‘FOLLOW THE TREACHEROUS PATH’, ‘WALK THROUGH THE HOWLING GALE’ and carry on beyond ‘DEEP, DEEP’ snow drifts, the two slip, slide, bump and are blasted towards a little wooden cabin.

There they receive a wonderfully warm welcome from Little Bunny Boo Boo but notice that thus far, she hasn’t received a single Christmas present. Imagine Bear and Esme’s surprise then when the rabbit opens the package only to find there’s absolutely nothing inside other than a small note.

The explanation that follows from Little Bunny Boo-Boo reveals that’s she’s actually received exactly what she was hoping for.

Mark Sperring’s festive tale about kindness, friendship and going the extra mile shows readers and listeners that the very best presents aren’t really wrappable at all. Imbued with the warmth and spirit of the season too are Lucy Fleming’s bright, expressive illustrations making this a book to read with little ones in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

The Christmas Unicorn
Anna Currey
Oxford University Press

Here’s a tale of the enduring magic that Christmas holds for young children.

Young Milly isn’t too happy at the prospect of spending Christmas at her Grandpa’s, but Mum explains as she tucks her into bed that he’ll be lonely otherwise and that Dad will join them as soon as he can.

During the night Milly is woken by a noise coming from beneath her bedroom window and discovers a unicorn standing there, attracted by the twinkling of all the Christmas lights of the town. Florian is his name. Milly lets him inside and from then on the unicorn participates in breakfast and all the Christmas preparations. They unpack decorations and adorn the tree but when the newcomer gets a bit over-enthusiastic about tasting the decorations, Grandpa suggests a trip to the Christmas market where Florian temporarily goes missing.

Milly’s search yields not only the unicorn, but also an invitation from a little girl who lives nearby, for Milly to join her in tobogganing the following day.

Then it’s time for Florian to depart but back in Grandpa’s house something very special awaits their return.

This wonderfully warm story of wishes, magic and love has all the warmth of the season but without the glitz and glitter. Anna Currey’s gentle watercolour illustrations add much to her telling; they’re enchantingly expressive and really bring the characters to life.

First published fifteen years ago the book has lost none of its original charm.

I Want My Dad! / With My Daddy / I Love You Dino-Daddy

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I Want My Dad!
Tony Ross
Andersen Press

Tony Ross’s latest slice of humour, Little Princess style, has the heroine considering her dad the King, making comparisons with other dads and finding him wanting in many respects. He’s much shorter that they are, is useless at baking, gets wheezy in the presence of any animal large or small, is totally inept in the water

and unlike the Gardener who takes his offspring on forest walks, gets lost in his own castle.

“I wish my dad was as much fun as other dads!” she cries to the Maid. … He’s useless.”

Her response is to teach the young complainer. First it’s pony riding, then baking, followed by swimming and walking in the woods, none of which are a resounding success. Our Little Princess is left feeling cold, decidedly damp, with hurting teeth and head, and exceedingly hungry.

In short, she feels absolutely useless.

As she heads for home who should happen along but his royal highness out walking and when he hears about her failures, just like all dads, he knows just what to say to put everything right.

With My Daddy
Jo Witek and Christine Roussey
Abrams Appleseed

In this sturdily built book, a little girl talks about how she feels when she’s with her dad.
He arouses the whole gamut of emotions: a hug makes her feel like ‘a little bird in a warm, comfy nest, … safe.’

He can also make her feel unafraid, ‘brave’ in fact, ‘daring’, ‘confident’ because he inspires self-belief,

being ‘adventurous’ particularly when it comes to swimming, ‘playful’ on the most ordinary of days, ‘calm’, and ‘excited’ especially when he plays at being a monster. Sometimes though he invokes anger but it’s a storm that quickly passes thanks to Dad’s gentle calming hands on the narrator’s back.
Interestingly we never see the complete dad, or even indeed his face. Rather it’s only huge hands, or feet and legs on the final page, that are ever visible. In this way, Christine Roussey emphasises the huge amount of love he bestows upon the small narrator and the scope of his influencing power upon her feelings and emotions.

I Love You Dino-Daddy
Mark Sperring and Sam Lloyd
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

According to his offspring, Dino-Dad is a pretty cool guy with all manner of useful attributes. He’s full of fun on trips to the park, , ace at building with blocks, great at playing monsters, pretend wrestling, giving pony rides and doing magic tricks (especially where cake is concerned) ; he’s even great to play with – albeit unknowingly – while taking a nap.

As described in Mark Sperring’s jolly rhyming text and portrayed, with his dapper blue shoes and striped scarf, in Sam Lloyd’s exuberant illustrations, this Dad is a doted-on dino. who is sure to charm your little ones; and this is a lovely fun-filled, love-filled book for dino-littles to give to a dad on his special day be that Father’s Day, a birthday or for that matter, any other day they want to bring a Daddy smile.

We’re All Works of Art

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We’re All Works of Art
Mark Sperring and Rose Blake
Pavilion Children’s Books

In a cleverly constructed rhyming narrative, Mark Sperring introduces young readers and listeners to a whole host of different styles of art while at the same time celebrating human diversity and the uniqueness of every human being.

Highly accessible and beautifully illustrated by Rose Blake who provides a series of bold illustrations clearly inspired by famous artists and works of art from prehistoric times through to Fauvism, Cubism and on to Pop art and Contemporary art.

Look out for Magritte,

Matisse …

and Indian miniatures

and Peter Blake; no matter what you like there should be something to please here and if it doesn’t make you want to visit one of our many wonderful art galleries, then I’d be surprised.

Equally, it should inspire readers to experiment with various art styles for themselves.

Great fun and gently educational too. One for the family collection and for schools of all kinds.

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Never Take a Bear to School

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Never Take a Bear to School
Mark Sperring and Britta Teckentrup
Orchard Books
The creators of the gorgeous Your Hand in My Hand have teamed up again for this starting school or nursery story; and according to the two of them, there is only one rule: ‘you just cannot take your bear into school.’ As if!
After all he’d scare everyone silly with that huge bulk and gigantic paws;

he’d sabotage the child-sized furniture and fill the room with ill-timed growls and grizzles. Then, come lunchtime, nobody else would get a look in …

Imagine his crushing capacity in a PE session; and he’d completely trash your role-play area: his havoc wreaking potential just makes the whole idea a complete no-no. And anyhow you’ll be far too busy getting to know the ropes, making friends, even making a picture of your favourite thing …

Much better then, to have that ursine pal waiting by the school gates at the end of the day, when he’ll welcome you with open arms; and you can walk home together talking about that important first day. Then once at home well, you can do whatever you want – just you and YOUR BEAR!
The possibilities entertained in Mark Sperring’s funny rhyming narrative lend themselves so beautifully to Britta’s picture making. Her scenes of chaos and consternation among the children are a treat for those around the age of the little boy and his classmates; equally so, the fun times boy and bear have together at the end of that first school day. Yes it’s a lovely starting school story but too much fun to keep just for those run up to it days, or those in the little boy’s situation: it’s a wonderful ‘what if ’ story for foundation stage audiences no matter when or who.

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Fum / Beauty and the Very Bad Beast

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Fum
Karl Newson and Lucy Fleming
Maverick Arts Publishing
Despite their name, the Crumbs are a very large family: there’s Pa, Ma, Grandpa Plum, Fee, Fi, Fo and Fum. Or rather there should be; Fum, the smallest Crumb was gone missing. The search is on: first stop, the houses of the three little pigs …

No sign of him there. “He could be hiding … / In the woods with Little Red Riding.” That’s the suggestion from one of the pigs. Off they go again with everyone joining the hunt, but Grandma and her crew cannot help. Or rather, the Big Bad Wolf gets a whiff of his socks and thinks it’s worth locating Golidlocks. Guess whose bridge they cross to get to the house of the bears. The three are eager to assist and take to the air . Further locations are visited, all to no avail, until suddenly a small voice is heard. Now who might that be up the tree – or rather beanstalk? (I just wanted to be in line with the story’s rhyme.)

Lo and behold, the little chap wasn’t lost after all – just small! And in true fairy tale style, ‘The woods filled up with songs and laughter, / and all lived happily ever after.’
Satisfying stuff, delivered through Newson’s exuberant rhyming text, full of repeat refrains, KNOCK! KNOCK!’s and “No” s to join in with; and Lucy Flemming’s funny pictorial rendition of the search with its unusual perspectives and spilt page scenes.

Beauty and the Very Bad Beast
Mark Sperring and Barbara Bongini
Scholastic
I love a story that mucks around with fairy tales, or as here, a fairy tale.
Let’s meet Beauty’s sisters, Grace,a golf-loving lass, and May, who likes to tong her hair. Both ask their doting father to bring them appropriate gifts on his return from a shopping trip in town. Beauty – well we know what her request is; her Popsey however decides to steal it from someone’s garden …

and that’s when the trouble begins. The Beastly Beast appears, makes an accusation and demands his price. Inevitably, it’s Beauty who greets him on his return and thus she duly departs to reside with the Beast.
Beauty asks him to let her go, the creature agrees to consider it and he does – over a long period that stretches into seasons during which time he falls head over heels with his captive; he even proposes.

What happens thereafter includes further considerations, a return, a whole lot of forgetting, the death of a rose, a frantic dash and a kiss …

l’ll leave you to imagine the final event: assuredly it’s rather splendid and made all the more so by Barbara Bongini’s hilarious, action packed scene of same.

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The Naughty Naughty Baddies

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The Naughty Naughty Baddies
Mark Sperring and David Tazzyman
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
One baddie’s bad enough but four ‘Naughty Naughty’ ones is something else, especially if it’s this particular quartet – a motley bunch if ever there was one.

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These NNBs especially enjoy creeping and they excel in same: sometimes, or rather, this time, their creeping leads to a big fat nothing: they simply can’t find a single naughty thing to do no matter how hard they try, or where they look.
So, ideas are discussed and Four’s plan is the favourite. It entails bouncing from their trampoline to their Badmobile and thence into a helicopter, then parachuting over a certain palace and there doing a spot of ‘spotnicking’ which will leave her royal highness’s pooch, er, spotless.
They have plans for putting to use their swag bag of spotty spoils too …

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Can those dastardly deed doers execute their mischief though; or might there be a chance that they’ll be spotted and apprehended in the act of thievery?

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If so, can they talk their way out of trouble and who will get the last chuckle? Um, that one’s easily answered: it’s anyone who is lucky enough to read or hear this wickedly funny book read aloud.
The combination of Sperring’s super-silly story that is brimming over with word-play, and Tazzyman’s terrific, rib-tickling visuals is a fabulous treat for all who encounter the outrageous shenanigans of the awesomely awful foursome. Bring it on baddies!

Four Silly Skeletons / Boo! Haiku

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Four Silly Skeletons
Mark Sperring and Sue Hendra
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Meet the silly skeleton quartet: there’s Fred, Sid, Belle an Bill, residents of a hill-top house, while down below at the foot of the same hill lives their sweet-natured Auntie June with Skellybones, her cat. The four young’uns get up to all manner of shenanigans and it’s down to their aunt to set their wrongs to right.
One dark night when the sky is full of stars and the young skellies full of energy, off they shimmy down the hill,

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only to be halted in their tracks by Auntie June clutching a large bag full of lamps and other lights and warning of the darkness on the hill. But do those four sillies pay heed to her concerns? Oh dearie me, no: what’s the need for extra light when the moon’s big and bright, they say. But that’s before they come upon this …

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which results in a hurtling, spinning, screaming drop that ends in bone-scattering disaster. So it’s just as well that Auntie June has heard their wails and come to their aid, and just happens to have a large pot of sticky stuff with her; sticky stuff that is just the thing for some hasty repairs.

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Now let that be a lesson to those full-moon frolickers.
Told in rowdy, bone rattling rhyme and illuminated by Sue Hendra’s super skeleton scenes of mischief and mayhem, this is just the thing for a Hallowe’en romp.

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Boo! Haiku
Deanna Caswell and Bob Shea
Abrams Appleseed
In this follow up to the Guess Who, Haiku are a host of mock-scary frights to delight! Starting with ‘broom across the moon/ pointed hat at the window/ hair-raising cackle’ children are asked to guess who. There’s a small visual clue below the text in addition to the haiku and the answer is revealed when the page is turned.

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The subject then presents another haiku to listeners and so on through traditional Hallowe’en-associated items – a bat, a skeleton, a pumpkin (jack-o’lantern), a ghost and so on and finally –

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The last page provides information about the haiku form and syllabification; and I particularly like the reference to ‘an element of play’.
This cries out for audience participation and is great to share with preschool children who will be honing their listening skills while having fun.

Fairy Tales Anew

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Very Little Sleeping Beauty
Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap,
Picture Corgi
Sleeping Beauty – albeit of the Very Little kind – she may be, but our diminutive heroine certainly knows all the delaying tactics where bedtime is concerned. On this particular bedtime – the eve of her birthday – she has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger. Even after a proper sing-song, several stories, tickles, dancing and bed bouncing she’s still not ready to settle down.

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Demands for her Bear, blanket and a drink in her “special-est cup” are issued and fulfilled; well not the cup, which seems to have gone missing. And that’s when the trouble starts. Waiting is not one of Very Little Sleeping Beauty’s strong points and after what seems to her an inordinately long wait, she’s off round the castle in search of her parents and her Aunty Fairy.

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It’s her Aunty that she duly discovers behind the door and what’s more, there’s a large and ‘special’ present there too. Needless to say the young miss cannot contain herself and off comes the wrapping paper to reveal …

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Despite Aunty’s warnings our almost birthday girl is determined to use it for her own purposes: “I do driving!” she enthuses, “BRRMM BRRRRMMMMM! Beep beeeep!”. But, guess what – she drives it to destruction and Aunty Fairy is not impressed at all. Shouting ensues – that’s the Aunty; and tears – that’s Very Little Sleeping Beauty – both loud enough to bring Daddy running in.

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Apologies all round come next; and all this weeping and wailing has at last worn out the tiny princess, so much so that she falls fast asleep (it’s now almost sunrise) and the birthday girl’s slumbers last right through until evening time on her special day, whereupon she wakes saying, “I have party!” and, of course, ‘party’ she has …

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This is another enchanting addition to the Heapy/Heap Very Little series and the maps on the inside front and back covers suggest more to come: I hope so. Reading these books aloud is a delight and I can’t wait for my first opportunity to grab some suitably small children and share this one with them.

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Cinderella and her Very Bossy Sisters
Mark Sperring and Barbara Bongini
Scholastic Children’s Books
In this upbeat, rather chatty style rendering of the traditional story, Cinderella certainly is at the beck and call of her extremely bossy sisters, Greta and Gerta, who like to issue all their orders in rhyme – to Cinders at least. And in addition to all the housework, Cinders can turn her hand to maintenance of another kind too …

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When the invitation from the palace arrives inviting them all to the ball, Cinders’ sisters are quick to tell her she can’t go. They start issuing their orders forthwith … “Squeeze the pimples on our chins,/ pluck that hair out from our noses,” (no way hosay) “Drench us both in perfume, /till we smell … SWEET AS ROSES!” (that I’d doubt) but orders are orders.
Duty duly done and sisters departed, who should drop in but a certain Fairy Godmother who soon has Cinders bedecked in finery, glass-slipper shod and with suitable vehicle to convey her to the palace. Having been warned about the midnight undoing of the spell, off she goes, has the time of her life at the ball and does the expected midnight dash leaving a slipper and a distraught prince behind.
Said prince does the rounds of the neighbourhood next day, eventually identifies the slipper’s owner and weds her …

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leaving the awful sisters to sulk and serve themselves. Apart from on Sundays that is, when they choose to inflict their company upon the happily married couple, one of whom has a rather rewarding and slightly rude way of dealing with the visitors should their bossiness become unbearable (which it often did).

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Barbara Bongini has made the ugly sisters a pair of outlandishly frilly-frocked madams, Cinders’ fairy godmother a diminutive, rather rotund, bespectacled being …

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and Cinderella herself a multi-talented, trouser-wearing miss, all of which contributes to making this an amusing take on the original; oh and there’s a ginger and white moggy that seems to find its way into pretty much every scene too.

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Love and Safe-Keeping

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I’ll Catch You If You Fall
Mark Sperring and Layn Marlow
Oxford University Press pbk
As a small boy with fishing gear journeys on a small boat on a big, big ocean, the question to ponder is ‘Who will keep him safe?’ His mother is there for that; and the captain to keep them both safe;

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and a star to guide the boat through the stormy seas until they all reach the harbour safe and sound where Daddy waits with open arms.

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And then it is the turn of the little boy to offer safekeeping – to …

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There is a satisfying circularity to Mark Sperring’s short, gentle question and answer text, which is beautifully depicted. Layn Marlow’s illustrations radiate warmth, really capturing those feelings of loving care and security engendered by the words.

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I Love Dad
J.M.Walsh and Judi Abbot
Simon & Schuster pbk
A young dinosaur narrator relives with readers his day, a day shared with his Dad that’s filled with playful fun and games. Together Dad and offspring walk, cycle (once Dad has fixed up their bikes that is), bounce –that’s little dinosaur using Dad’s knees as a trampoline, and more. Back at home there’s plenty of shared fun too: playing games,

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cooking and sharing a meal; and nobody but Dad can make a bedtime story such an action-packed delight.
After all that, what’s better than to dream of tomorrow’s Dad-filled day?
What young child wouldn’t wish for a father like that Dino-dad who can turn his hand to pretty much anything.

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Enormously endearing characters both large and small in scenes delightfully created in Walsh’s words and Abbot’s warm-hearted pictorial renderings.

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I Love You Daddy Grizzle
Mark Sperring and Sebastien Braun
Puffin Books
In the third story to feature this delightful duo, Little Pip is just about to wake his slumbering Dad one morning when discovers a note saying …

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Unsure what is to be celebrated, he ignores the request and discovers the pair have planned a special day out, a day that starts with the collecting of sticks. Off they go together into the woods and slowly, bit by bit, with Daddy Grizzle’s helpful clues, Little Pip pieces together a whole adventure filled with fun,

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fire-lighting, feasting and a final unplanned surprise …
A gorgeously warm-hearted celebration of paternal affection that quietly delivers a message about love and companionship being more important than material gifts.

 

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Braun’s illustrations are packed with humorous details and heart melting moments.

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Bob & Flo, Penguin & Pumpkin, Alfie & other Little Stars

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Bob and Flo The Missing Bucket
Rebecca Ashdown
Oxford University Press
Sporting a new bow and carrying a bucket containing her packed lunch, Flo goes to nursery for the very first time. There she meets Bob. Flo is interested in painting: Bob is interested in Flo’s bucket.

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Indeed he finds all manner of uses for said bucket both practical and imaginative …

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Lunchtime comes and goes; Flo heads off to the slide where she discovers her bucket at the bottom and then, Bob. Now it’s time for Flo to make use of her bucket – for a while anyway.

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With so much of the mystery of Flo’s missing bucket being told through the charmingly simple illustrations, it’s very much a case of showing not telling. A perfect lesson of the power of pictures and indeed picture books, and their vital importance in the journey to true literacy.

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Penguin and Pumpkin
Salina Yoon
Bloomsbury Children’s Books pbk
Unlikely as it might sound, young Penguin, curious about autumn, sets out with Bootsy on a trip to a distant farm to discover what the season has to offer, leaving behind a sad younger brother Pumpkin who is just too little. Having arrived at the farm, Penguin sees pumpkins everywhere and unsurprisingly they remind him of his little brother. So the adventurers decide to harvest their own autumn surprises to take back for Pumpkin. He meanwhile, has found his own autumnal adventure but it’s not the real thing – that’s still to come, thanks to Grandpa, Bootsy, Penguin and …

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With its spare text and plethora of endearing penguin characters with their distinctive accessories, this is an appealing seasonal tale for tots.

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Alfie in the Garden
Debi Gliori
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
We join little Alfie rabbit on his flights of fancy as he helps his mother bunny in the garden. He explores the jungly vegetation where he becomes a ‘bouncing, pouncing lion’, then an elephant,

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makes a rainstorm and a swishy swashy summer breeze before his leafy wings carry him back to his nest and into Mama-Bun’s arms for a cosy, snuggly nap.
A gentle tale for the very young, the majority of whom just like Alfie, enjoy imaginative play. The muted watercolour pictures with their soft black outlines are a delight. The larger than life landscapes immediately attract tinies who become engrossed in a cosy world of make-believe conjured up by Alfie’s (and their) everyday playthings.

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My Little Star
Mark Sperring and Nicola O’Byrne
Bloomsbury Children’s Books pbk
A lovely bedtime treat, not so much a story more a gentle lullaby rhyme with gorgeous pictorial accompaniments of adult animals and their offspring. Every double spread is a portrayal of tenderness; it’s difficult to choose an outright favourite – each one provides an ‘aaah!’ moment – but I think it has to be either the nuzzling giraffes or the snuggling elephants.

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Just the thing for sharing with the very young: it draws you in and makes you feel safe, warm and loved.
‘When the day is done and sleep draws near,
When the moon’s aglow and stars appear.’

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Walks with Wonder

jillrbennett 1 Comment

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Your Hand in My Hand
Mark Sperring and Britta Teckentrup
Orchard Books
As winter is turning to spring we join a mouse parent and child in a litany to nature through the seasons as they walk hand in hand. Together they encounter trees bejewelled with singing birds,

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the glorious blues and yellows of the woodland flowers, experience the wildness of the wind as they splash through puddles and wonder at a rainbow.

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Then come summer’s glowing meadows alive with birds, butterflies and other creatures large and small, as well as the delights of paddling in the warm sea. Autumn too brings gifts – of acorns, berries, conkers, fungi and leaves glowing golden, orange, red and brown as they start to tumble.

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Then when winter takes hold once more, the pair snuggle closer together through frost and snow safe in the knowledge, “With your hand in my hand … we’ll never feel lost.”
This book is an absolute joy to share with young children. Sperring’s gentle rhyming text is perfectly paced so one can linger long over each spread and savour the colours, shapes and patterns of Britta Teckentrup’s eloquent scenes along with the mouse and child.
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On the Day You Were Born
Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks
Allen & Unwin (Murdoch Books)
‘My daddy said,
On the day you were born, I wrapped you up warm and took you for a walk to see the world.’
A new father takes his new baby out into the world, and as they walk, it’s as if like his infant, he too is seeing it as new. What a truly wonderful walk it was taking them through sparkling puddles after the rain had stopped, when sleepy night creatures woke to say hello and the honey-scented air was filled with the buzz of bees,

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where a duckling found its family once again; a walk past an old tree of special significance, where friendly animals were almost overwhelming and berries glowed on the bushes, and crickets sang and butterflies danced among the glorious wild flowers. Then as day gave way to night the full moon shone to light the way home where, ‘My daddy said, …
‘I put you back in your mother’s arms and that night we were the world, the three of us together.’
This celebration of a new life is poetry in motion. Brooks glowing scenes, so rich in detail, texture and colour are the perfect complement for Margaret Wild’s lyrical text.
A gorgeous gift for a young child, new or not so new, and surely one to engender feelings of awe and wonder about the natural world.
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It’s Time for Bed

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Max and the Won’t Go To Bed Show
Mark Sperring and Sarah Warburton
Harper Collins pbk
Take your seats for a star-spangled performance by young Max who is giving a presentation of his world famous, death-defying PUTTING OFF BEDTIME FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE SHOW. Drum roll. Said show comprises a handful of amazing feats, trick one being a disappearing act. No not Max but a cup of milk and a cookie v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y,

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followed by the second trick – the taming of a savage beast (aka Brian the family dog).
Oops! Whose is that hand pulling our young magician up the stairs? Quick! Another trick is called for – THE GREAT DISAPPEARING BOY TRICK. But where has our star gone?

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Applause called for here…
Hastily followed by trick number four: the FLOATING PYJAMA TRICK (possibly thirty minutes worth of entertainment here). Not tonight maybe. Don’t leave yet though: Max still has more magic up his sleeve, or rather … under the bed, within the wardrobe… inside the toy box.
Before attempting his grand finale – daring to demand not one but ten bedtime stories (huge round of applause for this one I suggest) – he gets two and then … yawn… curtains, lights dimmed… good night everyone.
This book requires not so much a reading more a performance (with numerous curtain calls and encores I suspect). It’s cleverly constructed, beautifully controlled (with additional manipulation of the text through the use of various fonts and integration of words and pictures)

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and bursting with energy and humour. The illustrations too abound with energy and humour: despite his diminutive stature Max is certainly a larger than life character portrayed as a cute cuddlesome infant, albeit a supercharged one. In contrast, all we see of his parents are the occasional limbs helping their offspring on his way to the inevitable.

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It’s clear that Sarah Warburton greatly enjoyed herself, playing to the gallery by appropriately patterning various items of clothing, furniture and bedding, not to mention the wallpaper and more.

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A double act winner delivered with panache and pizzazz.
For bedtime reading? Well, that all depends …

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Harry and the Monster
Sue Mongredien and Nick East
Little Tiger Press pbk
A scary monster invades Harry’s dream one night. The following night he’s reluctant to go to bed in case it makes a return visit. “Try imagining him with a pair of pink pants on his head,” suggests Mum. The monster returns, Harry imagines;

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the monster is furious frightening Harry once again. The jelly plan – Dad’s this time – for Wednesday has a similar effect, so does Mum’s monster tickling plan on Thursday; in fact that only inflames the monster’s temper more. So what about Dad’s plan for Friday night? Perhaps even scary monsters are scared of furious mums …
With a not-too-scary monster, repetition and suspense, together with funny illustrations,

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take for instance a jelly-spattered monster, or one with prickles in his bottom and sporting Christmas tree decorations, this is one to make small children giggle at bedtime or any time.

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Prehistoric Animal Brigade

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Woolly
Sam Childs
Scholastic pbk
The new addition to the mammoth family has something of a problem. She’s not woolly at all, just the opposite in fact; she’s bald and pink and feels the cold terribly. Mum has an idea – a tea towel wrapping, but this scares off the potential friends she meets. Poor Woolly: back home she goes. Time to start knitting advises Daddy but Mummy has another idea in the form of a rainbow-hued, feathery coat. However, Woolly’s attempts to emulate the birds win her no friends either so it’s back home once again.

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This time though, Mummy heeds Daddy’s advice and gets knitting.

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The outcome? A very happy Woolly with lots of playmates until she gets overheated in the family cave and rushes out to play in the cold, cold snow. That proves to be her undoing but it’s not a total disaster; far from it in fact … Unashamedly cute and heart-warming; what endearing characters Sam Childs has portrayed in the mixed media illustrations of her hugely enchanting story.
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Dino-Mummy
Mark Sperring and Sam Lloyd
Bloomsbury pbk.
Dino-Mummy is a marvel. From singing a morning ‘Tra la la” to after lunch rocket launcher, afternoon dino-pirate

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or evening bath time bubble maker she is hard at work caring for and entertaining her two demanding dino-offspring. Nothing seems to faze this super-mum and although it would have been good to see her engaging in some less traditional female activities, Dino-Mummy as portrayed by Sam Lloyd is a charmer with her matching pink shoes, necklace and floral adornment. Sperring’s rhyming text reads aloud well though I suggest if you are sharing it with a group that you try it on your own first as the phrasing in one or two places can be a bit tricky on the tongue.
Definitely a good bet for appreciative (dino) tinies to give to their mums on Mother’s Day.
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There’s a Dinosaur in My Bathtub
Catalina Echeverri
Bloomsbury pbk.
Not so much a dinosaur, more an imaginary friend is the huge green creature in this story, especially as he is only seen by Amelia, sports a large black curly moustache, hails from France and answers to the name, Pierre. Said large beast certainly adds spice to Amelia’s life: together they picnic on the moon, dance upside down to Pierre’s magic violin and much more besides, the bathtub becoming a vehicle for their flights of fancy.

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Sadly though, Pierre and others like him only stay during the summer months and so, when the autumn leaves begin to fall, it’s time to bid farewell. But not before one last special picnic with Pierre’s most favourite food: can you guess what that might be?
Catalina Echeverri’s wonderful scenes abound with witty detail, including captions and labels, adding to the quirky humour of her tale, a tale told by Amelia herself who engages her audience with her opening speech … ‘My name is Amelia. … Shhh!! It’s a secret so you mustn’t tell anyone in the whole world … OK?’
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Toot Goes to Dinosaurland
Catherine and Laurence Anholt
Nosy Crow pbk
Toot has a little red car with a magic satnav that will take him and his toy puppy to all manner of exciting places. He decides to visit Dinosaurland. (I can see a series coming here.) Off goes the car, through the city, into a tunnel, up and down mountains, to the top of a high hill and down to his destination. There he meets dinosaurs of different sizes – a weeny one, a middle-sized one and a big one but not, much to Toot’s relief, a huge enormous one. So what is that long green slope you are driving up Toot? “ROA-AR!”

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Time for some fast thinking and a clever trick to escape those open jaws.
This story will go down well with very young children either individually or in a preschool setting. The bright illustrations are engaging and will hold their interest; and the text offers lots of opportunities for audience participation through sounds and actions, Children will enjoy being in the know as they notice what Toot does not; that he is driving along a tail-shaped road towards danger.
After sharing the story you could take the opportunity offered therein to talk about comparative sizes. Then, why not let preschoolers play out the story with small world dinosaurs of various sizes, a little rabbit soft toy for Toot and a toy car large enough to fit him in; the children could decide what else is needed.
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Nina is immediately grabbed by the story

Gigantosaurus
Jonny Duddle
Templar Publishing
“His feet go STOMP!
His jaws go CRUNCH!
In the blink of an eye
You’d be his LUNCH!”
Watch out! The Gigantosaurus is about, warn the dinosaur mums as Bonehead, Tiny, Fin and Bill set off to play on the hill one day.
Self-elected lookout, Bonehead posts himself on the termite nest and it’s not long before he raises the alarm “GIGANTOSAURUS!”…

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THUD THUD THUD – a false alarm as it turns out. So too is the second cry and the third. Bonehead laughs at his pals, leaves them and goes to take a nap so he says, but “GIGANTOASARUS!” he calls again. Enough is enough decide the others going off to explore but then …
Duddle’s prehistoric take on The Boy Who Cried Wolf is nothing short of stupendous. The rhyming story rollicks along and with their filmic quality, the digitally created illustrations almost leap off the page.

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There’s also a fold out page and sturdy dust jacket that doubles as a large two-sided poster,one side of which shows the dinosaurs on a time-line and, to whet the appetites of knowledge seekers, there are snippets of information about the featured dinosaurs on the two final double spreads.
With his dinosaurs, Duddle has definitely done it again.

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WOW!

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Finally, not really a picture book

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Hot Dogs and Dinosnores
Amanda Li
Macmillan Children’s Books pbk
‘What do you get when a dinosaur sneezes? Out of the way’.  You can find this joke, more dinosaur jokes and a whole host of others in this ‘first animal joke book’. It’s ideal for those gaining confidence as readers, and even if they don’t laugh uproariously at Li’s one hundred odd groan making jokes, Jane Eccles’s dotty line drawings are sure to raise a smile.
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Have you marked  5th March in your diaries? wrad13nodate