Never too Small by Zanib Mian and Laura Ewing Ferrer
There was once a young boy who didn't try to do things because he felt that he was too small, but he was lucky. He had a good friend and that friend wrote him a letter to tell him that people are never too small, or too big, or too old to try something new. There was also a little girl and she was afraid of the dark. It was her brother who wrote her a letter to tell her that he would always be there for her. There was the boy who wouldn't try new things to eat, the young girl who was afraid of heights, a boy who was terrified about going to school and a girl who was frightened of spiders. They all had that special someone who took the time to write them the letter which gave them the confidence to overcome their fears. Full review...
What's My Name? (The Not So Little Princess) by Tony Ross and Wendy Finney
Now, I do hope that what I'm about to tell you won't be too upsetting. The Little Princess is growing up and it's causing a problem in the palace. You see the little princess has always been known as, well, the Little Princess. Whilst the Queen was helping to make cucumber sandwiches the King was striding up and down, wearing the carpet out and making his shoes squeak. He had a problem - a big problem. Now that the little princess was growing up was it really appropriate to continue calling her the Little Princess? There was an open secret in the palace: everyone knew the little princess's real name - but no one was prepared to tell her what it was. Full review...
Wolfman by Michael Rosen and Chris Mould
People are panicking. The police are afraid. The army have run away. Who or what could possibly be so scary? It’s Wolf Man. And he’s on the loose. Full review...
Danloria: The Secret Forest of Germania by Gloria D Gonsalves
Stan loves to go for walks in the forest of Danloria, located in the seven hills of Germania. He goes with his father almost every day. One particular day, Stan's father is ill in bed and can't take him out. And that's when Fern appears. Stan notices the plant waving to him and can't help but investigate. Fern has an invitation for Stan. He wants to take him to the secret parts of the forest, to a party. Stan has a fabulous time, meeting all the plants and finding out about the various ways in which they benefit humanity. The following spring, Stan is racking his brains to think of the perfect gift for his mother's fortieth birthday party when Fern appears again. More friends of the forest supply presents more wonderful than Stan could ever have dreamed of. A firm friendship ensues. Full review...
Mine! by Jerome Keane and Susana de Dios
Horse and Fox are really bored. Nothing had happened for ages, until the egg arrived. In this lovely book, they are forced to try and share, but they aren't particularly good at it. I really love the style of this book, it uses bold, different colour schemes to make it instantly eye catching and engaging. The text has an immediately obvious sense of humour whilst still managing to be simple enough for early readers to grasp. Full review...
Buckle and Squash and the Monstrous Moat-Dragon by Sarah Courtauld
In this story we have two sisters. There is Eliza, who dreams of being a swashbuckling hero, whilst her sister Lavender spends her time mooning over pictures of princes, hoping to become a real princess. One day Lavender gets kidnapped out in the forest by a rather dreadful villain, Mordmont. Will poor Lavender ever escape? Will Eliza get to be the hero? And what about these monstrous moat dragons?! Full review...
Lucky by David Mackintosh
We're having a surprise at dinner tonight. Mum says so.
Leo and his brother are desperate to figure out just what the surprise might be. Could it be crinkly chips? A new bike? Tickets to the Amazing Yo-Yo Super show?
Or maybe, just maybe... Full review...
The Almost Fearless Hamilton Squidlegger by Timothy Basil Ering
Little froglet Hamilton Squidlegger prides himself on his bravery. Armed with his wooden sword and shield, he loves to battle imaginary monsters, such as the skelecragon, bracklesneed and fire-breathing frackensnapper. Hamilton fears nothing. Nothing that is, except BEDTIME. As soon as the sun goes down he jumps from his own mud bed and clambers in with mum and dad. Full review...
Elephant by Suzi Eszterhas
Elephant is part of the wonderful Eye on the Wild series by award-winning wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas. The book follows the journey of a young bull elephant calf from birth through adulthood. The vivid full-page photographs show heartwarming snapshots of life in the herd; a purely matriarchal society where strong females form a close family bond and work hard rearing and protecting their young. Full review...
Tiger by Suzi Eszterhas
Tiger is a simply stunning picture book following the lives of a tiger family from birth to adulthood. Each page is filled with enchanting pictures of the tigers in the wild, taken by award-winning photographer Suzi Eszterhas. Full review...
Marshmallows for Martians by Lee Wildish, Adam Guillain and Charlotte Guillain
What kid doesn't like sweets or aliens? This book combines the two as George packs up and leaves his house on a mission to Mars to find out what sweets aliens love best. He builds a spaceship and takes off, meeting some very surprising aliens along the way. From the first page, I knew I would enjoy this story and I wasn't disappointed at all. I laughed throughout and looked forward to turning each page to find out what happened next. Full review...
The Secret Dinosaur: Giants Awake by N S Blackman
When Marlin Maxton goes on a school visit to the local museum, he is looking forward to seeing Protos - the dinosaur that his Uncle Gus remembers so fondly. But Protos is nowhere to be seen and the museum's Mr Grubbler seems to be doing his utmost to take all the fun out of the school visit Marlin had been anticipating with such excitement. So Marlin sneaks off to explore by himself... Full review...
My Teacher is a Monster! (No, I Am Not.) by Peter Brown
School can be a difficult place for children, especially if your teacher is a stomping, roaring monster like Miss Kirby. Bobby spends most of his time worrying about what to do about his monster of a teacher, and the best place for him to think about it is in the park. He goes there one day to contemplate the situation, but who does he meet? Miss Kirby! She isn't stomping or roaring though, she is feeding the ducks. Full review...
Sir Scallywag and the Deadly Dragon Poo by Giles Andreae and Korky Paul
King Colin has spent his fortune on a giant sweet machine, which he guzzles from each and every day. The entire kingdom has grown fat and lazy, except for Sir Scallywag. It's lucky somebody in the castle still has their wits about them, because Baron Greedyguts has heard all about their sweet machine, and he's coming to get it! Full review...
Max the Brave by Ed Vere
I can truly believe that Curiosity Killed the Cat, if the cat is anything like Max from ‘Max the Brave’ by Ed Vere. Thankfully, as well as being curious, cats are also known for having several lives, Max uses some of them up in this adventure. Being an cat of action Max wishes to go out in the big world and chase some mice, but he is also young so does not know what a mouse is. After asking several animals if they are a mouse (including one with big ears, whiskers and a penchant for cheese), Max is pointed in the direction of something a little larger and greener than your average rodent. Full review...
The Moonshine Dragon (Little Gems) by Cornelia Funke
What happens when stories escape from books? One moonlit night Patrick is woken up by the noise of a tiny dragon emerging from his storybook and chased by an equally tiny knight on horseback. Suddenly Patrick finds himself shrunk to story book size too and he and the dragon find themselves under attack. Can Patrick save them both before time runs out? Full review...
When Angus Met Alvin by Sue Pickford
Angus is not like other aliens. He is a peace-loving little fellow, who likes nothing better than sitting in his garden watching the flowers grow and sipping a nice cup of tea. Unfortunately, one day, a strange spaceship crash lands in his garden and out pops a cheeky, hyperactive green alien called Alvin who is rather a show-off. It’s time for Angus to teach Alvin a lesson about manners. Can the two aliens put their differences aside and become friends in the end? Full review...
Horrid Henry's Wedding by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross
What on earth was Prissy Polly thinking? If she had wanted her wedding to Pimply Paul to go without a hitch, why, oh why had she insisted on asking her awful cousin Horrid Henry to be a page boy? One thing is for certain: when you take a certain horrid boy with a reputation for mischief and force him to wear a lilac shirt, green satin knickerbockers, tights, a pink cummerbund and white satin shoes with gold buckles, you are just asking for trouble... Full review...
Foxy Tales - The Cunning Plan by Caryl Hart and Alex T Smith
Foxy DuBois is on a mission to get rich quick and to get rid of that pest, Alphonso the Alligator for good, otherwise the greedy alligator is going to eat Foxy for breakfast. However she needs Alphonso’s help to ensure that her plan will succeed. In order for the scheme to work Alphonso must dress as a lady dog walker and distract a rich old lady while Foxy kidnaps her small dogs. Alphonso will then pretend to find the dogs and the rich old lady, full of gratitude, will give them a generous reward. How could this possibly go wrong? Very, very easily... Full review...
Ant and Bee and Kind Dog by Angela Banner
When you learn to read it has to be fun. You have to master the skill but it mustn't be too daunting or you're not going to enjoy it and - worst of all - you might be put off reading for life. It's best if you can share the reading until you get to grips with decoding what's on the page, so if an adult could read most of the words but you read others to which you've already been introduced and which are in a different colour then that is going to be a help. If the words are introduced with a nice big picture and if they appear in alphabetical order, then that's going to be fun, isn't it? It's going to make reading easier too if the book is the right size for your hands and has a nice firm cover which is easy to hold - and wipes clean if there's an accident. Full review...
Famous Five Colour Reads: A Lazy Afternoon by Enid Blyton
Perhaps the only thing better than a favourite author publishing a new book, is one of their old works that you missed first time around being re-released. The Famous Five, you see, didn’t just feature in their most well-known tales. They also had some short story adventures that were first seen in albums and magazines and whatnot, but are now being published as books in their own right. Hurrah! Full review...
Blamehounds (Little Gems) by Ross Collins
The idea began with Mr Lime’s bodily explosions (didn’t I put that nicely?) After three of them it was Norman the dog (who was entirely blameless in this matter so long as you’re willing to overlook the fact that he was having a lovely dream about dropping cats off bridges) who got the kick to speed him from the room. There were a couple more occasions when something similar happened but instead of getting a complex about what was happening, Norman saw an opportunity. A business opportunity. If dogs were going to get the blame then there should be something in it for them and he went into partnership with his best mate, Ringo (who does seem to be obsessed with sausages) and Blamehounds was born. Full review...
Barbapapa's Ark by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor
Barbapapa’s Ark is the fourth book in the popular series about a shape-shifting pink blob, his wife and seven children. It follows on from the previous book, in which Barbapapa and his family built themselves a beautiful house in a peaceful valley. One day, after a picnic, the family decide to take a leisurely ride along the river, but are horrified to see sick and injured animals suffering from the effects of pollution. Over time, more and more animals come to Barbapapa for help. He decides that the only way to teach the humans a lesson is to take the animals to a new, green planet where they will be safe. Full review...
Convertible Spaceship by Claire Philip and Belinda Gallagher
When is a book, not a book? When it is also a playmat and also a spaceship. With ‘Convertible Spaceship’ you get all three; a book that folds out into a playmat or into a spaceship. Can I hear the excitement from here? Full review...
Mr Monkey and the Birthday Party (Early Reader) by Linda Chapman and Sam Hearn
What is a young girl to do? Anya wants to go with the rest of her primary school class to a swimming party, but she's worried of being laughed at for staying at toddlers' depth, for she is not a confident swimmer. As luck would have it, she has been picked to take home the class 'pet', the cuddly toy called Mr Monkey, for the week, and just as luck would have it, he's actually a secretly magical being. But could even he get Anya out of her jam and make a Cinderella moment come true? Full review...
Chocolate Porridge (Early Reader) by Margaret Mahy and Terry Milne
Young Timothy has been drummed out of his mother's kitchen by her and his sisters, so he cannot join in with their baking. Instead he goes to the garden and devises chocolate porridge – a lot of mud, plus some other ingredients. But only when he's happy with his craft does he begin to realise that not even calling mud chocolate porridge makes it edible. Oh what is a boy to do? Full review...
Fleatectives: Case of the Stolen Nectar by Jonny Zucker
Someone has been stealing all the nectar. The bees are in a buzz! One hive is blaming another hive and although the Sheriff is investigating, Buzz and Itch decide to take the case on themselves to try and figure out what exactly is going on. How will they manage to figure out the truth of what's happened? And will they manage to do it without being crushed to death by the bees? Full review...