By Oliver Jeffers. This is both a classic and a best-seller. A boy finds a penguin outside his door, then tries to return him to the South Pole assuming he must be lost.  The themes of loneliness and friendships here are as powerful as the title promises and thank goodness it all ends well! The illustrations are Wonderful and provide …

By Tom Percival. There are few things as upsetting for a child as losing their favourite toy and this book deals with just that. Sofia’s favourite teddy gets left behind after a day at the beach. Nobody noticed except the sea who ’saw’. This clever twist is not the only one in the book as an attempt to reunite the …

By Zeb Soanes and James Mayhew. This is an interesting tale about the life of a street fox. It’s wordier than your average picture book  giving it an old fashioned feel which is no bad thing. As such it’s a longer story too. There are interactions with a posh local cat and a scruffy local dog as Gaspard spends the day …

By Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen. This book forms part of a trilogy along with Circle and Triangle. Circle features in this story too and she sees Square as a artist, which he feels he isn’t. Square spends the day and night sculpting a rock to try and impress Circle ‘who is perfect’. It’s possibly a slightly older theme about perception …

By Benji Davies. Tad starts off funnily enough, as a tadpole. The smallest tadpole among her brothers and sisters. But there’s a big fish lurking around who likes eating tadpoles. What will be Tad’s fate? An interesting tale of survival and clever thinking. It is a little ominous in tone and could scare more sensitive children, so have a read of …

By Maria Gulemetova. Gosh, there’s some deep themes explored this picture book and it even reminded me of Raymond Briggs, as not all is rosy in the story. The main character (a subserviant pig) and the boy who tells him what to do and what he likes, are reflective of children every day. Therefore the book sets out the importance …

By D’Arcy Lewis. This is a wonderful journey around our solar system and as the title may suggest, works really well as a bedtime read.  As the sun sets and gives way to the moon, we are taken on a little trip to say ‘goodnight’ to all the planets (including Pluto!). The lyrical and rhyming text is easy to read …

By Benji Davies. A poignant picture book about a lonely boy who helps a whale washed up on the beach and tries to hide him in the bath. It’s a nice reminder for parents who work long hours (who doesn’t) about the impact of that on their child. The text is minimal and you can read through it quite quickly. …

by Caryl Hart and Sarah Warburton. Another in the author’s Princess series that gives a fresh and modern take to a traditional fairy tale. This story follows the tale of Princess Jasmine (no not that one) who is expected to behave like a princess, go to the ball and get kissed by a prince. Jasmine of course is having none of …

by Tom Fletcher and Greg Abbott I haven’t read the previous entries into this series, however they should be fun if this one is anything to go by. It uses a clever concept which uses the physical book itself as an ‘interactive’ story device. The reader is encouraged to partake in various actions to help the titular alien who has crash …