Dear Earth by Isabel Otter and Clara Anganuzzi, reviewed by Dawn Finch

First the blurb...
When Tessa writes a love letter to the Earth, it's the beginning of a glorious adventure. She blows bubbles with whales, soars with birds and joins in with the noisy rainforest hullabaloo! 
Tessa wants everyone to know how special our planet is. She believes that there is a chance to save the Earth if enough of us share the message.


There are a lot of books about the environment, and global issues like climate change and pollution. Some of good, but many are rather dreary and preachy and many still somehow fail to hit the mark. Dear Earth is a perfect example of how it can be done well.

Tessa and her Grandpa love to go walking together, and as they walk he tells her the most

Copyright Isabel Otter, Clara Anganuzzi and Little Tiger UK

amazing stories of his travels. He talks of when he was younger and was an adventurer and sailed the seas and explored the Earth. Tessa is captivated and dreams of her own adventures and decides to write a letter to the Earth to describe her dreams and what she will one day see on her own explorations.... if the Earth is safe long enough for her to grow up.

This elegantly simple (and never preachy) text from author Isabel Otter is charming and will make a lovely story to share and read aloud. The words are accompanied (and made magical) but the most extraordinarily beautiful illustrations from Clara Anganuzzi. Wonderful images of the creatures of the oceans and the air, the forests and the mountains, all the habitats of the Earth. The layout of the book is particularly lovely too as the reader turns the book around and about to achieve depth, and height while Tessa swims and soars with them. 

Copyright Isabel Otter, Clara Anganuzzi and Little Tiger UK

This book is one that you could comfortably give as a gift, or keep for yourself, and it will make a superb addition to the classroom bookshelf. It is a book about a difficult subject, but it feels uplifting and hopeful. It is a joyful book and definitely one that will be read again and again.


Dear Earth by Isabel Otter and Clara Anganuzzi is published by Caterpillar Books (an imprint of Little Tiger UK)
ISBN - 9781848579415




Dawn Finch is a children's author and librarian and current chair of the Children's Writer's and Illustrators Group committee (CWIG)
@dawnafinch
www.dawnfinch.com



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EDGAR AND THE SAUSAGE INSPECTOR, by Jan Fearnley. Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

Jan Fearnley's latest picture book for Nosy Crow is a hoot. Edgar and his sister Edith live at the end of an alley. Edgar loves Edith very much and one day sets off to buy her favourite treat. Sausages!

Sadly, coming out of the butcher's, Edith is waylaid by a food inspector, a rat, who pronounces the sausages tainted and makes off with them, presumably for further inspection in a lab. The same unhappy meeting keeps repeating itself on further shopping sprees and it soon becomes apparent that the inspector is not all he claims to be. This pushes the otherwise peace loving Edgar over the edge, with fatal consequences for...but no spoilers here.

Fearnley's story is a delicious tale of sweet revenge.  Told in a fast, edgy style with gorgeous retro illustrations that remind me of the ever-popular Madeline books. It's one that I'm sure will prove popular with many readers. The ending would also be great to engender discussions about the nature of revenge and 'getting your own back.' A treat in more ways that one.  Let's hope there are more adventures of Edgar and Edith on the way. They are an adorable pair.


Saviour Pirotta's latest picture book, The Unicorn Prince, is illustrated by Jane Ray and out now. Follow Saviour on twitter @spirotta.

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YOU CHOOSE IN SPACE, CHRISTMAS FAIRY TALE MIX UP and HIDE AND SEEK. Review by Penny Dolan

I’ve always loved seeing small groups of children poring over favourite "sharing" books. I like the way they talk about the pictures and pages, pointing out characters and interesting things and making or retelling their own mini-stories. Sharing with friends or with grown-ups – especially those who enjoy the playfulness of the task and delight in funny choices - is a positive and friendly part of a child’s reading experience.

Today’s review includes three titles that fit into the “books for sharing” picture book category.

YOU CHOOSE IN SPACE, created by NICK SHARRATT and PIPPA GOODHART, is the latest title in the popular You Choose design formula, offering a tool-kit of “space” ideas to enjoy and bright, detailed spreads. The young readers are led through the spreads by two “human” characters ( a boy in a wheel-chair and a mixed-race girl) whose speech-bubble suggestions help the reader to create their own individual imaginary story. What job will you do on the space ship as you fly to Planet Pick and Mix? What clothes and shoes, friends and monsters and more will you choose? The spreads are full of ideas and visual jokes while across the end-papers, just inside the covers, are examples of wonderfully expanded adventures to guide the space journey.

CHRISTMAS FAIRY TALE MIX-UP, my second “sharing book”, comes from HILARY ROBINSON. (Mixed-Up Fairy Tales, created by Hilary and Nick Sharratt, has been a favourite in schools for some years.) CHRISTMAS FAIRY TALE MIX-UP, her newest title, is another in the hands-on, split-page, spiral-bound format, but this time illustrated by Jim Smith. Children can flip and re-arrange the flaps to create story variations involving characters like Santa Claus, Jack Frost, Cinderella, Snow White, Christmas Fairy and more. So, for example, the three flaps could create Little Red Riding Hood / went shopping for a special present for / the Big Bad Wolf or Santa Claus / got stuck in the chimney of the house belonging to / the Three Little Pigs  or several alternative combinations.

HIDE AND SEEK, the third picture book, is told in a much quieter and more thoughtful mode than the titles above. HIDE AND SEEK is by well-established illustrator ANTHONY BROWNE, with scenes that remind me of earlier books, especially his version of Hansel and Gretel.  Poppy and her bored, younger brother Cy are in the caravan, feeling sad because their puppy Goldie is missing. Poppy takes Cy outside and sends him off to hide in the wood outside their door. As Poppy seeks for Cy, and Cy waits to be found, the wood takes on a shadowy feel and strange, surreal things are glimpsed, half-hidden, within the spooky trees. What can you find? asks the book. I felt the items were very well hidden, but thankfully, there's a page at the back listing the eighteen hidden objects, and HIDE AND SEEK does have the hoped-for happy surprise ending. There's an anxious mood to the spreads which, combined with the lack of any parent roles around in the story, makes me feel that it would be good to have a book-sharing, talking adult by your side for comfort as much as for help with the seeking task. I felt HIDE AND SEEK is more suited to book-shelves and book-boxes of KS1 than to EYFS collections.

I wonder if you have any favourite sharing books?

Reviews by Penny Dolan

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The Wooden Camel by Wanuri Kahiu and Manuela Adreani reviewed by Chitra Soundar

I am a big believer in dreams and visualising the future. Although that wasn’t the reason I picked up The Wooden Camel written by Wanuri Kahiu and illustratedby Manuela Adreani published by Lantana Publishing. What drew me into the book was the amazing cover illustration that shows a boy racing a camel. Juxtaposed against the title The Wooden Camel, it alerted me to the dream, the aspiration of the young boy.

Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.

Anais Nin

Etabo has a hard life and like any other child he takes it in his stride. His ambition and dream is to become a camel racer. But difficult circumstances lead them to selling all their camels almost closing the door on Etabo’s dreams.

But as Paul Coelho once said, only fear of failure can stop one from achieving his dreams. It is true in Etabo’s case. However dire the circumstances, he doesn’t give up and neither does his sister allow him to let go of his dreams. When you lose what you have and all you have left is family, you learn to look after them and keep their dreams alive, even at the cost of your own. In this story Etabo’s sister demonstrates her love by making him a wooden camel.

Will it assuage Etabo’s  hunger for racing and allow him to let go or would it keep the flame alive? Knowing Etabo, I think his dreams will come true one day.

 This book was chosen as one of the 21 Must-Reads for Empathy by Empathy Lab UK and The Sunday Times. I love the vastness of the desert, the resting goat on the acacia tree and the hope in every page in spite of the troubles the characters face.

Is it a story just for those in troubled parts of the world? Then perhaps it is for all of us – we all live in troubled spots. There are many children in the UK who live in poverty, there are children in refugee camps across the world and there are children who seemingly have everything, but perhaps still are dreaming about something else. It is for all these children, wherever they are. Today’s dreamers are tomorrow’s leaders, creators and peacemakers. And may they all have the courage to dream a world that is full of love, peace and a well-looked after nature.

---

Chitra Soundar is an Indian-born British writer of children's books. Find out more at www.chitrasoundar.com or follow her on Twitter @csoundar.

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Here I am by Patti Kim Illustrated by Sonia Sanchez Review by Chitra Soundar

How do you belong? Fit in? Not feel like the other? Especially when there's no way to go back and no place to go back to?

In this wordless picture book Here I am, Patti Kim and Sonia Sánchez bring the awe, the unfamiliarity of a new city to a young immigrant. As there are no words, children who are in similar situations, (sadly more of them nowadays), can fill it in with their own unique stories. The cities they might have found refuge might be different - but the strangeness of it all is not.

How do you make a new place home? When you don't speak the language and when you don't eat the same food, when buildings look different, people dress different, how do you find the bond that you seek?

How do you keep memories of your home alive in your heart while absorbing the vibrancy of your adopted city? Told from the viewpoint of this young boy, Patti Kim shows us all that there is a common humanity that binds us all. This might remind young readers and perhaps even older readers to think about those special objects they brought back from their home. Is it a photograph or a pendant? Is it a bag that has been in the family for long? Does that symbolize home now?

The story begins with the unfamiliar at first. But when the boy runs out into his neighbourhood, meets people, mingles and shares, his gift from his home becomes something everyone can share. He feels more at home now that he's not only familiar with his new community but he also contributed towards it.

Have you read A Story like the Wind by Gill Lewis where the young protagonist brings a violin with him on the boat. That's his only possession. And that is home to him. It has stories to tell and it will forever be precious.

In beautiful watercolour brushstrokes, Spanish illustrator Sonia Sánchez brings the city alive for us. It's a great book to share with children of all ages right up to secondary school. It's a great book to initiate questions and discussions, interpret feelings and importantly be empathetic - wear the shoes of an immigrant or a refugee as you walk through your own city - what do you see?


Here is the trailer for this book.

Check out the book here.

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THE STORY OF ALISON HUBBLE by Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman. Reviewed by Penny Dolan

Once a teacher always a teacher, I admit, even when enjoying new picture book titles.  

 Some picture books immediately suggest use within an educational context, partly because the story can be interpreted through interesting topic work, often with a classroom “play-corner” alongside. These titles become popular within Early Years, Foundation and Year One classrooms because they fit in with aspects of the curriculum and are not any the worse for that.

(For example, an Early Years classroom I visited recently was working on THE BOG BABY, written by Jeanne Willis and illustrated by Gwen Millard. The internet offered instructions on how to make a Bog Baby collage, a gallery of blue-painted bog-babies created in classrooms and a downloadable record sheet where children can record their bog-baby observations. Well done, Puffin, for spotting that possibility!)

Occasionally, however, a particular book brings the reader the sense of a close family moment or a privately shared armchair story-time. This book is one of those. I imagined Alison Hubble being read by grandparents or parents, each reading-aloud taking place within the bonds of love and quiet fun. The plot feels as if it sprang from a family joke or teasing comment, and then developed into a delightful fantasy. The full title explains the whole dilemma:

This is the story of ALISON HUBBLE

 who went to bed single and woke up double.

The writer of this rhyming story is the much-beloved author Allan Ahlberg whilst the talented Bruce Ingman – possibly the only artist who has brought a poignant conflict between pencils and erasers so vividly to life – forms the illustrating hand in the team.

The plot echoes a familiar complaint, gently sighed from adult to child at the end of a long day: “Whatever would I do if there was another one of you?” and this is exactly what the Hubble parents discover, because Alison herself does what the title says. 

The Hubble's one little girl becomes two Alisons then four and eight and more, doubling on and on and causing much consternation at home, at school and beyond. 

 
The troubles are pursued with gentle humour: when eight Alisons become sixteen:

“Oh no,” said her mum

“What a tragedy!

It’ll take us four hours

To cook her tea.”

“You’re right,” said her dad.

“What rotten luck!

We’ll have to do the shopping

In a three ton-truck.”

As in all cumulative plots, everyone tries to help. The local council does send an enormous tent for the increasing family but the excitement of camping is spoiled when thirty-two little girls now find themselves squashed into just sixteen sleeping bags.

Ingman’s illustrations offer enjoyable tiny "subplots": the harassed teacher, registering the many Alison Hubbles, does not see a boy in the background answering as Alison and the newspaper photograph of a batch of identical Alisons contains one Alison gazing off to the side, like real-life child who won't do the helpful thing for the camera. 

You can have a peek at some of the spreads here. 

Eventually, the many Alison Hubbles need a whole town of their own - but I won’t say which or where - and the end-paper suggests that even further choices might be needed, raising a few more issues that might need discussion. 

However, for now, ALISON HUBBLE (please add the full title yourself!) makes an enjoyably eccentric picture book. Promoted as a tale of Mathematical Mayhem, the book is full of fun, wit and would be lovely to share.  

ALISON HUBBLE will be in bookshops from today, 4^th May, and I'm sure the well-established writer-and-illustrator team means that libraries will stock copies sometime soon. The picture book is recommended for children between 3 - 5years.

Penny Dolan

Ps. I’m just checking the publicity sheet here, as this was a picture book I received for review, and spot that the picture-book publisher is the ever-cunning Puffin! So I’m now wondering if I’ll find Alison Hubble "Times-table" games on screens when I next visit early-years classrooms? Or rows of identically Hubbley-paper-dolls on display? Perhaps you should take my review as an early “Alison Alert”?

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Troll and the Oliver by Adam Stower. Reviewed by Damian Harvey

I love this simple but delightful twist on the tale of a young boy and a hungry troll, both written and illustrated by Adam Stower. The cover grabbed me first - and I appreciate that judgement shouldn't be made there but I just couldn't help it. Mischievous Troll peering through the cutaway cover as 'the Oliver' skips merrily along left me wanting more.

On opening the cover we see that Troll had sneaked a little bit closer to 'the Oliver' - his intent already clear to even the most inattentive reader or listener. After being casually introduced to the two 'This is the Troll. And this is an Oliver.' The fun really starts as Troll tries his best to capture 'the Oliver' and eat him for his tea.

Unfortunately for Troll, this isn't as easy as he expects as 'the Oliver' just won't keep still... instead the pesky Oliver foils him at every turn. So much so that the reader ends up feeling a little sorry for Troll as he finally gives up and sadly returns home to his hole for a 'dinner of twigs and stones'.

The next morning, as Oliver sets out with his little basket, things just aren't the same anymore. Everything is quiet on his journey home from the shops and as he starts to bake a cake he starts to feel very pleased with himself as he finally realises that the Troll has given up... 'OLIVER HAS WON!'

This isn't the end of the tale though and readers are in for another delightful surprise and a couple of twists before the story comes to a satisfying ending. This picture book is lots of fun to read and is one that will be a joy to share many times over.

Damian Harvey is the author of around 80 books for Primary School Children
You can follow him on Twitter @damianjharvey
And visit his website www.damianharvey.co.uk

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‘When It Snows’ by Richard Collingridge reviewed by Pauline Chandler

Browsing in our local book shop (yes, we still have one !) for Christmas picture books for my grandson, my eyes were drawn to the beautiful cover of ‘When It Snows’. Its sombre night time colours really stood out from the rest. There’s that huge reindeer too, towering over a very small child. It looked unusual, if not slightly threatening, but I was attracted to it and intrigued, so I opened this beautiful book. I’m so glad I did. It’s a gem.

The images of giants continue throughout the story.

We have a giant train, enormous snowman, gigantic trees and the towering Queen of the Poles, and there's that reindeer, hung all over with sacks and boxes of presents, its antlers rearing up like huge leafless trees. As I followed the story I realised that the unusual proportions could reflect a small child's point of view, as well as what we might expect from the world of myth. There are small characters too, fairies and elves, and Santa is reassuringly human size. 

These illustrations are all beautifully depicted in the same sombre colours as the cover, dark blues and greys, the shades of a winter’s night in a magical landscape. No Disney glitz here!

Richard Collingridge writes and illustrates his own stories, a skill I’ve always admired, and both aspects of ‘When It Snows’ are outstanding.  It's true that the story follows a traditional pattern, with the boy narrator setting out on a journey, to exciting destinations: ‘the place where the snowmen live’, ‘the gloomy forest, Where I meet the Queen of the Poles’ and finally ‘a secret place’ where he finds Santa Claus. What makes this is story different is the twist the writer puts on these traditional elements. I especially love the idea of Santa having just one giant reindeer! 

There’s a delightful ending too, where the child narrator tells us that he can find these places again, at any time, by opening his favourite book.

This is a story about imagination, fairy tale, myth and magic, just a step away from a child's real world. Recently, there was the case of a vicar who baldly told children that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. How short sighted of him!  How wrong to limit a child’s dreams and imagination!  This lovely book says ‘There might be,’ ‘There could be’, ’Wouldn’t it be wonderful if-‘.  I prefer that approach. It was the one I took with my own children, adding ‘no one’s ever seen him, so we just don’t know.’ I wish I’d been able to share 'When It Snows’ with them. I’m sure it would have become a Christmas favourite.

Highly recommended for age 5+

'When It Snows' by Richard Collingridge, publ. David Fickling Books

Pauline Chandler

www.paulinechandler.com   

     

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A Breath of Fresh Air! Three Picture Books about Playing Outside reviewed by Pauline Chandler

Choosing bedtime stories for my grandson recently, I was struck by how many picture books are full of rampaging dinosaurs, wild-eyed dragons, monsters and superheroes, all in dazzling primary colours. Very exciting, but not quite conducive to a calm ‘time for bed’!  I’ve noticed, too, that young mums and dads are now thinking that it’s best not to overstimulate little ones, with every bright toy or storybook that comes along.     

May I suggest play in the great outdoors? Soft nature colours, wonderful weather, textures, scents, sounds, fresh air freedom! What could be better for the kids than time free from the adult’s all seeing-eye (or when they think they’re free!), freedom to learn by making their own decisions and solve their own problems. Are there any stories to encourage this? Yes there are!

I had to search hard for them, those outside books, with the kind of soothing ambience that says what a wonderful world it is, stories that celebrate simple pleasures, such playing in a field of dandelions, or collecting eggs from the hens, or messing about in the garden.  

Sandra Horn’s book ‘The Dandelion Wish’ tells just such a gentle story, beautifully illustrated by Louise Warwick.  Out in the fields, Jo and Sam watch the wind blow the dandelion seeds high into the air and when Sam suggests blowing seeds to make a wish, Jo joins him, with magical results. Yes, there’s a dinosaur, pirates and fireworks, but they’re all part of the Dandelion Fair, which arrives and departs like a dream. In the end, ‘Only the night heard a home-going rabbit whistle a rock-a-bye tune.’

This is a lovely story that celebrates outdoor play and the power of a child’s wishing and dreaming.

Kim Lewis’s picture books about country life on the farm, are some of the best.

In ‘Friends’, Sam and Alice go off, on their own, to collect a new-laid egg, but on the way back home, they quarrel and the egg is broken. Both children are deeply upset and think they can’t be friends any more, but when the hen lays another egg, they make up, finding a way to do this by themselves, with children’s innate awareness of what’s fair. Then they find the fresh egg and take it home together.  What lovely pictures illustrate this charming story! Kim Lewis treats us to detailed and realistic images of life on the farm. 

My final choice is ‘The King of Tiny Things’ by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Gwen Millward.

This delightful tale, with more enchanting pictures of the countryside at night, takes us with Chrissy and the narrator on a summer time visit to their grandparent’s house. When the girls camp out in a tent in the garden, they meet all sorts of little creatures on a night-time adventure. There’s so much to enjoy in this story of magic in the dark, with friendly bugs and caterpillars, and the king of tiny things. Children on their own, free, outside and doing stuff! Wonderful!

All three picture books are highly recommended for children aged 5-7.

Pauline Chandler 2014

www.paulinechandler.com

              

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TEN LITTLE PIRATES by Mike Brownlow and Simon Rickerty

Author: Mike Brownlow
Illustrator: Simon Rickerty
Publisher: Orchard/Hachette
Publication:   Hardback, July 2013. Paperback, Fenryary 2014



Mike Brownlow usually illustrates his own books but here he teams up with Simon Rickerty to produce a gem that I'm sure is destined to become as much a modern classic as Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury's We're Going On A Bear Hunt.

TEN LITTLE PIRATES is one of those perfect picture books you wish you'd written yourself.   The idea is simplicity istelf.  Taking the rhyme Ten Green Bottles [Sitting on A Wall...you know the one], it tells of ten little pirates who embark on a nautical adventure only to encounter mishap one by one and get separated from their crew.

The text, told in jaunty rhyme, uses lots of sound words and propels the simple plot along at the rate of knots.   Rickerty's primary-coloured illustrations make it very obvious that we are in the land of 'let's pretend', making each buccaneer look like a kid dressed up to play.  There are monsters too, including a shark and a giant squid.  They look scary and cute at the same time.

It's a backward-counting counting books, it's a rhyme, it's an adventure story with lots of scope for joining.  And needless to say, it's got a happy ending, on a deserted treasure island topped with coconut trees.   No home or library should be without this one!   But be warned, your children will be going "Arrr," way way way past their bedtime.

Ten little pirates sailing out to sea,

Looking for adventure, happy as can be.

Are they hunting treasure? Are they going far?

Ten little pirates all say, "Arrrrrr!"

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ZERAFFA GIRAFFA by Diane Hofmeyr illustrated by Jane Ray. Reviewed by Adèle Geras

First of all, the usual disclaimer: I  know both the writer and the illustrator of this book. As I've explained before, I've been around for a lot longer than I care to think about and know a great many of the creators of the books I review. You will have to take my word for it that I would only  review books that I genuinely believe readers of this blog would enjoy reading.

This book also confirms a  strongly - held opinion of mine which run counter to the prevailing thought among many publishers. For many the received wisdom is that texts have to be ultra short.  Frances Lincoln, happily,  don't agree. They  publish, for example,  the beautiful books produced by Jackie Morris which I reviewed here last time,  and are not afraid of text. By this I mean: they are willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the parent of the child whose book it is  (yes, I'm happy to read  a slightly longer story at bedtime) and also to the child (yes, I can sit quiet and listen for more than two minutes at a time if the story is interesting enough).

This tale is a true story. It's about the bringing of a very young giraffe from Africa to Paris and the effect this has both on the giraffe and the people who catch sight of her on her way over the sea and the desert and the countryside to her home in the Jardin des Plantes.

Hofmeyr has a very beautiful, poetic and evocative way of putting things, but the lyricism is never overdone and it's always in words that the youngest child can understand. The last page reads: "Then they stood in silence and looked out over the lights of Paris. And on those evenings, when the air was particularly balmy, all three turned their faces southwards and on the warm air they felt the kiss of Africa."
This is quite a complicated thought, but one that's easily explained. The reader has seen and experienced Zeraffa's journey and can see that she might miss Africa and that  the wind coming from the South reminds both the giraffe and her owner that the South was where they came from; where their journey began.

The story is exciting, too. Zeraffa becomes a sensation. Women style their hair to copy the animal; and everyone comes out to see her in her enclosure, La Rotonde. Atir, who brought her on her journey was still with her when she died, many years later and the whole tale is a touching demonstration of love and devotion and care.

The illustrations are typical of Jane Ray's work. Richly coloured, humorously detailed (Zerafa's orange cloak is lovely!) and laid out on the page in a way that brings out what Hofmeyr is saying, they are very beautiful. As a reader, you turn each page expecting another  sumptuous surprise and every time, your heart lifts to see that Ray has done it again. The spread which recounts how Paris fell in love with Zeraffa is very funny too. Those giraffe-shaped biscuits, especially, look delicious. I learned from Twitter that there were giraffe-shaped biscuits at the launch of the book, which I believe the author baked herself.  

All in all, this is another delightful book from this publisher. Maybe Hofmeyr and Ray can come together again. They are a very good combination. I'm sure this will be a very popular book and one that teachers and parents will be happy to read aloud over and over again.

Title: ZERAFFA GIRAFFA
Written by: Diane Hofmeyr
Illustrated by: Jane Ray
Publisher: Frances Lincoln hbk: £11.99
ISBN: 9781847803443



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TWO BEAUTIFUL BOOKS BY JACKIE MORRIS. Reviewed by Adèle Geras

 I am going to review two books written and illustrated by an artist (and writer) who's very well-known but who somehow, in spite of her talents and productivity, seems to me to be not as much appreciated as she ought to be.

Jackie Morris is on Twitter, where she frequently posts lovely 'work in progress' which delights her many followers and I do urge any of my readers who tweets to follow her. She lives in Wales with many animals and it's perhaps as an artist who both loves and properly sees animals that she's at her best. The first book I'm going to talk about is called I AM CAT and it's not much bigger than an iPhone. While watching her ginger cat, Pixie, sleeping ("curled in warm places, ammonite-tight") Morris was inspired to think of what her pet might be dreaming about. The answer is: other cats. Every kind of feline appears in the unscrolling dreams: cheetah, puma, snow leopard and many others.

Morris paints each creature in delicate colours that sing to us from the page. Even though the scale of the book is small, she manages to convey the grandeur and beauty of every single cat she describes. And she accompanies each spread with her own words which are both simple and poetic. Here is an example, describing the tiger: "s...bright, flame cat of the forest, striped like the shadows, sun-scorched." I can't think of a better way to spend a fiver.  Frances Lincoln have published it most beautifully. This is a gem of a book.

The second book is SONG OF THE GOLDEN HARE, also published by the admirable Frances Lincoln. It's a much grander production, and it tells a mysterious, entrancing story of a boy and his sister. They come from a family who protect the Golden Hare, because there  are others who would hunt and kill it. The story unfolds with all the mystery and suspense you could wish for. The children find the Golden Hare and in the end, the creature is safe for who knows how long on a special magical island, to which it has been carried by an army of obliging seals. It's a lovely tale and again, told in Morris's poetic style, but the art is the real glory of this book. The Golden Hare itself is a wonderful creation, but greyhounds and people and birds and butterflies, not to mention the detailed landscapes, fill every corner of every spread. The colours are glorious and you can spend hours just admiring them and marvelling at the skill of the artist and wishing you could frame certain images and put them up on a wall.  As it is, you'll have to be content with turning the pages, preferably with someone young on your lap, listening as you read aloud the story of the mysterious Golden Hare and the lucky children who are called to care for it.

I AM CAT
Written and illustrated by Jackie Morris
pub Frances Lincoln hbk £4.99
ISBN: 9781847805072

SONG OF THE GOLDEN HARE
Written and illustrated by Jackie Morris
pub. Frances Lincoln hbk £12.99
ISBN: 9781847804501



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JUDITH KERR'S CREATURES - reviewed by Emma Barnes

“Once there was a little girl called Sophie, and she was having tea with her mummy in the kitchen...”

So begins Judith’s Kerr’s classic picture book The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Without ever setting out to learn it, I know the whole text off by heart. I doubt that I’m alone. When I went to see Judith Kerr at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival, not only was the huge marquee packed to capacity with fans of all ages, but the Chair, Lindsay Fraser, revealed that when she worked in a bookshop, Kerr’s Tiger was the most stolen book. The reason – small children coming into the bookshop would immediately recognise it, and feel that this familiar and much loved story must belong to them.

Judith Kerr is ninety this year. She is the author of many fantastic and classic children’s books – from Mog the Forgetful Cat and its successors, to lightly fictionalised accounts for older children of her childhood as a refugee from Nazi Germany (When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and its sequels).

The Festival session marked the publication of Judith Kerr’s Creatures, a memoir of her life produced in glorious hardbook, packed with illustrations and other artwork. Kerr herself was immensely charming and gently funny, as she read a passage which celebrated her late husband, the television writer Nigel Kneale. It’s a cliché that behind every great man lies a great woman: and it was lovely (and moving) to hear this tribute to a husband who always supported his wife’s gifts, from encouraging her to take her first writing job, at the BBC, to providing vital help with the plot of Mog the Forgetful Cat. “Have her catch a burglar,” he suggested, when Judith said she needed an exciting finale for her book – and the rest is history.

There’s lots of fascinating material in the book, from the tale of how her father, theatre critic Alfred Kerr, was on Hitler’s blacklist, and fled Germany after a tip-off in 1933, to be followed by his family, to Judith Kerr’s experiences in war-time London, to her pioneering approach to her first picture books. (Inspired by Dr Seuss, she aimed to use only a limited vocabulary, and to never to have anything in the text that was already clear from the pictures.)

All of this is accompanied by marvellous images, from family photos, to childhood paintings, to the work she produced as an art student – even her designs for wallpaper.

For anyone interested in writing or illustrating children’s books this book is particularly special – and useful. For it includes the manuscript stories, roughs, and complete spreads for many of Judith’s books. It’s wonderful to see Mog, somehow completely herself, even in an early manuscript squiggle. But it is also a rare chance to actually understand how a picture book is constructed - how this creation of words and images really works.

It’s a wonderful book, one to dip into, treasure and keep close by you on the shelf.

Published by HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks ( 2013)

Review by Emma Barnes
www.emmabarnes.info

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