BfK 5 – 8 Infant/Junior continued
Tea with the Queen, Squishy McFluff the Invisible Cat
HHHH
Pip Jones, ill. Ella Okstad, Faber and Faber, 978 0 571 33728 6, £6-99 pbk
Children already familiar with this
popular series will welcome this new Squishy McFluff adventure, this time in picture book form. Ava has a cat, a very special cat, the best kitten EVER, because he is invisible. Together they share adventures including bouncing, bowling, yelling, hopping; swinging, skating falling and flopping. Mum has organised a trip to London to see the sights, so of course Squishy comes too. They see the palace and sit near the guards wearing tall, furry hats. When baby needs a feed and Dad has a blister, Ava is BORED. So she tells Squishy there is time to sneak into the palace and hunt for the Corgi of whom she has heard tell. Oh, and there is Corgi, on her velvety cushion, one eye on Squishy behind the curtain, but the dog is listening to this old lady, who looks like Ava’s Nan, reading aloud to her dog.
Ham hock? Roast chicken? A steak? Mineral water
or
‘Beef Wellington? a doggie-choc
shake?’ Realisation comes to Ava and amazed by her stumbling upon the Queen, she introduces herself and of course, Squishy. The Queen finds the invisible cat a most interesting concept, never
before having met
one, and Ava and Squishy, are invited to stay for tea. Maybe the Queen’s favourite,
hot cheese on toast?
Tucked up safely in bed that night, Ava reminisces. Any day out with Squishy could never be boring. This is a book to make any child who has ever had an imaginary friend or pet empathise with and enjoy this tale. The pictures are bright and quirky and tell more in the story than the text itself. GB
Where Are You Puffling HHHH
Erika McGann ,ill. Gerry Daly, O’Brien, 32pp, 9781788490504, £12.99 hbk
Skellig Michael is a rocky situated off the coast
of crag County
Derry. It has become very famous most recently due to it being Luke Skywalker’s retreat in The Last Jedi. However Skellig Michael, much more importantly, to the most wonderful seabird the Puffin and it’s offspring. Where are you Puffling? is a
perfect introduction to the wildlife on Skellig Michael. It carefully takes you to meet the different creatures who inhabit the crag through the journey the little puffling makes across the island. On his travels he meets lots of inhabitants and helps them in different ways; fixing a nest, digging a burrow. Meanwhile his puffin parents are a little concerned and so ask who has seen the puffin. Eventually the little puffling gets reunited with her puffin parents. The language is great for young readers with a repeat phrase asking about the puffling’s whereabouts - a good one for joining in with.
Gerry Daly’s illustrations are
delightful and really bring the island’s wildlife to life in a characterful way. It is great to see them as characters and learn about their habitats through the story. There is also a handy key at the back of the book entitled Life on the Skellig Islands which gives you more information and a longer list of the amazing wildlife on the islands. The book certainly makes you want to go and visit and see all this wonderful nature for yourself. It will definitely add to any child’s repertoire of animal books and it is refreshing to have a puffling in a picture book for a lovely change. SG
It’s Your World Now! HHHHH
Barry Falls, Pavilion, 32pp, 978 1 84365 410 0, £6-99, pbk
Barry Falls is a multiple award winner in various artistic fields, but this stunner is his debut picture book, celebrating both the beauty of our world and the potential of every individual. It’s the kind of book that demands to be read again, immediately the final page is reached…do it! The rhythmic, rhyming text is bouncy, reminiscent of that of Dr Seuss’, and the illustrations have a great vibrancy, exploding from each page with colour and characterisation. In lesson number one, adults from around the world are seen exploring their environment, each with a small child, leading them on in an adventure like none other. ‘The world is full of wonderful things. Like cats that purr and birds that sing’. Each beauty listed is illustrated in pages packed with detail. ‘As for you, my bouncing ball, well, you can truly have it all.
Yes, you can set the world alight, my child-so-small,
your future’s
bright.
With hard work and application you can rise to any station. President or CEO, there’s nowhere that you cannot go.’ But that is not the whole picture. Having learnt what a wonderful world it is to inhabit, here comes the down side. Lesson number two shows very clearly that things will not always run smoothly. The pages become grey and forbidding, whilst there
follow
warnings of hazards and pitfalls to expect. Big people telling small people what to do, think, learn. Then comes an amazing light bulb moment. After such busy pages, there is a startlingly white spread, with 4 simple lines of text and an adult holding a child’s hand as he thinks: ‘Wait a second, is it true? Is that what I am doing too? Do I believe, because I’m tall, my little one, I know it all?’ And so the final summing up is amazing. Best scenario? Go in your own direction, your life is yours, discover who you are and why you are here. Just remember, love is all important. ‘So paint a picture, climb a tree. Pretend to be a bumblebee. Break a record, make a thing, scream and shout and dance and sing. Do all of this or none at all. It’s up to you! Kid, it’s your call.’ This is a most wonderful book which deserves to be in every home, and certainly in every classroom and library. Go, find it! Once read, and shared, study the cover, and see atop the tall tree, the father figure and his small child who introduce the book and also close it; see a myriad of miniature vignettes of characters, ideas and the natural world, all included within the book itself. Enjoy, and be enriched. GB
8 – 10 Junior/Middle
The Longest Night of Charlie Moon
HHHH
Christopher Edge, Nosy Crow, 192pp, 978788004947, £6.99 pbk
Is there a monster in the woods? Johnny Baines says there is – but Johnny is a bully and a tormenter. Dizzy thinks it might be a spy – he has seen signs. Maybe it is time to find out. But what is time? Then? Now? Sometime? The little gang of three venture into the unknown to discover that time may not be as it seems. As Old Crony says: ‘There is no single
now...You see the world
from the
place you are standing, but when you move, time and space change too...’. But the now is to be grasped – and the future can be changed. Science and imagination are often
presented as opposites that can have nothing in common. Here Christopher Edge demonstrates again that this is untrue; science and imagination need each other. The result is an excellent and enjoyable read for KS2 and early KS3 readers. The questions
embedded in the story are not fanciful but intriguing; there is the opportunity for those who claim a greater interest in fact to explore further, while the imaginative can also realise that fact is fascinating. Not only does the plot carry the reader along, but the setting – a dense wood where it is easy to lose direction – is immediate and present. The characters – Charlie (did you think she was a boy?), Dizzy and Johnny are very real, recognisable, solid. And indeed, it transpires that they were real people – we are treated to a quick snapshot of their futures at the very end. ‘Real’ life can inspire as much of a story as flying carpets and superheroes; Christopher Edge is the author to demonstrate this with an assurance and skill that can only result in enjoyment. FH
The Cosmic Atlas of Alfie Fleet HHHH
Martin Howard, illus. Chris Mould, OUP, 320pp, 9780192767509, £6.99 pbk
Alfie Fleet lives with his mother in a small flat and they are extremely poor.
24 Books for Keeps No.236 May 2019
His mother works at the local fish market, so they tend to eat a lot of fish soup. Now Alfie wants to buy his poor mum a foot spa as a birthday present and has been playing the stock market (using the library computers) to make the money, but he is still a bit short of cash. When he sees a job advert that will provide just what he needs Alfie applies for the job. What he did not expect was the totally eccentric Professor
Bowell-Mouvement (this
sets the tone for the book) and the ability to travel through portals to discover new planets.
However the
main focus is on trying to find the way back to our own world, after Alfie had accidently destroyed the one they had originally travelled through. This is a brilliantly funny story
about a quest in worlds that we are only too happy don’t really exist. Alfie is a quick and intelligent young boy who is able to talk his way out of most situations, mainly ones that the Professor has got him in to.
There
is the sense of a quest in that the two explorers keep adding to their company along the way. I love the way
that Alfie can make even the most terrible,
into somewhere that will appear in a travel brochure.
of helping one another.
dirty and unhygienic place It is very much a
story about not giving in to tyrants, including large developers and about the importance
friendship and Chris Mould
has once again produced a series of
highly amusing illustrations in
his very recognizable style; he really brings Alfie alive, so that the reader is instantly on his side. It is a rip roaring tale of adventure and perhaps saving worlds, but above all it is a fantastically funny tale that middle graders are going to love. I look forward to further adventures. MP
Starfell: Willow Moss and the Lost Day
HHHHH
Dominique Valente, ill. Sarah Warburton, Harper Collins, 270pp, 978 0008308391, pbk
Willow Moss has a magical power, she is a finder of lost things. Within her family, as magical powers go,
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32