Tag Nicola Kent

Play and Learn with Board Books

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My First Black and White Book: Play
Pascale Estellon
Post Wave

This is a sturdily designed, wordless book with a cover that acts as a container for the free-standing pages that fold in and out accordion style and it’s intended to be used with a baby lying on its front.
There’s a mirror, followed by illustrations, mainly black and white with splashes of colour that show a wide variety of items such as geometric shapes, faces and animals. Little ones can develop their fine motor skills by tracing trails, as well as developing their language, especially if an older person is using the images as starting points for talk.

Lion’s Cleaning Day
Nicola Kent
Little Tiger

This is the fourth story in the interactive Busy Chores for Little Paws series.
Lion’s neighbour, Bear, is coming to pay him a visit so Lion decides some tidying up is required. There are art materials scattered on the rug that need to go back on the shelf, crockery in the sink waiting to be washed up and put away, a dirty worktop to wipe and floors in need of a run over with the vacuum cleaner. Lion, with the assistance of little humans who use the slippers, flaps and wheel, get the work done just before there comes a knock on the door. Hurrah! Lion can welcome his friend to a spotless home.
Ideal for developing fine motor skills and beginning sound/symbol awareness by joining in the splish splash … chink … spray… whoosh and knock! knock! sounds.
There’s more interactive fun in:

Glow
Sophie Ledesma
Little Tiger

Firefly has lost his glow – or has he? One night the moon’s aglow, the lighthouse is sending bright beams out to the boats on the stormy sea, jellyfish dances with a fish, shimmering as she does so. So what has happened to Firefly’s glow: even Owl is puzzled. Will the little insect ever find his sparkling light? What to you think?
Once an adult has moved the switch on the back cover to the on position, little ones can delight in the sounds and lights that are activated when they press the button on each spread.

Toddler Treats To Share

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Matty and Mo: The Lost Teddy
Matty and Mo: Are We There Yet?
Rosalind Beardshaw
Campbell Books

When you’re little there are SO many life lessons to be learned. So it is with the pups in this new series.
Matty and Mo are sibling puppies, Matty being the elder of the two. We meet them on a rainy day playing inside picnics together.. Matty notices that Ted is missing and Mo, of course wants to help find him. They search in the likely places – the bed, a cupboard and in their liege toy pile but there’s no sign of Ted. This upsets Matty and Mo attempts to cheer him up and suddenly Matty notices something sticking out of Mo’s ‘new useful bag’. What could it be? Mo, so it appears can sometimes be a little silly
In the second book Matty and Mo are off to the beach in the car with Mum. It’s quite a distance so patience is needed. In her excitement Matty gobbles all her snacks in one go and then inevitably, one of the pups needs a wee. It’s Mo. (Matty went before they set off.) Inevitably too, boredom sets in and Matty gets busy with her sticker book … Mum must have a lot of patience as she drives and at last the beach is in sight, but the puppies can’t see it until they wake up.
Trying to be patient has tired them out – only for a short time though.
Little humans will have a giggle at the puppies as they earn to deal with what to them are challenging experiences. They will also enjoy using the moving parts – flaps, a wheel and the final fold-out heart in both books that were inspired by real-life family experiences..

Duck & Friends
Octopus & Friends
illustrated by Surya Sajnani
Quarto Kids (Wee Gallery)

Wee Gallery are a husband and wife team who create books to help babies and very young children develop through visual learning.
Both of these take the shape of the titular character and little ones will love joining in as both Duck and Octopus look for their friends in these splash splash bath books wherein each black and white creature magically comes to life in full colour when wet. Duck will meet the likes of frog, dragonfly and swan whereas Octopus’s friends include a large fish, jellyfish and a crab..
Splishy, sploshy, squishy, squashy tactile bath time fun for tinies.

Hippo’s Garden Day
Nicola Kent
Little Tiger

Lion and Hippo have very different gardens. Lion’s is neat and nothing looks out of place. In contrast Hippo’s is overgrown. I assume it’s not been left to grow wild deliberately. Hippo decides he needs to do some serious work on his grade. Having collected tools from his shed he sets about mowing, trimming, watering and in due season, harvesting fruit to share with his friend, Lion.
With some onomatopoeic language for small children to join in with as Hippo works, flaps to explore, a slider and wheels integral to the bold bright illustrations, this is a fun introduction to a task some adults thoroughly enjoy, some do under sufferance and others – those in favour of rewilding – don’t do at all. Toddlers however, will love the opportunity to assist Hippo in his work.

Cat and Dumpling: Home Sweet Home

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Cat and Dumpling: Home Sweet Home
Nicola Kent
Oxford Children’s Books

Meet Cat, knitting fanatic and enthusiastic guitar player, who badly needs a new place to live that has plenty of cupboards. Then there’s dog, Dumpling, an ace gardener whose vegetables make delicious feasts. He too needs somewhere new to live, but it must have a garden sufficiently large to accommodate all his plants. They both set out house hunting, visiting several places that are quickly crossed off their respective lists. Feeling downcast they each decide to take a walk and almost simultaneously come upon a sign advertising a flat to rent. Both think this ground floor abode is ideal for their needs, even more so as Delores from upstairs shows them around. Delories thinks they’re both too noisy but is persuaded by their offers of gifts and Cat and Dumpling end up becoming flatmates. All goes well when they move in,

at least initially, but it takes a bit of compromising and kind deeds before come bedtime, it’s truly a case of home sweet home.

Nicola Kent’s sweet story with amusing, full colour illustrations at every turn of the page and short chapters is just right for new solo readers who will assuredly enjoy meeting these new characters and be pleased to know further adventures are in the pipeline.

Croc’s Cooking Day / Tractors Have Wings!

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These are both titles from Little Tiger – thank you to the publishers for sending them for review.

Croc’s Cooking Day
Nicola Kent

This is the second in the Busy Chores for Little Paws series.
When Croc hears his pal Hippo’s tummy rumbling, he decides to make some pancakes, with some assistance from young humans that is. Once Croc has taken the equipment and ingredients needed from the cupboard and measured out the amounts required, by pulling the strategically placed tab, said assistants can pour and sprinkle flour and splash milk into a mixing bowl,

manipulate the hand mixer and once the batter is fully mixed ready to cook, try their hand at tossing the pancakes.
Croc certainly looks pleased as he approaches Hippo. The pachyderm clearly enjoyed the repast judging by the rate at which he consumes his share. Let’s hope he doesn’t end up with tummy ache!
Interactive fun and lots of opportunities for little humans to develop their fine motor skills as they use the sliders, flaps and wheel.

Tractors Have Wings!
Becky Davies and Gareth Lucas

Eleven modes of transport in all appear in this board book, some of which are deliberately introduced with a false statement such as ‘Did you know that tractors have wings?’ and ‘ And trains run on water’ which are clearly intended to provoke correction from a savvy young listener. However, when wheels appear on the scene, things get a little tricky. Sure, lorries, unlike unicycles and bicycles must have more than one or two wheels but though the two dimensional illustration of a lorry shows the vehicle with six wheels captioned with the statement ‘And lorries have at least six wheels?!’ True enough but it would need double that number if it were not to fall over on its side. Some youngsters will likely realise this; but beneath the same lorry depicted on the spread headed ‘Thank goodness you’re here to help’ are the words ‘Lorries have six wheels.’ Is this an illustrative faux pas or a deliberate ploy to instil a questioning disposition rather than believing everything that appears in print? I wonder …

Bear’s Wash Day / Hide and Seek with the Baby Animals

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

Bear’s Wash Day
Nicola Kent

As a result of Bear and Croc’s smoothie making, Bear’s clothes are covered in spatters of juice so the two decide to do some washing. They collect all the dirty clothes, load up the washing machine, add the washing liquid and press the on button. Round and round go the clothes and once the machine has done its cycle, it’s tine to go out into the garden and hang everything on the line to dry in the sun. As soon as Bear’s dungarees are ready to wear once more, he puts them back on and the friends finally drink their smoothies.
With a spinner and flaps to help develop their fine motor skills, little ones can enjoy this simple domestic episode and have fun making the various sounds that accompany the action.

Hide and Seek with the Baby Animals
Molly Littleboy and Gareth Lucas

A game of hide and seek offers an opportunity to meet the baby animals that are playing the game on the five spreads herein. Each one has a different shaped felt flap behind which lurks a noisy little creature. Toddlers can join in the play and try to guess the baby animal that went WOOF!, the chirping bird in the birdcage, the squeaker behind the heap of hay,

and meet the bubble blower that’s giving his location away before finally meeting the winner of the game.
Touchy feely fun with dayglo bright scenes by Gareth Lucas in which various minibeasts appear on every spread, adding to the playful experience.

Terry and the Brilliant Book

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Terry and the Brilliant Book
Nicola Kent
Macmillan Children’s Books

Meet best friends Sue and Terry. They absolutely love balls; balls to bat, bounce, bash and run and jump after.

Into their ball-filled life one day comes a book. It’s Sue’s surprising birthday present to Terry.

Initially neither knows what to do with it so Sue goes off to get yet another ball for Terry. When she returns however, Terry is lost in his book and just can’t put it down. (I know that feeling!)

The friendship is tested when things go wrong – first a cinema visit and then dinner.

That night Terry finishes his wonderful book and next morning the two resume their ball playing until …

Now it seems, Sue too has discovered the joys of reading

and it’s Terry’s turn to feel left out.

Can they get around this challenge to their friendship? Perhaps a visit into town might help …

This enchanting story about the delights of reading demonstrates that perhaps it’s not wise to become totally obsessed with one activity, especially when it damages something as important as friendship.

The splendid endpapers, indeed the entire book reminds me of a relation, his family and book-filled, ball-filled home. Herein the 3 year old boy is ball mad but now also loves books; and the 6 year old girl always seems to have her head in a book but finds time for lots of physical activities too.

A smashing book to open up discussion, at home or in school, about the story’s themes, which are highlighted in Nicola’s beautifully detailed illustrations; love her cheery colour palette too.