It’s easy to feel lost in the flood of so many new children’s books available. Each month, our review panel reads scores of new books and we highlight five of our recently published favourites.
Check out our Review Panel’s top books for you to read in December 2023.
A short, colour- illustrated chapter book series about magic face paints. Austin, Alanna, and sausage dog Ozzy have been transformed into pirates. Their mission is to find a golden treasure chest before their time in this world runs out.
When two very suspicious pirates climb aboard the New Leaf ship and start snooping around, Austin and Alanna know they must help their crewmates, can they save the ship and complete their mission on time?
Each Peach Pear Plum is a timeless picture book classic from the bestselling illustrator/author team Janet and Allan Ahlberg, creators of Peepo!. Each beautifully illustrated page encourages young children to interact with the picture to find the next fairy tale and nursery rhyme character.
In this book
With your little eye,
Take a look,
And play ‘I spy’
Join Hairy Maclary and his friends on their first ever adventure in this golden 40th anniversary edition of the beloved rhyming classic!
“Out of the gate and off for walk,
Went Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy”
Hairy Maclary is off for a walk, and he’s joined by furry friends of all shapes and sizes, from Bottomley Potts (covered in spots) to Schnitzel von Krumm (with a very low tum).
But when they suddenly find themselves face-to-face with Scarface Claw – the toughest Tom in town – it’s time to run all the way back home!
Delighting generation after generation of childr
The long awaited sequel to the award-winning favourite, There’s a Bear on My Chair, from bestselling author and illustrator, Ross Collins.
The tables have turned in this fantastically funny rhyming picture book. This time, it’s Bear who has an unwelcome guest, and that cheeky mouse just won’t leave. He’s making a real commotion in Bear’s house – eating all the food, listening to loud music and even spilling bathwater all over the floor! But when there’s an unexpected knock at the door, Bear decides that perhaps mice are actually rather nice! A funny family story to share at bedtime (or any time!) From the bestselling creator of There’s a Bear on My Chair, winner of the Amnesty CILIP Honour 2016 and shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal 2016.
Can’t get enough? Look out for This Zoo is Not for You, What Does An Anteater Eat and This is a Dog.
A brilliant, brightly coloured gift that will make children laugh out loud.
Every Nosy Crow paperback picture book comes with a free ‘Stories Aloud’ audio recording – just scan the QR code and listen along!
A much-loved adventure on the high seas from Peter Harris and Deborah Allwright. Perfect for every reader who loved Pirates Love Underpants and The Pirates Next Door.
One night, young Tom is awoken by noises outside his house. He peeps out of the window and what should he see but PIRATES. And stranger still they’re GIRL PIRATES stealing the front of his house! Tom joins their adventure across the high seas to an island where some rather lazy and silly grown-up pirates are guarding their treasure. Not very successfully! Tom and the girl-pirates make a surprise attack and are soon off on the seas once more with the treasure!
This swashbuckling pirate story from Peter Harris and Deborah Allwright has become a modern-day classic. Great fun to read-aloud and entertaining for both boys and girls, The Night Pirates is a bedtime story to inspire the imagination of kids aged 3 and up.
A hilarious retelling of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, with not one but TWO twists!
Tom has a VERY important job; every day he climbs to the top of the hill and watches for pirate ships. But when he rings his bell and shouts !”PIRATES!” a few too many times – and there’s NO pirate ship – the villagers begin to get tired of hiding. So what will happen when the pirates really do show up?
Repeated phrases make it easy and fun for young adventurers to join in with the storytelling, and witty, bold artwork by Matt Hunt adds to the fun, with new and hilarious things to spot on every rereading. This inventive picture book has so many surprises in store and a wonderfully diverse range of characters and family groupings.
John Condon has been shortlisted for various awards including the Lovereading4kids Children’s Book Awards. Matt Hunt has been nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal, and his book Stephen Hawking Little People, BIG DREAMS was an Amazon bestseller.
Every Nosy Crow paperback picture book comes with a free “Stories Aloud” audio recording. Just scan the QR code and listen along!
Related activity sheets available on the Nosy Crow website.
Penguin Blue is back, in a swashbuckling new adventure about pirates, treasure, and friendship from Rob Biddulph, the creative genius behind the #DrawWithRob phenomenon and the bestselling and award-winning Blown Away!
A favourite Penguin and his friends are back in a new adventure, and this time they’re pirates – ARRRRR!
Sailing the seven seas in search of treasure, Captain Blue and his friends are unexpectedly SUNK! But with a shipwreck to explore and a mysterious stranger on a desert island to meet, they might still find some treasure after all…
Part of Nosy Crow’s list of publishing in collaboration with the British Museum and developed in consultation with one of the world’s leading experts on the Aztecs.
A kid’s life in the Aztec Age might sound like fun, what with all that brilliant sunny weather and exciting festivals, but actually life for kids could be pretty hard. In this hilarious book, written by award-winning author Chae Strathie, children will learn just how tough life really was, from being jabbed by cactus spikes to snacking on maggots . . . and even wearing jaguar skins!
Probably the first book about the Aztec Age that involves wedgies and skateboards, this is a must read for kids with a passion for horrible history!
Brought to life with rich, humorous illustrations by super-talented Marisa Morea.
Other titles in the series include: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Prehistoric Times.
This flagship gift edition illustrated by Lauren Child is a glorious celebratory tribute to the strongest girl in the world in her 75th anniversary year. Pippi Longstocking lives in Villa Villekulla with a horse, a monkey, and a big suitcase full of gold coins. Pippi and her friends Tommy and Annika have the best time together-going to the fair, buying ALL the sweets in the sweet shop, and getting shipwrecked for the weekend. But the fun might stop all too soon if Pippi agrees to go back to sea with her father.
© BooksForTopics 2015-2024
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