Tag the power of kindness

The Best Bad Day Ever

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The Best Bad Day Ever
Marianna Coppo
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

The feeling when we wake up and straightway know that it’s going to be a bad day, will be familiar to adults and perhaps to some children too. It’s certainly the case for little Wolfie, even his cuddly companion, Pepito, is in a bad mood.

Off Wolfie goes to school, through a street of happy-looking people and arrives late.

Nothing he tries turns out right and our small narrator feels nobody understands how he feels.

Then snack time comes and despite getting a fruit he dislikes, things start to look up. After a rest – not a sleep though for another little one stays awake too – the afternoon passes all too fast

and at home time, two little ones report to their respective parents, “It was the BEST BAD DAY EVER!”
Bring on tomorrow!

In just a brief text and scenes with an abundance of deadpan, gentle humour, Marianna Coppo captures that bad day feeling, going to on show how a kind action by another can change everything, making that great big frown into a beaming smile. All that’s needed is somebody who empathises and interacts, and … gone are those grumps.

Add to any preschool book collection, share it and invite the little ones to talk – to one another – in the first instance.

Once Upon A Dragon’s Fire

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Once Upon A Dragon’s Fire
Beatrice Blue
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books (First Editions)

In essence this fabulous follow-up to Beatrice’s Once Upon A Unicorn Horn is a neo-pourquoi tale telling how those mythical dragons came to breathe fire, or rather, one very particular dragon.

Now we all know that dragons with their snaggly teeth and huge wings, are truly terrifying creatures. Well maybe not actually; but that’s what comes of listening to hearsay and making up one’s mind before even setting eyes on such things.


And so it was in the village where reside young book-loving Freya and Sylas. All the other villagers lived in fear of their lives on account of the kitten-eating, storm-blowing creature responsible for the constant chill around; but these two are far from scared. In fact, they simply love to read dragon tales to one another; it’s their most favourite thing to do.


Now while the other villagers cower in their homes in the icy cold, the brave pair set out to find said ‘bad dragon’ and terminate its reign of terror once and for all.

What they discover having clambered up the wind-swept mountain though, is something entirely unexpected. No deafening roar, nor sharp teeth, just a sad, lonely-looking creature.

These two children however, know exactly the right remedy for the dragon’s blues …

This wonderfully heart-warming tale celebrates the power of love and kindness as well as the power of story; it’s about misconceptions, facing your fears, searching for truth and much more; I suspect new meanings will reveal themselves on subsequent readings. Beatrice’s illustrations wield their own breath-takingly powerful magic; little by little, they reveal the truth about the dragon, as she dramatically changes the hues of her colour palette with that special gatefold reveal and what follows.


Children and adults alike will relish this book.