A nice sideways take on the arrival of a sibling. ‘I always,’ it starts, ‘ wanted a brother or a sister, but instead I got a crocodile. It was quite a surprise!’ Sure was! Crocodiles turn out to be quite a handful. But they have feelings too, and with practice they turn out to be fun. Well, this one does anyway.
Nicola Killen’s cutout and rubber stamp style pictures match the mood of fun delightfully.
Deservedly a classic, this is a joy to share with a child or for her to explore by herself. Allan Ahlberg’s jolly rhymes lead us cunningly round a circle, meeting familiar characters of nursery and legend. As we travel there are so many things to find, such enjoyable mischief and muddle along the way, delightfully…
This is a book about that big change: baby bed to big bed. But in John Burningham’s hands you hardly notice. It’s adventure with Burningham’s typical insouciance; anything might happen and does. It’s full of fun and flights of fancy, but it also empathises with the gulf of misunderstanding between adults and children. And in…
The power of the imagination to create joy or find joy already present, beautifully imagined as visual metaphor and step by step story of Millie’s walk home from school. A simple, powerful idea stylishly and lovingly delivered, with quiet touches of humour all the way. You may be little, you may have an empty purse,…
What better book to start than Clown. The only word in the whole book is the title, but Quentin Blake masterfully creates a moving story of loss and separation transformed into reunion and new friends, all through Clown’s inventive and determined loyalty. Juggling potatoes to charm a crying baby, moments after being hurled in through…
Sam is 11 and he’s dying of leukaemia. He reckons he’ll be dead by the time you finish the book. This is his journal. We meet his cynical, adventurous best mate Felix from the hospital, his Mum, doing her best to hold it all together, his Dad, trying to pretend it’s not happening, his little…
I like this book: there’s a warmth and delicacy here. But it and almost all of the books by this Finnish emigre to Canada are now out of print. It was published in 1964 and illustrated by the prolific and foxy Edward Ardizzone. Foxy, because for me there’s a mystery about his work; it is…
