Tag National Trust

Beatrix and her Bunnies

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Beatrix and her Bunnies
Rebecca Colby and Caroline Bonne-Müller
Nosy Crow

For many adults, myself included, Beatrix Potter’s animal stories and nursery rhyme books were part and parcel of childhood. Indeed I had the entire set. How many though, are aware that Benjamin Bunny and Peter Rabbit were real live creatures that the author befriended as she was growing up. That’s getting rather ahead though, for this pictorial biography of Beatrix starts with her childhood when she lived a rather lonely existence in a large London house. Even then she was an animal lover and had lots of small creatures as pets, but nonetheless she longed for a ‘special friend’ with whom she could play.

Rebecca Colby writes of how on family visits to the countryside, Beatrix would search for wild rabbits to play with but none would stay. None that is until Benjamin. A friend at last and one that would allow his carer make lots of sketches of him, honing her drawing skills in so doing. Inevitably though, Benjamin eventually dies and once more, Beatrix feels lonely. She uses drawing and painting to lift her spirits but, it’s only when she visits the countryside that Beatrix’s drawing really flourishes.

Some time later, another rabbit enters her life, it’s Peter, a truly playful and engaging creature, much loved by visiting children.

This gives Beatrix an idea. Perhaps she can write and illustrate a story about her much-loved bunnies so that children everywhere could read about them, and so she does.

Getting Peter’s adventures published is challenging but eventually she succeeds and the book becomes a huge success, allowing her to move to the countryside where she creates lots more stories.

A lovely book for young enthusiasts of her books and of the environment about which Beatrix cared so much. The elements of Beatrix’s life are beautifully interwoven by the author, who also provides an additional final note explaining Beatrix’s connection with the National Trust (who are collaborators in its publishing) – and equally beautifully illustrated by Caroline Bonne-Miller.

Go Wild on the River / Sharks, Seahorses and other British Sea Creatures

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Go Wild on the River
Goldie Hawk and Rachael Saunders
Nosy Crow

This is a handy, pocket-sized book for young adventurers to read before they sally forth for some wild fun on or around a river.
It covers all the essentials starting with words about keeping safe, followed by what to take on your trip and what to wear.

There are river investigations such as ‘how deep is this river’ – important in case you want to cross it or investigate the creatures living in it, and measuring how fast the river is flowing. You can also measure the quality of the water by taking a sample and looking at the colour; this is clearly an important consideration for wildlife and there are lots of pages on the flora and fauna associated with rivers.

If you feel like emulating the beavers and building a dam, there’s a spread on how to do that too and should you feel like dangling above the water, there are instructions on making a tyre swing (adult help required for this).

The final pages (before a quiz) are concerned with safety and what to do should you get into trouble on the river – very important to read before any trip; and last but by no means least, there are words about showing respect for the environment.

Plenty of pithy advice as well as exciting ideas are packed into the 80 odd pages of this little handbook written by Goldie Hawk and illustrated (with gentle humour where appropriate), by Rachael Saunders.

Sharks, Seahorses and other British Sea Creatures
Nikki Dyson
Nosy Crow

The third in the super sticker book series published in collaboration with the National Trust, this one is bursting with creatures of all shapes and sizes that live close to, or under the sea.

We investigate a variety of homes by visiting the sandy shore, exploring the rocks, looking in rock pools, going right down to the seabed,

searching the shallows and going to the harbour.

Each beautifully illustrated spread provides facts about the relevant sea animals from scavenging seagulls to acrobatic dolphins, basking sharks to sponges and spiny sea urchins to seahorses.

There are 4 pages of stickers so you can adorn the appropriate pages with crabs, stingrays, seaweed, starfish and much more.

If you’re going to the seaside or contemplating a visit, then the 11 scenes herein will set your youngsters up for some marine spotting fun.

Wild World, The Coral Kingdom and Who’s Hiding on the River? / Who’s Hiding on the Farm?

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Wild World
Angela McAllister, Hvass & Hannibal
Wide Eyed Editions

The author has chosen thirteen natural habitats – Rainforest, Arctic, Prairie, Woodland, Coral reef, Desert, Rock pool, Mountain, The Outback, Moorland, Deep sea, Mangrove and Savannah – that are under threat due to human activity, and captures the essence of each one in a series of free verses.
Here’s the opening to Mountain:
‘I am the highest mountain, / Born in a collision of continents. / All is beneath me, except the sun, moon and stars. / I am rock, / Crag, cliff and ledge, draped in veils of white. / I am snow-maker, with glaciers in my arms, / Whose meltwater swells great rivers below.’

In stark contrast is the quieter sounding Savannah, which opens like this: ‘Savannah speaks in whispering grasses, / In the chatter of cicadas across an endless plain. / Spacious homeland of swift cheetah / And gazelle, with the horizon in her eye.’

Using matte colours, the illustrators Hvass and Hannibal showcase the flora and fauna of each location in a series of eye-catching paintings that incorporate the text within them.

Human use, climate change and pollution are responsible for the damage to the environment and after her introductory poem, it’s not until the final pages that the author enlarges upon her conservation message citing the specific damage within the thumbnail sketch of each of the places portrayed. Thereafter she implores readers to use less energy, to recycle and to buy with care.

We’d all do well to keep in mind her final words about our precious planet: ‘Explore it, protect it, love it. / Our Earth is a wonderful wild world. ‘

Also with an ecological message is:

The Coral Kingdom
Laura Knowles and Jennie Webber
Words & Pictures

Our coral reefs, with their gorgeous colours: crimson, red, rose, yellow,

turquoise, emerald, jade, purple, even black, that have taken 1000s of years to grow and give home to a myriad of creatures large and small are under threat.

When the coral is bleached white due to acidity caused by climate change, and stays white for too long, then the reef dies.

Laura Knowles has written a rhyming narrative that outlines the life cycle of a reef and includes a caution that unless we humans take action these amazing ecosystems will be lost forever.

Jennie Webber’s detailed watercolour illustrations show the beauty of the undersea habitat and a final fold-out page gives additional information about coral reef conservation.

A useful addition to a primary school conservation topic box, or, for a child interested in ocean life or ecosystems.

Who’s Hiding on the River? / Who’s Hiding on the Farm?
Katharine McEwen
Nosy Crow

It’s never too early to start learning about nature and here are two board books just right for introducing animals, some wild and some domesticated, to the very young.

Both are beautifully illustrated by Katharine McEwen and there are lots of animals to find in both locations.

Toddlers can spend a day by the river, from a busy morning through to night-time as they explore the pages, manipulate the sturdy flaps in response to the ‘Who’s hiding here?’ on every right hand page to discover tadpoles, cygnets, fish, dragonflies, a stoat, a beaver and more as they swim, wriggle, wade, leap, build and paddle.
The farm book also moves through the day in similar fashion and McEwen’s text is carefully worded to introduce new vocabulary including ‘pecking,’ ‘trotting’, ‘snoozing’ ‘prowling’, munching’ and ‘diving’ along the way.

Published in collaboration with the National Trust these are fun and at the same time, gently educational.

Board Book Shelf

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Hidden Animals
Find the Wolf
Agnese Baruzzi
Templar Publishing
Here are two wonderfully playful board books from Italian artist, Agnese Baruzzi.
In the former, the peep-through die-cut pages beguile readers with a series of different coloured shapes which, when the page is turned become transformed into in turn, a bird, a fox, a bug, a cat,

a dog, a jellyfish and a lion.
Part of the fun, once children have worked out what is happening, is to guess the animal from the coloured background on the left-hand side before the page is turned. I was wrong on a couple of occasions.
Find the Wolf takes readers on a hunt for a ”WANTED’ wolf . As we walk through the woods we see for instance, two pointy ears or a set of grey paws. Or are they?
Here Baruzzi uses two die-cut circles on each right hand page and by asking such questions as ‘Are those his eyes?’

leads us to believe’ that behind them the missing lupine lurks. But on turning over we see something completely different.

The elusive creature (or traces of same) is actually lurking somewhere on every recto which further adds to the delicious hide and seek element.

Up and Down
Rosalind Beardshaw
Nosy Crow
This lovely board book, published in partnership with the National Trust is Rosalind Beardshaw’s latest addition to her A Walk in the Countryside series.
Winter has well and truly arrived; so the two small friends don warm clothes and boots before setting off into the great snowy outdoors.
Then it’s Up hill and Down on their sledges, followed by on foot encounters with a variety of creatures both feathered and furry

as they spend a wonderful day together savouring the delights of their rural romp.
There’s plenty to enjoy and discuss with toddlers in addition to the inbuilt ‘opposites’ the minimal text offers.

Bizzy Bear Ambulance Rescue
Benji Davies
Nosy Crow
Toddlers will delight in making the ‘nee-naw’ ambulance sounds and manipulating the moving parts in the new Bizzy Bear board book.
Bizzy Bear assumes the role of paramedic in his latest episode and he’s responding to an emergency call out. A little cat has had a cycling accident and Bizzy rushes to the scene where he helps lift the patient into the ambulance

which then rushes the injured kitty to hospital where he’s treated for what looks like a broken leg. Short and sweet!

One Happy Tiger/ Colours: A Walk in the Countryside / My Little Cities: London

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One Happy Tiger
Catherine Rayner
Little Tiger Press
What a delight to have Augustus back and between the sturdy covers of a wonderful board book. Everything about this is splendid from the look and feel of that cover through to Augustus’s sublime smile as he watches the movements of his ten friends on the final spread.
In between, he starts off sitting alone and then we see a sequence of encounters with 2 bugs (beetles I think); 3 birds with bright plumage; 4 ‘floating butterflies’;

5 dragonflies hover above his head. Augustus then bounds off leaving 6 large footprints and moves through a rain shower dancing with 7 ‘plump raindrops’ …

relaxes to watch 8 bees; splashes into the pool to tease 9 fish before clambering out to dry off in the sun and greet his friends all together.
This is a board book, (based Catherine Rayner’s Augustus and His Smile), that looks, apart from its sturdy card pages like a real picture book; and its shape is truly satisfying too. Adults will get as much pleasure as the toddlers they share this one with.

Colours: A walk in the countryside
Rosalind Beardshaw
Nosy Crow
Published in collaboration with the National Trust, this is another delightful countryside walk wherein readers accompany two toddlers on a joyful nature ramble; this time, it’s colour-related. We join the children as they exuberantly run down a slope surrounded by green – look closely and you’ll see a cricket and a butterfly on the plants. They stop to observe a ladybird on a grass stem in a poppyfield; then notice an orange-tip butterfly by a stone wall; a group of ants attracts the attention of the boy while the girl views a black bird through her binoculars. Their walk continues apace till picnic time, when they have a snack before moving on, all the while keeping their eyes open for interesting sightings such as …

A veritable paintbox of twelve colours and an entire rainbow are part and parcel of their rural ramblings. Awe and wonder for tinies: if this doesn’t inspire an adult to take their young infant out into the countryside on an observation walk, which may or may not mirror that of the children in this lovely little book, I’d be very surprised.

My Little Cities London
Jennifer Adams and Greg Pizzoli
Chronicle Books
Board the bus and take a tour of London. Ten of its famous landmarks are featured in this board book although none is named until the final spread whereon there is a ‘cast in order of appearance’ style briefing about each one depicted. The whole thing is beautifully presented, the text being in rhyming couplets; and the font changes on each spread.

Concepts such as new/old, many/few, soft/hard (rain) are introduced in relation to The Tower of London, the Shard, Trafalgar Square (many pigeons), the Natural History Museum (few dinosaur skeletons), and the two final spreads show wonderful illuminations – the London Eye

and Big Ben – against the night sky.
Altogether a class act, with so much to see and so much to talk about: that’s London. Author, Adams, and illustrator, Pizzoli, have, for toddlers, done it proud.

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Joys of the Countryside

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1 2 3 A Walk in the Countryside
Rosalind Beardshaw
Nosy Crow
This is a companion volume to ABC A Walk in the Countryside also published in association with the National Trust. Here the two small friends, plus dog are taking an autumnal walk by the river, over the hedgerow stile, pausing to look at falling leaves and scudding clouds, squirrels busy collecting acorns.

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Then over the stepping stones to the other side of the river where rabbits play; and on into the pine woods. Next it’s time to pause for a tasty snack – thank you apple tree …

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before stopping again for a spot of fish watching, blackberry picking – yum yum –

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and, as the sun sinks the youngsters take delight in the flock of geese overhead 19 in all. But there’s still more to count – 100 stars, as they make their way homewards ready for snuggling up in a cosy bed.
With a delightful visual narrative accompanied by named items to count, this is a super little book to share with tinies either as a prelude to, or after, their own country counting walk. It’s as well it’s sturdily built to stand up to all the frequent re-readings I forsee for this enchanting country foray. Those illustrations would make a cracking number frieze for an early years setting or small child’s bedtoom.

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Hedgehogs, Hares and other British Animals
Nikki Dyson
Nosy Crow
This ‘Nature Sticker Book’ goes right through the seasons visiting various habitats from the garden, the forest – underground and above in the spring;

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to the river and open countryside at night. We’re then taken closer up into tall grassland that provides a home for harvest mice, rabbits, grouse and hares, and many wild flowers too can be found. The marine life and the seashore spreads focus mainly on large mammals – whales, dolphins, porpoises and seals although one of the activity spots on this spread invites readers to choose a position for the lighthouse (one is included among the 2 pages of stickers in the “On the beach’ section).
Seasonal changes are evident in the ‘Busy in the autumn’ woodland spread that shows ripened fruits and animals foraging for food to store for winter; and there’s a snowy woodland scene too …

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The final focus is on the reintroduction of some animal species such as beavers, and a playful mention of the possibility of wolves roaming once more. The last spread is a checklist of 28 different species that can be filled in over time.
Nikki Dyson, who illustrated Zippo the Super Hippo, provides 11 gorgeous natural scenes into which she places a plethora of wild animals that, with a touch of playfulness, she imbues with real character. One can imagine children, once they’ve added the appropriate stickers and completed entire scenes, creating their own stories relating to these creatures.

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They might even want to include some of the factual information gleaned from the scientific material provided for each spread.
‘This book is all about mammals …’ says the introduction but it’s about much more: the flora are equally wonderful, as are the birds, insects and other small animals that have found their way into Nikki’s natural locations.

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Clothes and Countryside ABCs

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D is for Dress-Up
Maria Carluccio
Chronicle Books
Wonderfully playful: every page in this delightful alphabet book is a starting point for discussion or storying. What is being made by the cook wearing that apron on the A page?

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Who are the children sporting the bow and bow tie illustrated for B? Where are they going?
On what occasion will the ensemble be worn?

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Indeed Maria Carluccio’s digitally rendered scenes celebrate the world of clothing and fabrics for a whole variety of occasions from costumes to be worn for Hallowe’en to glasses and underwear for every day use.
There are also activity-related items such as leotards and yoga pants …

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and I like the way fabric-related words such as quilted, and polka dots & pinstripes

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are included in addition to articles of clothing.
An unusual choice of theme for an alphabet book but it’s one that works, although one might want to quibble about ‘neckties’ for instance (I guess this is in use in the USA) and none of the clothes featured on the overalls page equates to the UK definition of the word. All in all though, this is certainly worth adding to any early years book collection; and it could be a good starting point for children to collaborate on their own ‘Dress-Up” alphabet.

For a slightly younger audience is:

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ABC A Walk in the Countryside
Rosalind Beardshaw
Nosy Crow
In this charming alphabet book, published in conjunction with the National Trust, we accompany two small children on a gentle stroll in the country. There are frequent pauses to observe …

 

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to play,

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and sometimes to be observed too.

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Every spread has plenty to engage and to discuss with youngsters around the same age as the two walkers; and the sturdy board book format should stand up to the enthusiastic handling it’s likely to receive.

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