With swathes of the country already enjoying some snow and with more promised, why not make the most of it as part of home learning and get children outside and enjoying themselves? This clever picture book lends itself brilliantly to some screen-free science (states of matter, the water cycle...) and also raises some interesting questions … Continue reading ‘The Snowman and the Sun,’ by Susan Taghdis, illustrated by Ali Mafakheri, translated from Persian by Azita Rassi.
Today’s advent pick is a wry, clever and downright hilarious journey towards finding the real meaning of Christmas. The International Postal Service is in the red and this spells bad news for seasonal worker, Santa. He’s going to have make some cutbacks: reindeer hire and insurance is a major expense, and as for some of … Continue reading Christmas Advent – Day Four ‘Santa Gets a Second Job,’ by Michele D’Ignazio, illustrated by Sergio Olivotti, translated by Denise Muir.
Today I’m bringing you a charming tale of a boy and his dog. Or rather, a dog and his boy... This brilliant and totally charming tale is cleverly told from the flipped perspective of a ‘pet’ dog. The story begins on Christmas Day when boy and dog first meet. It’s love at first sight and … Continue reading Blog tour: ‘I always Wanted One,’ by Olivier Tallec.
As regular readers of this blog and my Twitter feed might know, I am a huge fan of the beautiful and diverse picture books published by Tiny Owl Books. That’s why I was so pleased that they’ve launched YouTube channel to share their stories with a wider audience, and honoured to be asked to record … Continue reading #TuesdayReviewsDay: ‘When I Coloured in the World,’ by Ahmadreza Ahmadi, illustrated by Ahsan Abdollahi, translated by Azita Rassi.
Today marks the start of children’s mental health week. It’s a sad fact that children’s mental health services are receiving many more referrals than they can process so vulnerable children are having to wait months and even years before they are able to talk to a specialist. It’s for this reason that books like ‘Felix’ … Continue reading ‘Felix After the Rain,’ by Dunja Jogan, translated by Olivia Hellewell.
If you’re looking for for something a little bit different this Halloween, I would strongly suggest that you purchase yourself a copy of the gloriously gothic ‘The House Of Madame M.’ Are you brave enough to enter the house of the mysterious Madame M? It’s full of creepy monsters, cobwebbed hiding places and sights to … Continue reading ‘The House Of Madame M,’ by Clotilde Perrin, translated by Daniel Hann.
Making friends is a skill that takes time and practise. I find that picture books make it easy to explore new ways to initiate (and maintain) friendships, as well as allowing children to spot ineffective approaches. Bearing this in mind, I was very excited to receive a copy of ‘Oscar Seeks a Friend.’ Don’t be … Continue reading ‘Oscar Seeks a Friend,’ by Pawel Pawlak.
Today I’m pleased to be sharing with you the rather lovely ‘When it Rains’ by Rassi Narika, which was originally written in Indonesian. I also have a special piece from Rassi about the process behind illustrating her book. Kira is bored, bored, bored of the never-ending rain. You can’t do anything fun in the rain, … Continue reading ‘When it Rains,’ by Rassi Narika, translated by Ikhda Ayuning Maharsi Degoul & Emma Dai’an Wright.
I’m always very interested to read titles which have been translated from other languages; they often have a completely different style and feel from the children’s books published here in the U.K. The fairy tale, ‘Arnica, the Duck Princess’ has been translated into English from the original Hungarian. Princess Arnica was the daughter of King … Continue reading ‘Arnica, the Duck Princess,’ by Ervin Lázár, illustrated by Jacqueline Molnár, translated by Anna Bentley.
If you’re looking for a suitably spooky Halloween read, take a peek at one of these. If you dare.... Vlad The World’s Worst Vampire: Midnight Fright by Anna Wilson, illustrated by Kathryn Durst (Stripes Books) Vlad’s back in another adventure and this time his very annoying cousin Lupus is visiting. Poor old Vlad has never … Continue reading Halloween Howlers
This beautiful story was originally published in Syria and has been translated from Arabic by author and illustrator Nadine Kaadan. Everything around Yazan was changing. He never went to the park, he never saw his friends, his mum never painted any more. All she did was watch the news. Yazan was so bored - he … Continue reading ‘Tomorrow,’ by Nadine Kaadan.
Protecting our oceans in a hot topic at the moment, with campaigners and some big business working to try to reduce the amount of pollution being dumped into the sea. Plastic in particular is being highlighted as a significant danger and was, interestingly, the most-used word in Radio 2s ‘500 Word’ story-writing competition for children. … Continue reading Sailing the Seven Seas
I am very excited to see more fantastic stories from around the world being translated into English so that we can enjoy them in this country too. It’s very important to value work from other counties and cultures, as well as our own. That’s why I was so pleased when Firefly Press gave me Dog … Continue reading ‘Dog Town,’ by Luīze Pastore, illustrated by Reinis Pētersons, translated by Žanete Vēvere Pasqualini.
This month, I've been enjoying scaring myself with some of the newest spooky releases for readers aged 8+ and have a ghoulish prize for one lucky book-fan. 'Vlad the World's Worst Vampire' by Anna Wilson, illustrations by Kathryn Durst (Stripes Publishing) Firsty up is this little book with bite which would be perfect for readers … Continue reading Happy Halloween!
I was first drawn to this book by its intriguing title and the glowing recommendation it had received from Philip Pullman (one of my literary heroes.) Upon commencing reading, it soon because clear that this was going to be a very special book indeed. Narrated by the amazing ape (and first engineer), the sea-faring Sally … Continue reading ‘The Murderer’s Ape,’ by Jakob Wegelius.
Library Girl and Book Boy 