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James Mayhew Books

What is your favourite children’s story? Goldilocks and the Three Bears? The Enormous Turnip? These age-old tales still hold incredible charm and memorable story lines – with many variations. Did your gingerbread man survive or not? Did your tortoise and hare become friends at the end? What happened to your big bad wolf? Nursery tales, handed down from storyteller to storyteller, have countless variations. This new collection contains eight well-known traditional tales retold by James Mayhew with spell-binding storylines and vivid descriptions, each beautifully illustrated with thoughtful, modern and quirky artwork by the author. My favourite part of this book is the double-page spread at the back of the book, giving a potted history of each of the tales. Who knew that the earliest version of The Three Little Pigs was actually about three little pixies? And would you have guessed that The Tortoise and the Hare dates from more than two thousand years ago? Some of these tales you will remember, some you may not know, but all of them are special and worth sharing with the youngest generation.

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!

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.

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.

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