Tag Nosy Crow Books

Fledgling

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Fledgling
Lucy Hope
Nosy Crow

This is Lucy Hope’s debut novel and what a brilliant one it is: seemingly the author has a rare kind of imagination.

Perched on a rocky cliff deep in the Bavarian Forest is a house like no other: it’s 1900 and now owned by a self-absorbed opera singer mother who spends almost all her time rehearsing. This place is home to Cassie Engel (who narrates the story), her parents and her dying grandmother who is attended once a week by two seemingly sinister nurses known as Crunch and Grind. The house is full of amazing inventions: steam-powered lifts with foot brakes, mechanical morphine pumps, winches, pulleys, and has a whole storey for her erstwhile great-great grandfather’s collection of stuffed owls which now belongs to her father, whose hobby is taxidermy.

Into this strange abode one stormy night through Cassie’s bedroom window, is blown a little cherub to which Cassie feels immediately drawn.

Its arrival sets in motion a chain of weird, sometimes terrifying events. Cassie’s best friend Raphael starts to act differently – a transformation is slowly occurring, while outside in the forest is a growing sense of brooding and malevolence. Then there are the sinister Sturmfalken, the stuff of nightmares.

Cassie it seems is attempting to deal with so much on her own: she’s terrified and she, like the reader, never knows what will happen next. The tension builds as weird discoveries are made: discoveries that send Cassie and Raphael to the dusty castle library to research long-held secrets of the Engel family—dark secrets that are now closing in on the family.

Can Cassie do anything to save them? It’s certainly going to take a great deal of courage and entail accepting who she, her family and best friend are.

However, family love -complex as it may be – is a powerful driving force, so too is the love of Raphael; but prepare yourself for a shock final revelation as the story reaches its dramatic climax. Will light win over the power of darkness?

A superbly crafted gothic novel: the characterisation is superb and like this reviewer, you’ll find likely find yourself unable to put it down once you start reading.

Time to Move South for Winter

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Time to Move South for Winter
Clare Helen Welsh and Jenny Lovlie
Nosy Crow

This gorgeously illustrated book follows the migratory journey of a tiny Arctic tern from the chilly northern climes to a warmer location in the south where it will spend the winter.

During this flight we also encounter several other creatures also moving south for winter. The first are whales, then as the tern flies over land it follows the tracks of caribou also seeking a warmer place. Also taking flight is a flock of geese riding the wind on their giant wings, wanting to find a summery lake location.

Next, as it flies over the coast the tern sees a turtle looking for jellyfish and summer in the ocean

and moving upwards once more the tiny tern finds herself surrounded by Monarch butterflies on the move to their mountain forest destination in Mexico. After a rest the tern takes flight eventually sighting a colony of fellow black cap terns that have also moved south for the winter and are now nesting. Time at last for our tiny winged traveller to rest in the sun on the shore of the Antarctic for the next few months before returning to start her own family back in the north.

With additional factual information at the end of the lyrical main text, map and Jenny Lovlie’s gorgeous textured, detailed illustrations, this is a lovely narrative nonfiction book to share with young listeners at home or school.

Ruffles and the Teeny, Tiny Kittens / I am Dog!

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Ruffles and the Teeny, Tiny Kittens
David Melling
Nosy Crow

Puppy Ruffles is in many ways similar to a little human as he learns about the world – its ups and downs. There’s much he enjoys but if there’s one thing he particularly dislikes it’s teeny tiny kittens. So you can imagine his feelings when five lively kittens of the teeny tiny kind come to stay. He is far from happy about their high-spirited actions, their noises and their poo. They follow him wherever he goes and try to do whatever anti-sharer Ruffles does. Worst of all is that they want to enjoy the delights of his Big Blue Blankie.

When a tug of war over this special object occurs the kittens’ game results in catastrophe.

Can these frolicking felines perhaps help Ruffles learn one of life’s important lessons – that sharing is the best way to make friends and have fun.
Once again David’s observations are spot on and this funny follow up to Ruffles and the Red, Red Coat is sure to be another winner with youngsters of the human kind. With its text closely matching the terrific illustrations this is also an ideal book for young learner readers.

I am Dog!
Peter Bently and Chris Chatterton
Macmillan Children’s Books

We meet another playful pooch herein, this time acting as the book’s narrator and telling of a day in its life from its very own doggy viewpoint. And what a clever creature to speak in clipped canine rhyme about liking such things as ‘beggy-beggy trick’ and ‘fetchy-fetchy stick’.
This canine can’t resist a watery chase,

a race or ‘feeling wind in face’, not to mention rolling in strongly ponging foxy droppings.

However, like the majority of canines, our narrator has a great aversion to the moggy residing next door.

Much more enjoyable are cosy cuddles, ‘lap-lap-lappy puddles’, sniffing the rear ends of fellow dogs and the ‘sniff-sniff’ aromas emanating from the tasty meal laid out on the table. But therein lies both disaster and satisfaction:

now what does the little human residing in the same home think of all this? …

Chris’s action-packed scenes portraying the predilections and pranks of Dog are hilarious and provide the perfect complement to Peter’s bouncy, splendidly onomatopoeic text.

The Wide, Wide Sea

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The Wide, Wide Sea
Anna Wilson and Jenny Lovlie
Nosy Crow

Skilfully woven together are wild swimmer and author Anna Wilson’s lyrical narrative and Jenny Lovlie’s gorgeous detailed illustrations in this picture book with a vitally important message about plastic pollution.

Gran and the child narrator love to visit the sea together, spending time exploring the flora and fauna along the shoreline and seeing what treasures the waves have thrown up. Most exciting though is their sighting of a seal: the child imagines being a seal too

and when it disappears, sits watching the sea birds until a violent storm blows in and Gran says it’s time to head home.

Next morning the beach looks awful – ‘Wild, Broken. Messy.’ and strewn with litter. The sky ‘sulky dove-grey’ and the air ‘quiet and frowning.’ Who or what has created this havoc? And can it be fixed? …

Happily yes in this story; but what really needs to happen is every one of us must accept their responsibility for plastic pollution and, for the sake of the environment, sea creatures such as the seal especially, take their rubbish home.

Published in collaboration with The National Trust who protect over 700 miles of wild coastline in the UK this is a must have book for primary classes to share, discuss and act upon its message.

The House on the Edge / A Monster Ate My Packed Lunch

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These are two smashing books recently published by Nosy Crow – thanks for sending them for review

The House on the Edge
Alex Cotter

Faith’s dad has disappeared. What has happened to him and why has he left the family – mum (who’s now staying in bed all day), Faith the narrator, and her younger brother Noah – in an old house (the Lookout) perched atop a crumbling cliff?

When a crack appears on the cliffside Faith watches it growing larger day by day. She’s also trying her utmost to hold things together and that entails looking after her mum and staying out of trouble at school. Then, when Noah’s teacher asks to speak to their mother as she’s concerned about the boy, Faith fears things are about to come unravelled. She’s increasingly worried too about the boy’s talk of a sea ghost in the cellar searching for lost treasure; and to make things worse her Uncle keeps nosing around in the house.

Worse still is when Noah disappears causing Faith to have second thoughts about the possibility of ghosts. Is there any chance at all she can find her brother and bring her father back before all she cares about crashes into the sea down below.

Wonderfully written, with Faith’s gripping first person narrative encompassing feelings of exasperation and love, ordinary commonplace things, alarm and panic, with some humour too, this is a smashing book about families and what binds them together as well as an exciting mystery. Altogether a cracking debut for author Alex Cotter.

A Monster Ate My Packed Lunch
Pamela Butchart, illustrated by Thomas Flintham

Giggles guaranteed in this latest deliciously daft adventure from team Butchart and Flintham.

Now Izzy, her classmates and teachers are off on an activities school trip to Big Lake. The to-do list includes a nature walk, raft-building, a ropes course and a tug of war, but Gary Petrie is much more excited about the fact that the lodges they’re staying in have slippers and robes.

The lake itself is deep, dark and a tad scary, not least because Ranger Tam starts talking about the presence of a hundred year old monster therein – and he’s not joking!

Investigations are the order of the day among the children – or maybe that should be the order of the night. By all accounts said monster is hungry and on the lookout for food, food like their packed lunches – sandwiches and crisps in particular. Perhaps it even eats teachers?

Full of splendidly silly scenarios vividly imagined by Pamela Butchart with her brilliant knack of presenting things from the child’s perspective and their propensity to get carried away, along with a wealth of appropriately wacky illustrations by Thomas Flintham, this is perfect for solo readers who like a longish, highly illustrated story with plenty of melodrama.

Find Tom in Time: Ancient Greece

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Find Tom in Time: Ancient Greece
Fatti Burke
Nosy Crow

Published in collaboration with The British Museum, this latest time travelling adventure of Tom’s sees him back in Ancient Greece after handling his archaeologist Granny Bea’s ancient amphora, decorated with battle scenes.

As usual, Tom’s not only lost in time but he’s also lost his mischievous cat, Digby and readers need to help him find the creature as well as all the other items mentioned in the ‘Can You Spot’ boxes, that are hiding in plain sight as Tom dashes across the pages in pursuit of the elusive Digby.

During his search he visits the Acropolis, a bustling market place – the agora where a philosopher can often be heard giving a speech

and nearby, the cylindrical tholos wherein the council (all male) would meet to debate important issues.

Other locations he visits include a pottery workshop, the school (wealthy boys only attended that), a doctor’s surgery, a street of houses, a gymnasium

and a theatre before heading out of town to the fields as farmers finish their day’s work. Then it’s on towards the port before finally discovering the whereabouts of both Granny Bea and Digby and then being transported back to the present.

As with previous books in the series, this one is superbly interactive and packed with fascinating facts. Each of Fatti Burke’s alluring, highly detailed scenes offers much to pore over including an athlete who has dropped a javelin, another who’s fallen over and a sleeping member of the theatre audience.

Have Fun With Boardbooks

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Splish, Splash!
Sophie Ledesma and Isobel Otter
Little Tiger
What will Little Fish discover as it swims around beneath the ocean? By manipulating the various sliding mechanisms little ones will discover sea creatures large and small before bidding goodnight to the sleepy Little Fish that has splashed its way right through to the penultimate spread where there’s a convenient place to hide itself behind. ZZZZZ … 

On the final spread all the other creatures that were encountered on the previous pages are labelled. Huge fun and great for developing fine motor skills. Sophie Ledesma’s playful illustrations are full of patterns that add to the visual impact throughout this ‘slide and seek’ book.

Ladybird Ladybird What Can You See?
Pintachan
Little Tiger
This is the latest addition to Pintachan’s brightly illustrated lift-the-flap series wherein Amelia Hepworth introduces positional words – in, behind, inside and under during the game with Ladybird and Ant wherein various other partially hidden minibeasts depicted on the flaps are revealed by lifting the flaps. Ant too is revealed saying in turn ‘It’s Butterfly!’, ‘It’s Spider!’, ‘It’s Bee!’ ‘It’s Worm!’ while the final spread has a mirror hidden under its flap. 

With its simple, repeat refrain rhyming text this is huge fun to share with the very young as well as for beginning readers to read to their younger brothers or sisters. Ant has a different fruit or portion of one on each spread so this offers lots of talk potential – what is it? Who will eat it etc.

Where’s My Puppy?
Becky Davies, illustrated by Kate McLelland
Little Tiger
The mischievous looking puppy shown on the cover of this book has almost disappeared by the first spread and little ones can enjoy following the colourful footprints through the rest of the spreads to discover his whereabouts on the final page. Before that though they encounter in turn Guinea Pig, Kitten, and Pony each of which shares a feature in common with the pup. Guinea Pig has soft fur, Kitten a fluffy tail and Pony’s tongue is rough giving youngsters a variety of tactile experiences as they join in the game to find Puppy. 

With a repeat question on each spread this offers a joining in opportunity too.

Go Go Apple
Claire Philip and Steven Wood
Sunbird Books
I’ve never really considered what happens to apple cores collected in food waste as I always throw mine into a bin that’s emptied straight onto our own compost heap. So, it was interesting to see this title in the ‘My first recycling series’ and be able to follow the journey of one core from collection by a truck to the recycling plant and thence into a large machine where it’s mixed with leaves and other waste food and shredded. Some then goes off to become compost, the rest being liquified for farm manure or made into a gas that can be used for the heat and electricity of homes and cars.

With plenty of accompanying onomatopoeic sounds to join in with, a simple narrative description and fun illustrations, this is an interactive book to share with the very young be that at home or in an early years setting.

Peekaboo Sun
Camilla Reid and Ingela P Arrhenius
Nosy Crow
Babies and toddlers love to play peekaboo especially when there’s a mirror involved so they’ll thoroughly enjoy this addition to the sliders series with its fishes, sunshine, ice cream boat, crab and other things with a seaside theme. Rhyming couplets introduce the items in Ingela P Arrhenius’s jolly, patterned illustrations.

Great fun and an opportunity for little ones to develop their fine motor skills.

For Your Toddler Bookshelf

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I’m thinking of a Jungle Animal
Adam & Charlotte Guillain and Lucia Gaggiotti
Nosy Crow

Each of the the four wide-eyed child participants in the ‘I’m thinking of …’ game has a different jungle animal in mind. What do these creatures look like? What do they eat? What sound do they make? Little humans are invited to think about the simple clues, have a guess based on the information provided, search for the animal hiding in Lucia Gaggiotti’s colourful jungle scene and finally, pull the slider to discover the answer to the rhyming clues. Fun learning for the very young.

100 First Words: City
illustrated by Edward Underwood
Nosy Crow

Edward Underwood features city life in this second large format, super-stylish board book, devoting a double spread to in turn, the street, a railway station, the zoo, a supermarket. a museum, a (swimming) pool and a restaurant. Using a grid format and bright, colourful illustrations like the previous book, Underwood introduces a variety of nouns: for instance in the supermarket toddlers will see such items as tomato, trolley, toilet paper, broccoli, cashier, till, boxes and there are two sturdy, shaped flaps to look under. On this spread there’s a tin inside which are fish, and boxes that reveal an assistant.

This book is likely to prove invaluable in helping to build vocabulary at that vital stage when toddlers are learning to talk. One hopes adults will use this as stimulus for speech by asking questions like ‘what shall we put in the trolley?’ as they share the book with a little one.

Home Is Where the Heart Is
Emma Dodd
Templar Books

We all have things that make our particular home feel special and so it is with Emma Dodd’s thoughtful big cat and a playful little kitten. For the feline twosome, home’s a place to spend time playing and resting; a warm safe haven from stormy weather, as well as somewhere special no matter if its residents are there together or for some reason, apart.

Emma’s distinctive golden touches embellish her adorable feline illustrations on alternate spreads and her rhyming narrative told from the adult cat’s viewpoint.

Somewhere

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Somewhere
Jeanne Willis and Anastasia Suvorova
Nosy Crow

An enchanting story about a little boy and those endless annoying questions that adults ask seemingly ALL THE TIME.

Oscar feels besieged by such irritating interrogations and decides that the best way to avoid them is to take action. Off he goes out of the house, down the garden – just to the bottom – but then suddenly he’s in the middle of …

With not a soul in sight, he can wander where he pleases without such intrusions as “Do you need a wee, Oscar”; play whatever he feels like without any “What are you doing up there, Oscar?” and so he builds himself a camp.


But then as dusk falls, the boy starts missing that familiar “What about a story, Oscar?” and other such words of familiar comfort.

After some self questioning, he decides to head for home but each path he tries ends … Nowhere. And nobody answers his calls until out of the black there emerges a …

Seemingly this little moggy isn’t fond of questions either, so they sit in a companionable silence for a while before Oscar makes a request and the cat responds by leading him … somewhere. In fact a very special place where his homecoming is greeted by, yes more questions, and youngsters will likely guess how Oscar will respond …

The power of the imagination, finding magic in the everyday ordinary and the importance of home are at the heart of this book. Anastasia Suvorova’s chosen colour palette for her scenes of Nowhere and Somewhere are perfect for lending an otherworldly atmosphere to the former as well as creating a seamless continuity between fantasy and reality. Die-cuts on every spread serve to highlight the beautiful texturing of the scenes.
Ideal for family sharing, bedtimes and together times in foundation stage settings.

Make Tracks: Building Site / Go Go Tin

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Make Tracks: Building Site
Johnny Dryander
Nosy Crow

In one of a new interactive series, Johnny Dryander illustrates five vehicles often found on a building site – those that small children are fascinated by when they see them for real.

Each one – concrete mixer,

dump truck, excavator, bulldozer and front loader – is presented on the verso in a clearly labelled picture along with a brief introductory paragraph giving some information about its key features and what it is used for. There’s also a question for little ones to consider.

On the opposite page, with additional prompts for opening up discussion, is a scene showing people and machines at work on the site. This contains a track around which little fingers can manipulate a counter depicting the vehicle illustrated on the facing page in response to the ‘Can you drive this … “ challenge. (This feature is also part of the front cover.)

With lots of potential for fun learning be that of related language or fine motor skill development, this will be particularly popular with young enthusiasts of large building site machines.

Go Go Tin
Claire Philip and Steven Wood
Sunbird Books

This sturdy board book explains in simple words and bright cheery pictures what happens to a tin can from the time it’s tossed into a kitchen recycling bin until it becomes part of one of the shiny new tins produced at a factory.

With its onomatopoeic sounds aplenty to join in with, little ones will enjoy following the sequence of events from lorry to recycling plant, through a crushing machine, into a furnace to melt and be formed into new blocks, ready for stamping, stretching and further shaping.

Panda At The Door / An Escape in Time

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Panda At The Door
Sarah Horne
Chicken House

Pudding Panda is Edinburgh Zoo’s Star Attraction. She’s been happy with making the zoo visitors smile at her antics but now longs for a family of her own. Then she learns from keeper Gerald that she’s to be sent to China.
Maybe the answer is emulate her heroine Mary Poppins and become a nanny. Gerald thinks not, but then fails to lock Pudding’s cage …

Over on the other side of the city meanwhile, Callum is having a bad time: he’s being bullied; his parents are arguing – again – and performer Dad’s gone awol (something to do with bacon), plus, his little sister Tabby is intensely annoying. It’s Cal’s ninth birthday and all he receives is a measly certificate of adoption for a panda with instructions on how to email if there are any questions. Yes, he certainly has questions, the most pressing being, ‘when will I be happy again?’ Shortly after hitting SEND he falls asleep.

Next morning, DING DONG! who, or rather what, should be standing at the door? Not his missing father but a large panda offering to help. Mum’s reaction is to faint on the spot, but what better way to revive her than a timely spoonful of sugar?

Then the zoo puts out a message offering a huge reward for the safe return of a panda; everyone in the house, and even worse bully Mike Spiker, passing outside, hear the radio announcement. 

Now it’s not only Pudding in deep trouble, especially as Mike Spiker passes on the news to his dad. It’s up to Cal and his family to look after Pudding and keep her safe from the dastardly Spikers; but they also need to find Dad.

With mission ‘Going on a Dad Hunt’ successfully completed, can Pudding save the day? If she and Dad team up perhaps panda-monium can become a wonderfully clever panda-mime.

Dad’s punning predilection not withstanding, this is a thoroughly engaging story. Developed from an original idea from Vikki Anderson through the Big Idea Competition, the thought-provoking book was written and illustrated by Sarah Horne. The characterisation is great and the Mary Poppins quotes add to the fun.

An Escape in Time
Sally Nicholls, illustrated by Rachael Dean
Nosy Crow

By means of the mirror in their aunt’s hallway, brother and sister Alex and Ruby find themselves in a different historical period and in each story, have a task to perform before they can return to the present.

This their third time-slip adventure in this smashing series sees them plunged back to the Georgian era 1794/5, the time of the French Revolution and faced with having to help a far from happy French Countess escape the guillotine and find a safe home in Georgian England. 

But there’s a whole lot more that needs sorting out too in what proves to be a pretty chaotic situation that’s full of danger (not least for Ruby), romance (among the hymn books), heroics, the odd misunderstanding, not to mention some exceedingly uncomfortable Georgian underwear sans knickers though, if you’re female; oh! and plenty of stewed cucumbers!

As is characteristic of these Sally Nicholls stories, readers will enjoy plenty of humour, a pacy plot, a cast of highly colourful characters and a wealth of historical information along the way; not forgetting Rachael Dean’s smashing black and white illustrations.

Both books are great for KS2 either for solo reading or class read aloud.

Science School / Out and About Minibeast Explorer

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Science School
Laura Minter & Tia Williams
Button Books

Covering such topics as magnetism, gravity, change of state, oxidation, the growth of fungus and much more – all relating to basic scientific principles, the latest collaboration from Laura Minter and Tia Williams offers thirty STEM experiments, some crafty, for youngsters to try at home.

None of the activities require sophisticated equipment; rather they can be done at home with everyday materials you’re already likely to have knocking around somewhere. A list of what’s needed is given at the start of each project and there are photographs showing what to do, beneath each of which are step-by-step instructions, and, the science behind the experiment is concisely explained in the final ‘Science Made Simple’ paragraph(s) that often takes the science a bit further too.

My experimenters especially enjoyed making the “Magnetic Dancing Robots’ and other characters. 

Important at all times, but even more so as COVID is still with us, is the experiment showing the difference after around 10 days to three slices of bread: the first wiped all over with unwashed hands; the second wiped with sanitised hands and the third with hands that have been thoroughly washed with warm soapy water for 20+ seconds, completely dried and then wiped on slice number 3 (make sure the bag into which each is placed is labelled before putting it in a dark place.)

Providing hours of fun learning, this book is particularly useful for homeschooling.

Out and About Minibeast Explorer
Robyn Swift, illustrated by Hannah Alice
Nosy Crow

Published in collaboration with the National Trust, this handy guide for youngsters features more than sixty minibeasts about which Robyn Swift presents a wealth of information related to identification, lifecycles, habitats, anatomy and more. Did you know that a decapitated cockroach is able to live for up to nine days; that the blood of slugs is green, or that seagull sized dragonflies lived before dinosaurs roamed the earth?

The importance of minibeasts is explained and also included are some pages of activities, a classification chart and a quiz.

Hannah Alice’s illustrations of the creatures are clear and easily recognisable making this a super little book to tuck into a backpack when you go out and about no matter if it be in town, countryside or the garden.

Llama on a Mission / Waiting for Murder

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Llama on a Mission
Annabelle Sami, illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan
Farshore

This is the second story featuring ten-year old Yasmin and her magical toy llama guardian Levi, and it’s every bit as daftly funny as the first.

Having found her voice with Levi’s help and a new friend, Ezra, she’s ready for year 6.

With her sights set on joining the art club, Yasmin is more than a tad perturbed when her teacher Miss Zainab informs her that she’s been selected to join the science team The Funsen Burners and participate in an inter-school competition. Just when what she really wants is to spend time getting Levi restored to his normal toy state. That, and get on with the new comic, LOUDMOUTH, she’s trying to create for another competition.

The very last thing she wants is for Levi to be sent all the way back to Peru but the way he starts behaving while engaged on his mission under the watchful eye of Mama Llama could result in just that. Then what? Yasmin just can’t let it happen. With Ezra’s assistance, perhaps there’s something that can be done; meanwhile she needs to learn the difference between talking and communicating.

Is it a case of mission accomplished? The only way too find out is to get hold of a copy of this tale of high drama and a whole lot of trouble. Allen Fatimaharan has done a terrific job with the illustrations, adding to the fun of the book.

For older readers is:

Waiting for Murder
Fleur Hitchcock
Nosy Crow

Daniel and his archaeologist mum are spending the summer in the country and a sweltering one it is. While his mum is engaged on her dig, (searching for the grave of Edith the Fair, King Harold’s wife) Dan too is observing and he also makes a discovery – a car with what looks like a body in the reservoir.

Next morning however, the body is no longer there, but Dan notices new scratches on the car. Seemingly, something strange is going on, something that needs investigating. Moreover somebody in the village is absolutely determined to stop Dan and his new friend, Florence from discovering the truth.

The climax of this terrific story more or less coincides with the weather finally breaking and pretty soon torrents of muddy water threaten to sweep everyone and everything away.

With an abundance of thrills and some surprises, this is a totally gripping, nail-biting, page-turner with a surprise finale. Crime drama for youngsters doesn’t come much better than this.

Wigglesbottom Primary: Dino Chick / Wulfie: Beast in Show

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Wigglesbottom Primary: Dino Chick
Pamela Butchart, illustrated by Becka Moor
Nosy Crow

This contains three more episodes in the life of Class Two R and once again they’re in high spirits. At least that’s so in the first story when they learn from Miss Riley that she’s installed an incubator within which are four chicken eggs. They’re less excited to hear that the eggs will take several days to hatch especially when later in the day it comes to their notice that one egg has mysteriously changed colour. Miss Riley sits them down and tells everyone not to touch any of the eggs. Megan decides that the purple and green egg must contain a dinosaur. What a terrifying thought. Several days later three of the eggs have hatched and three fluffy chicks are in the incubator. Suddenly egg number four starts to crack … YIKES! what will emerge?

In the second story there’s a new girl in the class. Individuals take turns to show her parts of the school, including some that are strictly out of bounds. 

It’s an unlikely way to make somebody feel welcome but who gets the biggest surprise of all?

The final tale starts with the discovery that the school library is to close due to lack of funds. Can 2R come up with a plan to save it and keep Mr Hope in his job?

Another three wonderfully silly stories for new solo readers (or to read aloud) that show how easily children’s vivid imaginations can spiral into comedic craziness, a craziness that is echoed in Becka Moor’s lively illustrations.

Wulfie: Beast in Show
Lindsay J. Sedgwick, illustrated by Josephine Wolff
Little Island Books

Libby and her beloved purple fluffy best friend, Wulfie (Wolfgang Amadeus Rachmaninoff the Third) return in a second adventure. Libby’s unpleasant stepmother announces the imminent arrival of her older sister, Aunt Ilda. A fanatical dog breeder, she’s determined to win the SNOB prize in the forthcoming dog show to be shown live on TV. Concluding that her failure to win on previous occasions is due to not having a child assistant, she wants to enlist Libby’s awful, spoilt step-brother Rex.

Libby knows she must try to ensure that with Wulfie being so dog-like in appearance, he stays out of sight during the visit. No mean task as the wulfen’s behaviour is, let’s say, somewhat unpredictable and he can sometimes change size at the most inopportune times. 

Times such as his emergence from the washing machine right in front of Aunt Ilda who immediately decides that Wulfie must be her entry in the dog show. And if taking Libby as well as Wulfie and Rex away with her is what it takes, then so be it. 

What she doesn’t know however, is that in addition to his size changing and talking, Wulfie’s sneezes freeze time.

When Libby hears the words, “Your creature belongs to me now, runt, and he is going to make me more famous than any other famous person ever in the whole world.” she knows that Wulfie desperately needs to be rescued. 

But perhaps not before he’s had the chance to make Aunt Ilda look a complete fool on television.

Another fun, action-packed drama with some rather unpleasant characters, as well as the determined, lovable Libby and her equally lovable bestie, all splendidly illustrated by Josephine Wolff.

Toddler Bookshelf

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The Great Big Egg Hunt
Ekaterina Trukhan
Nosy Crow
It’s a special egg hunting day with Rabbit and her friends. Having collected her basket, Rabbit and readers start the search. First Chick joins in and they search the bathroom where they discover Duck but no eggs. The search continues in the kitchen then moves out into the garden where eventually, after a few false starts, the five friends have an egg each. Hurrah!
With its simple, predictable text, plenty of flaps to explore and cute illustrations, little ones will enjoy participating in this seasonal search-and-find game.

Not quite a board book but sturdily made is:

Pip and Posy: The Friendly Snail
Axel Scheffler and Camilla Reid
Nosy Crow
Best friends Pip and Posy are spending time together outdoors in the garden. Pip is enjoying a spot of peaceful gardening but Posy is in a noisy mood banging and bouncing around. Suddenly Pip discovers a friendly snail while Posy continues with her noisy play, even frightening the snail back inside its shell. Enough is enough: Pip tells Posy to go away and upset, she disappears somewhere leaving Pip to continue with his work. So engaged is he that he fails to notice another creature getting ever closer to the snail. Happily Posy has been watching and now has the ideal reason to make a lot of noise …
An engaging tale illustrated in Alex’s trademark style, demonstrating an important life lesson: differences should be valued if friendships are to flourish.

Sleep, Cat, Sleep
Antje Damm
Prestel
The cat in this little board book is not happy; he’s trying hard to sleep but the fact that somebody has opened the first page has roused him from his slumbers. He tries hiding and pleading, which seem to do the trick, but then the page is turned again and those delightful dreams disappear. However the sleepy creature perceives that the destroyer of his dreams is now also rather in need of some shut-eye – maybe it’s time to turn the tables …
Simple, playful, interactive fun for pre-bedtime sharing with sleepy little humans.

A Little Snail Book: Hide-and-Seek
Shasha Lv
Chronicle Books
Bear is playing hide-and-seek with his friends, Little Mouse, Little Turtle, Little Cat, Little Duck, Little Pig and Little Snail. Despite their best efforts he successfully finds all but Little Snail. The other animals are amused at the fact that the tiny creature is hiding in plain sight and little humans will have a good giggle at the fact that the smallest animal can outwit the seeker. It’s he that acts as narrator sharing his search in a simple first person narrative throughout the game.
Silly but lots of fun; Shasha Lv uses a limited colour palette effectively in her amusing scenes of the animals’ game.

I am a Fish / Birch Trees, Bluebells and other British Plants

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I am a Fish
Isabel Otter and Fernando Martin
Little Tiger

This is a companion volume to I am a Bird from the same team. Using an un-named fish, youngsters are introduced to the general characteristics of a fish and then dive underwater to discover a variety of aquatic habitats and learn something of fishes’ habits (we meet both herbivores and carnivores),

shapes, size and distinguishing features. Mention is made that ‘rays don’t have bones’ but that they and the sharks illustrated alongside, are cartilaginous fish is not stated.
If you’ve ever wondered whether or not fish sleep, this subject is discussed on another of the vibrant spreads while another spread introduces seahorses, which some little ones might be surprised to discover are actually classed as fish.
The chatty narrative and arresting subaquatic scenes make this a book for early years audiences and foundation stage topic boxes.

Birch Trees, Bluebells and other British Plants
Nikki Dyson
Nosy Crow

Here’s a gorgeous ‘Nature Sticker Books’ to lift the spirits. Published in collaboration with the National Trust, it contains eleven beautiful scenes by Nikki Dyson that are brimming over with the bounties of nature whatever the season.

It starts with spring and its gorgeous insect-attracting blossom and wild flowers aplenty. Summer scenes show gardens are full of bright flowers and butterflies, as well as meadows of poppies, daisies and other composites. Summer’s a good time to visit a pond or perhaps the coast: those locations too, have a wealth of beautiful wild plants and birds. Come autumn ripening berries are waiting to be gathered and the deciduous trees take on their yellow, orange and red hues while in gardens and allotments there are vegetables aplenty as well as herbs to pick and you’re likely to come across lots of minibeasts that also like to have a nibble.
Finally winter comes around when there is much less colour but there are still wonderful flora and fauna to discover when you brave those chills.

Each spread has a couple of introductory factual paragraphs as well as suggestions for adding some of the relevant stickers provided in the centre of the book. There’s also a checklist of the plants in the book so young naturalists can enjoy an additional I-spy element.

So You Think You’ve Got it Bad: A Kid’s Life in the Aztec Age

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So You Think You’ve Got it Bad: A Kid’s Life in the Aztec Age
Chae Strathie and Marisa Morea
Nosy Crow

This the latest in an excellent fun history series written by the award winning Chae Strathie and developed in consultations with British Museum experts, reveals what it was really like to be a child in the Aztec age..
Covering the topics one’s come to expect of the series – clothing and hairstyles, education, diet, the home, family life, health and medicine as well as some you might not, such as human sacrifice (it could happen just for being a member of a losing team), this truly is horrible history made highly visual.

Imagine – or preferably don’t unless you want to puke – being fed maggots, tadpoles, lizards and the like, or a cake made with blue green algae containing masses of water fly eggs – gross! It wasn’t all revolting though; there were occasional tomatoes and beans. This vegan reviewer would surely have gone hungry much of the time.

Can you contemplate being stretched by the neck in a special ceremony every four years – a very strange way to demonstrate parental love but it happened; and then being likened to jade, a precious gem stone: talk about mixed messages.

As for schooling, modern youngsters might love the idea of not starting school until you’re in your teens, but it happened to Aztec children, who were home schooled up until then – sounds familiar! As does the dual system of one kind of school for the rich, another for the poorer families.

When I taught KS2 classes, children were always especially fascinated by the Aztecs and I have no doubt if I’d had this book there would have been a queue of eager readers waiting to get their hands on it. Marisa Morea brings all the gory details to life in her wealth of illustrations that illuminate the text.

Magnificent Mabel and the Egg and Spoon Race / Aisha and Silver

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These are the latest titles in two of Nosy Crow’s series for younger readers kindly sent for review

Magnificent Mabel and the Egg and Spoon Race
Ruth Quayle, illustrated by Julia Christians

No matter what life throws at her, young Mabel is MAGNIFICENT. But for Mabel Chase, the book’s narrator things are sometimes not fair – at all. Seemingly however careful she is about things like being a worthy partner to Edward Silitoe on school sports day, the two just don’t see eye to eye or even arm to arm, let alone egg to spoon. No matter, somehow or other her magnificence always shines through – eventually.

Next, there’s the class play and this term for a change, Mabel really, really wants to get a leading part, William Shakespeare, preferably. But then who is she asked to play but Titania. No matter, magnificence rules, and where there’s a Will, there’s a way …

Then comes the Dermot episode. It comes about when Mabel’s family finally agree to take her to a dog show one weekend. It’s somewhere you can only go (so her Dad says) if you have a dog, Time to start training for the agility event.

As always, our narrator comes out on top.

These latest comical slices of mischief of the Mabel kind with spirited illustrations by Julia Christians, will appeal to the slightly mischievous side of young children be they those readers just starting to fly solo or story time listeners in the foundation stage.

Aisha and Silver
Julie Sykes, illustrated by Lucy Truman

The Unicorn Academy series has captured the hearts of many young solo readers with its mix of sparkling magic and the kind of issues concerning friendship, loyalty and overcoming problems that most primary children have to contend with.

In this latest slice of enchantment Aisha faces problems: first the likelihood of having to repeat an entire school year as she hasn’t yet discovered Silver’s particular magic or bonded with him. Secondly, there’s been a spate of terrible hailstorms that have been causing damage to their beloved school and worse, might endanger the life of anybody caught out in one. That’s the reason for the early closure of the school leaving Aisha just five days to bond with Silver and to stop the storms.

It’s crucial to find out who or what has been causing them: with Aisha also intent on perfecting her music for the dorm’s display ride, she’s under a lot of pressure. It looks as though teamwork will be required to take on the mysterious LT.

Another engaging read with plenty of lovely illustrations by Lucy Truman to break up the text.

The Wizard in the Wood / Diagnosis Danger

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The Wizard in the Wood
Louie Stowell, illustrated by Davide Ortu
Nosy Crow

This is the third in Louie Stowell’s magical series.
A new term is about to begin for Kit, Josh and Alita. Before school starts though, Faith announces that the Wizards’ Council want to meet Kit.

Once in front of the council members, Kit learns that she has a very special mission – to take a new dragon’s egg to its new home beneath its own library where it will hatch.
Imagine her friends’ surprise and excitement when she and Faith return with a box containing said egg and Kit announces, “We brought you a present” and they discover what’s inside. It’s a dragon’s egg that must be planted beneath their very own school.

Faith makes two more exciting announcements: a new library awaits once school opens and that also means the arrival of a brand new wizard librarian. Surely nothing could be better than that.

The following day the term begins and the children meet this new librarian whom Faith has said is an old friend of hers. named Ben. He certainly seems a pretty cool guy. But is he?

Pretty soon the children discover that something isn’t right and they’re faced with solving a ginormous problem. It’s either that or face a world-changing disaster. Confronted by a hugely challenging, exciting mission, they really must all work as a team.

With plenty of jokes, great dialogue with lots of banter, and a smashing twist in its tail ,this is another cracker from Louie, especially as it celebrates the power of books and of story.

Whether shared as a primary classroom story time or read by individuals, this book is a delight, made all the more so by Davide Ortu’s offbeat illustrations.

Diagnosis Danger
Roopa Farooki
Oxford University Press Children’s Books

Do you know primary readers in need of an antidote to the trials of lockdown and home schooling? Then try doctor Roopa Farooki’s second exciting double detectives mystery.

Twins Tulip and Ali, the daughters of a hospital doctor, return in another sleuthing story and again they’re faced with a mysterious case to solve. Fortunately with mum a hospital doctor, and thus some medical knowledge of their own, as well a considerable amount of unsquashabilty and noses for danger, this pair have the tools for the job.

It begins when an unknown person attacks their friend Momo and he ends up in hospital, the attacker vanishing without trace. Needless to say Ali and Tulip waste no time is trying to track down the assailant.
Before you can say ‘sliced popliteal artery’ they and Nan-Nan ( a brilliant character) are on their way to a ‘holiday’ destination (unknown to two of their number). Eventually they arrive at a place calling itself Catty’s Cattery; the twins are puzzled and anything but impressed.

However, things are set to get even more strange, when, standing at the reception desk of this weird ‘kitty-obsessed-hotel from hell’ as Ali calls it, is a man who bears a close resemblance to the villainous Evelyn Sprotland. But is this a case of diagnosis ‘bang on the head’ or perhaps, ‘Diagnosis Doppledanger’. What exactly is the real purpose of this peculiar establishment? And, who is Catty; its boss? She certainly seems very choosy about who’s allowed to stay. The mystery deepens.

More important, can the twins aided and abetted by Nan-Nan get to the bottom of things?

Roopa’s mix of unusual characters, witty dialogue, large doses of humour and scatterings of medical information, makes for a thoroughly enjoyable read that will enthral readers who like something a little out of the ordinary. Book your consultation with the twins right away.

The Castle the King Built

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The Castle the King Built
Rebecca Colby and Tom Froese
Nosy Crow

Using the rhythmic pattern and structure of the nursery rhyme This is the House that Jack Built, Rebecca Crosby cleverly mixes fact and fiction to create a story of the building of a medieval castle.

We meet those involved in its creation – stonemasons, carpenters

and smiths, as well as, once it’s built, the people who contribute to the castle’s functioning – grooms, knights, merchants, bakers, servants, minstrels and of course, ruler of the land -the king himself.

The final spread presents the entire cast of characters each of them explaining their part (this includes a few women residents not mentioned in the main text)

Rebecca’s skilful use of rhyme and rhythm ensures that the book reads aloud well and Tom Froese uses an appropriate retro style for his striking illustrations helping to create the long ago atmosphere of those days of yore when knights would joust and singing minstrels pipe and strum.

A thoroughly well-presented, enticing and gently educative book for classroom sharing and individual reading, published in collaboration with the National Trust. I specially like the final acknowledgement that everyone included played their part in the life of the making of the castle.

Clifftoppers: The Frost Castle Adventure / A Christmas in Time

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Here are two gripping wintry stories from Nosy Crow Publishers:

Clifftoppers: The Frost Castle Adventure
Fleur Hitchcock

This is the fourth of the adventure series featuring Aiden, Chloe, Ava and Josh, who spend holidays at their grandparents’place. It’s coming up to New Year and as the story opens the cousins are trudging through the snow towards Frost Castle when a passing car spins out of control crashing into a snow drift. The children manage to extricate the driver, a young woman wrapped in several scarves, wearing a gold pendant and claiming to be cursed. It turns out that she’s a well-known actress who’s to play the lead in Frost Castle’s winter play – a murder mystery – and she also mentions an attempted break-in at her flat before she’d set off for the Castle.

Before long the four children are asked to help with the play. Despite talk of ghosts, they think they should stay and very soon that pendant goes missing. There must be a villain lurking in their midst.
Can the cousins use their skills and courage to discover what is really going on?

With her terrific storytelling skill, Fleur Hitchcock snares readers’ attention from the outset and keeps them involved and intrigued throughout. Whether or not they’re familiar with the previous books, children will thoroughly enjoy this one.

A Christmas in Time
Sally Nicholls, illustrated by Rachael Dean

This is the latest in Sally Nicholls’ time-slip series wherein Ruby and Alex fall through the mirror in their aunt’s house to discover they’re in a different historical period and have to undertake a task before returning to the present.

Now Aunt Joanna has broken her leg and the siblings are anticipating a Christmas doing chores when suddenly having gone through the mirror, they’re back in 1872 about to experience a Victorian Christmas instead.

As a result they meet Edith (8) who with no mother and a father soon to return to India, is about to be sent off to a horrible-sounding boarding school. Then Alex and Ruby realise that she’s being sent to the very place where in February 1873 a terrible cholera epidemic killed off two thirds of the children. Can they persuade her father – the far from pleasant Uncle Elijah – to send her elsewhere.

By all accounts it’s not going to be easy, but can they work some seasonal magic and turn things around for Edith? Or maybe she’ll decide to take matters into her own hands …

With plenty of action, a very interesting cast of characters (some rather eccentric), and details of a Victorian Christmas with singing,

parlour games, ice-skating and candles this is a smashing read, be it in the run-up to Christmas or at any time. I love Rachael Dean’s illustrations and Isabelle Follath’s cover art too.

There’s A Mouse In My House

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There’s a Mouse in my House
Ross Collins
Nosy Crow

A tiny mouse has had the temerity to move into our Bear narrator’s residence so he tells us. Outraged, Bear is determined to oust his unwanted interloper by telling him ‘he has to go.’ But what he doesn’t know it that the little rodent has been taking lessons in taekwondo – of all things – and you can see who comes off worse in that encounter. OUCH!

So what about suggesting alternative spots Mouse might prefer to be – Luxembourg or Borneo perhaps. But it’s no go on that score. Apparently, the intruder is staying put and is making it known in no uncertain terms by usurping Bear’s chair.

Yes, Mouse might be a dapper dresser as well as being a diminutive creature but he has a gargantuan appetite and is eating his host out of house and home – literally. Then there’s the nocturnal noise pollution habit: how on earth is our narrator supposed to sleep with all that row? But it’s the bathroom disaster that’s just about the last straw …

Uh-oh! Someone’s come a-knocking on this snowy night. Who on earth would venture out right now? And why? …

Delivered with Ross’s characteristic rollicking rhyming panache and brilliantly droll scenes showing how in this sequel Bear gets repaid (to begin with anyway) for his misdeeds in There’s a Bear on My Chair. But it’s the clever interplay between text, illustrations and design that is SO well done.

AGAIN! I hear the cries from young humans, who will relish this delectable drama (along with the adults who read it aloud).

Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright!

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Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright!
selected by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Britta Teckentrup
Nosy Crow

I love getting poetry anthologies to review, for despite owning a iarge bookcase crammed with books of poems (for both adults and children) and having compiled a fair number of the latter myself, I always make some exciting new discoveries.

What joy then, to have a bumper compilation such as Fiona’s offering, an animal poem for every day of the year, with a stunningly beautiful illustration from Britta gracing every spread.

Name an animal and more than likely you will find it featured somewhere in this collection; and you’ll find a creature (sometimes several) for almost every letter of the alphabet with the notable exceptions of q – this has Tony Chen’s Question: ‘As asphalt and concrete / Replace bushes and trees, / As highways and buildings / Replace marshes and woods, / What will replace / The song of birds?’ , u (there is a poem but it’s an extract from John Bunyan’s Upon a Snail) and x is not represented at all.

Whether your preference is for creatures great or creatures small, feathered, scaled, smooth-skinned or spiney you will be satisfied. Having seen the bird she writes of standing in the rain on my walk yesterday I absolutely loved discovering this new to me poem of Roberta Davis: ‘Perfectly still / in the falling snow / grey heron’

I also heard on that same walk but didn’t see, a Woodpecker, the subject of John Agard’s wonderful poem – another new discovery for me, the first verse of which is ‘Carving / tap/tap / music / out of / tree trunk / keep me / busy / whole day / tap/tap / long ‘

Despite summer now being over for this year, there are still plenty of bees, wasps and other small insects about including the bees that George Szirtes writes of in The Bee’s Knees: ‘Great hairy knees bees have as they squat / in the flowers then push off with a spring, / all six knees pumping and shoving. With so much power they’re soon airborne, resilient, / muscular, adrift. // The bee’s knees. // Brilliant. ‘ And brilliant that surely is. Henceforth I’ll look anew at bees.

There’s more about minibeasts and their knees in Dorothy Aldis’ Singing: ‘Little birds sing with their beaks / In the apple trees; / But little crickets in the grass / Are singing with their knees. ‘

Interestingly October has four wasp poems though I’m less well disposed towards those buzzers as I have a wasps’ nest all a-buzz outside one of the bedroom windows; so I really appreciate the opening lines of Carol Ann Duffy’s The Wasp: ‘Help me to love the wasp, / help me to do that thing – / to admire the raspy buzz / of its wings, to grow fond / of its droning whinge.’

Having spent most of this review talking of creatures small, I should finish with a poem about a large one and a favourite of mine – the subject of another new delight for me; it’s Liz Brownlee’s An Elephant is Born: ‘Night holds them safe / the moon cloud gleams, / deep in the darkness / of soft breath and dreams, // the elephant mother / greets her new son, / with a tender and gentle, / low, soft hum, // strokes his face / the night-left long, / and sings her newborn / elephant song.’

Finally, I must endorse what Nosy Crow’s Louise Bolongaro says in her introduction, ‘Poems and reading “matter” more than ever but so does the natural world. If this book can nurture a love of the animal kingdom, then maybe it will also help create the conservationists of the future.’ If that isn’t a reason to go out and buy a copy to give as well as one to keep, then what is?

Celebrating Nosy Crow Board Books

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Peekaboo Bear
Peekaboo Apple
Camilla Reid and Ingela P Arrhenius

Toddlers and babies absolutely love to play peekaboo, especially when there’s a mirror involved, so these two books will be winners on both counts. Add to that Camilla Reid’s playful rhyming couplets that introduce equally playful, adorably illustrated animals, some of which are revealed by manipulating the sliders in Ingela P Arrhenius’s brightly coloured, patterned spreads, (as well as the occasional human in the Apple book)

and you have two sure fire winners for several more reasons. Exuberant language, alluring art, manipulative skill development and most importantly, sheer fun: what more can one ask of books for babies?

Listen to the Carnival of the Animals
Marion Billet

With its six sound buttons embedded in the spreads, tinies can listen to the Royal March of the Lion, The Elephant (and maybe stomp along too), bounce in time to Kangaroos, imagine floating neath the Aquarium water, enjoy the flutes emulating bird song in an Aviary and finally, glide gracefully across the lake like The Swan. Each animal (often along with minibeast bit-part players) is allocated a double spread brightly and engagingly illustrated and introduced with a sentence to maximise engagement such as “Does the bouncy piano sound like a kangaroo?’

or ‘Isn’t it magical under the water?’and there’s a final page asking “Which animal was YOUR favourite?’
A lovely introduction to Saint-Saēns’ classic The Carnival of the Animals for the very youngest listeners (with music played by two famous orchestras)

Who’s Hiding in the Snow?
Katharine McEwen

In five beautifully illustrated double spreads we visit a variety of chilly locations wherein to discover the answer to the titular question. First, we’re in the Asian tundra in the early morning to hunt for the climbing and flying animals that have hidden themselves under the snow (lift the flaps to find the amur leopard, the ermine, a Siberian squirrel, a Siberian tiger and a snowy owl.) Next stop is the icy Antarctic to search for swimming creatures, a bird that hops on one foot and a chinstrap penguin creche. Afternoon in the Eurasian mountains shows some animals while others –including an alpine marmot and sleeping wild boars are hiding.

A snowy Arctic evening depicts animals on the move and others such as the walrus, resting . It’s night-time when the final destination is reached and the northern lights shine to reveal the ears of grey wolves (the rest being hidden) as well as a moose lurking behind snow-capped rocks and some very sleepy dall sheep. Brr!

A considerable amount of information about the various animals is given on the inner side of the flaps under which the animals are hidden offering interactive learning of a fun kind for young children.

Mother and Daughter Dress-Up Dolls: Fashion from Long Ago / How to Speak Astromech with BB-8

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These two books present opportunities to learn something new and have great fun in so doing.

Mother and Daughter Dress-Up Dolls: Fashion from Long Ago
Gracie Swan and Felicity French
Nosy Crow (in collaboration with the National Trust)

With this hardback book, children can press out eight dolls – four large and four small – mothers and daughters – dress them and learn lots about fashion from Medieval, Tudor, Georgian and Victorian times, as well as the Twenties, the Thirties and every other decade through to the 1970s.

Isabella and her mother Beatrice don their finest attire to attend a medieval banquet anticipating tasty food, loud music and acrobats to entertain them.

Margery and daughter Alice will head to the market once they’ve put on their warm woollen dresses, shawls and bonnets hoping to sell all their homemade bread.

Turn each of the press-out garments around and there’s an alternative story with two different characters, each time – a clever idea that provides a whole set of new opportunities.

Children will love discovering what their older relations wore and those before them, when they reach the twentieth century characters and their geometric mini-dresses, those jump suits, bell bottoms-trousers, maxi dresses and more. It’s amazing how everything comes around again!

In addition to the main items of clothing there’s a page of accessories and shoes to complete every one of the forty outfits. What more can aspiring fashionistas ask? Perhaps for a timeline – but there’s even one of those on the back inside cover.

Hours of fun learning to be had from this fascinating activity book.

How to Speak Astromech with BB-8
I.M. Rollin, illustrated by JAKe
Chronicle Children’s Books

Star Wars enthusiasts will love this sound book- a communication manual – that celebrates the enormously popular, adorably quirky droid character BB-8 that appeared in several of the films.

Included are ten built-in droidspeak audio clips, with translations and conversation tips, and funny illustrated scenarios that will help readers understand and get the best out of their own droid companion in a galaxy far, far away.

Astromech qualities such as playfulness, resourcefulness, determination, trustworthiness and bravery, demonstrated by means of BB-8’s adventures, are recognised herein. Fans will lap up the insider jokes too.

A fun and handy guide indeed, that fans young, and not so young, will delight in.

Pip and Posy The Christmas Tree / All Aboard for Christmas

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Pip and Posy The Christmas Tree
Axel Scheffler
Nosy Crow Books

Pip and Posy are a duo much loved by countless under fives and now they star in a lovely new tale that’s a great seasonal treat.
It’s Christmas Eve and the best friends bring home a Christmas tree. Once installed in a large pot, they set to work decorating it.

First off they bake some festive biscuits to hang on it. Then Posy goes to get the candy canes but when she comes back, one of the biscuits has mysteriously vanished.

The same thing keeps happening: each time she turns her back to find more goodies to add to the tree, there’s one less decoration when she returns. Hmm!

Young children will of course relish seeing what Posy doesn’t. Nor does she realise what’s been going on until she finds Pip flat out on the sofa with a rather bulging tum and saying he’s feeling sick.

Posy keeps quiet and allows Pip time to confess and then the two work together towards a satisfying solution to their lack of tree ornaments

and for listeners especially, there’s a lovely, even more satisfying finale come Christmas morning.
An enormously appealing festive addition to this ever-popular series of Axel’s.

All Aboard for Christmas
Andrew Kolb and Nichole Mara
Abrams Appleseed

There’s a train full of seasonal fun just waiting at the station – it’s Santa’s Christmas train with a gingerbread driver. Inside (lift the flaps to see within) it’s packed full of brightly coloured things to look for and to discuss, questions to answer and most important, lots to enjoy. There are elves and reindeer, penguins, pies and plenty of other good things to eat, toys and other treats.

Once extended, the train is over a metre long and you can reverse the extended carriages to see the frozen, snowy landscape through which Santa journeys, all the while searching the carriages for his missing boot..

With its die-cut windows, there’s plenty to engage little ones who take the ride on Christmas Eve.