Friday, October 28, 2022
AD: Sponsored Post The Wee Page Turner could not have been more excited for this book! Jon Agee books are ones that we read over and over. A...
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The Wee Page Turner could not have been more excited for this book! Jon Agee books are ones that we read over and over.
And this new title is no exception, My Rhinoceros by Jon Agee was immediately read several times and then packed to go on holiday with us (as well as three other Jon Agee books). An instant hit!
But why does he love them so much? Well, because he adores the humour in them; the way the words (i.e. the adult reading them) are saying one thing but the illustrations (i.e. the child reading those) are implying something totally different. It’s like the author lets only the children in on the secret whilst the adults are in the dark. And why wouldn’t a kid love that feeling? A feeling of being more knowledgeable than the grown ups!
This newest release is the story of a main character who decides to get a rhinoceros for a pet. But he’s left feeling a little disappointed when it won’t chase a ball or a stick or a frisbee. In fact, according to the experts, a rhino only does two things: pop balloons and poke holes in kites. But the boy’s rhinoceros doesn’t even seem interested in doing that. What good is a rhino for a pet? Well, I won’t spoil it for you (although the big reveal is in the images below!) But it’s pretty darn cool!
Again this book tickles my bairns’ funnybones. Where again the adults in the story are left looking sheepish and silly when the child reveals the truth about his rhinoceros.
If you haven’t read any Jon Agee books I urge, no compel you to seek them out. The Wall in the Middle of the Book is a perfect one for teachers and could be read to classes of all ages. And his others (Life on Mars is one of my favourites!) will have you sniggering with each read - I've linked some of my previous posts below. The joke and the reveal never seem to lose their appeal! One for kids and adults alike and the stories you won’t tire of reading!
Happy reading and giggling!
Kim and the bairns x
Many thanks to Scallywag Press for sending us this new book as well as other Jon Agee books over the years. They’ve made for many happy story times!
Disclaimer: If you click on the image of the book below you will be sent to Amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on Amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-90p per book) from Amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog post please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our For Readers Section.
Monday, November 15, 2021
The pairing of Rachel Bright and Jim Field is surely one made in a book lovers heaven as they produce gem after gem! And this newest book,...
The pairing of Rachel Bright and Jim Field is surely one made in a book lovers heaven as they produce gem after gem! And this newest book, The Whale Who Wanted More, is one of my favourites (The Lion Inside will always pull my heartstrings!)
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Today is Earth Day! So I thought I would celebrate by sharing three of my favourite books about this wonderful rock that we live on! ...
Today is Earth Day! So I thought I would celebrate by sharing three of my favourite books about this wonderful rock that we live on! Taking time to appreciate and celebrate our wonderful planet and all the flora and fauna that live on it is the first step in encouraging children to learn to love, protect and cherish the Earth. With each orbit round the sun we learn more and more about Earth and I hope that we realise more and more how much we need to work together making small and big changes to reduce our impact on all that live here. So here are my three favourites that remind us that Earth is much bigger than we are, and yet we are central to it's destruction and protection.
Monday, December 30, 2019
Every year this is one of my favourite blog posts to write but it also one of the ones that I find the most difficult as ultimately i...
Every year this is one of my favourite blog posts to write but it also one of the ones that I find the most difficult as ultimately it means I can't talk about all the books. I have to select just a few of our absolute favourites.
So just a little disclaimer:
- these are all 'new' books that our family discovered this year. They were either published this year or ones that we only read for the first time this year.
- we have read many many books from lots of great publishers so whilst many of these books have been sent by the publishers, I have chosen to include the books we love best!
- I'm all for having a balanced bookshelf with books sharing mighty girls and diverse characters and stories from around the world and we really do read a wide variety. But these are a favourites list and therefore it would be dishonest and disingenuous to share books that weren't actually the ones we read the most for the sake appearing more diverse or more feminist or more contrived in some way. (Having said that, there is a number of books here that have sustainable and environmental themes as that it something that I have spent a lot of time thinking about this year.)
Anyway...
We have read lots of great things this year. BookBairn has started to enjoy reading chapter books - we are currently halfway through reading Matilda which is a joy - although I haven't included any here yet as I feel like we still predominantly read picture books and enjoy them the most (maybe it's the nature of re-reading them). The Wee Page Turner has moved on from those baby and toddler board books to predominantly choosing picture books and is a firm fan of Julia Donaldson stories as well as The Tiger Who Came to Tea and his favourite reading position is stretched out at full length on his tummy. And they enjoy reading and discovering books together - side by side! You will notice here that quite a few of these book shave powerful messages beyond just a good story - and I think that's what makes these ones special. And probably why I chose them for this list. Here are the books that we have read the most this year:
Sometimes you get a picture book where the words are beautiful poetry. And sometimes you get a picture book where the illustrations are exquisite artwork. But rarely do you get a picture book where both poetry and art come together to create real magic. This is the story of the little girl called Nell, who goes a-wandering one day through the fields behind her farmhouse, only to discover a circus. A story of a magical world that really draws you in. The cover artwork took my breath away. I adore Briony May Smith’s illustrations (Stardust is another favourite book of mine) and I knew straight away that Nell’s world was somewhere I wanted to visit. Each page is so stunning and the use of light and shade in the illustrations is so delicate that it feels like you are in the room. The warm shades of the lights and the whole cast of characters are so evocative of a circus it feels like you are inside the big top. And to top it all off, the story has a magical and ambiguous quality to it. Was the circus real, or did it spring from Nell’s imagination? Magical.
Written in the most wonderful rhyme and packed full of humour and fun, l love reading this one aloud! From Maker Chick to Baker Chick to Soccer Chick and Rocker Chick, all the chicks in town are horrified by and standing up to the “No Chicks Allowed” rule! Nerdy Chick isn’t standing for this senseless rule and won’t let it stand in their way to achieving her dreams of launching a rocket into space! She turns to her fellow chicks for help. And together they lift each other and prove once and for all that chicks are truly out of this world! The illustrations aren’t the kind that I’m usually drawn to but we love the bright colours and cartoon/comic style. I am totally won over by them! Showing you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. And you shouldn’t judge a Chick by her feathers! I cannot say how much love I have for this book!
This is one of the most clever and poignant and powerful picture books that I have ever encountered. Now I am already a huge fan of Britta Teckentrup’s work but I think this is her best yet. Cleverly using die-cuts that work across both pages, the left-hand side of the book tells of a growing chasm between friends who disagree, argue, say unkind words, abandon, get angry. And the right-hand page tells the story of a growing tree, flourishing through friendship, love and support. Showing the contrast between the two ways of interacting. When the children on the left-hand page look across the those on the right, they see hope and how to heal their rift. The words are poetry. And the illustrations convey the message so beautifully. In our current climate, this is a book that should be widely read and shared among children and I hope that parents, teachers and any book-givers get it into the hands of as many children as possible.
Nibbles is perhaps my all time favourite book character! I know there are so many great ones to choose from but BookBairn and Nibbles (or Dimbles as she calls him) have been best book buddies since that very first turn of the page. He’s an adorable little monster with an insatiable appetite for books. In Nibbles and the Monster Hunt, Nibbles has a human friend whose bookshelf he can ravage! Nibbles Is nibbling his way through some serious tomes of non-fiction: fact books, colour books, counting books, you name it and he’s nibbling it. Like the previous books in the series, this conceptually clever book works on so many levels that it’s great for a wide audience of readers.
In Nibbles Numbers, little ones can count along with Nibbles as he chomps his way from one to ten! From the first page flap, to all the delightful little finger-sized cut-out holes in each page (corresponding to the number of bites Nibbles has taken), there's so much for little ones to explore. With bright and inviting colours and tactile holes to count together this is a number book that provides more than simple number teaching. The rhyme scheme makes it enjoyable to read aloud and allows little ones to predict the next number in some pages.
I’ve written a full blog post as to why Nibbles is our favourite book character if you want to read more about him.
If you are looking for a book whose illustrations will literally take your breath away, then you have to get your green fingers on a copy of The Green Giant. It is truly truly spectacular. It tells the story of a young girl, Bea, who is visiting her grandfather in the countryside, far from the big grey city that she lives in. And she finds it rather slow and boring, until she finds a new and unexpected friend in the Green Giant who is hiding away on an old greenhouse. A giant made entirely of plants! The giant opens Bea's eyes to the wonders of nature and the magic of greenery and together they set off on a mission to make the city (and the world) a greener place. This fits with everything I want to share with the bairns about being concerned about our environment but in a way that little children can understand. And the illustrations are so striking - the contrast between the grey city and the greenery is incredibly poignant. It's just beautiful.
The little girl in this story - Clem - loves nothing more than a day out at the beach. She loves spending her weekends combing the beach for treasure with her big sister. On one day treasure hunting on the beach, she stumbles across Crab with his claw stuck in a plastic bag. Clem things Crab would be much happier with her in the city but everyone tells her that he belongs on the beach. After a show and tell presentation to her class, she spreads the word about cleaning up our beaches. When returning Crab to the beach the following weekend Clem finds her classmates all helping to clean up the beach and they find the perfect rock pool for Crab. The illustrations are so evocative of the seaside and the characters, particularly Clem and Crab, are just adorable. I particularly love that the opening endpapers feature a beach littered with, well… litter and the closing endpapers feature Clem and Crab gazing out on the ocean standing on a natural litter-free beach! Such a timely tale about cleaning up our beaches and and underlying message that every small action helps. In fact, I got a lump in my throat when I read Clem shout: “I made a difference… We can all make a difference!” Isn’t that just such a lovely message for children to hear and at the heart of all efforts towards sustainability we need to believe that we can make a difference.
Another book about sustainability and human impact on the environment is this story of Alba the Hundred Year Old Fish, which will help little readers understand the effects of pollution on our oceans. Alba the fish has spent her entire life collecting precious and beautiful objects that drift down to the ocean floor every year on her birthday. But as each birthday passes, and one more item is added to the collection, Alba notices that her collection is losing it's sparkle and treasures are becoming harder and harder to find. But for her 100th birthday she spots a pearl in a strange plastic shell. And she gets trapped. Fortunately not for long as a little girl comes to her rescue. This book is packed full of so many wonderful things - a visual feast of the natural world that will make little one's appreciate the beauty and the need to protect it.
(When checking details for this post I noticed that this book is now completely sold out and will be re-released in March under the new title: 'Alba and the Ocean Clean Up'.)
If there are two things in a book that are guaranteed to make it a hit with The Wee Page Turner it’s animals and vehicles. So this new board book edition couldn’t be more perfect for him. Using the familiar tune Old MacDonald had a Farm and giving it a new and hilarious twist with Old MacDonald having a variety of vehicles from an excavator to a steam roller to a cement mixer all of which are being used to convert. Space on the farm for Mrs MacDonald to perform a stunt show in her Monster Truck! The illustrations in this book bring a real magic to the funny song showing all the animals on the farm working together (in hard hats and hi-vis vests of course - safety first!) getting themselves into some hilarious situations. Honestly this is a truly fun book and I know we sing this one over and over at bedtimes!
This is certainly a book to experience as well as read. It's a celebration as much as it is a story! Following a group of children in their school and throughout their day in school, this book shows a school where diversity it's at it's heart. Everyone is welcome no matter their race, religion or background. this story shares an uplifting celebration of cultural diversity and belonging where all children are welcome in the classroom. With children wearing hijabs, patkas, baseball caps and yarmulkes playing and learning side-by-side the illustrations in the book create a world where all the children belong. With scenes of the children pointing to their family's countries of origin, and the children gathered on the floor in a circle drawing illustrations of families of all sizes and colours and a playground full of happy children having fun together this is a really welcoming book! You will want to jump into the illustrations. The accompanying poem (it's definitely more a poem than a story) lets readers know that what they see in the illustrations is reinforced by the language of the school and community: everyone is welcome, they all have a place, they all have a space, no matter what. The school also has children of a variety of abilities including a blind child who carries a whitestick and a child in a wheelchair, reinforcing the lovely message of inclusion. That, for me, sums up what I want a school, and a wider community, to be and to cherish. This book is so wonderfully executed and really lives up to it's important message!
Stories can be an excellent way to talk about difficult to understand things with children. And this book truly is a wonderful way to share with children the difficulties of living with dementia. It tells the story of a little girl and her Grandad on a day out at the beach. Grandad is excellent at building sandcastles and finding shells, and rock pooling. But sometimes he gets confused. And buries the sandwiches. The little girl talks about her feelings too - how sometimes she gets cross at Grandad when he does odd things. But also that she tries to remember that it must be scary to forget. And especially frightening to forget someone you love. And no matter, even though Grandad doesn’t remember things like he used to, she loves him as much as she always has, and knows that he loves her too. A deeply sensitive book with beautifully imagery of memory ebbing like the tide, this book will provide enormous comfort to children struggling to understand something as intangible as memory and memory loss. The illustrations are magical and gentle and bring to life the beauty of the small moments. A truly heartwarming and touching story.
The latest book in The Questioneers series continues to celebrate little heroines that children can look up to. Along with Rosie Revere, Ada Twist and Iggy Peck, new classmate Sofia Valdez is out to leave her mark by following her dreams. When Sofia's abuelo hurts his ankle at the local landfill sight on their journey to school, Sofia decides to take on 'Mount Trashmore'. She gets the idea to turn the dangerous and disgusting pile of trash into a park! She brainstorms and plans but when she goes to City Hall she finds that she is moved from office to office until she is finally told by a clerk that she can't build a park because she is just a kid! But with the help of her friends, classmates and neighbours, Sofia sets out to prove that one kid can move mountains (trash ones at least) and do something to make a difference. Written in rhyming verse, giving brilliant pacing and momentum to the story these books and with mixed media illustrations, this newest release is a delight and captures the magic of what it is like to be little and to imagine and to create. They really are perfect inspirational stories for children about pursuing their own passions.
These are two of my ultimate favourite picture books, and fortunately BookBairn loves them too! So I get to read them over and over and they grow on me more with each reading.These two books are packed full of wit, humour and puns but also a subtle poignancy that mean show us to see another point of view. Maybe that ‘Bad Seed’ has suffered some trauma that has affected his outlook on life, his behaviour and the way he connects with others, maybe he needs a helping hand and love and support? Maybe that goodie-two-shoes ‘Good Egg’ is cracking under the pressure and needs support and rest from looking after others? The illustrations bring to life these two colourful characters and add to the wonderful storytelling and humour of the stories. They are perfect for widening little readers’ perspectives and building their empathy.
What a fantastic year of books! If you are looking for more of our very favourite repeat reads check out my Amazon shop and click on the section favourite books!
Here's to a great year of reading in 2020
Disclaimer: We were sent some of these books free for review purposes by the publishers. Words and opinions are my own. If you click on the title of the book or use my amazon shop link you will be sent to amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-70p per book) from amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our 'For Our Readers' section.
Thursday, February 07, 2019
One of the magical things about picture books, and books in general, is when the characters take hold of us and become more than simp...
One of the magical things about picture books, and books in general, is when the characters take hold of us and become more than simple creations on a page but actually become real and enter our hearts. There are many wonderful characters and I think each of us will feel a special attachment to more than one (I've always loved Charlotte from Charlotte's Web so much so that BookBairn is named after her) but for children it's wonderful to watch them make a new friend in the pages of their favourite stories.
They are often the stories that we end up reading again and again. And there has to be a little bit of magic about that particular character if they are to stand out amongst the rest.
For us, that character is Nibbles the Book Monster, affectionately known as Dimbles as BookBairn has loved him since before she could quite grasp saying the word 'Nibbles'. We have written about Nibbles many times on the blog:
A Bookish Few Weeks - where we met Nibble's creator Emma Yarlett
Nibbles has a firm place in our hearts and BookBairn was lucky enough to be sent a Nibbles plush by the publisher who she now sleeps with every night. To say we love him selling it short!
Nibbles is a book nibbling terror who has now munched his way through countless fairytales and even a dinosaur anthology. He has an insatiable appetite for books and munches his may through BookBairn's bookshelves on a daily basis.
And now he is back nibbling his way through a book of numbers. Little ones can count along with Nibbles as he chomps his way from one to ten! From the first page flap, to all the delightful little finger-sized cut-out holes in each page (corresponding to the number of bites Nibbles has taken), there's so much for little ones to explore. With bright and inviting colours and tactile holes to count together this is a number book that provides more than simple number teaching. The rhyme scheme makes it enjoyable to read aloud and allows little ones to predict the next number in some pages. BookBairn alos enjoys that Nibbles, like in the previous books, has nibbled a hole in the back of the book and escaped! But even more than that she likes to read the book backwards, counting down the numbers and shutting Nibbles back into his crate on the final page. Such a versatile little book! And as it's a board book The Wee Page Turner is safe to explore the pages too!
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| Baby BookBairn enjoying Nibbles. |
Conceptually clever and innovative, the Nibbles series works on multiple levels - little ones like The Wee Page Turner enjoy following the mischievous little character and feeling the cut outs and peeking through the pages. And older children like BookBairn will recognise the numbers, dinosaurs or fairytales (depending on the book) as well as adoring Nibbles's trouble-making as well as make fun nibbling sounds as you read!
The illustrations are sensational! Nibbles is mischievous and yet is still adorable. He will charm his way into your heart as he has ours.
And if you want a whole set of the Nibbles books, a beautiful tote bag (we use ours for swimming!) and a cuddly Nibbles of your own - check out our Instagram post going live at 8pm this evening! *EDIT Giveaway now closed***
Who is your favourite book character? We would love to know!
Happy book-nibbling! And watch out for a book monster on the loose!
Kim, BookBairn, The Wee Page Turner and Dimbles xx
Disclaimer: these are all our choices. Some were sent from publishers (others are books that I have bought myself) but they were not sent in connection with this post. Their inclusion here is my choice. Because I really do think they are great. Please read our Review Policy if you want to know more. If you click on the image of the book below you will be sent to Amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on Amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-90p per book) from Amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog post please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our For Readers Section.
Saturday, January 05, 2019
Two of the best things about writing this post are that I immensely enjoyed scrolling back over my Instagram feed for the last year to ...
Two of the best things about writing this post are that I immensely enjoyed scrolling back over my Instagram feed for the last year to see all my posts and try to pick out our favourite reads from the last year AND I also looked back at my
Best Reads of 2017 blog post so I was reminded of all those lovely story times that we had reading those books. I will do what I always do for this post and that's share the books that we loved reading the most no matter what year they were published (however we do sometimes favour new and shiny books so this list will more than likely favour books released this year!). I've also split the list in two - for the first time! - because The Wee Page Turner now has his own reading taste and preferences. He's a pretty discerning reader in fact! And BookBairn has grown to enjoy a lot more story-based books so her favourites reflect that.
So here are our favourite picture book reads of 2018:
The Wee Page Turner is has been fascinated by all things The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle this year. He absolutely loves the classic tale of this little brightly coloured creepy crawly who eats everything in sight (perhaps it's because they have an affinity in this!). I'm sure you know this story - a little caterpillar eats his way through a mountain of food in a week and the little die-cut holes invite little fingers to join in the story. And of course there's a transformation and striking illustration to delight at the end. We also love some of the offshoot stories - the finger puppet book being a favourite and we watch the TV episode regularly! The Wee Page Turner loves to make little munching sounds as we read and it's a book we read daily - so it makes the list even if it isn't new to 2018!
The Wee Page Turner adored another classic this year and that's Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell, just as much as his sister did! I guess it's a classic for a reason. He has long been able to lift the flaps by himself but now he is trying to imitate the noises of the animals which is so sweet as he isn't really talking very much yet. If you don't know the story, it's about a zoo which sends lots of inappropriate animal pets in large colourful crates (which you lift the flaps to see what's inside) until finally they think very hard and send the perfect pet. Wtih bold colourful flaps set against plain white backgrounds, it's perfect for little peepers to get excited and find the flaps easily. The repetitive text is great for older tots to join in with the reading of the story. It also has a great surprise at the end! #nospoilers but you quite probably already know! We love this book so much I realised that we actually have five copies of it!
Fresh from reading this at bedtime to The Wee Page Turner, I Am Bat by Morag Hood is selected for bedtime every night. Without fail. The illustrations are created through crisp clear printing style with simple colours and plain backgrounds really make the elements of the story stand out. It also means that there is no where to hide so the story has to be charming. And this one is. It's about a bat who likes cherries and does not want anyone, including you and your reader, to steal them. But they start to disappear. Reading this book requires a great sense of humor and some exasperated and exaggerated expressions but it's just so much fun! And The Wee Page Turner has given it his seal of approval.
The Wee Page Turner is beginning to enjoy books which have more of a story to them than the simple first word/primer/baby books that we had been enjoying up until now. And don't get me wrong, those books have their place and we still read them lots but it's nice to share something that has more of a flow of a story. And these books are a great start for that! In
Busy Bear Building Site by Benji Davies,
Busy Bear is working on the building site and he does all sorts of things but the best part is that little fingers can use the mechanisms to keep them entertained whilst you read. These books are also super sturdy and have great illustrations (Benji Davies is one of our favourites and he wrote and illustrated
The Storm Whale which BookBairn and I also love). And I'm excited that there are going to be three new Bizzy Bear books next year!
I Thought I Saw a Bear by Lydia Nichols is one of the books that we have read over and over again this year and is probably looking a little worn in this photo - a sure sign of a good children's book! (And rest assured all the mechanisms are still working perfectly!) Each page repeats the phrase “I thought I saw a...” and then using the slider you can reveal the hidden bear. We particularly love it when the bear slides on the cover and when he pops up in the car. This book has a transport theme with bear popping up in lots of different vehicles and modes of transport so it's perfect for adding in lots of transport vocabulary too. And the great part - there's a whole series of these books so you can find your little one's favourite! These are very simple, very clever little books that are great for entertaining little readers and perfect for popping in your bag for out and about stories.
'Where's Mr Lion?' is part of a fabulous series of books where the flaps are made of felt fabric so that little ones can pull at them even before they have the fine motor skills to manipulate card or paper pages. The illustrations are bright, colourful and high-contrast so little ones will really enjoy them. And the final page has a mirror hidden underneath the flap that The Wee Page Turner giggles at in delight of the handsome baby looking back at him. He usually kisses it! We have a few in the series and The Wee Page Turner loves them all. We have read the lion one most but the others in the series are equally as loved.
The Wee Page Turner absolutely adores
The Queen's Hat by Steve Antony. We read it several times every day as he pulls it out of his book basket and slides around the house on it's cover. He then sits at any adult's feet and quite literally throws the book at them. It is a brilliant story of the Queen who is on her way to visit someone very special when the wind sweeps her hat off her head, and as it soars high above London and many of it's landmarks from Trafalgar Square over London Bridge, and The Wee Page Turner's favourite Big Ben! The colour palette in this book is predominantly red, white and blue and the simplistic line drawings (that are packed full of detail) clearly entrance the smallest reader in our house. We are definitely going to get the other books in this series.
I had to include
This is Not a Book by Jean Jullien on this list as I regularly have to break up fights between the bairns over this one. It's not a story but it most certainly is a book! Inside each double-page spread shows a fun thing that children can interact and play with. My two love the laptop page and pretend to type away on the keyboard alonsgide the piano page and the clapping hands. There's lots of opportunities for imaginative play and the illustrations are so much fun - it's a great one to pack in a bag whilst on the go or travelling! We like it so much we should really have two copies.
Dragon Post by Emma Yarlett is such a truly enchanting story with characters that are utterly stupendous and the novelty of having letters to pull out and read has greatly appealed to BookBairn. Alex, a little boy, is convinced that a dragon is living in his basement (don't worry he's a friendly dragon). But having a dragon in your basement does pose some issues: fire hazards, noise complaints, animal welfare issues. So Alex writes and receives letters about how best to care for his dragon. I don't want to spoil to much other than to say that this book is packed full of humour, fun and illustrations that are simply adorable. The letters themselves are all in different styles, poking fun at some of the institutions that might get involved if you really did have a dragon in your basement as well as showing that even official types have a sense of humour sometimes. We particularly like the letter from the butcher. But our stand out favourite letter is from Alex's best friend, Hillary, whose adorable drawings and sage advice are a perfect way to end the book. Except for one last letter. From Dragon. Such an utterly charming story about friendship!
Tropical Terry by Jarvis was an instant and firm favourite on BookBairn's shelf. And I'm sure it because it's one of the most colourful and fun stories about a seemingly dull little fish called Terry. He has a great little team of friends - Cilla the crab and Steve the sea snail and they play lots of fun games. But that are not part of the 'cool gang' that live in Coral Reef City. And Terry just wants to fit in with these glamourous fish. So he, with the help of his friends, creates the most spectacular tail fin out of all the bits and bobs he can find and becomes 'Tropical Terry'. However, he soon learns being the shiniest sparkliest fish in the sea can attract unwanted attention. Eddie the eel fancies a bite of Terry for his dinner. But fortunately, the games that Terry has been playing with his old friends have made him super skilled in evading Eddie’s unwanted advances! This is one of the most colourful books that we have on our shelf! It makes me smile just to look at the stunning illustrations. And it has a lovely message about being true to yourself, not judging a fish by his fins and accepting others. And some tips on how to avoid being eaten by an eel! We love it so much we even made our own Tropical Terry by finding bits and bobs from the craft box!
We love the story of Neon Leon by Jane Clarke & Britta Teckentrup. It tells the story of Neon Leon, the chameleon who is neon orange and he doesn't seem able to change colour. This is an interactive story where you try to help Leon fit in with the background and the crowd, and when he can't it's little readers jobs to help him find a place where he can fit in. It's utterly charming, and the illustrations just make this book! However, despite this book strongly relying on the visual elements, BookBairn loves listening to the audiobook on the Nosy Crow Stories Aloud Podcast too!
The quintessentially British Paddington created by Michael Bond, has sought refuge in our hearts and found a home for life. An almost-fairytale story of a lovable bear who is seeking a new home after stowing away on a ship to escape his native Darkest Peru (which was devastated by disaster). Arriving at Paddington Station, he has nothing but his suitcase, an almost-empty jar of marmalade and a label reading 'please look after this bear. Thank you.'. We would certainly welcome him into our BookBairn household with open arms. The illustrations by R.W. Alley certainly capture the endearing nature of this much-loved bear and are absolutely delightful! We cherish him in our house!
In Lionel and the Lion's Share by Lou Peacock & Lisa Sheenan, Lionel was a lion who did not share. And whenever he sees something he wants he simply takes it: "I am a lion and I get the lion's share" he roars, much to the disappointment of the other creatures. When they finally confront him about his selfish behaviour he storms off in a huff soon to realise that if he continues the way he is he will not have any friends and he makes things up again by surprising his friends. This is a lovely story about sharing, kindness and not taking our friends for granted. The illustrations are lovely and if you enjoy listening to your favourite books on audiobook you can download this one for free from the Nosy Crow podcast or using the QR code inside the book.
We adore the Shifty McGifty (got to be one of my all time favourite character names) and Slippery Sam stories and Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam and the Missing Masterpiece by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton has to be BookBairn's favourite. It is a truly brilliant rhyming tale of two pooches that foil an art heist with humour galore! Tracey Corderoy has the most brilliant talent at writing rhymes without comprising wonderful storytelling (and I would love to be able to write like she does) and Steven Lenton packs so much humour into the expressions of characters and brings to life scenes that will have your little readers wanting to turn the pages to see what happens next! BookBairn truly adores these books! And finding the hidden little spider on each page - nice touch from the illustrator. Looking forward to exploring the chapter book with her now that she loves the characters so much. Shifty and Sam are a formidable team - much like their creators. If you like a crime caper - your kids will love these!
This is the story we read on repeat. Lottie Potter wants an Otter by Jeanne Willis and Leonie Lord. It has the most brilliant rhyming scheme - who knew so many things rhymed with 'otter'? And the story of the little girl Lottie Potter who really wants an otter but gets stuck with a rotter who bit little Lottie very hard upon the botty is one that we never forget! It's truly a delight to read and the illustrations are so much fun! And if your name is Lottie it's even better!
One of the books we read most often this year with BookBairn was
How to Be a Lion by Ed Vere and we enjoyed doing a workshop and meeting Ed Vere at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August which added a little extra sparkle to the book. L
eonard is a lion like no other: he's sensitive, gentle and writes poetry in his spare time. And he befriends a mouse. When the other lions hear about his un-lionyness they challenge him and tell him there's only one way to be a lion. Leonard, with the help of his duck friend Marianne, uses the power of words to show them that there's no one way to be. Celebrating individuality and the power of words this new fable is truly captivating! BookBairn has always loved lions so there's no doubt that's partly why she has fallen for Leonard, but it's also a beautiful story packed full of vibrant artwork that has utterly charmed her.
One of our favourite reads this year was 100 Dogs by Michael Whaite which is a brilliant rhyming story that shares 100 dogs each getting up to different things. It's laugh out loud funny! One of the reasons that we loved reading this book this year is that BookBairn managed to learn the majority of this book, with the aid of the illustrations so it's one of the first books that she'd read aloud to us. It's magical for us!
The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright & Jim Field became one of our favourites when I recorded an episode of Cbeebies Bedtime Stories (so that I could use the bedtime song at my leisure to announce bedtime whether it be 7pm or not!) and it happened to be the story on the beginning. And BookBairn quite enjoyed it as it was about a lion. And then on a library visit with a friend, I noticed that she and her daughter were returning this book and I snapped it up, making it bedtime story every night that week! It's about a mouse who wants to be noticed rather than stomped and sat on and so he decides to learn to roar like a lion. But when the lion is confronted with the mouse he has a rather unexpected reaction. When the two team up to conquer their fears they realise that friendship is what makes them roar! It's a wonderful book about accepting the strong and weak parts of yourself and creating friendships that are supportive. With Jim Field's (read BookBairn's interview with Jim Field here) illustrations this is such a wonderful book and we were delighted to meet him at the Edinburgh Book Festival and get our copy (yes I bought one in the end!) signed.
If you can't predict that this book was going to be my favourite picture book of the year you must be new here (hello!). I've been raving about it all year!
When I read The Girls by Lauren Ace & Jenny Lovlie for the first time, my eyes welled with tears because it really captures my experience of friendship. It tells the beautiful story of four girls who "were are different as they were they same" and how they were best friends. It shows them developing their own personalities, interests, characters but how they also stuck together through thick and thin. How they celebrate each other's successes, and support each other when things go wrong. And as they grow older, this story follows them from childhood to adulthood, they change and grow but their friendship remains steadfast. "Together and apart, the girls went on becoming who they were going to be." The careful wording and thoughtful illustrations in this book are absolutely heart-warming. They show girls, who become women, from different backgrounds, with different interests, with different challenges and successes but who stick together through it all. Because love binds us, holds us together. The illustrations are so touching and they really show the spice and variety of life! I really cannot speak highly enough of this story.
So those are our favourite picture books from 2018! If you haven't read any of these then they come with our highest recommendations! What war your favourite picture book last year?
And looking forward to a 2019 full of new picture book discoveries as well as re-reading old favourites!
Happy reading,
Kim, BookBairn and The Wee Page Turner xx
Disclaimer: these are all our choices. Some were sent from publishers (others are books that I have bought myself) but they were not sent in connection with this post. Their inclusion here is my choice. Because I really do think they are great. Please read our review policy if you want to know more. If you click on the title or image of the book you will be sent to Amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on Amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-90p per book) from amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our 'For Our Readers' section.
