Newest Emerging Readers Reviews
Bruno by Catharina Valckx and Nicolas Hubesch
Meet Bruno. No, not that Bruno – for pity's sake, this is a book for the under-eights and not a character from teen comedy movies. No, Bruno is a quite unmistakeable cat, in a bright blue cloth cap, and this is a book regarding various days in his life that he thinks are of note – whether they're the day the power goes out, or a day that would be completely uninteresting were it not for a joke from his best friend. But don't you dare make the mistake of thinking this sounds mundane – here is a background couple, of a hippo and a crocodile, just walking past the heroes. Here is said best friend, an elderly pony, forced somehow to walk backwards. Here is when Bruno is playing host to a turtle dove addicted to jam, who is forced to hide when a wet wolf gate-crashes. I think you'll agree that any day spent reading this book will not be a boring one. Full review...
Polly and the Puffin: The New Friend by Jenny Colgan
Polly was just about to start Big School and, being honest, she wasn't keen. She couldn't wear her spotty wellies for one thing, but worst of all, she couldn't take Neil with her. We heard about Neil the rescued puffin in the first book in this series and although Neil now has a nest in the nearby lighthouse, he and Polly are still very close. When she gets to school Polly doesn't really feel like joining in any of the games: she's the lonely little figure on the edge of everything. Her teacher suggests that she and Ronita make friends: have you ever noticed how difficult it is to even speak when someone suggests something like that? Polly and Ronita don't make friends - they end up shouting at each other in a 'mine's bigger/better than yours' argument. What about? Well, birds of course. Ronita has a macaw. Full review...
Little People, Big Dreams: Marie Curie by Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Frau Isa
Some little girls want to be princesses, but the girl who would become Marie Curie wanted to be a scientist. She was from a poor family in Warsaw but she was determined to do well and won a gold medal for her studies. In Poland, in the middle of the nineteenth century, only men were allowed to go to University, so Marie moved to Paris where she had to study in an unfamiliar language, but was soon the best maths and science student. It was here that she met and married Pierre Curie, another scientist and they jointly discovered radium and polonium: they would eventually win the Nobel Prize for Physics for this work. Marie was the first woman to receive the honour. Pierre was killed in a road accident, but Marie went on to win a second Nobel Prize, this time for Chemistry. Her work is still benefiting people today. Full review...
Little People, Big Dreams: Agatha Christie by Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Elisa Munso
As a child Agatha Christie and her mother would read a book together every afternoon, but there were early signs of what the future novelist would become: she always had a better idea about how the story should end. She would read in bed at night and detective novels were always her favourites. In the First World War Agatha, who was then in her early twenties, nursed wounded soldiers in hospitals: her experiences with poisons and toxic potions would be put to good use when her first detective novels were published just after the end of the war. Most people have heard of her first and most famous detective - Hercule Poirot - or of Miss Marple. Mrs Christie's novels were widely read and her plays were very popular in theatres. Full review...
Barking for Bagels by Michael Rosen and Tony Ross
Barking for Bagels is the story of Schnipp the dog, who loves her owners very much, though she does find their snickering a little annoying from time to time. One day, whilst out for a walk in the park, she starts to run away, and she finds that once she starts running she can't stop, and she runs and she runs until she finds Bessie the Bagel lady and thus discovers her new favourite food, and her new home. Full review...
How to be a Tiger by George Szirtes and Tim Archbold
Wet again, yet again! Down it drips, little fingertips, tapping and snapping as if the rain were cross.
See the branches toss? See the puddles grow? Has it stopped raining?
NO.
Yes, sometimes only a quote will do. After all, we do come to poetry for snappy concision, and that's what we get here… Full review...
Rabbit and Bear: The Pest in the Nest by Julian Gough and Jim Field
Rabbit was struggling. There he was having a nice, peaceful sleep in his friend Bear's cave when a terrible noise woke him. Was it thunder? No, it was Bear snoring. Very loudly. Rabbit tried putting his paws over his ears although that's not very successful when you have small paws and very big ears. But there was something good: when Rabbit went outside the cave he realised that spring had sprung. Suddenly he felt strong. After a winter spent in his friend Bear's cave it was time to go home to his burrow. Only there was a surprise lurking there - and it looked suspiciously like a snake. Full review...
Amy Lee and the Darkness Hex by Amy Lee
Amy Lee wakes up from one of her usual dreams, where she combats an evil pirate. You would think that was the only nastiness in her life – she lives in a lovely place in the Land of Love, and doesn't have to worry about paying for steaks for her nine dogs, nor salmon for her cats. She can go to her favourite tree who will entertain her with a story, and she can go adventuring with her bottomless rucksack, and spend all day daydreaming of a wicked new house for her dogs… Until she sees threatening purple clouds over the forests. And not even in this fantasy world do you want to see purple clouds… Full review...
The Sticky Witch by Hilary McKay
Tom and Ellie's parents have set sail around the world on a raft made of rubbish! They tell the children that they will be gone for three years, but it will go by very quickly and they'll be safe and happy in the company of Aunt Tab. But who is this strange lady who applied for the job of caring for two wonderful children and their cat, Whiskers? She doesn't seem to be the kind guardian that the children need, and why is everything in her house so very, very sticky? Full review...
Where's the BaBOOn? by Michael Escoffier and Kris Di Giacomo
The title of a book can be an important indication of what you are about to get yourself into. Where's the BaBOOn? is a subtly different than Where's the Baboon? Can you spot the surprising difference? One book is about finding the missing monkey, the other is waiting for the missing monkey to find you. Therefore, grab this book at your peril, knowing that at some point a Baboon will say BOO! Full review...
Tarzan and the Blackshirts by Andy Croft and Alan Marks
1930s London, and the streets are rife with racial divides, to the extent that people on one side of the road, generally of one ethnic origin, hate the residents from some other background living on the other. Our narrator Sam has no reason to hate anyone, apart from those in the other gangs, like Alf. But when they latch on to each other as best friends, despite Sam being Jewish and Alf having Irish blood, it seems nothing can stop them. But in times like that – and, of course, in times like 2017 – that doesn't necessarily mean friendships can't be broken… Full review...
Incredibuilds: House-Elves: Deluxe Book and Model Set (Harry Potter) by Jody Revenson
How do you create a house-elf like Dobby? Well, you have a tennis ball on a string, and point actors so they look at it, and say their lines to a pretty-much empty space. You then film Toby Jones doing the elf's lines, and use that sound file and his facial expressions as basis for your CGI creation – the first major character to come from the digital realm in the Harry Potter films. You can throw in a few puppets, and now and again a gifted small person, particularly at the end of film #7… Or, of course, you can get this gift set, and press the wooden parts out, muckle them together – and lo and behold, a six inch tall Dobby for your windowsill. Full review...
NY is for New York by Paul Thurlby
Long gone are the days when children didn't travel, and picture books had to be about animals. And while your pre-schoolers might not be planning solo trips to the States any time soon, it's never too early to get them and older siblings interested in other places and other cultures. NY is for New York is a themed alphabet book, based around the city that never sleeps, and it's chock full of facts and figures about a city I love, teaching me many new things I didn't know about a place I'm familiar with from visits and TV shows and many, many Manhattan books. Full review...
Dr Seuss: A Classic Treasury by Dr Seuss
Sitting on my shelf is well thumbed book. I have had it since a child and even to this day pick it up once in a while and read its contents. What is this tome? A slice of classic children's literature that taught me all about the absurd and that words could be played with. This was not Wind in the Willows or 'Swiss Family Robinson, my classic is a Dr Seuss Omnibus that contained four of his books. 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...
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...
The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson and Paul Howard
If you think you know everything about owls, think again. Even the basic things that you THINK are a given may turn out to be wrong. Plop is an adorable 8 week old baby owl and he has the feathers and the beak and the all-around owl look, with two crucial differences: he's not very good at flying, and he's afraid of the dark. Which, for a nocturnal creature, is a bit of a problem. 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 Snowman Strikes Back by Allan Plenderleith
It's not easy being a snowman, you know - particularly when you are made by Ernest Green-Bogle, who delights in tormenting you. Sometimes he'd make you upside down or looking like a pig (it's just plain undignified, you know). That's not the worst of it. He has been known to attack snowman with a hairdryer, feed his carrot nose to a rabbit and even encase him in a block of ice. The snow clown was not funny and the snow ice cream cone even less so. But one day everything changed when Ernest came home and there was a big boy with him. Ernest had a black eye and the big boy was threatening him. Full review...
The Lorax by Dr Seuss
It seemed to me that environmentalism was invented sometime in the early 90s. All of a sudden my schooling was about Greenhouse gases and how we the children have the future in our hands. Could this Generation X solve the problems caused by Generations A-W? I doubt it because if you look back to 1971 and the publishing of The Lorax, you will see that for decades before people like Dr Seuss have been trying to teach the kids to think green. Full review...
Colin the Cart Horse by Gavin Puckett and Tor Freeman
Meet Colin. He's a perfectly regular cart horse, carrying the crops, tools and children around the farm. He's happy with a life of labour, resting after his shift is done about three every afternoon, and a life of hay – that is, however, until he wonders what his fellow farm animals are eating. What could be the consequence of him trying out every other farm food on the market? Full review...
Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts
The first thing you must know about Ada Marie is the way she said nothing until the day she was three. Now that's a way to pique your interest from the start. After all what sort of child does not speak until she turns three? In this case it's a very smart little girl. Full review...
Horton Hears a Who by Dr Seuss
Some books are classics and they prove this by never going out of print. Do you want to pick up a copy of a Dr Seuss novel? The chances are that you will be able to find a brand new one in any book shop. However, do these tales still stand the test of time? Can Horton’s adventures with the Whos remain the wonderful story it was the day it was written? Full review...
Life According to Dani by Rose Lagercrantz and Eva Eriksson
Meet Dani – and if you haven't throughout the three previous books then you certainly should. Her life has been up and down, considering she's only just finished the first year of primary school, but at the moment it's on the up, with caveats. She's in an idyllic place – staying with the best friend imaginable for the entire summer holidays, on what might as well be a private island, and in constant contact with her father. The caveats concern what happened in book three and the fact that her father has been run over, but at least he calls every night at teatime. Until, that is, the night that he doesn't… Full review...
A Day at the Animal Post Office by Sharon Rentta
Some people love their work and I have to say that I enjoy mine, but give me the option of winning the Euro Millions and spending the rest of my days drinking Pina Coladas on a superyacht, or the office, and I choose the beach. For children there is sometimes a glamour that emanates from the working week; what tales of majesty can Bob the Builder tell me? The fact is that work can be dull at times and repetitive, but a book written for children about gainful employment should make it sound fun? Full review...
Dotty Detective by Clara Vulliamy
Dorothy Constance Mae Louise, otherwise known as Dot, has just moved house and has had to change schools. Luckily she soon finds a friend, Beans, and together they form the top-secret 'Join the Dots Detectives'. Both Dot and Beans are huge fans of the TV programme 'Fred Fantastic – Ace Detective'. They've watched every episode and memorised all Fred's techniques. It's just as well they have because their classmate Laura has hatched a plot to prevent shy Amy singing in the talent contest and it's up to Dot and Beans to uncover the plan. Full review...
The Secret Pirate (Swashbuckle Lil: The Secret Pirate) by Elli Woollard
School girl Lil is a secret pirate. Her classmates think she's an ordinary girl and assume they're just imagining things when they hear her bag squawk. They don't know that's where she keeps her parrot (whose name is Carrot). Her teacher, Miss Lubber, thinks Lil's naughty and is unaware that Lil's really trying to save the teacher from being kidnapped by the wicked pirate, Stinkbeard. But Lil doesn't mind because she knows the truth – she's a bold and brave pirate and all her adventures are true (at least to her). Full review...
