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 …
By Georgina Deutsch. The penguins in this picture book must be from England and definitely not Madagascar, as they are all very polite! All except Polly who ignores the rules and says what she wants. It’s a nice way to introduce the importance of manners to children and thus avoid the resulting chaos. The illustrations are comical as befits the humour and …
By Fiona Lumbers. Anybody who has been crabbing with their children will like this book. It’s also an appropriate summer read if your soon going to be heading to a British shore with you bucket and line. The story starts on the beach where Clem meets Crab. Crab ends up coming home with Clem after being entangled in some plastic …
By Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. A slightly different book to the usual Donaldson/Scheffler format. This is great for reading to children as it allows for lots of different character voices to be created. Light hearted and fun, so you can’t really go wrong here. There’s also a great audio recording of this available featuring Imelda Staunton and Steven Pacey …
By Lizzy Stewart. This is one for the dads to read to their kids as both dad and daughter go off on a treasure hunting adventure. Dad is slightly stereotyped if I’m honest, but the story is about coming together and realising that life is richer when the journey is shared. The illustrations are very engaging with some nice feature …
By Gemma Koomen. This is a beautiful book, currently in hardback with a lovely matte finish. It is also the authors first book and she should be rightly proud of her achievement. The story concerns ‘tree keepers’, little folk who live a tree essentially and a young girl who befriends a starling. There are wider themes of friendship and belonging …