Simon & Schuster
Grief Awareness Week: Picture books to help support readers through grief & loss
December 2nd to 8th is Grief Awareness Week. Grief and loss are difficult concepts for young children to understand but stories can help them explore the feelings and emotions that accompany the loss of a loved one or a well loved pet.
The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival
The Wrong Shoes takes a heart wrenching, emotional look at the challenges faced by children living in extreme poverty. It provoked so many different emotional responses as I became immersed in Will’s struggles against an array of problems stemming from his father’s ill health and their lack of money.
International Dance Day
Happy International Dance Day 2024!
My Brother is an Avocado by Tracy Darnton & Yasmeen Ismail
We love the way that My Brother is an Avocado looks at how a baby grows during pregnancy. Using fruit and vegetables as a comparison to the baby’s size they also help to show the child’s differing emotions as the pregnancy progresses.
Brilliant picture books about books…
As avid bookworms we absolutely love these three brilliant picture books about books which take different approaches to celebrating books and reading. Two of the three have a book as the main character 🙂
The River by Tom Percival
The River uses beautiful imagery to help children deal with grief. We’re huge fans of Tom Percival’s picture books and his stunning illustrations combined with a simple lyrical text will give comfort to young readers who may be coming to terms with loss. It’s an emotive story about friendship, grief, healing and kindness.
Christmas Book Spine Poems
If your little bookworm is looking for a festive activity you can have a lot of fun making Christmas book spine poems. Creating book spine poems at school, at home or in the library is a great way to promote literacy skills and encourage children to talk about stories. Book spine poems are also really simple to create! Just…
International Dog Day – favourite fictional dogs
Happy International Dog Day! Do you have a favourite fictional dog? We looked through our bookshelves to find doggy stories that we enjoy reading and after some discussion we came up with a top five list.
World Environment Day: Picture book characters who inspire environmental action
World Environment Day is celebrated annually on June 5th. It’s the day that The United Nations encourages worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment.
King Of The Swamp by Catherine Emmett & Ben Mantle
King Of The Swamp is a wonderfully original rhyming story full of humour and heart. It includes an important environmental message and we loved the colourful, surprise twist. Main character, McDarkly, is a likeable, engaging character whose swampy home improvement plans are seriously disrupted when the King and the Princess come riding by with an…