There's a Snake in My School! by David Walliams and Tony Ross
Miranda loves to be different so no one is really surprised when she arrives at school on Bring-your-pet-to-school Day riding on the back of an enormous slithery python called Penelope. But they are a bit frightened. After all, pythons EAT people. Miranda, however, soon convinces her classmates that Penelope is both friendly and lots of fun to play with. It looks like it's going to be the best day of school EVER. But that's before Miss Bloat, the headmistress, intervenes and locks up all the pets. Luckily Penelope has a special talent that will save the day. Full review...
That's Not a Hippopotamus! by Juliette MacIver and Sarah Davis
With the onset of TV, the internet and colourful books we take for granted that we know what different animals look like. A giraffe has a long neck, a lion has big teeth and a Dodo does not look like much anymore. However, imagine a time before all this technology, the closest you would get to an exotic animal might be the assorted stuffed creatures in a local Natural History Museum. Perhaps the children of Juliette MacIver and Sarah Davis' That's Not a Hippopotamus! learned from some poor taxidermy, as they sure don't know what a Hippo looks like. Full review...
An Animal ABC by Alice Pattullo
If you have ever tried to print a design using traditional methods such as screen printing or block printing, you will know how tricky a feat this is. Making a simple black and white design is tough enough as you try and spread the paint evenly and avoid bleeding, but multicolours are even more complex. You have to remove your screen and add another, then make sure the new colour sits exactly where it should. When it goes wrong it looks amateurish and you have to start again. Do it right and it can look as wonderful as An Animal ABC by Alice Pattullo. Full review...
The Queen's Present by Steve Antony
We join the story on Christmas Eve. The Queen hasn't finished her shopping yet, which is probably unlikely for a grandmother and great grandmother, but then I suppose most people in that position don't have a job ruling the country so she can be forgiven. She's shopping for the little prince and princess, but in a surprisingly unpatriotic moment she realises the UK just won't do, and she needs to venture further afield. If only there was someone with access to airborne transport who could whisk her away to the likes of France and Egypt and Italy and China at the drop of a hat (or the tug of a reign). Full review...
Greatest Animal Stories by Michael Morpurgo (Editor)
We all know of Aesop and his animal fables: the hare and the tortoise, the boy who cried wolf or the ant and the grasshopper. In this stunning collection of animal stories, Michael Morpurgo has collated well-known and much-loved animal stories in a beautifully presented book. In the introduction he writes that we often first meet animals in stories before we meet them in real life and this collection is selected from his favourite childhood animal tales. Within his own stories, Morpurgo favours the inclusion of animals as the central character and these are all well received by children. As a primary school teacher, I value the fact that such a well-known author has collected these valuable animal-centred stories which can be used not only to engage children with tales from different cultures but also in providing life lessons. Each is beautifully illustrated and individual in style to each story. Prefacing each tale is a short paragraph giving information on the origin of the story and often a question or two to promote thought and discussion within the story. The stories originate from across the globe: Iceland, Africa, China and North America to name a few. Full review...
Walking in a Winter Wonderland by Felix Bernard, Richard Smith and Tim Hopgood
It’s the end of October – almost November – and the embers of Christmas are just being brought back to life now. The weather is changing, the leaves are falling and it’s dark before six o’clock. No matter how much we try not to, our thoughts are turning to Christmas. Now, I absolutely love Christmas. However, what I love more than Christmas is the idea of Christmas. Walking in a Winter Wonderland paints the idea of Christmas better than anything else. It is a Christmas card in words and although it may be 13 degrees on Christmas day with grey skies, in our hearts sleigh bells are ringing, snow is glistening, Mister snowmen are being built and we all conspire as we dream by the fire. What a fantastic way to epitomise Christmas by using this great song, made famous by Peggy Lee and originally written in 1934, as a story book for children. Full review...
The Princess and the Christmas Rescue by Caryl Hart and Sarah Warburton
Christmas can be an awesome time surrounded by friends, but if you don't have many, it can also be a rather lonely time. One way you could get more friends is to socialise a little and perhaps join a hobby group or two. What is unlikely to help is locking yourself up in a workshop and inventing things on your own all the time. This is exactly how Princess Eliza spends her time, but what caused her to have a lacks in friends may help her when a Christmas crisis occurs. Full review...
The Mouse that Cancelled Christmas by Madeleine Cook and Samara Hardy
When you think there can't possibly be a different way to tell a Christmas story for children, along comes Madeleine Cook and Samara Hardy with a tale of a mouse who was once injured at Christmas time. A falling bauble hit poor mouse and that was enough to convince mouse that Christmas meant danger. Mouse dons his hard-hat and high-visibility jacket to inspect the animal's village Christmas preparations. In true health and safety style, nothing is up to scratch: the star is too pointy; the tree too tall and the lights are too bright on the tree, not to even mention the spikiness of the pine needles. Quite frankly, Christmas is jolly well too dangerous, so mouse wants it cancelled. Full review...
Santa Claude by Alex T Smith
Ah Claude! He is such an endearing little dog. He's back on an adventure with Sir Bobblysock and this time it is a Christmas adventure. There are baubles and trees and carols and reindeer and, of course, there's trouble! For who else but Claude would accidentally handcuff Santa to an armchair on Christmas Eve, and then need to deliver all the presents himself? Full review...
Ludwig the Space Dog by Henning Lohlein
Before there was Neil Armstrong and before there was Yuri Gagarin, there was another explorer of Space – Laika. This was no man however, but a dog. Laika was one of the first animals to explore space; the less said about her fate the better, but surely her adventures would encourage other canines to explore the great beyond? Ludwig is one such Mutt and although we may not have a rocket ship to help him with his adventures, we do have a set of 3D glasses. Full review...
Fred by Mick Inkpen and Chloe Inkpen
It's tricky being a puppy. There are so many things to try to understand, like sit, and stay, and fetch! Whilst the pup in this story has learned all of these tricky commands, and is doing very well at being a good boy, he is having some issues around the word 'Fred'...what on earth does everyone mean when they keep shouting it at him? Full review...
The Storm Whale in Winter by Benji Davies
The Storm Whale in Winter is a sequel to the highly popular The Storm Whale. Noi's father embarks on one last fishing trip before the Arctic Winter sets in. All alone, with his six cats, Noi patiently waits for his father's return. As night sets and the sea begins to freeze, Noi starts to worry and believes he can see his Dad's boat from his bedroom window. Full of courage, he sets off out in the snow to find his Dad. Getting lost in the blizzard, Noi is in need of help which comes in the form of his old friend. Full review...
Threadbear by Mick Inkpen
We have all had a special teddy, the teddy which is not perfect, the one that would never be classed as beautiful but the one that is loved more than any other. Threadbear is that very teddy. The man who made him put so much stuffing in him that his arms and legs were too hard. Sadly, because of all the extra stuffing, the squeaker in his stomach has never squeaked. Not once. Ever. Threadbear feels he is letting his Ben down, so he embarks on a mission to fix his squeaker. He tries and tries but fails, until he decides that there is one special person he must meet and maybe this will be the only person who can fix his squeaker. Full review...
The Building Boy by Ross Montgomery and David Litchfield
This is the story of a boy and his Grandma. An award-wining architect, Grandma promises to build the boy a special house on a hill over the horizon, over a city and beyond the sea. But Grandma is getting old – too old to make houses. And, one day, she is gone. Without Grandma, the house is empty. It’s just rooms. But the boy has an idea – it requires a lot of work but the result is totally magical. Full review...
A Piglet Called Truffle by Helen Peters and Ellie Snowdon
Living on a farm, with her father who works as a farmer and a mother who is a farm-vet, Jasmine has spent all her young life learning how to care for animals. On a visit to a neighbouring farm, Jasmine is excited to see the new baby piglets. Expecting to see eleven piglets, she is stunned to find one extra - a tiny little runt hiding in the corner. Being smaller than her hand, the farmer has no sympathy and expects it to die by the end of the day. Of course, Jasmine can't allow this to happen. The story is then set for a struggle to save the smallest piglet, called Truffle. Full review...
Spinderella by Julia Donaldson and Sebastien Braun
From high above the classroom, Spinderella watches in fascination the classroom activities at Scuttleton Primary School. She wants to be able to do two things: play football and count. However, her family of spiders are only interested in flies, flies and flies. They also have no desire to learn how to count Down with numbers they all cry. Unperturbed by their lack of enthusiasm, Spinderella goes in search of numbers and playing football. Along the way she meets a familiar wish granting character (no spoilers here) and her journey begins. Full review...
Letter to Pluto by Lou Treleaven
Letter to Pluto is a story told through an inter-planetary pen-pal friendship. Set in the year 2317, writing with a pen and sending letters has certainly become a dying art-form. However, Jon’s teacher, Mrs Hall, decides it is important to keep the art of letter writing alive. The only difference is that Jon’s pen-pal lives a long way away. 75 billion km to be precise. On Pluto. At first the idea of writing at all is bad enough, but when Jon finds out that his pen-pal is a girl he nearly quits the programme. Encouraged by his teacher’s bribes of merit awards for his best writing, Jon soon learns that Pluto is not as boring, small and smelly as he first thought. Full review...
Odd Dog Out by Rob Biddulph
As the title suggests this is the story about the 'Odd Dog Out'. All Odd Dog wants is to fit in and she, therefore, travels around the world to find a place where everyone is just like her. Everything seems perfect until she meets a dog who is behaving differently and realises that it might actually be a good thing to stand out from the crowd. Full review...
More People to Love Me by Mo O'Hara and Ada Grey
'More People to Love Me' is a story about a little girl with a huge family. She has a mummy and a step-mum, a daddy and a step-dad and four brothers and sisters. She also has lots of grandparents: in fact, she has so many grandparents she has to have a special name for some of them – like Grananna, who is her step-dad David's mum. Given the size of her family, it's not surprising that this little girl struggles to fit everyone on the family tree she draws at school. This upsets her a bit until she realises it's actually better to have a forest than a single tree. Full review...
The Road Home by Katie Cotton and Sarah Jacoby
The year is winding down, and nature is beginning to turn her thoughts again to winter. As the leaves begin to change, and birds start to fly South, animals throughout the forest are preparing for this change in seasons. This book follows their trials and tribulations as they all try to take the road that leads them home. Full review...
Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: The Spooky School by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton
As a teacher and a parent, one of the main aims I have when it comes to reading is to promote a love of reading in all children. This can of course in general be more challenging with boys. Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton have created a wonderful book with two familiar characters at the centre. Their previous tales of Shifty McGifty were shorter books around 35 pages told though rhyme. However, their latest book, The Spooky School, at 124 pages, is perfect for the maturing primary school student (approximately 6-9 years of age). If these children had experienced the earlier books, then there is a feeling that Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam have grown up with them. Although this book will appeal to both boys and girls, boys will particularly enjoy these fun tales. Full review...
The Dragon's Hoard by Lari Don
If you ask anyone to name a Viking story, legend or tale, my money would be on Beowulf. However, it is not clear whether this was an Anglo-Saxon or Viking tale. Try further and search on Amazon for Viking sagas for children and you won't get very far. Until now, that is. Lari Don has written a collection of stories which bring tales from this historical era to life. Most primary schools study Vikings as a topic, so it is surprising that there are so few quality stories around for this age group. Full review...
Dog on a Digger: The Tricky Incident by Kate Prendergast
I'm going to tell you a story about Dog, Man, Lady and the Pup. They all work on an industrial site - in fact Dog and Man live there in a caravan and Man drives the sort of digger which is dreamed about by boys large and small. Lady and the Pup run the snack bar and one day as they're all having something to eat, the Pup goes missing. Man and Lady search everywhere but it's Dog's sharp ears which finally track him down - caught in a branch over a fast-flowing stream. And it's Dog who works out how to rescue him. I needed 88 words to tell you that story, but Kate Prendergast does it without using a single one - and she tells it in a far more engaging way than I could ever manage. Full review...
Can You Say It Too? Brrr! Brrr! by Sebastien Braun
What most parents don't tell you is that they only have children for their own entertainment – the little tykes can be hilarious funny. One fun area is when a baby starts to learn words – DaDa, MaMa. Soon they pick up seemingly random words – Light! Yallow! (I think that is meant to be hello). Once they start looking intently at your lips as you speak you can start to guide them to words that you want them to use. For example, what language skills would they require if they visited Antarctica? Full review...
A Day With Dogs by Dorothee de Monfreid
I couldn't resist a book entitled A Day With Dogs, not least because it's my idea of heaven, and I was intrigued by the subtitle What Do Dogs Do All Day? Well, when you open the book you'll get an answer to that question, although it certainly won't be the one that you're expecting: these dogs are in cars, on skis, in the kitchen, at the doctor and in lots more places. There's a hint to the style of the book in the dedication: for Richard Scarry. Full review...
Sing Along With Me: We Wish You a Merry Christmas by Yu-hsuan Huang
I'm not normally a great fan of Christmas-themed books: after the day they're a bit old hat - for the adults if not for the children, but just occasionally something comes along that's so well done that an exception can be made. As soon as I touched We Wish You a Merry Christmas I could feel the quality: it's a chunky board book with added extras. The fun starts on the cover: there's a slider (look for the red ring with the yellow arrows) which makes a penguin (I think!) and a fox appear and disappear from behind a Christmas tree. As the animals move you can see pictures of two more animals playing in the snow. Full review...
Lamellia: The Kingdom of Mushrooms by Gloria D Gonsalves
Lamellia is a kingdom of mushrooms lying deep within a forest. It is ruled by Polipoli, its big brown king. One day, a group from his mushroom army finds a human baby abandoned in the forest. The baby is hungry and crying. What will the mushrooms do? Will they reject the baby as a member of a hostile species? Or will they take care of it and accept it as one of their own? They choose the latter option, but how will a kingdom of mushrooms take care of a human baby? By working together, of course! Full review...
The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots by Beatrix Potter and Quentin Blake
At night a serious, well-behaved and (let's be honest) rather superior young black cat goes out hunting. Well, if we're being totally honest, there's a little bit of poaching in there too. By day she is Miss Catherine St Quintin, although her owner calls her Kitty. Other cats call her Q, or Squintums, but they are very common cats and Kitty's owner would have been scandalised had she known that there was an acquaintance. The reaction would have been even stronger had she known that Miss Kitty went out in a gentleman's Norfolk jacket and fur-lined boots. With a gun. Full review...
The New Libearian by Alison Donald and Alex Willmore
For a job that often deals with words, Librarian is not an easy thing to spell. I often drop one of the Rs and end up with Libarian and that just will not do. One simple spelling mistake can make a word take on a whole new meaning; what would possibly happen if you spelt it Libearian? Is it a mistype, or does the person behind the Help Desk look a little hairy to you? What big paws you have Libearian – all the better to stamp your books with. Full review...
Meltdown! by Jill Murphy
Before I say a word about this book, I want to offer a few words of reassurance. Firstly, we've all been there, cringing, trying to pretend that it's not your child. Secondly, it doesn't mean that you're a bad parent - or, if you are, so is everybody else. Finally there is nothing wrong with your child: they've just got a dose of the terrible twos (or threes) or the frightful fours. It will pass. Honestly. Right? Are you ready to read on now? Good. Just take it steadily. Full review...
Amma, Tell Me About Diwali! by Bhakti Mathur
Klaka had celebrated Diwali and it had been great fun - a wonderful, beautiful day and tonight the city is lit up by thousands and thousands of lights. Amma and daddy had given many gifts to their boy and Klaka and his brother had lit the earthen oil lamps known as diyas. They didn't just eat and have a good time - they also offered their prayers for good fortune, prosperity and health to Ganesha, the God of new beginnings and to Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth. But Klaka was curious: Amma he said, tell me about Diwali. Full review...
The Snowflake Mistake by Lou Treleaven and Maddie Frost
Princess Ellie lives in an ice palace that floats high in the sky. Her mum is the Snow Queen and they have a very special machine that collects clouds and turns them into snowflakes. The machine works perfectly until the day that Princess Ellie is left in charge – the machine breaks and Ellie has to find another way of making snowflakes. Luckily her friends the birds are able to help. Full review...
An Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers
Some might say you only ever need one alphabet book in a home. Considering we have half a dozen (and, as it happens, no little ones in the house) I would counter this with a question: how many words are there in the world? Because when you only get one for each letter, you may find a simple book of 26 entries may not be enough. Full review...