The SEA SAW is a beautifully illustrated, incredibly emotive story about the loss of a well loved teddy bear on a day out to the beach. Sofia’s bear is particularly special as it belonged to her mother, when we first read the book we couldn’t stop turning the pages in the hope that it would find its way back to Sofia.…
CLICK, CLACK, MOO Cows That Type is one of the first picture books that we ever bought and we still find it as funny now as we did when we first read it. The twist at the end of the story really makes us laugh!…
Pirate picture books have long been popular with young children and as a child I regularly borrowed the Captain Pugwash books from the library as well as watching him on television. Cartoonist John Ryan, who created the Captain Pugwash stories, died in 2009 but several of his Captain Pugwash books have been reprinted by Quarto.…
Lunch on a Pirate Ship stars a young boy called Jack who, unimpressed by what his mother is serving up for lunch, boards a pirate ship in search of something more tasty. Adventure abounds in this rollicking, rhyming adventure which had us turning the pages to see what Jack and his friends would eventually eat.…
Author: Clement Clarke Moore / Illustrator: Robert Sabuda
The Story: This is a truly magical Christmas edition of Clement Clarke Moore’s classic poem. The rhythm and rhyme make it joyful to read aloud and share together with family and friends of any age.…
O is for One Snowy Night by M Christina Butler and Tina Macnaughton…
D is for Dear Santa by Rod Campbell
Dear Santa is a bold and colourful lift the flap book for little people to read at Christmas, it follows the same format as another of our favourite toddler books, Dear Zoo, also by Rod Campbell.…
A is for Aliens Love Panta Claus by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort
Aliens Love Panta Claus is still one of our favourite Christmas stories and I have had lots of fun reading the simple rhyming text to non native English speakers who find Ben Cort’s colourful and humorous illustrations extremely funny.…
April 8th is National Zoo Lovers Day!
Many picture books provide children with their first introduction to zoo animals, in stories animals often take on human qualities and can do almost anything. Picture books, fiction and non fiction, can help to initiate discussions about animals who live in a zoo or safari park, endangered species and conservation.…
The Story: A sad, lonely and bitter woodcarver, known by the local children as ‘Mr Gloomy’, gruffly agrees to carve a set of nativity figures for the widow McDowell and her young son Thomas, in time for Christmas Day. As the ill-tempered wood carver works he is watched closely by the inquisitive boy, who makes greater and more difficult demands of his ability, forcing him to come to terms with some painful memories.…