Matty and Mo: The Lost Teddy
Matty and Mo: Are We There Yet?
Rosalind Beardshaw
Campbell Books

When you’re little there are SO many life lessons to be learned. So it is with the pups in this new series.
Matty and Mo are sibling puppies, Matty being the elder of the two. We meet them on a rainy day playing inside picnics together.. Matty notices that Ted is missing and Mo, of course wants to help find him. They search in the likely places – the bed, a cupboard and in their liege toy pile but there’s no sign of Ted. This upsets Matty and Mo attempts to cheer him up and suddenly Matty notices something sticking out of Mo’s ‘new useful bag’. What could it be? Mo, so it appears can sometimes be a little silly
In the second book Matty and Mo are off to the beach in the car with Mum. It’s quite a distance so patience is needed. In her excitement Matty gobbles all her snacks in one go and then inevitably, one of the pups needs a wee. It’s Mo. (Matty went before they set off.) Inevitably too, boredom sets in and Matty gets busy with her sticker book … Mum must have a lot of patience as she drives and at last the beach is in sight, but the puppies can’t see it until they wake up.
Trying to be patient has tired them out – only for a short time though.
Little humans will have a giggle at the puppies as they earn to deal with what to them are challenging experiences. They will also enjoy using the moving parts – flaps, a wheel and the final fold-out heart in both books that were inspired by real-life family experiences..

Duck & Friends
Octopus & Friends
illustrated by Surya Sajnani
Quarto Kids (Wee Gallery)

Wee Gallery are a husband and wife team who create books to help babies and very young children develop through visual learning.
Both of these take the shape of the titular character and little ones will love joining in as both Duck and Octopus look for their friends in these splash splash bath books wherein each black and white creature magically comes to life in full colour when wet. Duck will meet the likes of frog, dragonfly and swan whereas Octopus’s friends include a large fish, jellyfish and a crab..
Splishy, sploshy, squishy, squashy tactile bath time fun for tinies.

Hippo’s Garden Day
Nicola Kent
Little Tiger

Lion and Hippo have very different gardens. Lion’s is neat and nothing looks out of place. In contrast Hippo’s is overgrown. I assume it’s not been left to grow wild deliberately. Hippo decides he needs to do some serious work on his grade. Having collected tools from his shed he sets about mowing, trimming, watering and in due season, harvesting fruit to share with his friend, Lion.
With some onomatopoeic language for small children to join in with as Hippo works, flaps to explore, a slider and wheels integral to the bold bright illustrations, this is a fun introduction to a task some adults thoroughly enjoy, some do under sufferance and others – those in favour of rewilding – don’t do at all. Toddlers however, will love the opportunity to assist Hippo in his work.