Search and Find: Pride & Prejudice: A Jane Austen Search and Find Book by Sarah Powell
Search and find books are usually aimed at children. They are a good bit of fun, but they are also a good study tool for adult readers alike. Jane Austen is a fantastic novelist, but her style of writing can be daunting for those not used to such heavy prose. It is very easy to become lost in the myriad of dialogue, characters and events. I find a good plot summary helps when approaching her works, this was especially so in the case of the perplexing and long-winded Emma. Full review...
Piggy Handsome: Guinea Pig Destined for Stardom! by Pip Jones and Adam Stower
Meet Piggy Handsome. He is a very bequiffed guinea pig, and he is frustrated that everyone in his long line of Handsome guinea pigs has become famous for something, except him. Annoyed that he has not even got his face in the local newspaper, he has complained to his friend Jeffry the Budgie more than once. But on this day, Jeff has a chance to solve the issue and get some peace and quiet for himself – there is a chip eating contest in town. But can Piggy get there in time, can he down a bowl of chips quickly enough to win, and what about the pair of idiot thieves that also have something on their mind? Full review...
Mudpuddle Farm: Alien Invasion by Michael Morpurgo and Shoo Rayner
This collected edition contains two stories from Mudpuddle Farm: Alien Invasion and Mum's the Word. When the bees swarm the animals panic over a new creature that appears in the farm. In the second story that greedy goat has vanished and when he returns something darned odd happens… Full review...
My Burptastic Body Book (Dirty Bertie) by David Roberts and Alan MacDonald
Oh, to be young and innocent, and to be full of questions. Questions like 'is eating my bogies good for me', or 'why is poo brown', or 'what makes sweat smell'. You don't have to be a kid like Dirty Bertie to want to know the answers – respectively, no; it's down to dead bacteria; and it doesn't – it's other bacteria again. If you think you have a lad (or, let's face it, a lass) interested in learning such stuff, this book could well be the place to turn. Full review...
Best-loved Paddington Stories by Michael Bond and R W Alley
With the sad passing of Michael Bond there is no time like the present to revisit some of the adventures of his most iconic creation; Paddington. As the character has proved so timeless regular re-issues of the books have appeared and Best-loved Paddington Stories brings three of these stories together. Does this collection really reflect the best that the bear has to offer or are they just three random tales stuck together with marmalade? Full review...
The Seaside Family by Enid Blyton
The Caravan Family (Mummy, Daddy, Mike, Belinda and Ann) are all ready for the holidays, and what better place to spend time together than at the seaside? They can play in the sea, picnic on the sand and generally enjoy each other's company. It will be marvellous. Full review...
National Trust: Complete Night Explorer's Kit by Robyn Swift and Sara Lynn Cramb
There is a misfortune to the modern world, in that we have killed off a common hobby from when I was a lad. Nowadays light pollution is so awful it's certainly not uncommon for people to hardly see any of the stars and to get to learn the constellations, and while I only went out to go 'meteor hunting', it's patently obvious that the chance to lie down and stargaze is a dying one. Elsewhere the nocturnal youth can struggle to have much opportunity to explore the night-time nature as this book suggests – it begins with setting up a tent in your back garden, and too many don't even get that chance, for want of possession of one. Yes, if this book is only read once in the daytime and never referred to again, due to lack of opportunity, it really will be a crying shame. Full review...
The World's Worst Children 2 by David Walliams and Tony Ross
I sometimes wonder if David Walliams gets sick of the comparisons with Roald Dahl that he gets. It's such an easy comparison to make, however, because both wrote very funny, and yet really very dark stories for children. They don't shy away from the nastiness, and ugliness in life and instead face it head on, and flip it around, and make you laugh along the way. This is a rollercoaster ride through a wide range of truly dreadful children who range from being a fussy eater, to a spoiled brat, to Harry, who never, ever did his homework! Yes, their dark deeds vary in despicableness, and along with dreadfulness galore there are fabulous illustrations, a large variety of fonts, unusual page layouts and a Royal introduction from the Queen... Full review...
Stanley and the Magic Lamp (Flat Stanley) by Jeff Brown and Rob Biddulph
It was far too recently that I picked up Flat Stanley and met with a character now fifty years old for the first time, and found out how he got to be flat and what happened as a result. Bizarrely, however, despite the success of that first book it was twenty full years before the author picked up the pen to give Stanley this sequel. Or perhaps it's not such a surprise – without giving too much away, the character had met with a certain change at the end of book one, and therefore wasn't exactly ready for more of the same. Well, over the decades there have been six official books by Jeff Brown, and this was the first instance where I could find out for myself if I was ready for more of the same… Full review...
The Story of the Car by Giles Chapman and Us Now
Dinosaurs… farm machinery… science fiction… trains… cars. I can't think of many other subjects that inspired the young me to have a full non-fiction book about them on my juvenile shelves. Most of course I lost interest in with maturity. But the young child these days won't be much different, for good or bad, and so they will like as not want a book about broom-brooms for the shelf. And this is pretty much the go-to volume for such an interest. Full review...
In Focus: Cities by Libby Walden
The first book in this series promised 101 close-ups, cross sections and/or cutways, but here we're restricted to just ten. Why? Because the subject matters are so much bigger – one is home to 37 million people, of all things. Yes, we're talking cities, and while this book tries to follow the previous – different artist every page, an exclusive inside look within the volume, and a self-deceiving page count – we are definitely in new territory. We're seeking the trivial, the geographical and the cultural, all so that the inquisitive young student can find out the variety to be had in the world's metropolises. Full review...
My Book of Birds by Geraldo Valerio
I never really caught the bird-watching habit, even with the opportunity of growing up on the edge of a village in the middle of nowhere. It was in the family, too, but I resigned myself to never seeing much that was spectacular, and once you've seen one blackbird you've seen them all, was my thinking. If I'd had this book as a youngster, who knows – I may have come out of it differently, having been shown the diversity of the bird world in snippets of text, and some quite unusual illustrations… Full review...
The Hawk of the Castle: A Story of Medieval Falconry by Danna Smith and Bagram Ibatoulline
I don't know why I was surprised by this book – I've read enough volumes for the young audiences to know that as far as subject matter is concerned, pretty much anything goes. But this is about falconry, of all things – the use of a once-wild and still pretty much free-spirited bird of prey to hunt down animals, either for the heck of it or for the pot. An attractive girl and her father get their hawk ready, and leave the castle with all the equipment in tow – bells to hear the landed bird and what it's captured, the hood to act as blinkers for it on the way there, the lure if necessary. The story concerns just one trip out, girl, father, hound – and hawk. But while that may surprise you as a subject matter of choice, it was the whole artistic approach that won me over here… Full review...
Beards From Outer Space by Gareth P Jones
You might not realise it but Earth is under constant alien attack. Luckily we humans don't need to worry because the Pet Defenders (a secret society of our domestic pets) are always on standby to keep us safe. The activities of the Pet Defenders are normally kept secret but Stripes Publishing are kindly allowing human children a brief glimpse into their exciting adventures. In Beards From Outer Space we are able to read how a dog and cat – secret agents Biskit and Mitzy – team up to rid the world of an army of alien beards. Full review...
The Old Woman from Friuli by Ghillian Potts and Ed Boxall
On top of a hill in Italy there was a castle and in that castle there lived a duke. Every day he would go up to the highest tower and look out at all that he could see and marvel that he owned it all.
Except that is for one small house, a sturdy house with stone walls and a solid wooden door, a garden and a field. Full review...
The Homeless Kitten by Holly Webb
Lily loves their rescue dog, Hugo. However, Lily also really wants a cat – or better still a kitten. She, therefore, can't believe her luck when Hugo sniffs out three abandoned kittens while out of his walk with Lily and her dad. Better still (from Lily's point of view at least) the animal shelter is full so Lily's mum and dad reluctantly offer to hand-rear the tiny kittens until they're old enough to be rehomed. Lily's in heaven looking after the kittens, especially the little fluffy white one whom she names Stanley. There is just one problem – it's going to break her heart when the time comes to say goodbye. Full review...
Lighter than Air: Sophie Blanchard, the First Woman Pilot by Matthew Clark Smith and Matt Tavares
We're in Paris, and – not to be too rude about things – we seem surrounded by idiots. For one, it seems they think the perfect place to experiment with manned hot air balloon flights is in the middle of the biggest city in the world. For another, they think only men could suffer the slightly colder and slightly thinner air experienced on such an adventure – women would never be able to cope. Meanwhile, a young girl is dreaming of flight, as so many are wont to do, completely unaware that she will soon marry one of the most famed balloonists. They will have joint journeys skyward, before his early demise – leaving the young woman, Sophie Blanchard, to go it alone and become the first female pilot. Full review...
The Story of Space by Catherine Barr, Steve Williams and Amy Husband
I have no actual idea how I first got an interest in space. Perhaps it's there because I'm so old to almost coincide with the last Apollo astronauts being on the moon (and that's pretty old, it's been so long) and it kind of rubbed off on me. Perhaps in fact all young children are interested in space anyway, and don't need any impetus or reason to look up in wonder. But if they do, this is the newest way of nudging the newer child towards a keenness for all things celestial. And it's a pretty good way indeed. Full review...
Norman the Norman from Normandy (Little Gems) by Philip Ardagh and Tom Morgan-Jones
Meet Norman. Norman the Norman, from Normandy. Not Big Bad Norman the Norman from Normandy, and not Norma the Norman from Normandy – and not even Nora the Norman from, well it doesn't say, but my guess is Normandy. Norman isn't very big at all – he's just a little boy, and he's not bad. Or at least he doesn't think he is. But because his father, Big Bad Norman, is buried in three parts (don't ask), and little baby Norman has inherited Big Bad Norman's big bad Norman sword, he's going to visit the three parts – but only good will happen… Right? Full review...
Patrick and the President by Ryan Tubridy and P J Lynch
Meet Patrick. Such a direction is a little facetious here, because it's who he's going to meet that's the key. He lives in New Ross, County Wexford, and his school has been chosen to perform as a choir for the much-anticipated arrival of President J F Kennedy, as the man traces the path of his Irish ancestry, in what (in addition to stop-overs in England and Italy on the same trip) was to be his last state visit abroad. But surely just being one among three hundred on such an auspicious, yet brief, occasion is not enough for such an enterprising lad? Well, no, for his connected parents have got another trick up their sleeve for him… Full review...
Taking Flight: How the Wright Brothers Conquered the Skies by Adam Hancher
Flight. It happens all around us, wherever we may be, and many are the young audience members for this book who have taken to the air already. But it was once something impossible to take for granted, and this book easily takes us back to those days. It presents us with danger, determination, and a certain pair of American brothers going all out to get both their names in the history books and their feet in the skies… Full review...
Message from the Moon by Hilda Offen
Yes, that is really a 'Message from the Moon' you receive courtesy of this book. You also get the point of view of the sea itself, as well as children seeing the city night from their bedroom window and other people witnessing geese flying over, and you even get a message from a snail. The range of verses in this book is however but one of its many qualities… Full review...
SuperDad's Day Off by Phil Earle
Stanley's dad is tired. It can be exhausting work being a Superhero. For six days of the week he saves the world from disasters and defeats the baddies as Dynamo Dan. Stanley decides his poor dad needs a day off and is determined to make sure that he gets a proper rest. So they head off to the park for some much needed Dad and Son bonding time. However people don't seem to understand that even Superheroes need time to recuperate. The requests for help keep on coming so what can poor Stanley do other than step in to save the day. Full review...
The Big Book of Beasts (Big Books) by Yuval Zommer
One of the many issues people have with the TV nature programme, such as Planet Earth II, is the obvious one of all the blood and guts it features – yes, in amongst all the cutesy, comical animal life are creatures eating other creatures (normally the cutesy, comical ones, what's worse). You'll be pleased to know, however, that this book is very light on death and destruction. Yes, here are lions sharing some chunks of meat (while the females that caught and killed it sit and wait their turn), here are salmon seemingly willingly flying towards brown bears, and here is a red fox stashing a dead mouse while in a time of plenty, but there is so little to make this even a PG book – it will be perfect for the home shelf or that in a primary school. Full review...
The Story of the Dancing Frog by Quentin Blake
When Jo's Great Aunt Gertrude's sea captain husband is drowned at sea she is grief-stricken and, in despair, she goes for a walk alone. During this walk she notices a small frog on a lily-pad. But he is no ordinary frog - he's a dancing frog and the two quickly become good friends. Soon the duo are touring the world with their routine, spreading joy and fun - and carrying out the occasional rescue - wherever they go. Full review...
Forest Life and Woodland Creatures by DK
This book knows that if you're going to learn about forest life and the animals, plants and trees in it, then you're only going to be itching to go and explore the woods for yourself. It's for a very young audience, so always expects an adult hand to guide you – but provides a warm companion itself through several quick and easy tasks, and a few lessons. The balance between carrot and stick, or duty and reward, is great – but what exactly is the edutainment going to provide, and what will it demand of us? Full review...
Sharks and Other Sea Creatures by DK
Never before have I found much cause to point out the sort of lower-case, almost-a-subtitle wording on the front of a book. I say that because very little of this is about sharks – so if you have a youngster intending to come here and learn all their bloodthirsty imagination can hold, then they may well be disappointed. If you take it on board that the 'other sea creatures' make up the bulk of the book, then all well and good. And even better, if you expect yourself to make the bulk of said creatures… Full review...
Life on Earth: Farm: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano
I'm sure I was full of questions when I was a nipper – which means I was too full of questions. Parents just don't need to be deflecting questions all the time, do they? Living on the edge of a village in the middle of nowhere as I did, I knew quite a lot about farms and farming – that different animals gave different results, that different vehicles meant different things and that the crops behind our house changed. But for the inner city child, there is a chance they have never met a cow or seen a silo. This colourful book, bright in both senses of the word, will allow the very young reader the opportunity of their own fantasy trip to the working countryside. Full review...