Publisher: Gecko Press

A Better Best Friend

Picturebook

A feel-good picture book about best friendship told with dry comedy and an open ending—squirrel and mushroom are best friends until another best friend comes to play.

This morning when I was out walking, I found a best friend. At least I think so. It certainly looks a lot like it! He really has a best friend kind of face.

In this funny picture book exploring a forever childhood question about friendship, squirrel and a mushroom explore the forest through the seasons, show each other special trees, build snow mushrooms, share the good times and bad—which become good bad times alongside a friend.

Then spring arrives, and so does a new friend. And then another. This raises a profound question for an overthinking squirrel: should we have just one best friend?

The Mapmakers’ Race

Eirlys Hunter & Kirsten Slade

Chapter book

There is always something appealing about books with maps. There is also a great appeal to books with a race-against-time quest to complete. The Mapmakers’ Race by Eirlys Hunter hits the mark on both of these levels, as a thrilling adventure story with a pacy quest narrative, an unfaltering sense of jeopardy and illustrated maps for every chapter of the journey

The four siblings in the Santander family find themselves in a tricky situation. After their explorer father disappears, the family decides to enter the Great Race. This competition challenges explorers to map a new railway route through uncharted wilderness, with a sizeable monetary prize of 3500 golden guineas that will help the family to survive without their father. None of the other contenders take the children seriously, but the siblings pool their varied skills and resources and embark upon their quest along with their parrot (called Carrot) and their new friend Beckett. The four siblings are each very different and I particularly enjoyed the character of Francie, who does not speak but is immensely talented in charting maps.

Naturally, there are perils at every turn, from the dangerous landscape to the treacherous weather to the sabotage attempts by unscrupulous rival teams of adults. This is an exciting adventure narrative with a real against-the-clock feel to it and a steam-age fantasy setting that fans of Vashti Hardy’s Brightstorm are likely to enjoy.

See also our guest blog post by author Eirlys Hunter about how her childhood experiences inspired the story.

The Observologist

Giselle Clarkson

Non-fiction

A highly illustrated, playful field guide for budding natural scientists and curious observers of the world right under our noses.

The Observologist puts over 100 small creatures and features of the natural world under the microscope, piquing our curiosity with only the most interesting facts. Subjects range from slugs, ants and seeds, fungi and flies through to bees and bird poop.

Giselle Clarkson has a comics and conservation background. Through her unique sensibility, you’ll find that once you start thinking small, there’s no limit to what you can notice—right under your nose.

Timeline Science and Technology

Peter Goes

Non-fiction

A visual history of the inventions, discoveries and technology that have shaped our world.

In his signature playful style, Peter Goes brings together breakthroughs in science, IT, entertainment, medicine and everyday life. He shows us the earliest flute alongside tools and weapons, takes us from candle clocks to drones, from spectacles to genetic modification, from the toothpaste of Ancient Egypt to the clones of the future.

These cross-sections of history highlight human ingenuity and hope, from the Stone Age to the world of tomorrow.

Elephant Island

Leo Timmers

Picturebook

Elephant Island is a peculiar tale! At the heart of the book is the theme of community. When Elephant’s ship capsizes, he has to resort to inventiveness to fix it. Children will love his quirky approach to problem-solving solving and wild engineering attempts, and the illustrations will be pored over as, with each look, there is something new to spot. Arnold the elephant has a very positive outlook on life and no matter what, he believes that he can fix things. His perseverance and determination result in a home for all where everyone is welcome.

Seemingly aimed at a younger audience but really well suited to the whole primary range, this picture book makes references to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner poem with the line “Alone, alone, all all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea!” The vocabulary used within the story is ambitious ‘salvage’, ‘seafaring’, ‘catastrophic’ and ‘expanding’ for example and so this will lend itself to discussion about the meaning of new words. For these reasons, it is a picture book that would be better placed in an older classroom or, if to be shared with younger children, to be read alongside an adult.

Readers will laugh at Arnold’s unusual approaches to fixing problems – his solutions are never the easy, obvious ones! The pictures contain things to find, things to count and each character is full of expression. This is a great book for sharing and for chatting about. Children will delight in Arnold’s creative contraptions and Leo Timmers’ detailed illustrations.

Gotcha!

Clotilde Perrin & Daniel Hahn

Picturebook

In this monstrously funny and original lift-the-flaps adventure, a child finds hiding places in three famous fairy tale houses before turning on their hide-and-seek pursuers—from the creator of international sensation Inside the Villains.

“Quick, hide!” Chased by monsters, each hairier and stinkier than the one before, a child finds shelter in the most famous fairytale houses—the three little pigs’ brick home, Sleeping Beauty’s palace and Hansel and Gretel’s gingerbread mansion. Each house is full of hiding places for the reader to explore, with flaps big and small and curious places to discover on the search for the child’s hiding place. And when the hero of our story finally stands up to the monsters, they may be the ones to flee, because this child has read the tales before and knows how to vanquish a villain!

A villianously funny hide-and-seek game in a fairytale world.

Timeline: A Visual History of Our World

Peter Goes

Non-fiction

From the Big Bang to the present day, illustrated scenes tell the history of our planet in one continuous story.

A perfect introduction to history for young and old, this illustrated journey through our world’s culture and events travels from the Big Bang to the iPod and into the future. This is a trip through time, past dinosaurs, Vikings, Aztecs and spaceships. It looks at wars and disasters; introduces artists, explorers and leaders; shows us living in castles, yurts and skyscrapers. And it does not neglect the imagination-here too are dragons, mythical figures and TV characters, alongside world-changing inventions borne from the imaginations of scientists and explorers. Each scene puts global events in perspective, in space and time. For adults and older children, these detailed images reward a close study to test your own knowledge of political, cultural and historical events. For young children, each spread provides a slew of talking points, with the world’s stories concisely represented.

Leilong’s Too Long!

Bei Lynn & Julia Liu

Picturebook

An overeager dinosaur school bus causes problems for the city’s transportation system—so the children find a place where oversize is perfect.

Every morning, Leilong the school bus shuttles through the city, picking up children as he goes. But a brontosaurus longer than a tennis court and heavier than five buses causes big problems in the busy streets. The school decides he can’t be the bus anymore. The children must find a way to help their long friend fit in.

Loose and vibrant illustrations bring to life the charming world of Leilong, where brontosauruses share the city with ordinary vehicles, and sliding out the bedroom window down the neck of the dinosaur school bus is an everyday activity.

The Visitor

Antje Damm

Picturebook

Nominated for Favourite Books of 2018 by: Simon Smith (@smithsmm), headteacher and blogger at smithsmm.wordpress.com

The Visitor is a wonderfully simple picturebook focussing on the joy children bring into our lives. The use of colour brings a joy to the tale. It has been a book I’ve found myself returning to often and every time I’ve left with a huge smile and a cosy warm glow. A magical book with a big heart.

Inside the Villains

Clotilde Perrin

We just can’t get enough of this oversized interactive picture book that children in Year 2 adore.

This exquisitely produced book is a celebration of three of the most infamous fairytale villains. Filled with dark humour and detail on every page, the book has flaps and fold-outs for readers to open up and reveal the innermost secrets of an ogre, a big bad wolf and a wicked witch. Peek under the flaps to reveal what lies beneath their disguises and to uncover the identity of their last meal, now nestled comfortably in their bellies as well as their hobbies, personal belongings and secret plans.

Inside the Villains is a multi-layered book with the potential to entertain readers for hours. This is a great choice for children who love interactive elements and are ready to dive deeper beneath the surface of their favourite fairytales.

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Publisher: Gecko Press

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