Picture Book Joy

I really can't believe it has been so long since I last posted I actually thought it had only been a week or two so my sincere apologies, in all that time I have not stopped reading but once again I am posting this on a Friday evening after a more hectic than ever week so once again I am indulging in my favourite past time of picture books and what a delight they have been. 

If you ever need to bring a smile to your face these books can really help, they are quite honestly disarmingly wonderful, simple yet complicated, intricate in their images yet just stunning to admire and books that make you want to shout out loud from the rooftops just how wonderful they and their creators are.  I could not get through my week without some gorgeous picture books to read and share and I defy anyone not to love at least one of what is to follow.

In no particular order what follows is a few of my thoughts on my small(!) pile of reading!

Ace Dragon Ltd is a collaboration between Russell Hoban and Quentin Blake a classic story published by Walker Books and a dream team collaboration of words and pictures that will have you laughing out loud.  This is an adventure in the sky, a story of a little boy and quite a big dragon.  It is a story about learning to believe that if you want to do something you need to try it, nothing is impossible (in the imagination at least) and you just never know where you might go, who you might become and why a bale of hay may be just the thing you need!

Little Bell and the Moon by Giles Paley-Philips and Iris Deppe is a gentle, warm and delightful bedtime story.  From its front cover  - a big round smiley moon holding hands with a little girl, you just know that this is going to be a very special adventure that will produce the sweetest of dreams and demand regular nightly reads. Its soft and muted pallet is the perfect relaxant and its simple but evocative words will lull the reader into a place of warmth and security in time for sleep.  Its subject - growing old - is rare and it is dealt with in a very sensitive way, charming, unusual and a delight, thank you Fat Fox for publishing this one.

Now for a splash of colour and perhaps even a splosh in the ocean join Mouse in a glorious rhyming sea adventure.  The Mouse Who Sailed the Seas by Amy Sparkes and Nick East (Egmont) is funny and silly a great book for sharing and for using to delight children with the idea of rhyme and great adventure going hand in hand.  Remember to look closely at the artwork too and see what Mouse really gets up to and discovers on his adventures - hours of fun!

Out of this world adventures are always fun to read and Space Walkies is one such book with a difference, here we have a dog in space!  Suspend disbelief for who knows, this could really happen ... however when Bailey the dog finds himself in space he may meet alien life but what he really thinks he would like is to have a walkie with his very own Orson again.  This title, by Robert Dunn, along with Fins Fluff and other Stuff by Bruno Merz and Dreda Blow are both in the QED Storytime series and offer a wonderful rhyming introduction to stories and their sharing.

This next one came in a noisy box - a clever marketing tool that really did get me looking at the book to see what all the noise was about. What did I find?  Nina Goes Barking Mad by Anita Pouroulis and Agata Krawczyk (Digital Leaf) is the mystery picture book story investigating the reason that Nina just won't stop barking but will Jules get to the bottom of all the noise before everyone is driven completely mad?  A silly, funny and lively story about one of the joys of having a pet!

Perhaps what Jules needed was Dinosaur Police by Sarah McIntyre (Scholastic) maybe they could have solved the problem but of course they are busy trying to save the day and the town from a very greedy T-Rex, exuberant fun!

Finally three delightful books from Andersen Press.  Go to Sleep Monty! by Kim Geyer is another lovely bedtime story but not in the way that you might expect.  The naughty culprit who won't go to bed in this one is actually a new puppy and we soon learn that whilst they may look cute they are not always the easiest of pets so just wait and see who it is that ends up going to bed!

Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni is a simple and muted yet lively book about learning how important it is to accept and be just who you are.  This story follows a little tadpole who becomes a frog and finds a new world opening up before his eyes.  But can a frog become a fish and should he?  A clever and insightful story told with great sensitivity.

The Little Bookshop and the Origami Army by Michael Foreman is perhaps a little bit of a favourite, being about bookshops which are of course akin to libraries!  Will the closing down of a bookshop in favour of a supermarket really be allowed to go ahead?  Can Hoey and Origami Girl come to the rescue with their army of characters?  Find out in this exuberant and important story all about the power of reading...

Books to Lift the Spirits

January is such a long month, we had the pleasure of Christmas, the excitment of new year, we have had promises of snow (Surrey has had none) gale force winds, rain and much else besides, we are now all looking for signs of Spring, well I can give you one, my two new hens have both started to lay!  However to help banish those January blues how about some great books to read, get lost in another world and forget this one for a while!

What am I looking forward to in 2015? Plenty!

First there is the brilliant, funny, in fact laugh out loud, Love Bomb by Jenny McLachlan.  If you didn't read Flirty Dancing I want to know why not and demand you go and find a copy to read now after all you need to in order to read Love Bomb. Well I suppose you don't really but it would make sense to!  Love Bomb is brilliant, it tells Betty's story, Betty is one of the group of girls who were once best friends.  Finally Betty is about to have a chance to fall in love but is she ready and what will it feel like?  A great reminder of that hilarious first kiss moment for some readers and a way to break the ice for others.  This is my first recommendation for the year!

On the subject of love and romance there is also Malorie Blackman's latest anthology, Love Hurts (Penguin Books) is in time for Valentines and is in fact more cheering than it sounds but more than that it is filled with brilliant short stories by a group of fantastic writers.

What about a book for young readers?  I adore 15 Things NOT To Do With A Baby by Margaret McAllister and illustrated by Holly Sterling (Frances Lincoln). This is not only perfect for new parents or those children new to being a sibling it is also a fun, funny picture book that everyone will love for its great pictures and warm text.

Oh and not forgetting non fiction titles there is the brilliant Baby Animals colouring book from Buster Books, not only hours of fun colouring in but also learning about lots of different animals, their names and their appearance.  Educational colouring at its best!

So there we are, some of my first suggestions for the year. This weekend I am off to tea with Scholastic then next week it's the Chicken House Big Breakfast so there will be plenty to report after those. Coming up I also have a launch for the 50th anniversary of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Malorie Blackman's Love Hurts, Daisy Hurst's The Girl With a Parrot on Her Head. Phew, its going to be a busy time and that will just be all the reading I'll be doing.

Interveiws with John Burningham on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Lisa Williamson on The Art of Being Normal are promised too so watch this space...!

A Comedy Line Up or an April Fool?

1^st April is traditionally a time for many a practical joke to be played, until midday it is permissible to carry out an ‘April Fool’ and children’s publishing is of course no stranger to such activity.  The good thing, from some perspectives at least, is that these practical jokes last only a few hours.  Children’s books however need to last much longer and so whilst April 1^st is a great opportunity to take advantage of fun and games it is also an important time for ensuring the books marketed are going to have a lasting appeal.

With this in mind, and also considering that we are about to enter into the two-week school Easter break there are some perfect books to entertain big and little readers this April and beyond.

Let’s start with the Funny Fiction line-up created by Scholastic.  Here we have a selection of books, some already published and awaiting their follow-ups., some brand new to the  bookshelves.  Here at Armadillo we have previously introduced you to Emer Stamp and her Top Secret Diary of Pig as well as Jo Simon’s Pip Street. It is exciting therefore to be able to tell you that not only can you still read these first books in the series but that now we can reveal there will be another diary from Pig and that the Pip Street adventures are continuing in Pip Street: A Piggy Pickle in which the brave Bobby Cobbler must investigate the sudden plague of power cuts.  

If investigations tick the boxes for you as a reader then Jonny Zucker’s Fleatectives will be the perfect offering.  With Buzz and Itch, two miniscule but brilliant detectives Larva Town can be assured that no stone will be unturned in the quest to solve the many mysteries that are appearing!  If however it is not animals but people who tickle your fancy then you will love Wild Thing by Emma Barnes a story that finds Wild Thing sticking things up her nose, biting bottoms and getting up to much more mischief besides.  Can having such a little sister ever be a bonus?  Kate is about to find out in this charming modern version of My Naughty Little Sister.  Read all about the marvellous Shrinking Violet who as a mini version of herself solved a number of mysteries?  Well Lou Kuenzler is back with Princess DisGrace: First Term at Tall Towers.  Princess Grace does most certainly not live up to her name but she is excited about her first term at Princess Academy, hoping that she can learn to be a proper princess … I’m sure your imagination can fill in the gaps here and reading this or any of the books in this selection will ensure lots and lots of laughs.  Time to have a giggle-tastic April Fool’s Day this 2014!

Once we have April Fools out of the way the focus is certain to be Easter and of course chocolate (who, apart from me perhaps, does not look forward to this annual event)?  I may not look forward to the chocolate (I can’t eat it) but I do look forward to all the wonderful books that I can indulge in instead.  Macmillan publishers have given me a real treat this year too.  Eggy books, books about rabbits, chicks even bears and hippos feature.  In fact here you will find Emily Gravett’s Bear and Hare as reviewed in Armadillo Spring 2014 alongside books such as

Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs by Paula Metcalf and Cally Johnson-Jones.  Moving up to an older age group, these latter are picture books, comes the brilliant partnership that is Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell with Scavenger Void or a selection of Judy Blume titles all with new covers including the brilliant Double Fudge, Fudge-a-Mania and Super Fudge!  Teen and YA readers are not forgotten in this line-up either with a choice of the thrilling duo Unremembered and Unforgotten by Jessica Brody or David Baldacci’s The Finisher.  

Fans of non-fiction have not been forgotten either and with two books on art, Get into Art: Animals and Get Into Art People children will be able to draw their own Easter chicks and bunnies before picking up Wow! I Didn’t Know That! Amazing Facts About the Human Body.

Just a small selection to keep you going for a few days in the run up to the Easter break, much more to come ...

Historical Fiction

Historical fiction is always a popular option, children and young people love to read about history, they love to imagine what the people of the past were like, how they lived, where they lived, how they spoke and more besides.  Add to this a desire to read a good story, usually with a mystery and you have the ideal book for many readers.

There are some fantastic authors of historical fiction for children of all ages and now to add a new element to the mix come two very cleverly imagined and titled historical fiction stories.

Firstly I was intrigued by Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender (Scholastic).  Was Marie Antoinette a serial killer I wondered or was the author just using the name of one of France’s most notorious queens?  Indeed the book is set in France, but not an old France, a modern one.  Furthermore this is Paris, a city with food, fashion, boys and lurking under the surface … murder.  A class trip has taken Colette Iselin to Paris and she is loving her very first visit.  There is only one problem, as she travels the city she keeps having the same vision: a ghostly and pale woman in a sumptuous ball gown and a powdered wig.  A woman who looks remarkably like Marie Antoinette.  None of her friends will believe Colette when she tries to tell them so instead she turns to the most charming of French boys.  What links the murder victims who have been recently found and the visions that Colette is having?  Something has woken the ghost of the queen and she wants her revenge … how is Colette linked to this mystery and will she make it out of Paris alive?

A clever murder mystery interweaving modern romance and historical intrigue.

The second book that caught my attention and had me avidly reading is Curses and Smoke. A Novel of Pompeii by Vicky Alvear Shecter (Scholastic).  I have a passionate connection to Pompeii I have to admit and I love an ancient Romans or Greek story so this one had me curious.  What was this story and how would it unfold?  This is the story of a young love between a medical slave and his master’s daughter.  It is the story of a world on the brink of destruction and it has been released to coincide with the release of the forthcoming film Pompeii.  Tages is the slave, Lucia the daughter.  Tage may be a medical slave but in his heart he is a gladiator and yearns to fight in order to earn his freedom.  Lucia is betrothed to a wealthy benefactor of her father’s but more than anything she loves to study the natural world around her home and endeavours to find out more about the strange behavior of the landscape.  As the two friends, having known each other from childhood, reconnect as young adults, a passionate feeling of love enters their lives, they argue and are separated during which time Pompeii is struck by an earthquake.  Will the inevitable eruption of the volcano – a tragedy about which we all know keep them apart and destroy their world …?  A gripping and thrilling story of forbidden love and the ancient world.

Two fantastic books to get your teeth into and to reignite that love of history!

Picture Books Galore

Its a fabulous time for picture books, they have been finding their way to my desk in vast quantities recently which has been lovely for not only are they always a delight to read they are a delight to recommend too!

Following a wonderful event with Scholastic Books at Daunt Books on Holland Park recently where we celebrated the launch of Cerrie Burnell's charming story, Snowflakes, illustrated by Laura Ellen Andersen a story about a mixed race family, it has been lovely to read Look Back! by Trish Cook, illustrated by Caroline Binch and published by Papillote Press.  This small independent publisher has taken on a big book - one that is magical and one that celebrates other cultures, in this instance the Caribbean culture.  In the story the reader is treated to a tale of magic adventure in the rainforest but is not quite sure whether the story is all in a grandmother's imagination or a true adventure.  Does it really matter?  probably not for the adventure takes us on a glorious journey through brightly coloured
foresty jungle and into the heart of storytelling.

A very different but equally colourful book comes from Tor Freeman.  The Toucan Brothers, published by Macmillan finds the intrepid plumbing brothers- Sammy and Paul - vying for business when a new plumber arrives in town.  The biggest problem however is not the competition but the fact that the new plumber is just no good!  Can Sammy and Paul save their reputation and their town?  A brilliant story with rhyming text making it perfect for reading aloud and pictures that just add so much to the words ...

Next it is back to grandparents with the charming How to Babysit a Grandad by Jean Reagan, illustrated by Lee Wildish, published by Hodder.  Filled with instructions for how to look after your granddad in the best possible way this will have children, parents and grandparents giggling as they discover that entertaining consists of somersaults, scary plays and muscles whilst drawing means pirate-shark battles and puddle pictures!  Remember to clear up all the mess and that when it is time for goodbye you need to check when they are coming again - utterly charming!

Of course we all love our parents and grandparents and quite often our brothers and sisters too but for anyone in any doubt I Love You by Giles Andreae and illustrated by Emma Dodd should help...  Here is a celebration of love, an exploration of everything in the world of a child that they may love - ice cream, puppies, teddies and more,  Funny, lively, rhyming and just gorgeous!

Of course sometimes children are not wonderfully charming, they don't always clean up their mess and of course it was not them that made it in the first place - it was the gorilla!  Ding Dong Gorilla by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Leonie Lord , published by Orchard Books, is a wonderfully messy celebration of the imagination of a child - what happens when you answer the door to a gorilla- mischief and mayhem of course.  Hilariously funny and anarchic picture book with cheeky illustration too!

Last but by no means least I will leave you with a question, posed by Alison Green and deftly illustrated by Adam Stower - What Can You Stack on the Back of a Yak? I most certainly don't want to spoil the surprise but can assure you that you will be amazed and will enjoy the surprise when you turn every page ...

A wonderful selection of picture books, really and truly offering something for everyone, the child, parent and grandparent, lots of laughs a riot of colour and the beginning of a great reading adventure!