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Hot Air by Sandrine Dumas Roy
This is a story with an environmental message, but at times it seems more like an environmental message with a story. The story itself is terribly limited. It begins with the ice caps melting, the sun growing too hot and drought. There are no humans in this book, so the animals get together to find out what the problem is. They decide that cows are the reason the world is growing warmer and try to find a solution. Full review...
Who's On First? by John Martz, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
I very nearly passed this book by, as my sons have no knowledge of or interest in baseball. But the name of the authors caught my eye. I was a surprised to see Abbott and Costello listed as the authors of a new book. After all, they have been dead for decades. This could give the term ghost writer a whole new meaning, and then the penny dropped. The title, 'Who's On First?' is also the title of one of Abbott and Costello's most famous comedy skits. This book is taken directly from the skit, with only a few minor alterations. Remembering how side splittingly funny the skit was - I knew in instant the children would enjoy this. You do not need to know anything about baseball to enjoy this book, all you need is a sense of humour. Full review...
My Humongous Hamster by Lorna Freytag
My hamster doesn’t do much.
He just sleeps and eats and eats and sleeps.
Sometimes he gets so HUMoNGOUSLY HUNGRY....
My Humongous Hamster is the story of what might happen if the hungry hamster ate all of his food in one gulp and got bigger and bigger and bigger. Each page shows the gigantic hamster in a variety of humorous situations, each one funnier than the last. Full review...
I Am Not Sleepy And I Will Not Go To Bed by Lauren Child
Like many children, Lola does not particularly like going to bed. She likes staying up colouring, scribbling, sticking and most of all chattering. When she is told that it is time for bed, she always has an answer as to why she should not go: she never gets tired; she can’t clean her teeth because somebody is eating her toothpaste; and the whales are swimming in the bath. The list is endless especially where the highly imaginative Lola is concerned. However, older brother Charlie knows Lola so well; if anyone can persuade her to get into bed, it’s him. Full review...
Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
I can only describe Lost and Found as a work of art. The story is beautiful in its simplicity, and the illustrations also have a magical quality to them. I have read criticism of some of Jeffers' early works for his style of drawing, especially the thin stick like legs of the The Boy. The critics seem to have fallen silent on this book though and there is nothing but praise for it. The boy is not the most realistic drawing of a child I have seen, but there is something special about it, some unique presence that sets this book apart from other books. It is not a crude drawing, but a very individualised, artistic expression of Jeffers' style, which is rapidly becoming a personal trademark. The rest of his illustrations are simple and uncluttered as well. Many depict only the main characters, a single prop on a white background. Another picture shows only a few house with a darkened sky, a full moon and stars. Full review...
It Wasn't Me (The Hueys) by Oliver Jeffers
The title of this book will be familiar to every small child. I think it may be one of the first sentences many learn. The scenario will also be very familiar. The story is about a family, who usually get along very well. But just once in while - they don't. This just happens to be one of those times when they are not getting along at all, and Gillespie walks into a huge argument. He asks why they are fighting, but as mad as everyone is, no one can quite remember. A few start pointing fingers as to who started the fight, but each character insists he was not the one who started the row. They never do remember what caused the quarrel but eventually wander off for something a bit more exciting. Full review...
Primrose by Alex T Smith
Princess Primrose is bored, bored, bored! Everyone is so formal, so serious and proper, and Primrose just longs to have some fun. Everyone in the palace is constantly telling her off, telling her what not to do. The Queen is worried about her, wondering how Primrose will ever learn to behave like a proper princess. In the end they decide that they must call in Grandmama, for surely if anyone can make Primrose behave it's Grandmama! Full review...
Claude in the Spotlight by Alex T Smith
You have met Claude, haven't you? He's a funny, plump little dog whose best friend is Sir Bobblysock and the two of them frequently get themselves embroiled in all sorts of adventures. This time Claude heads, accidentally, towards a career on stage. But something is amiss in the theatre. Can Claude help save the show? Full review...
Open Very Carefully: A Book with Bite! by Nicola O'Byrne and Nick Bromley
Here's another brilliant picture book from Nosy Crow. If you haven't already heard of them, these newish publishers are ones to watch. They seem to be nurturing artists and writers with an ability to think outside the box, in a children's field already replete with creative talent. Full review...
The Mummy Shop by Abie Longstaff and Lauren Beard
One small boy is feeling very cross with his mummy. She has told him to tidy his room, to help at the supermarket and then has made him go to bed when he has only just started playing. He is so cross that when he reads this advert in the paper: Full review...
Zog by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
We are devotees of the Gruffalo. We have books, noisy books, costumes, jigsaws, sleepsuits and green nail polish. We have scoured coppices for Gruffalo-shaped twigs and bakers’ shops for Gruffalo birthday cakes. We have done the Gruffalo, if not to death, but to the shallow depths of my granddaughter’s infant imagination. We love the Gruffalo for his unique and appealing simplicity, and because he is the most wonderful debunker of monster-fear ever invented. Full review...
Too Small for my Big Bed by Amber Stewart and Layn Marlow
This book is for kids graduating from the cot to their first big bed. Even more, it’s for all those parents who didn’t anticipate that once in the bed, there’s no going back to the security of the cot ... the child can now appear in your bedroom, night after night after night. So this is the universal problem, and here is a supportive and tactful way of addressing it. Full review...
Weasels by Elys Dolan
I chose 'Weasels' because my sons enjoy books with a bit of wicked wit. Books are my passion, and something my children greatly enjoy as well. We have several hundred children's books, and we really value ones that are a bit different from the norm. 'Weasels' most certainly qualifies as different. The premise of the story is that weasels are secretly plotting to take over the world. My boys call it World War Weasel. A slight but very humorous mishap really throws a spanner in the works. The weasels have built a massive machine to secure their quest for world domination, but just as the countdown begins the lights go off and the machine status screen clearly tells us It's broken. Full review...
The Dark by Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen
Lazlo is afraid of the dark. Each night he takes a torch to bed as he knows that the dark shares the house with him, lurking in all the corners of his home. Usually though, the dark lives in the basement and each morning Lazlo builds up the courage to go to the door of the basement and say hi to the dark. But then one night the dark does something different and visits Lazlo in his bedroom and speaks to him! It has something that it wants to show Lazlo and it is something that will help Lazlo to overcome his fear. Full review...
Wolf and Dog by Sylvia Vanden Heede and Marije Tolman
Wolf and Dog are cousins, and whilst Wolf is wild and lives in the forest, Dog is tame and lives in a house with his boss. In spite of their differences they somehow develop a friendship, of sorts, sharing everything from food to fleas! Full review...
The Disgusting Sandwich by Gareth Edwards and Hannah Shaw
What do you do if your sandwich falls on the floor? Do you have a three second rule? Does it depend on how good a sandwich it is?! I stopped worrying so much when my daughter began to crawl and one day, in a cafe in town, I discovered her under someone else's table eating crumbs and fluff and goodness knows what off the floor there, with no adverse effects thank goodness! Here in this story Badger, poor Badger, is very, very hungry. He spots a delicious looking sandwich, peanut butter on fresh white bread. But the little boy holding the sandwich accidentally drops it in the sandpit. A little girl sees and she says you can't eat it now. It's disgusting. What about badger though? Does he still want to eat it? Full review...
Stupid Baby by Stephanie Blake
Simon (a rabbit) has a new baby brother. Suddenly Simon is being cautioned for being too noisy. He begins to worry that this 'stupid baby', who has been there for three whole days might actually be staying forever! And that would be horrible! How on earth will Simon cope? Full review...
Things That Go (Baby Can See) by Leonie Lagarde
Things That Go is one of a series (more on the other books later) of books designed with the youngest readers in mind. It has just twelve pages in a substantial board and with a padded cover which will be soft in baby's hands will wipe clean. It's sturdy but not immune to being pierced if it encounters a sharp object. Each double page spread shows a method of transport in black, white and one primary colour. There's a statement of what it is: 'It's a bike' along with a very small amount of supplementary text. The picture has simple lines and it's obvious what it is. Full review...
Tamara Small and the Monster's Ball by Giles Paley-Phillips and Gabriele Antonini
On a dark and windy night Tamara Small lies awake in bed, clutching Ted. There's something stirring in the garden and when she and Ted go to look out of the window there's something moving around and making a grizzly sound. As the pair dash back to bed a monster breaks through the window and whisks them away - to the old village hall which is where the Annual Monsters' Ball is being held. And what a collection of monsters it is! I saw skeletons, goblins, ghosts and ghouls, witches in black pointy hats and a few other monsters that defy description. And what happened to Tamara? Well, she had a ball... Full review...
Tabitha Posy Was Ever So Nosy by Julie Fulton and Jona Jung
It's a couple of years since I met Julie Fulton's Mrs MacCready, who - in case you don't know - was ever so greedy. Remembering what a glorious romp that was, how could I resist a young friend of Julie's by the name of Tabitha Posy? Well, I didn't even try... Full review...
Dinosaurs in the Supermarket by Timothy Knapman and Sarah Warburton
There are dinosaurs in the supermarket!
Look, they’re everywhere!
If only grown-ups noticed them
They’d get a frightful scare.
But of course, the grown-ups are so immersed in their grocery shopping, that they don’t notice the dinosaurs hiding on the shelves, in amongst the vegetables and behind the display cases. Only one little boy is observant enough to spot the dinosaurs all around the supermarket and the fact that their antics are causing chaos. If he doesn’t do something soon, the adults may blame HIM for all the mess appearing on the walls and floors. Full review...
The Cautionary Tale of the Childe of Hale by Rachel Lyon and Vanina Starkoff
There was a giant who lived in Hale and if you care to you can visit the cottage and grave of John Middleton who reputedly topped nine feet tall and had to sleep with his feet dangling out of his cottage windows. Rachel Lyon tells the lightly-fictionalised story of how the Childe - as he was known - was taken up by the king, commanded to move to London and given every luxury. For a while he didn't regret leaving Hale at all - for once he was dry, slept in a comfortable bed and had clothes which fit him. He mixed with the royal family and the court - and life seemed good, until the day when the king commanded him to fight. This was bad enough, but even then the king's motives were not exactly as you might expect. Full review...
I Got a Crocodile by Nicola Killen
A lonely child wishes for a little brother or sister to play with, but ends up with a crocodile instead. The crocodile is messy and intrusive and soon starts making a nuisance of himself, causing trouble at teatime, bathtime and bedtime. Can the crocodile and the child get over their differences and become friends in the end? Full review...
The Chicken and the Egg by Allan Plenderleith
Flo the chicken lived on a farm where every chicken laid one egg every day, except for Flo, that is. She tried everything - you'll see from the pictures that she really did try everything, but nothing worked. Then one day it rained and all the other chickens went into the coop but there was no room for Flo - so there was nothing left for her to do but hide under a tree. As the rain came down, so did something else and a really BIG egg landed right next to Flo. The other chickens were just a bit sceptical (the egg was bigger than Flo), but Flo was the maternal type and she loved that egg and cared for it all through the year. Then came the night when a predator came calling at the farm and Flo wouldn't leave her egg... Full review...
Harold Finds A Voice by Courtney Dicmas
Harold is a parrot, quite a talented parrot in fact. He is able to mimic almost anything with great accuracy. From the washing machine to the toaster, the vacuum cleaner to the phone Harold delights in imitating every single sound he hears in the apartment in which he lives. One day Harold decides that he has tired of all these familiar sounds and ventures out into the big city where is he delighted to discover a whole range of exciting new sounds for him to copy. However something is worrying Harold; despite all the many sounds he makes he is worried that he does not have a sound of his own. Surely he must have a voice and if he does what does it sound like? Full review...
Christopher's Bicycle by Charlotte Middleton
Something is going on in the shed! Christopher Nibble (the guinea pig) wonders what his dad is doing in there, banging and crashing about. And his mum too has some secret sewing project going on. What on earth could they be up to? Worry not, for all is revealed when Christopher is presented with his very own brand new recycled bicycle! Full review...
Never Ever by Jo Empson
The little girl in this story is firmly convinced of the fact that nothing ever, EVER happens to her. Nothing interesting anyway. We meet her walking through the countryside with her stuffed rabbit, moaning about the lack of excitement in her life. Yet whilst she's complaining, what's that we can see? In the field of pigs behind her there's one with wings, flying in the sky! Has she noticed? No, she hasn't! She continues to walk on, telling us how there is never, ever any excitement and of course there are more and more things happening around her that she's just not noticing. Will she ever discover that her life is perhaps one of the most exciting in the world?! Full review...
Prince Charmless by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross
Prince Charmless was probably born complaining and every day there is something new to complain about. Amongst his complaints are that he wants to be a panda rather than a prince; he wants to live in a big, gold palace instead of a silly, silver, little one; and he wants to get up in the middle of the night rather than in the morning. If he can find something to complain about, he will, and Prince Charmless does not worry about upsetting people when he does complain. Unsurprisingly, the palace staff has had enough and all decide to leave. Full review...