World Of Children's Books: January 2013

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Picture Book: Esme's Egg – Neil Griffiths (Author) & Christine Grove (Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

Esme's expression on the front cover should give you a hint as to what this is about. A disgruntled hen, fed up with having her egg stolen every day, decides to hide it from the farmer. A battle of wits ensues, as the farmer still manages to get the egg for several days, until Esme decides to follow the farmer to where he keeps the eggs, and ends up sitting on it all the way to the supermarket. It's fair to say she ruffles a few feathers...ahem.

Now, sometimes a picture paints a thousand words, and for me the best part of this story is the grumpy expression that Esme wears on her face for most of it. For some reason, I find the idea of a grumpy hen hilarious, and in all fairness, if i'd spent all that time popping out an egg I'd be pretty grumpy if someone came along and took it off me. It's nice and brightly illustrated, and I really do like that grumpy hen. The story itself is fun, and wordier than most of the picture books that I've reviewed, so if it's one you're planning on getting your children to read it's a good way of challenging them once they've been reading for a little while.

Definitely worth checking out, especially if you're children even wonder where their boiled eggs come from.

9/10

Picture Book: Bear's Loose Tooth – Karma Wilson (Author) & Jane Chapman (Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

Yep, it's another in the Bear series, and it might be my favourite yet. This time around, Bear has a loose tooth, and enlists the help of his friends to get it out. They try various methods until...it just sort of falls out, exactly how it used to happen to me. Unless there was a chocolate toffee involved. Sometimes then it came out a bit earlier than it should have.

Bear's quirky charm is on display again here, although he isn't playing quite the same dozy role as he has previously. While the story itself is one that all children will relate to (and let's face it, we were all impatient when we had a loose tooth, waiting for it to drop out so that the Tooth Fairy would visit), what made me smile most of all is Bear's expression on the last page. It breaks the fourth wall with Bear looking at the reader with a shocked expression on his face, and I couldn't help smiling at it. Also, in a lovely bit on continuity, Bear falls asleep under the same blanket that Badger gave him for Christmas in Bear Stays Up.

This really is a great series. Bring on the next one!

9/10

Picture Book - Bear Stays Up - Karma Wilson (Author) & Jane Chapman (Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

This is the third book in the Bear series by Karma Wilson, and I must say it's great every time I come across one of these. There's a recognisable quirky charm to Bear now each time I read about him, and I suspect in each book he's going to struggle with an idea or task but come through in the end, just as you want from a children's book.

In this story, set at Christmas, Bear is struggling to stay awake for Christmas. Apparently he missed it last year, and his friends don't want to let that happen again. In now classic Bear fashion, although he struggles to begin with, eventually he manages to stay awake whilst all his friends turn out to be the ones who fall asleep, and he even narrowly misses Santa Claus whilst wrapping presents. It's a sweet ending, as ever, and a perfect little Christmas tale.

I'm really growing to love the illustrations in these stories, and there's something really lovable about the way Bear is drawn. You can tell he's a bit dopey, which is why his friends have to help him all the time, but that just adds to his charm. A quick glance online suggests there's at least another five books in this series, so rest assured if you're a fan of the Bear series, there's plenty more to come.

9/10

Friday 11 January 2013

Picture Book - What's The Time, Mr Wolf?- Debi Glior (Author & Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

You might be expecting a grizzly fairy tale when first picking this book up - after all, as far as I'm concerned, the title refers to a game we used to play at primary school where whoever played the wolf tried to eat everyone else (not literally. I don't think. Some children are strange). However, there's a great twist at the end of this book that marks it out as different from the norm.

Every hour, from 7am to 6pm, Mr Wolf encounters another fairy tale character (or characters) causing him problems as he tries to go about his day. Despite the early threats to eat the Three Little Pigs (mainly because he's tired and grumpy), it turns out that all the dashing around that everyone has been doing is in preparation for a party at Mr Wolf's house, and that in fact everyone is the best of friends. Children will lap up this ending, because it'll be the last thing they expect.

Adults will appreciate some of the humour (his cupboard is bare as the dish ran away with the spoon), as well as feeling sympathy at being woken early. The illustrations are great, and you end up wishing they had told it over 24 hours instead of 12, so you could have seen Mr Wolf interact with more fairy tale characters.

A great book this one. Make sure you check it out (both figuratively and from your local library).

9/10

Picture Book - Dolphin Baby - Nicola Davies (Author) & Brita Granstrom (Illustrator)

Recommended for: Toddlers/Younger Readers

Now this is a book I can really appreciate - telling the story of where dolphins come from and how they grow up, in the form of a story so young children can enjoy themselves whilst learning? That's my type of book!

Filled with facts about dolphins and how they grow, it's not just children who will learn something when reading this. There's some lovely pastel (I think it's pastel...) illustrations to go along with the text, and there's even an index at the back so you can easily learn about a specific part of dolphin life.

Better yet, there appear to be over 20 more of this style of book to get, so I'll be sure to collect some of those for review in the future.

Fantastic.

9/10

Picture Book - Bear Says Thanks - Karma Wilson (Author) & Jane Chapman (Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

This is the second book featuring the character Bear by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman, and it's a lovely little tale about Bear learning how much he is valued by his friends. Even though he hasn't brought any food to the party, his stories liven it up and are what his friends love him for. It's great to have this sort of thing in a children's book, so that you can point out the valued of friendship and how everyone has a place in a group from a young age. It's an eclectic group of friends that are featured, which again is a great way of showing our differences but that we can build strong friendships anyway.

It's nicely illustrated and I love a book written in rhyming verse (there's the odd deviation, but it's a consistent deviation) - it makes them all the more playful and children love the rhythm.

Read it with Bear Snores On and encourage them to be the storyteller at parties as they grow up - they'll be by far and away the most interesting person!

8/10

Picture Book - Bear Snores On - Karma Wilson (Author) & Jane Chapman (Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

The first story about Bear and his friends begins on a cold, snowy winter's night. While Bear snores on (wonder where they got the title from), lots of animals come and use his cave for shelter, and end up having fun making pop corn and stew, before some stray pepper awakens him as he sneezes. Although he looks angry, really he's just upset that he hasn't been able to join in the fun (well, I can't blame him - how would you like it if squatters broke into your home and then didn't invite you to join them for popcorn?). Luckily, his new friends (it ends well) tell him they have more supplies he can partake in, and he settles down to tell them stories, which keeps him awake for the rest of the night (although the others fall asleep - we'll presume it's from the partying, not because his stories are boring).

I love a story with rhyming text, so I took to this easily. There's the odd repeated line about bear snoring on that doesn't rhyme, but it's done throughout the book and serves to divide up the introduction of all Bear's new friends. It'll make children laugh to learn that all the other animals ended up snoring, whilst Bear ended up staying awake for the rest of the night, and they'll enjoy seeing what the animals got up to whilst Bear was asleep. Whilst I enjoyed the next book in this series more, I'd recommend reading the two together, as this is still a nice tale to tell children about friendships forming on cold, wintry night.

7/10

Picture Book - A Secret Worth Sharing - Jonathan Emmett (Author) & Vanessa Cabban (Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

If you've read any of my previous posts, you might come across the review for The Princess and The Pig, also by Jonathan Emmett. Until recently, that was my favourite children's picture book ever, so I was looking forward to reading another of his books. It's not in the same league as that offering, but it did have a sort of message behind it, which some of my other reviews might have indicated I like to see in picture books, so that they give the parent a chance to discuss what is raised with their children, rather than the book just being put down and forgotten.

In the story, Mole makes friends with Mouse, but wants to keep his new friend a secret from his other friends, so that Mouse is just his. Eventually, he comes to realise that the more friendship is shared, the better it is (yep, that's your moral message there - now, please discuss this with your child...). It's a simple story, with Mole discovering that by being selfish he was hurting his other friends, but it's effectively done. The illustrations are good, and you can't help but think 'aww...' towards the end as Mouse tells Mole that she's still his friend even if she makes new friends.

It won't make your children laugh out loud, but it will make them look forward to seeing their friends!

8/10

Picture Book - It's Mine - Rod Campbell (Author & Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

Another offering from the man who brought you Dear Zoo, once again children can look at a variety of animals (who would happen to go nicely in a zoo), and this time they get more of a chance to guess who is going to pop up next. Each double page contains a small part of the next animal and a little bit of detail (a long nose for an elephant, long neck for a giraffe etc.) to give a hint as to what it might be, which adds to the fun.

The version I read was a board book (much more fun for the youngest children to chew on...), and contained an animal who popped out of the page at the end to give an extra bit of excitement (if I said it was sort of the mane event, would that give you a hint?).

While it's never going to hold the same place in my heart that Dear Zoo does, this shows that Rod Campbell is the undisputed king of fun animal books for children. Read it to your children and enjoy watching them try to guess what the next animal will be.

9/10

Monday 7 January 2013

Picture Book - I Want My Hat Back - Jon Klassen (Author & Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

Oh, this is good. This is so, so good.

A short while ago, I declared that The Princess and The Pig by Jonathan Emmett was my favourite picture book of all time. Now, I still love that book, but I'm afraid it's been usurped. I Want My Hat Back is my favourite present that my son received this Christmas, so many many thanks to my Uncle for spotting it. This book had me in stitches, and it's rare that you'll find a picture book that will genuinely be making you laugh.

There's a delightful quirkiness to the illustrations, and it's these illustrations that make the humour so complete. The way a shifty look is portrayed as one character lies about knowing nothing of bear's hat is brilliant, as is the pay off at the end when bear has had his revenge. It revisits dialogue from earlier in the book to maximum comedy effect, and even if your child enjoys it just for being a story where bear gets his hat back in the end, it's guaranteed to make you smile at the conclusion.

I almost feel like this book was written just for me, it fits my sense of humour so well. I have a feeling that this is going to become one of my son's favourites very, very quickly. As if he has a choice in the matter...

10/10

Picture Book - Yucky Mucky Manners - Sam Lloyd (Author & Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

Immature as it may sound, it's hard not to be taken by a book that features a giraffe pooping on a mouse's head.

And if that's not a sentence that'll entice you to read a book, then I don't know what will. If you want a book to make young children giggle, then look no further. Featuring an array of animals misbehaving (a gorilla picking its nose, an elephant trumping), it's classic silly humour that is guaranteed to have your little ones laughing out loud, and asking to have it read again and again.

It's also lovely to see some extra love and detail put into each double page, as you can see a little of what the animal from the previous page did next - the giraffe, for instance, gets a telling off from his mouse friend. It's an extra little chance for you to talk to your child about the book, and have fun with the tiny details.

It's written in rhyme, so great for helping kids to get into the rhythm of reading. Highly recommended for when you and your child are in a giggly mood, and you want to make storytime fun.

9/10