Who is Sleeping?

Who is Sleeping written and illustrated by Petr Horacek, published by Walker Books, 2018. Ages 2+

I love Petr Horacek's colourful, distinctive style and was really pleased when my husband chose this early nature book for our boy at the local library recently.  It is a durable board book came out this year and is part of a lift the flap series which includes other titles 'Honk Honk, Baa Baa', 'Creepy Crawly' and more. A new one , 'Who is the Biggest' is out next February

Lift the flap books are a huge favourite in our household, providing the perfect mixture of storytelling and active involvement for my son. He loves peeking underneath and it really adds to his enjoyment of  the story (the flaps in this book are extra big and this makes it easy for small toddler hands to manouevre them, another win.) The simplicity of the text and bold, bright illustrations make this such a winning combination: it's a really memorable picture book for toddlers and parents alike. The brush strokes are vibrant and eye-catching, evoking various scenes in nature.

I love how each animal is partially concealed, to pique a child's curiosity.

The narrative is extremely simple here, beautiful sleeping animals (owl, crocodile, frog, bear and also a surprise, a sleeping child , looks like a boy) and this is enough for the young audience it is aimed at, especially with so much to devour visually. Walker books suggest 2+ but I would really have enjoyed showing this to my son from around 6 months as he became more aware of different colours. At the time I found it hard to find books I liked, with this level of eye-catching simplicity, to keep his attention but this would work a treat even for very young readers due to these winning combinations.

I also like the fact that this is a bedtime book but by stealth, with all the colours and flap action it doesn't feel as muted as some stereotypical lullaby style books . At the end down ,the surprise creature is the child hiding under the stripy duvet. I like this surprise and contrast and it is very relatable .

Mummy and Me

Mummy and Me written and illustrated by Katherina Manolessou , published by Macmillan Children's Books, 2017. Ages 0-2

This book made me want to add frogs to our garden pond! On a serious note, recently I had noticed that there are a lot of good 'I love Daddy' picture books on the market but this one is wholly dedicated to mums. This joyful book celebrates the special  bond between a mother and child and does it in playful, patterned style. The story is about two frogs, mother and child and a special  (but normal) day they have together, in the pond that they live on. They spend the day having a meal, baking, swimming and playing in the local playground, the mom even has a cup of tea at a lily pad cafe.

The design and illustration of the frogs and their surroundings is just so colourful and eye-catching. Every time I opened it I felt really happy! Very relatable for toddlers and parents, I read that it was inspired by the author's daughter and this authenticity really comes across. It reminded me of fun days hanging out with my child when I was on maternity leave.

 The story follows a simple but effective  rhyme scheme which made this a delight to read. The joyful tone of the pictures are matched with a light, catchy rhyme. "Wake up mummy, wake up me." There is also great repetition for teaching numbers. 

It is so  evocative of a small person's world. It is the simplicity of this story paired with the modern, fun illustrations and use of colour that make this such a special picture book. I loved reading it to my son and he was so drawn to the amazing illustrations. Moments like the ones celebrated in this book are ones that make memories and I made some lovely ones reading this to my son. 

The Journey

Disclaimer: Prepare to be emotionally hit by this book!  It's a powerful story that will stay with you. Which makes it all the more important to read it. I've struggled to finish this review which I've been working on for a few weeks as I just have had so many thoughts on this book.

This book is inspired by true stories of the refugee crisis by the incredible Francesca Sanna. She is a first time author illustrator. I can't believe it, as the artwork, story and message are so powerful and it is so well executed. What an achievement! It has been out for sometime but I only came across it a few weeks ago. I was going to read it at our local library but luckily, when I returned to my school library job after maternity leave, I found it on a shelf, waiting for me.  

The Journey is picture book storytelling at it's very best, combining a current, topical human story with haunting, beautiful imagery. It is the story of a refugee family, told from the perspective of the children, who are on a journey with their mother, to find safety in a new country. 

The inside cover illustration of the book hints at the journey that is to come, a pattern of sparse trees, peppered with cars a bike, swallows  (symbols of freedom) , interspersed is a threatening border guard and a border fence and in the distance a shore with a boat. The distinctive illustration has a quirky, almost retro twist, the soft palette used reminds me of the colours of the 1970's , eggshell, beige and tomato. The illustrations in this book would easily work as stand alone pieces, they are just so detailed, interesting and ultimately beautiful.

The journey begins with the family enjoying an outing at the beach. The kids play and life is carefree but black oily water licks the shore ominously. We see minarets in the background and other cultural clues later in the story that suggest that perhaps the family are Syrian but the story is so universal that the family could be from anywhere. The war, represented by pages of darkness, obliterates everything and takes away their father.

The magic power of stories to change events is a recurrent theme in the book which adds to the story.

'The boat rocks and rocks as the waves grow bigger and bigger. It feels like the sea will never end. We tell each other new stories. Stories about the land we are heading to, where the big green forests are filled with kind fairies that dance and give us magic spells to end the war.' (This is one of my favourite lines in the book.)

The mother's hair has super powers and this protects the kids from the worst elements of their journey. I actually didn't realise this until I read Francesca Sanna explaining about it so the image of mother comforting the children and keeping them safe while they sleeop was really poignant for me.

'But mother is with us and she is never scared'

The Journey is a modern epic in picture book form and it is destined to become a classic in the future. It certainly deserves all the praise that it is has gotten so far.

(Amnesty International classroom resource for the book.)

Books We Loved In The First Year

As my son has just turned one, it seems like a great time to reflect on the books that we loved this year. Reading and enjoying picture books together has meant so much to me, to both of us, in this time. It makes me so happy that he now over-enthusiastically grabs picture books out of my hands, eager to turn the pages himself!

When I found out I was expecting , I was really excited about building a collection of books for my baby but I had no idea where to start and what was suitable for babies. For example do you get books with no words? Or should I get tactile, soft books or classic picture books? This was really weird for me, when it comes to books I usually know exactly what to get but this was a whole new world of books to discover.  I also heard that there are special black and white books for babies which are easier for them to see, at that stage in their development. I didn't see many of these on general sale in book shops. Lots of parents and librarians  I  know, suggested that the best thing was just to just make sure you spent time reading to your baby (it didn't technically matter what, I read Harry Potter to my son during the early uncontrolled crying days) and to just enjoy that special bonding time. So I bought a few pictures books and received some lovely ones as presents and at first it was odd, admittedly, but that is what I did until it became habit. 

(It turns out that reading to babies from early infancy is great advice, backed up by lots of studies.)

I'm so happy that reading was a part of our lives from the beginning and here were five of absolute favourites.

Good Night Sleepy Babies  by Jane Bingham, illustrated by Sebastien Braun

This is a really great book to read to babies before bed while establishing a bedtime routine, as it is about small animals going to bed. Pretty, dreamy illustrations follow various baby animals and their parents in their natural habitat, as they go to bed for the night. The story is told in a simple rhyme which is almost like a lullaby.  I've read this hundreds of times and we never get sick of this. I just came across it by chance but it's a picture book that deserves to be better known.

Octopus Soctopus by Nick Sharatt

This was my first introduction to Nick Sharratt's colourful work and it is such a fun picture book! This is a riotous swirl of colour and pop-ups featuring octopuses (you don't see enough of them in children's books!) in various funny scenarios. Babies and kids can interact with the well-thought out pop-ups. My son loves the phonetic octopus nonsense rhymes in it and I love reading it to him in funny voices.

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

Baby & toddler picture book royalty! One of the first picture books to feature paper flaps for your child to discover the crazy animals that the zoo has sent, this book is a classic that is frequently recommended by children's librarians. Fun, simple format, illustrations and story. Brings a smile to my son's face every time we read it.

A Poem For Every Night Of The Year edited by Allie Esiri

This is a bit of a wildcard as it isn't really a picture book or a baby book (although the delightful cover art and small inner pictures are created by the very talented illustrator Zanna Goldhawk)  but yet...it works really well for bed-time reading and I think we will be getting many years of wonderful reading experiences out of this one. As a child, my father often read poetry to me from his secondary school collection, instead of a bed-time story.  I still smile when I hear those poems today.
A Poem For Every Night Of The Year is perfect as babies can appreciate the sounds in the rhymes, and parents can enjoy reading a poem especially chosen to correlate with the time of year and find a deeper appreciation for those little poetic moments in the seasons and in life.

Pop-Up Book (Tiger Stores)

This is a pop-up book exploring the under sea world, it was available in UK Tiger stores in early August 2017. There are no words in this book and it was fun to entertain my son with the enticing seascape and paper mechanisms until he started pulling the pop-ups off! Well at least he still enjoys it. I am wishing I bought a back up copy for posterity as I don't think it's in stock any more. There is no reference to the illustrators or designers but presumably they are part of the Tiger team as it is similar to the designs on in-store products.

Of course there are so many other beautiful and special books but these were our absolute top 5. Would love to hear about the book experiences of other parents/librarians/bloggers/picture book fans who have read with this age group!

This Bear, that Bear!

This Bear, That Bear! written and illustrated  by Sian Wheatcroft, , published by Templar Publishing 2017. Ages 2+ 

This band of adorable bears caught my eye on the way to the issue desk at the library last week. Bear themed books, toys and clothes are a firm favourite in our household these days, so I decided to borrow it to read to my son immediately!

The bears in the story are on their way to a parade (there is a robot bear with them, which was very cool) ! I think it's spring or summer in the book, the imagery is joyful, the bunting, balloons and playful use of colour left me longing for family fetes, festivals and community events in nice weather.  There is a magical firework display at the end of their evening at the parade.

The fun pictures, are complemented by a playful and simple rhyme scheme which was a lot of fun for our one year old to listen to and kept him occupied during story time. The use of descriptive adjectives was educational yet also enhanced the enjoyment of the story . The various bears are a joyous celebration of individuality!

This book is a bed time book in disguise, at the end of the story , the baby bear is tucked up in bed, exhausted after a wonderful day at the bear parade.

The Night Box

The Night Box written by Louise Greig, illustrated by Ashling Lindsay, published by Egmont 2017. Ages 3+ 

This book is about the mystery of night-time. I saw discovered it on display in Curious Fox Book Shop  while on holiday in Berlin last week (the beautiful illustrations caught my eye) and after a quick flick through and an encounter with an urban fox the night before, I decided that I would purchase it as a present for my son. (It's recommended for ages 3+ but I have been enjoying reading it to my nearly 1 year old regardless.)

I have recently been reading him a lot of bedtime books which follow a certain pattern, a sleepy baby going to bed or animals at bedtime, all in rhyme and my curiosity was peaked by a more playful book that did not fit this pattern.  It is written in a poetic style, where day and night are personified. Day is getting tired after a long day and needs to go to sleep, just like Max, the little boy in the story. Max has a night box in his bedroom and he releases night time! The night and the darkness aren't scary, but playful, mischievous and kind:

'Darkness tumbles in the air,

It dances and whirls around the room,

It goes under the bed, under the chair -

everywhere!'

It is an imaginative image of dusk falling. The nocturnal world is explored using images of a darkened landscape and features the cats, badgers, owls and foxes who inhabit it.  It is so positive to portray night and darkness as something magical rather than the stereotype of it being frightening. It touches on the child entering the magic of dreaming when going to bed.

The language is striking, modern and really complements the illustrations. It wasn't a surprise when I found out that writer Louise Greig is a poet (this children's poem by her always makes me smile.)  Illustrator Ashling Lindsay has previously won illustration awards and also works in animation. Her work feels really modern. My favourite aspect was the contrast between the detailed pictures of the cosy, domestic sphere (even the mother looks really safe) and the night time pictures which convey a wild space. Colour is used well too, different shades of dark for the evening and bright splashes of colour, such as the boy's red hair and the magical fox.

The fusion of text and illustration works so well and is one of the things which made me fall in love with this book, that and how original it seems. I am really pleased to see that this book was long-listed for the Kate Greenaway Award 2018 and that Louise Greig and Ashling Lindsay have a new picture book coming out in May!