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BfK REVIEWERS IN THIS ISSUE


Brian Alderson is founder of the Children’s Books History Society and a former Children’s Books Editor for The Times. Gwynneth Bailey is a freelance education and children’s book consultant. Clive Barnes, formerly Principal Children’s Librarian, Southampton City is a freelance researcher and writer. Jill Bennett is the author of Learning to Read with Picture Books and heads up a nursery unit. Rebecca Butler writes and lectures on children’s literature. Katie Clapham runs specialist children’s bookshop Storytellers, Inc. in Lancaster. Bethany Clark is a UK Sales Assistant at Quadrille Publishing and helps run a children’s library. Caroline Downie has been a Children’s Librarian for over 20 years, working in a variety of settings. Stuart Dyer is an Assistant Head Teacher in a Bristol primary school. Anne Faundez is a freelance education and children’s book consultant. Janet Fisher is a children’s literature consultant. Geoff Fox is former Co-Editor (UK) of Children’s Literature in Education, but continues to work on the board and as an occasional teller of traditional tales. Laura Fraine is a freelance journalist based in the North East. Hazel Holmes is a Children’s Book Buyer for a leading library supplier and runs children’s book clubs. Ferelith Hordon is a former children’s librarian and Chair Elect of the Youth Libraries Group, and editor of Books for Keeps Rudolf Loewenstein is a Dominican friar. He also works full time in a primary school. Margaret Mallett is a team editor for the English Association’s journal English 4-11 and author of What Shall We Do Next?: A Creative Play and Story Guide Matthew Martin is a primary school teacher. Sue McGonigle is a Lecturer in Primary Education. Margaret Pemberton is a school library consultant and blogs at margaretpemberton.edublogs.org. Val Randall is Head of English and Literacy Co-ordinator at a Pupil Referral Unit. Andrea Rayner is an editor and has an MA in children’s literature. Andrea Reece is a marketing consultant and Managing Editor of Books for Keeps Gill Robins is a Junior School Deputy Head and Editorial Chair of the English Association publication English 4-11. Lucy Russell is a primary school teacher Elizabeth Schlenther is the compiler of www.healthybooks.org.uk Lucy Staines is a primary school teacher. Nicholas Tucker is honorary senior lecturer in Cultural and Community Studies at Sussex University. Sue Unstead is a writer and publishing consultant Ruth Williams is a children’s book editor and publishing consultant.


Under 5s Pre – School/Nursery/Infant


Editor’s Choice


The Wizardling HHHHH


Binette Schroeder, trans Siobhán Parkinson, Little Island, 32pp, 978-1-91041-100-1, £11.99 hbk


Wizzo has been warned: keep away from Dragon Rock. Of course he doesn’t and meets Dradru, the little dragon-girl and Little Red Riding Hood. It is fun showing off but what about the Big Bad Wolf?


Binette Schroeder’s colour rich illustrations are perfect for this gentle, enjoyable take on The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Luminous mauves and blues emphasise the magical landscape that is Wizzo’s world, while the bright greens of the countryside create the perfect setting for a picnic. Of course there is danger – once again emphasised by the drama of red and gold – but the final spread provides a reassuring conclusion complete with cake and


Where, Oh Where Is Rosie’s Chick?


HHH


Pat Hutchins, Hodder Children’s Books, 32pp, 978-1-44491-828-1, £11.99 hbk


Published over forty years ago, Rosie’s Walk is a classic picture book in the true sense of the word. This long-awaited sequel sees our heroine hen take another walk but this time she’s looking for something very special. Rosie’s egg has hatched, but her baby chick is nowhere to be seen. Rosie has to search high and low for her little one – under the hen-house, in a basket and through the fields. Where is the little baby chick?


The sixties palette manages to look bright and appealing and Hutchins’s illustrations still look really stylish. The story is, again, super simple and tries to re-capture the clever dual narrative of the first walk’s brilliant illustrated story. It’s a fool-proof formula but admittedly lacks the magical purity of the original.


KC The Giant of Jum HHHHH


Elli Woollard & Benji Davies, 32pp, 978-1-44725-473-7, £11.99 hbk


This is a delightful warm hearted twist on a classic fairy tale. The Giant of Jum is a very grumpy fellow, and extremely keen on eating a boy known as Jack who his brother once told him about. So off he goes in search of Jack feeling certain that children will make


20 Books for Keeps No.212 May 2015


lemonade. The text, cleverly translated by Siobhán Parkinson, has a satisfying rhythm with plenty of enjoyable vocabulary – lovely onomatopoeic words to roll off the tongue. This is an ideal book to share at bedtime, just that little bit longer than the youngest picture book and so providing a satisfying story that is also visually rich and engaging from the end papers and on through every page. Beautiful.


FH z I W


pictures have the look of a child having drawn lines first before filling in the colour. It is as though the little boy has thought through his ideas of perfection in people and has then made a book of drawings to reflect those ideas. Understanding that people aren’t perfect is an important part of growing up, and this picture book will help explain that concept in easy to grasp terms.


ES Pat-a-Cake Baby HHHHH


Joyce Dunbar, ill. Polly Dunbar, Walker Books, 978-1-40632-363-4, £11.99 hbk


Binette Schroeder


the very best meal. However, he unwittingly ends up helping the children he meets overcome all sorts of problems. They deem him a lovely kind giant who couldn’t possibly intend to gobble them up. Elli Woollard’s clever rhyming verse makes this an absolute pleasure to read aloud and is perfectly accompanied by Benji Davies’s bright illustrations. I’m excited to see more from this unique picture book duo.


HH Nobody’s Perfect HHHH


David Elliott, ill. Sam Zuppardi, Walker Books, 32pp, 978-1-40635-944-2, £11.99 hbk


Mum has put her little boy on the ‘naughty step’, and he is having time out to reflect about perfection in people. Gigi, his baby sister, isn’t perfect because she can be very loud when she wants something she can’t have; his best friend Jack can be a show off; Mum is stubborn when she thinks she has a good reason for putting him on the naughty step; and he knows he isn’t great about tidying his room. But Gigi’s loudness can be fun when they are being loud together, and Jack’s showing off can be fun too. Even Mum’s stubbornness can be acceptable when she is agreeing with him about something, and he himself knows there are times when he really has to be messy. The comic-style illustrations with their child-like faces and bodies fit the text beautifully, and even the extra pencil lines that surround many of the details in the


‘I’m a cookie baby/a pat-a-cake baby’; a jaunty jingle picks up the traditional nursery rhyme familiar to many. It sets the tone for this latest collaboration between mother and daughter, Joyce and Polly Dunbar. It is a lovely confection designed to be read aloud. Joyce Dunbar is one of the best creators of picture book text; here she is on top form with rhyming, rhythmic words that are full of wonderful alliteration and onomatopoeia – ‘glitzy’, ‘mutter mutter’, ‘flitter flotter’. Picture books are a route through which the youngest can be exposed to the richest vocabulary, where a sense of poetry can be awakened, and this is a picture book that delivers. But a picture book is – or should be – a partnership; the illustrations must also work. Polly Dunbar rises to the challenge filling the spacious double-page spreads with colour, not dramatic tones, but rich mellow washes that emphasise the nursery appeal. Her jolly babies bounce across the pages with not a tantrum in sight, but like Mickey in Sendak’s Night Kitchen, ensure that there is cake at the end. This is a book that demands to be picked up, the glitter on the cover – just a little – attracting the attention, but not used for anything else; texture is all in the colour, the design, the marriage of text and image. A very satisfying dish that should be in classrooms and nurseries everywhere.


FH Lily and Bear HHH


Lisa Stubbs, Boxer Books, 32pp, 978-1-91012-605-9, £11.99 hbk


Tutu-clad Lily – who seems to be ambidextrous – loves drawing. She draws all sorts of things including a bear, which comes to life. Bear happily joins in with Lily’s games, like sailing on carpet seas, attending royal tea parties and racing around on tricycles. Then Bear decides it’s time to do Bear things instead, so they have a lovely time together picking huckleberries, catching slippery fish and scratching their backs on trees. This is a charming, simple story about the give and take of friendship, and the power of imagination. The childlike illustrations would surely inspire budding young artists – and as the


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