Peter the Cat’s Little Book of Big Words
Zeb Soanes and James Mayhew
Graffeg

Do you want to help your child become a logophile or a philomath, or perhaps both? Then try sharing a copy of this compilation by Peter, feline ‘Pawthor’ of this lexicon and a character from the Gaspard the Fox series. Said moggy shares his passion with readers, providing one or more big words for most letters of the alphabet. Each word is accompanied by its meaning and the way it is said on one page and opposite is a full page illustration by James, almost all from the Gaspard series.

Peter’s book is logically arranged in alphabetical order starting with ‘Acclivitous’, meaning rising steeply and going through to ‘Voluminous’ where it ends. Several letters aren’t featured – H, J, K, O, Q, R, T, U although there’s a proliferation of Ps, Cs and Ss.
In my experience, young children love to impress grown-ups by using big words so this book should definitely hit the spot.

Get Off Bear!
Tony Neal
Oxford Children’s Books

The forces push and pull are explored in this simple, fun story. Bear turns down his animal friends’ invitation to join them in building a snowman, saying he wants to go sledging instead. However being on flat ground means that the sledge won’t move. Frog offers to push but Bear is far too heavy and he doesn’t seem aware that the sledge needs to go in a downward direction, which means getting up the hill first.

Even with all the other animals’ combined assistance, their pulling and pushing results in a snapped tow rope and a return to the place from where the co-operative effort began. Is there a way that Bear and all his friends can enjoy a sledge ride even if some of their number need to hone their steering skills?
As always in this series, Tony Neal’s illustrations are bursting with humour.
The final spread offers some force-related activities for adults and little ones to try together.