Tag Swapna Haddow

The Story Shop: Dino Danger! / Little Rabbit’s Big Surprise

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The Story Shop: Dino Danger!
Tracey Corderoy, illustrated by Tony Neal
Little Tiger

It’s always a treat to enter the Puddletown High Street establishment run by Wilbur and his ferret assistant, Fred. This unusual place sells stories but it’s not a bookshop, rather it sells stories you can actually be in. Dino Danger is the third in Tracey’s – if my experience is anything to go by – very popular series and offers three adventures, together with suitable costumes and characters, that are just waiting for a scaredy Bear to participate in.

Somewhat surprisingly, Fred and Wilbur suggest he dons a dinosaur outfit as does Fred who will accompany Bear. Our ursine character will definitely have to find a whole lot of courage if he’s to face a lot of prehistoric beasties, starting with a T.Rex and companions -Stegosaurus, Diplodocus and Apatosaurus. Can he avoid ending up as lunch for the terrible tyrannosaurus? Perhaps if he can outplay Big T. in a game of crazy golf …

In the second episode Bear turns baby sitter for three mischievous little Triceratopses that are leading their teacher, not to mention Bear and Fred, on a merry dance, after which the latter need to make a hasty exit.

Story three sees the adventurers on the trail of the real Veggie Nibbler(s) with just three days to catch them or they could well end up popping endless amounts of pea pods at the dinos’ Famous Allotment Club.

With plenty of amusing black and white illustrations by Tony Neal to break up the text, these stories will please followers of the series and likely win lots of new fans for The Story Shop.

Also for newly independent readers and just out in paperback is:

Little Rabbit’s Big Surprise
Swapna Haddow and Alison Friend
Little Tiger

One of the first in the publisher’s short fiction series with full colour illustrations, the original hardcover was reviewed four years back on this blog.

My Mum is a Lioness

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My Mum Is A Lioness
Swapna Haddow and Dapo Adeola
Macmillan Children’s Books

From the same team that gave us My Dad is a Grizzly Bear comes this hilarious follow-up starring a mum with a very big personality and a huge amount of love – love she clearly both gives and receives.

The little human narrator introduces readers to this larger than life parent serving her up by means of suitably leonine language that Dapo Adeola dramatically portrays in his action-packed scenes of family life. This powerhouse of a personality, is constantly busy. She appears to have boundless energy as she goes about her role as mum,

partner, friend, sporting hero and teacher. Most important she always manages to be there at the ready to bestow those wonderfully warm ‘lioness hugs’ just when they are most needed.

An absolute corker of a book for mums and little ones to share at home and for educators to do likewise at school or nursery. This rip-roaring tribute to the power of mums everywhere would make a smashing present for mothers of young children on Mother’s Day.

Two Sides / Little Rabbit’s Big Surprise

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Two Sides
Polly Ho-Yen and Binny Talib
Stripes Publishing
Little Rabbit’s Big Surprise
Swapna Haddow and Alison Friend

To help bridge the gap between picture books and assured fluent reading of chapter books Stripes Publishing are creating a short fiction series with a colour illustration at every page turn; these are the first two titles. Both are beautifully designed and illustrated.

Two Sides explores a friendship between total opposites, Lenka and Lula. Born on the same day, the former is neat and tidy, a cat lover and enjoys drawing; her best friend is a dog enthusiast, messy and something of a chatterbox.
A perfect twosome it seems and so it is until the fateful morning when Lula oversleeps after which everything goes terribly wrong.

Lenka’s forgotten pencil case containing the coloured pencils she needs to complete a competition entry, but now lying on Lula’s bed and a rejected present made by Lulu for Lenka lead to a fierce row and by the time their bus reaches school, a special friendship has fractured.

School feels a totally different place; the two girls sit far apart in the classroom but then their teacher allows the class a play stop en route for the library.

An opportunity for the rift to be healed perhaps …

The author acknowledges that even the very best, closest of friendships can have their ups and downs; and words said in the heat of the moment can really hurt. This is something young readers will definitely acknowledge as they lap up Polly Ho-Yen’s story with Binny Talib’s expressive scenes of the girls.

Little Rabbit’s Big Surprise opens with a bored Little Rabbit whose Mama, siblings and friends are all too busy to play with her. But then her grandfather invites her to become his assistant for the day and the young rabbit is in for surprise.

Instead of merely spending all his time with his friends, Big Rabbit devotes himself to altruistic activities, the first of which concerns Mole’s dark tunnel and Little Mole’s imminent birthday party.

Next comes a visit to Granny Hedgehog who is suffering from a bad case of the snuffles.

Dormouse too is in need of help: his little ones are hungry and their nest isn’t big enough to accommodate them all.
And then there’s Squirrel. She’s injured her paw and so can’t forage for food for her children.

It’s all in a day’s work for Big Rabbit but by the next morning it seems that Little Rabbit’s been infected by her grandfather’s enthusiasm for helping others and her friends too are willing to lend a hand.

Celebrating kindness, Swapna’s gentle telling in combination with Alison’s adorable woodland watercolour illustrations make for a delightful read alone, or a read aloud to younger children.
Readers will close the covers of both books with a boost of confidence having enjoyed a longer story: thoroughly recommended for home reading and for classroom libraries in KS1 and early KS2.