Tag saying thank you

Albert and the Wind

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Albert and the Wind
Ian Brown and Eoin Clarke
Graffeg

This is a playful story about Albert, a tortoise who struggles to get his message of thanks across to the various creatures that come to his aid, rescuing items of his meal that are blown away by the swooshing wind.

First to help is a bee that proffers the leaf he’s just bumped into on the wing, Albert responds thus, “To make sure it does not blow away again, I am going to sit on it.” Before he can add his words of thanks, the bee has buzzed off.

Other helpers are in turn, a spider, a snail and a worm,

followed by a whole host of other creatures from all over the garden, some of which bring items that hadn’t been part of Albert’s meal.

The wind continues to blow and Albert and his food items are reunited, little by little until the whole meal is ready and waiting for eating.

However, Albert is still concerned that he’s not been able to show any of his helpers how grateful he is. Can he find a way to deliver his words of thanks to everyone at the same time? Ingeniously yes, thanks to the last few items left unconsumed …

This amusing tale ends with a blast that will delight young listeners and I suspect, adult sharers. With a factual page about Albert and other tortoises, and Eoin Clarke’s quirkily humorous, larger than life illustrations of the various helper minibeasts, as well as the protagonist, this is a book that readers aloud will enjoy giving voice to as much as listeners will enjoy hearing it.

The World Made a Rainbow

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The World Made a Rainbow
Michelle Robinson and Emily Hamilton
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

What a gorgeous book this is, and it’s pitch perfect for children at the present time of continuing uncertainty when very little seems normal, and for youngsters a lot of what’s happening isn’t fully understood (and that’s only the children!)

Michelle and Emily’s story begins when everyone must stay at home and inevitably friends and relations are being missed – but only until ‘everything mends’ as the child narrator’s mum says unable to be more specific regarding time.

Meanwhile normal life is on hold but there are things that families can do and this one, like so many others during this 6 months of pandemic, have to carry on somehow, some way. And one way is to make a rainbow – that symbol of hope that so many of us have been displaying.

But mum has to work, so it’s down to dad to look after a little brother (‘who’s going berserk’) with the result that our narrator has to be extra creative.

As she works on her rainbow (aided by dad when he’s free ) the little girl finds each new colour stirs a memory or acts as a reminder of something

or somebody.

Eventually her creation is a truly special piece of art and one that she’s happy to put on display in her window so that everyone can enjoy it. And yes, things aren’t perfect but in the meantime there’s much she (and we) can be thankful for.

The story is so movingly and beautifully written and illustrated.

Thank you, Michelle and Emily and of course Bloomsbury Children’s Books for this touching, heartfelt book.

Yes, it’s one for now, but not just for now: it will surely act as a reminder to reflect on in the future, of that time in 2020 when, with ever more new challenges, we all pulled together as communities, showing what the mum in the book said, “All rainstorms must end, and this rainstorm will, too.”  As the little girl says in conclusion, “And we’ll still have each other when this rainstorm ends.’

(A percentage of the proceeds of sales will be donated to The Save the Children Fund.)

Once Upon a Wish & Thank You!

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Once Upon a Wish
Amy Sparkes and Sara Ogilvie
Red Fox
Deep in the forest, in a giant oak tree, lives a magical wishgiving boy, as you’ll soon see …
By night, as the wishes drift his way, he spends his time concocting and conjuring up wish magic for girls and boys,

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then delivering it right to them …

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Despite their delight at receiving their heart’s desire, these children quickly forget the wish giver who also has a wish of his own, for it’s a lonely life he leads in that secret lair of his. The lad wishes for a pet or a friend to keep him company but try as he might, his own wish is unfulfilled …

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Then one night this wish wafts his way “I wish I could fly” and immediately our lad is up and doing, sprinkling, stirring and filling a bottle of potion, before sailing off to deliver same to the waiting wisher. This particular recipient however, is rather different. Yes, she’s absolutely over the moon at being able to take her maiden flight, but it’s what she does next …

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that makes all the difference, though not right away. Her kind words take a little while for their own particular brand of magic to do its work …

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Amy Sparkes’ brilliant to read aloud rhyming verses mixed with Sara Ogilvie’s sparklingly gorgeous, richly and humorously detailed, glowing illustrations make for a magic mix all of their own: sheer delight from cover to cover.
If you’ve ever forgotten to thank, or overlooked saying, thank you to anybody, I urge you to get hold of a copy of this one and send it to them forthwith; actually buy a copy no matter what; you’ll surely find someone or many, to share its enchantments.

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Thank You!
Ethan Long
Abrams Appleseed
A variety of animals, small and large, a toddler and an adult demonstrate ways of showing thankfulness in this delightfully playful board book. There’s an additional way of showing gratitude too herein: paying it forward. Cat proffers Dog a ball, then dog in turn gives a flower to hummingbird;

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hummingbird then offers panda a bamboo shoot ; panda extends his paw with peanut to elephant and so on. Each act of kindness receives a characteristic thankful response – “Growl growl!”, “Toot toot!” and so on until we come full circle to the cat, now the recipient of a ball of wool.
Next, we see each of the recipients enjoying their gift and a small child watching and wondering. And then comes a final human sharing time with adult and child rounding things off neatly.

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Long constructs this whole concatenation cleverly with each animal stretching out of its border and across the gutter with its offering.
If you’re endeavouring to teach your young infant to respond appropriately when given something, this is the perfect book; just make sure you don’t end up with a confused child barking, humming, growling, tooting, eeking, oinking or meowing. Actually though, those speech bubbles are great for joining in with, and a slightly older sibling would likely enjoy reading the book to a very young brother or sister.

Use your local bookshop   localbookshops_NameImage-2

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