2013
Tamara Small and the Monsters’ Ball by Giles Paley-Phillips & Gabriele Antonini
The Story: Tamara Small is lying in bed listening to the wind howling when a monster comes into her room and whisks her off to the Annual Monsters’ Ball in the village hall. After her initial shock Tamara has a great night dancing with all of the monsters. They dance until sunrise and then surprise…
The Fairytale Hairdresser and Cinderella – Abie Longstaff / Lauren Beard
The Fairytale Hairdresser and Cinderella is a great modern twist on a traditional fairy story. The inclusion of so many well known fairytale and nursery rhyme characters makes this a really great book for ‘people spotting’!
A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead
The Story: Every day Amos McGee takes the bus to his job at the zoo. He has several good animal friends there who he visits daily. However, one day Amos wakes up sick and can’t go to work. The animals wait patiently for him but when he doesn’t arrive they take the bus and go…
Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae & David Wojtowycz
Commotion in the Ocean is a fabulous, rhyming, non fiction picture book that introduces a wide range of fish and animals. I have bought this for several children as a present, used it in the classroom and finally bought it for my daughter for International Book Giving Day!
Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
The Story: It is winter and Bear is sleeping in his cave. One by one a succession of birds and animals come into the cave to get warm and soon a fire is lit. The animals start to share their food, chat and party and Bear snores on! There is a moment of tension when…
Happy International Book Giving Day!
February 14th is International Book Giving Day. I wanted to give books to children in the family and to special friends but somehow it didn’t seem enough. I also wanted to give to children who aren’t surrounded by books in the home or to schools or nurseries in deprived areas that don’t have so many…
Maria Bogade recommends The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett
The Story: In The Odd Egg every bird has an egg but Duck. When Duck finds a huge egg, he thinks it is the best and most beautiful egg ever. Eventually all the other bird babies hatch and the tension rises as to what will be in Duck’s big and spotted egg. A funny surprise…
The Princess and the Peas by Caryl Hart & Sarah Warburton
A book that encourages a child to start eating vegetables is definitely a winner! I am guilty of trying to disguise vegetables in food (courgette and cocoa muffins actually taste really good!) but The Princess and the Peas encouraged my daughter to eat peas after a long time refusing to, now she’s also asking me to…
Doing the Animal Bop by Jan Ormerod and Lindsey Gardiner
I was sad to hear of Jan Ormerod’s death last week, her books have given pleasure to me and to many readers over the years. One of our favourite books, written by Jan Ormerod and Lindsey Gardiner, is Doing the Animal Bop.
Yuck! That’s not a monster! by Angela McAllister & Alison Edgson
Yuck! That’s not a Monster! includes a very non scary monster who has traits that scary monsters don’t have, traits that can be unexpectedly useful in a sticky situation!
