Tag Miriam Moss

Board Book Treats

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Dress Up!
Jane Foster
Templar Publishing

Little ones can make sure the characters in Jane Foster’s Dress Up! are suitably clad whatever the weather or what they want to do.

Bear needs to go out but there’s a downpour so a coat and wellies are required. Hamster is thinking of a stroll in the sunshine – a pair of sunglasses and a hat are a good idea for her.
Brrr! Cat is venturing into the snow: warm mittens and scarf are just the thing.

Frog on the other hand needs to be geared up with goggles and armbands for swim time.

It’s the end of the day when we meet Monkey. Once he’s got on his PJs and slippers, it’s time to say “toys away” and bid him ‘Goodnight’.

On each recto, opening a flap on Jane’s vibrantly portrayed animal, and a slider alongside, enables your little one to assist the animal with its snazzy outfit. A simple descriptive phrase followed by ‘Can you put on … ?’ set against a bright background poses the challenge.

Interactive fun, a predictable text and alluring art – what more can a toddler ask of a board book – oh yes, the chance to develop manipulative skills too.

I Forgot to Say I Love You
Miriam Moss and Anna Currey
Macmillan Children’s Books

This is a sweet story to read with the very young and it’s now available in a sturdy board book format.

It’s time Little Billy Bear was up, dressed and having his breakfast ready for nursery but he’s procrastinating on account of Rabbit his favourite soft toy. Mum though hasn’t time for his dawdles or she’ll be late for work.

Consequently she hurries him along

all the way to where Mrs Brown is waiting at the nursery door where she hands him over and dashes off.

Poor Billy is more than a little bit upset as Mum has left without saying that all important “I love you” to her son; moreover she still has Rabbit in her bag across her back.

Billy is convinced that Rabbit’s lost. Mrs Brown tries to placate the little bear who is now distraught, when suddenly in bursts Billy’s mum with Rabbit safe and sound and she’s ready to comfort him and tell her son she loves him. Then all is finally well.

Anna Currey beautifully captures both Billy’s changing feelings and the inherent warmth of Miriam Moss’s text with her scenes of the early morning rush that include details that make you want to slow down

and savour them rather than rush along with the characters.

Books to Play With

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Bizzy Bear Dinosaur Safari
Benji Davies
Nosy Crow
Toddlers will enjoy accompanying Bizzy Bear on safari. Having parked his jeep, he’s ready for his dino day. Off he goes with friend rabbit to spot all manner of dinosaurs along the trail, some large, others hungry and one baby just hatching out. Then it’s time to head to the diner for a spot of refreshment: watch out though BB – what’s that with big sharp teeth behind the diner, ready to pop out? A sturdy board book with a brief rhyming text and sliders to pull, push or turn to reveal those prehistoric creatures in their brightly coloured jungly landscape.

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There’s an abundance of flora and fauna for young eyes to find in addition to the dinosaurs; and what can have made those enormous footprints?

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Snip-Snap
illustrated by Kasia Nowowiejska
Caterpillar Books
Five small animals in turn invite toddlers to guess the identity of five larger ones lurking in various places in the African landscape. The latter are revealed by lifting the flaps, thus allowing the animals to pop out from their respective hiding places.
Young listeners can absorb the simple concepts (‘high amongst the leaves’ or ‘beside the jungle path’ for instance)

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as they discover in turn, the roaring lion, chittering-chattering monkey, the elephant splashing,

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the giraffe stretching her neck and the snippy-snappy crocodile lurking in the swamp as they listen to the accompanying playful rhyming text.

A companion title with a farmyard setting is Cheep Cheep

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Doctor Molly’s Medicine Case
Miriam Moss and Deborah Allwright
Walker Books
Young Molly loves to dress up and has decided to be a doctor. She dons her doctor’s outfit (lifting the flap reveals the transformation) then finds her magical medicine case. Therein are all the things required to make her patients feel better. Molly is prepared

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and soon there’s a knock at her door. It’s Polar Bear with a bad case of the sneezles and shivers; seemingly he’s caught cold playing in the snow. A reassuring Dr Molly opens her case and takes out a thermometer and hot water bottle – just what’s needed to make Mr B. feel much better. (Children will love to open Molly’s bag, remove the items, tuck the hot water bottle into Polar Bear’s arms and take his temperature).
Dr Molly also successfully treats Crocodile (whose tail is injured as a result of a skateboarding accident) and Pelican (suffering from a sore throat caused by the consumption of too many bony fish)

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so why have all her patients returned? It’s a case of rumbly tums so it’s just as well that, in her magic case, Dr Molly has everything required for a cure. And a very tasty one it looks too.

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Picnic time everyone.
A fun, interactive treatment for the very young when they are suffering from a bout of ‘I- need-a-storyitis’.

Use your local bookshop localbookshops_NameImage-2