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jacket blurb explains, some of Lily’s crayon drawings are actually by Lisa Stubbs’s own children.


RW Ready, Steady, Jump! HHHHH


Jeanne Willis & Adrian Reynolds, Andersen Press, 32pp, 978-1-78344-039-9, £11.99 hbk


All the other baby animals can jump, but not elephant. He tries all different ways but he just can’t manage it. Even running really fast and not eating for five days doesn’t help. Yet, after feeling very fed up he soon discovers he has a talent for something else: a talent that turns him into a hero! A gentle read that celebrates individuality.


HH Ice in the Jungle HHHHH


Ariane Hofmann-Maniyar, Child’s Play, 32pp, 978-1-84643-730-4, £5.99 pbk


Ice is very much less than thrilled when her mum says they are to move from the North Pole to a different country far away. She will miss her friends, and she really doesn’t want to go. The trip is long and difficult, and the new country is hot and full of strange animals very unlike polar bears – hippos and elephants and giraffes. At school, Ice cannot understand anything the other children say to her, and when they give her a banana as a sign of trying to make friends, she tastes it and finds it very unlike fish. Will Ice adjust to her new surroundings? Of course she will, and the expected happy ending makes everything all right. It is the pictures that make this book highly memorable. Full of imaginative illustrations such as Ice and her mum taking a whale as a mode of transport to the new country and an elephant on roller skates becoming a bus, the cold blues and whites of the North Pole turn into the bright oranges, yellows and reds of the jungle country. Ice has a toy fish that she carries everywhere with her, and this provides comfort and solace when she is unhappy. We can well understand why her mum’s hug is the only familiar thing she feels in this new place, but we also find there is hope in new friends. Hofmann-Maniyar is a new talent to enjoy.


ES Daddy’s Sandwich HHHH


Pip Jones, ill. Laura Hughes, Faber and Faber, 978-0-57131-182-8, £12.99 hbk


No ordinary sandwich here, and what small child would not love this amazing picture book to bits! We watch, seeing that this little girl knows exactly how to manage her daddy. Her eyes speak volumes! But now she does want to please, by making him a sandwich using all his favourite ingredients. She is an observant child, so in go cheese, tomato, and biscuits dunked in tea. Adding other favourite ingredients, including his cosy old slippers, his TV remote, she delights in showing us in


I’m absolutely thrilled to see this book, first published in the early 1960s, back in print, particularly as it’s by one of my all time favourite creators of picture books.


Swimmy is the only small black fish living among a school of red ones. He’s very happy until the other fish are consumed in one gulp by a large and very hungry tuna fish, and he’s left by himself. Off swims a sad, lonely little Swimmy into the ocean where he encounters all kinds of wonderful marine life such as medusoid jellyfish,


the pictures just how easy it really is! In goes his tool-belt, followed by his deckchair! She begins to think of all HER things her dad loves … her drawings go in, her pop-up books, her paddling pool. Here comes the pause whilst we hold our breath and study the detailed, intriguing illustrations. The pictures keep up with each addition to the sandwich, but we don’t see the final edifice until the final page when Daddy is called in, for his sandwich is ready. The little girl sits atop, holding a slice of bread on top of her head, a cheeky smile on her face. Full of energy, this is a delightful tale, and will encourage lots of small people to try building fantasy – and real! – sandwiches in their own home or nursery. It would make an apt Father’s Day gift!


GB Slug Needs a Hug! HHHH


Jeanne Willis & Tony Ross, 32pp, 978-1-78344-119-8, £11.99 hbk


Slug needs to make himself more huggable; perhaps if he’s more cuddly his mummy will hug him. He sets off to gain valuable advice from his animal friends … He needs to be fluffier, he needs feathers and he needs a ‘handsome goatee beard’. Full of comical illustrations this is a fun rhyming read with quite an important message. Of course his mummy loves him just as he is; he doesn’t need to change. She might not be able to physically hug him but she can show her love in other ways. Very sweet. HH


Swimmy HHHHH


Leo Lionni, Andersen Press, 32pp, 978-1-78344-175-4, £6.99 pbk


mechanical-like lobsters, all manner of strange fish, magical-seeming seaweed and much more, all of which serve to make him happy once again.


But then he comes upon another school of little red fish hidden away, and hears that they too fear for their lives. So, it’s down to the tiny Swimmy to become the driving force behind – or should that be ’in front of’? – a whole new way of being and seeing; a way that enables him and all his new-found friends to move together as one and get the better of the marauding black monster fish whose lunch they might otherwise become.


Wonderful figurative language (‘A lobster, who walked about like a water-moving machine …’) and glorious paint/print undersea scenes (immediately recognizable as such by members of one group of 4s to 6s I shared this with) grace the pages of this enchanting book, which is also a celebration of teamwork and the imagination. This is a book (in a now very worn, previous incarnation) that I’ve read year in year out for longer than I care to remember; and can now continue to do so, for as long as I continue sharing books with young listeners and readers, thanks to Andersen Press.


JB Follow That Car HHH


Lucy Feather, illustrated by Stephan Lomp, Nosy Crow, 32pp, 978-0-85763-384-2, £10.99 hbk


Big, bold and bright, this fun car chase adventure is a visual feast for the eyes with a transport theme that will impress young motor enthusiasts. Mouse is on his motorbike and he’s trying to catch up Gorilla in his car. Each spread shows a tangle of roads that are busy with traffic. Children must work out Mouse’s route and avoid getting stuck behind snowfalls, pedestrians and clusters of sheep along the way. How will Mouse ever catch Gorilla, and what is it he wants him for anyway? This interactive picture book has instant appeal; it’s particularly impressive in its larger hardback format, and with all the detail inside and the inevitable hours of fun, it is really good value.


KC This Is My Rock HHHH


David Lucas, Flying Eye Books, 32pp, 978-1-90926-350-5, £11.99, hbk


This Is My Rock is a very personal book for the author. Telling the story of a goat who likes to play King of the Castle at the top of his rock all day long, it was inspired both by the sibling rivalry that David Lucas experienced as one of six brothers and also his childhood love of the Ladybird book Three Billy Goats Gruff. The book is dedicated to one of his brothers who died last year.


The goat refuses to share the top of his rock with any of his three fellow goats. Various animals try to join him, but each one is met with the same repeating refrain: ‘This is my rock. Not


Books for Keeps No.212 May 2015 21


your rock’. Then, when the rocks and skies are finally empty, he yodels and dances on the top of his rock to celebrate his ownership. But as night falls, he realises that he is tired, hungry and very much alone. So the next day, he decides to share his rock and goes off to find his three fellow goats, only to discover on his return that the mountaintop has been claimed by a new occupant.


This book is great fun for young children, as the refrain is repetitive, allowing pre-readers to quickly join in with the words. The colourful images are detailed and offer plenty of potential prompts for young children to retell the story for themselves. It’s also a powerful and timeless story about the power of sharing and the meaning of friendship.


GR Blown Away HHHHH


Rob Biddulph, HarperCollins Children’s Books, 32pp, 978-0-00759-382-8, £6.99 pbk


Everyone knows penguins don’t fly. Or do they? Well you're a penguin with a red kite and there's a strong wind, perhaps you do. And Penguin Blue does, flying around the world making friends on the way.


From the cleverly designed end pages to the moment of lift off and on through Penguin’s journey, the reader is carried away to join the flight. It is not just the movement created by the way Penguin Blue flies across the pages clinging on to his red kite that pulls the reader on. Biddulph carries us along through his clever use of colour and page spreads. Thus we move from the white cold of Penguin’s home through the blue of the sky to the lush greens of the tropical jungle and back again. The text is simple and direct; no unnecessary description, the illustrations provide all the background – not to mention the joke. The design is straightforward, eschewing tricks to ensure maximum effect. This is an accomplished debut that deserves to be recommended to all.


FH


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