A favourite of preschoolers who love to be in on the joke, this is the story of a bear looking for his hat.
This book crops up on every list of favourite bear books, favourite hat books, favourite massive twist books, favourite squashed rabbit books, favourite picture books – all the favourites – and with good reason! Jon Klassen is the master at taking picture book noir and making it palatable and this book is no exception.
It’s a mischievous and brilliant story about a bear trying to find his hat and told completely in dialogue, so get ready with the voices if you are reading this one aloud.
Bear is utterly exhausted and is looking to get a good night’s sleep but his neighbour Duck has other ideas. This hilarious story, illustrated by Benji Davies who is the master of drawing an increasingly knackered bear, has me giggling every time I’ve returned to it. As it turns out, it also happens to be a true-to-life reimagining of my son’s toddler years where I am played by Bear and he is played by Duck.
I’m a huge fan of Sophy Henn’s bold illustrative work and this stunning book is one of my favourites. Pom Pom wakes up in a terrible mood and nothing seems to go right from that point on. I love a grumpy character so Pom Pom stole my heart from the moment he woke up. The entire story is a delight. It’s also an absolutely brilliant book for talking about emotions with young readers.
In this gorgeous picture book, first published in 1963, we go on a journey with Max, who’s been sent to his room for chasing the dog with a fork, and being an all-round wild thing. But somehow his room becomes a forest, and when he travels across the sea by boat he finds more Wild Things and becomes their king.
This book is such a classic and, as such, means so many different things to so many different people. At its heart, it teaches a young child that it’s OK to feel angry; it’s OK to take some time out. Your family will still love you. They’ll still be waiting for you when you come back. When Max stomps off to visit the wild things, he’s angry and frustrated. He’s so mad that he sails off “through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year”. When he calms down, he realises he misses home and, to the disappointment of his new Kingdom, he heads back to his bedroom where his “still hot” supper is waiting for him.
This much-loved story is the embodiment of an emotion, and those powerful final lines – the release of them – are iconic in children’s literature.
Plot spoiler – the book does actually end, but only after a journey that truly deserves the label of EPIC! Bastian escapes some school bullies and finds refuge inside a bookshop. There, he finds a book called The Never Ending story. Unable to resist, he is drawn into the magical world of Fantastica. Bastian journeys alongside Atreyu – a child warrior – to save the Empress and stop an evil entity called the Nothing. Michael Ende’s imagination is simply staggering and your journey will take you to places like the Desert of Colours, the Silver City of Amarganth and the swamp of sadness – which truly lives up to its name.
I always recommend this book to families with a new a baby on the way. It can be a tricky time for siblings but ‘The Night Iceberg’ is a magical, night time adventure with a subtle message about learning to share. Tofta wants the night iceberg to be just for her but thinks again when a group of penguins show up. This story gently unpicks the anxieties siblings may be having in a beautiful and delicate way. You won’t be able to resist the yellows and blues of this magical, snowy world.
All of the books in this series are packed with humour and charm, not least ‘I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato!’ It’s authentic and relatable to children and adults alike, capturing the frustration, challenges and heart of young children. The care, attention and patience that Charlie has for his younger sister, who is being picky about her food, is a relationship all siblings can aspire to. If you’re lucky, Charlie and Lola might rub off a little on your young readers. The story may even persuade them to try ‘moon squirters!’
If it’s not too cheeky to sneak in a couple of my own titles, Dot and Duck in the ‘How’ series have an extremely testing relationship that all siblings will be able to relate to. I’m often asked where I came up with the ideas for ‘How Selfish’ and ‘How Rude’. I tell people that with two brothers, two children and ten years’ teaching experience, I didn’t need to look too far for inspiration! What is empowering about these books, is that both characters are equally as bad as each other but work out the right way to behave in the end.
If it’s not too cheeky to sneak in a couple of my own titles, Dot and Duck in the ‘How’ series have an extremely testing relationship that all siblings will be able to relate to. I’m often asked where I came up with the ideas for ‘How Selfish’ and ‘How Rude’. I tell people that with two brothers, two children and ten years’ teaching experience, I didn’t need to look too far for inspiration! What is empowering about these books, is that both characters are equally as bad as each other but work out the right way to behave in the end.
This is the first book in Philip Reeve’s award-winning sci-fi quartet, Mortal Engines, in which entire cities are motorised on wheels and frequently fight each other for survival.
Set in a distant, dystopian future, the predatory traction city of London is a terrible place, with the richest living in luxury on the top tiers and the poorest living in squalor far down below. But there is another, more hopeful city in Reeve’s book. Batmunkh Gompa is beautiful, carved from rock with tiers of terraces and balconies, sparkling lakes, lush gardens, and brightly coloured taxi balloons. With its slogan ‘we shall make the world green again’, this is the utopian dream – and definitely the one readers would prefer to live in.
This gripping, post-apocalyptic thriller will have young sci-fi lovers in Year 7 and above on the edge of their seats.
review
Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:
Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Would you recommend the book for use in primary schools?
yes
Curriculum links (if relevant)
Curriculum links (if relevant)
Any other comments
Any other comments