In A Planet Full of Plastic (Wren & Rook) Neal Layton introduces children to the current and vital topic of plastic pollution. The book covers many topics within the theme, from the history of the creation of plastic, to biodegradation and to what we can do to reverse the problem. It is extremely informative, detailed yet simple enough for young …
Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise
Katherine Rundell (Bloomsbury) Fellow children’s literature appreciators have all experienced the following, when stepping out of their echo chambers: the slight bewilderment of others when they learn that you read children’s literature. That bewildered expression often turns to aghast when you confess that you have studied it, or worse, that you read /study picturebooks. Yes, yes, those people …
Read for Empathy Blog Tour: Louise Greig
Today I am hosting the Read for Empathy blog tour, which celebrates books that help develop empathy, in the build-up to Empathy Day which takes place on June 11th. Empathy Day was founded in 2017 by not-for-profit EmpathyLab. It aims to drive a new empathy movement, inspired by research showing that humans are not born with …
Picture Book of the Week monthly recap: May 2019
SEA: A World Beneath the Waves Patricia Hegarty & Britta Teckentrup (Little Tiger Press) Following the huge success of Tree, Bee and Moon, this wonderful creative duo are back with a new peek-through picturebook focusing on the natural world, this time on the world underneath our seas. This is a fabulous theme to showcase Teckentrup’s …
Picture Book of the Week monthly recap: April 2019
Norm Sylvia Liang (Thames & Hudson) Norm (short for Normal) lives in a world where everything is the same. Him and his friends go round with rules making sure everything is the right size, the right shape, etc. But when Norm across Odette (Odd for short), she introduces him to a whole different world, one …
Five Fabulous Books that inspire me to look at the world in a different way by Fifi Kuo
Panda and Penguin live together and share everything, including the beloved tatty old sofa they love to sit on. They decide to go and buy a new one, but none feels quite right, and for good reasons. Fifi Kuo’s The Perfect Sofa (Boxer Books) is absolutely delightful; its succinct text is teamed with bold colourful double-spreads and …
Beatrice Blue presents five fabulous reads which have inspired her since childhood
Today is National Unicorn Day and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than to introduce Beatrice Blue’s gorgeous début picturebook Once Upon a Unicorn Horn (Frances Lincoln), which is published as part of the First Editions list, which showcases new talents. June lives with her parents in a magical forest and loves to …
Picture Book of the Week monthly recap: March 2019
Wisp: a Story of Hope Zana Fraillon & Grahame Baker-Smith (Orchard Books) One evening, a Wisp of air floats in a refugee camp. A little boy called Idris notices it and with his help, the Wisp visits inhabitants of the camp, helping them to remember life before the camp. Out of those memories, Hope grows …
Anatomy of the picturebook: Covers
Don’t judge a book by its cover. Are we not always telling children this? Yet the intended audience of picturebooks are, for the majority, pre-literate and as a result particular care is given to designing covers and other peritextual elements for picturebooks (defined more or less as anything other than the narrative, such as dust jackets, endpapers, title and dedication …
BLOG TOUR: Mick Inkpen’s “The Blue Balloon” is 30 years old!
The Blue Balloon (Hodder Children’s Books), Mick Inkpen’s classic picture book, is 30 years old this year! A favourite of so many families, which uses innovative use of flaps and fold-out pages, it is a true celebration of the importance of play and the power of the imagination for preschoolers. It also highlights how easily it …