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James Mayhew Books

A beautiful new collection of eight nursery tales – traditional stories for younger children, including all the favourite classics, delightfully retold and enchantingly illustrated by James Mayhew, internationally bestselling author and illustrator of Once Upon a Tune, A Symphony of Stories, the Mrs Noah series and many other much-loved picture books.

The stories included are: Goldilocks and the Three Bears (England), Little Red Riding Hood (Germany), The Billy Goats Gruff (Norway), The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf (England), The Enormous Turnip (Ukraine), The Tortoise and the Hare (Ancient Greece), The Gingerbread Man (North America), The Vain Little Mouse (Spain)

Using the same technique of colourful cut-outs and collage as in his bestselling Once Upon a Tune: Stories from the Orchestra, James Mayhew has created another spectacular gift book, this time for a very young audience.

Join Katie as she steps into some of the most famous paintings in the world for an exciting art adventure.

Katie would love to give Grandma a bunch of flowers for her birthday – but just where will she find the perfect bouquet? If only she were able to gather some flowers from the beautiful paintings in the gallery…

‘A wonderful way to engage children with art. A brilliant combination of education and storytelling’ – Parents in Touch (Katie’s Picture Show)

This first introduction to Impressionism features five great masterpieces: The Luncheon and The Field With Poppies by Claude Monet, A Girl With a Watering Can and Her First Evening Out by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Blue Dancers by Edgar Degas.

Join Katie as she steps into some of the most famous paintings in the world for an exciting art adventure!

The stars in Vincent van Gogh’s painting are so beautiful that Katie can’t resist reaching in and taking one. But what will she do when all the other stars come tumbling out of the painting, too? Will Katie be able to catch the stars before the gallery guard notices they’ve floated away?

‘A wonderful way to engage children with art. A brilliant combination of education and storytelling’ – Parents in Touch (Katie’s Picture Show)

This first introduction to Van Gogh features five of his most brilliant paintings: The Starry Night, Noon, Vincent’s Chair, Fishing Boats on the Beach and The Olive Grove.

Join Katie as she steps into some of the most famous paintings in the world for an exciting art adventure!

Katie can’t decide what she wants to be when she grows up. Perhaps a trip to the gallery will be an inspiration, as the characters in five famous paintings come to life! Will she be an explorer, a train driver, a horse rider or an artist…?

This art adventure features five famous British paintings:The Cornfield by Constable, Rain, Steam and Speed and The Fighting Temeraire by Turner, Whistlejacket by Stubbs, and The Painter’s Daughters Chasing a Butterfly by Gainsborough.

Come on a magical dinosaur adventure with Katie in this classic picture book.

When Katie visits the Natural History Museum with Grandma, she finds a mysterious door… and steps back in time to the world of the dinosaurs!

Katie helps a baby dinosaur find his family, rides on the back of a Brontosaurus, and has a picnic with a Triceratops. But just what will she feed a very hungry and fearsome Tyrannosaurus Rex?

Katie has been delighting children for over 25 years!

I grew up in the Disney generation when the story of The Little Mermaid captured my heart. Many years later I visited Copenhagen to see the famous Little Mermaid statue myself – a bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen, depicting an anguished mermaid becoming human, her lonely expression pained with the choice of being stuck between the two worlds of conformity and desire. It’s an anguish that most humans tap into at some point in their life, and this is what has given the story such a long-standing sense of fascination over the years. This month, I revisited the story anew, via Nen and the Lonely Fishermen. We’ve seen a run of fairytale retellings in picturebooks in recent years, but Ian Eagleton and James Mayhew’s modern adaptation of The Little Mermaid is highly original in its rendering of that original tale of anguish, identity and the pursuit of dreams…

Katie likes helping Grandad in the garden and she really wants to grow her own sunflowers. When she looks at Van Gogh’s famous painting of sunflowers, Katie reaches in to grab some seeds, not realising how it might have a knock-on effect on lots of different paintings in the gallery!

Discover the sights of Scotland with this classic Katie picture book. With so much to see and do in Scotland, it’s lucky that Katie, Jack and Grandma have a very special guide to show them the best spots. Join their fun-packed tour – with Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster! Landmarks featured include Glasgow’s Kelingrove Park, Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood, The Royal Mile, Scotland’s National Gallery and Greyfriar’s Bobby.

Come on a magical tour with Katie and discover London’s most famous sights! When Katie and her brother Jack visit London with Grandma, something very unexpected happens . . . One of the Trafalgar Square lions comes to life and takes them on a wonderful tour of all the best sights! Including Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Big Ben and the London Eye. Featuring many of London’s key landmarks, this storybook has become a bestselling introduction to London, and is perfect for children visiting the city for the first time.

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