BfK 5 – 8 Infant/Junior continued


warming demonstration of the power of friendship, working together and the pleasures of finding your own talent. Those illustrations of Jane’s will, I suspect inspire many children to try creating their own avian collages. JB.


Danny McGee Drinks the Sea HHHH


Andy Stanton, illus Neal Layton, Hodder Children’s Books, 32pp, 978-1-4449-2876-1, £12.99 hbk.


‘I bet I can drink it!’ says Danny McGee looking at the sea; and he does. But that is not the end – far from it, as Danny sets out to swallow anything and everything.


lions and meerkats? Not one is visible though something has left


After a disappointing wander around, it’s time to board the bus once more and off it goes leaving Mia and Max behind. (Surely that teacher of theirs has heard of risk assessments – at the very least she should have done a head count.) Conveniently, the two


prepared for a long stay and they, as they have been doing all along, make the most of things. What they weren’t prepared for though is what happens when midnight strikes: that’s when the zoo truly comes alive and the magic begins. In the company of a friendly lion cub, Max and Mia feast their eyes on exotic scenes ‘loud, laughing lemurs with lanterns alight …’ prancing, partying pandas, dancing flamingos and much more to marvel at until finally, in the warm embrace of two kingly cats, the children drop off to sleep. What stories they’ll have to tell morning,


come


believe them? I loved the 3d aerial map showing


but will anybody


Old Lady who having swallowed a fly continues to swallow creatures ever bigger until she bursts; many may recall the frisson that greeted the arrival of Angry Arthur. Danny is very much in this tradition, and the awful expectation of a dramatic ending is all part of the fun; because nothing is quite certain. After all the whole situation is absurd. But Andy Stanton is a master of the absurd, his cheerful rhyming text takes the reader – eyes growing ever wider – through an escalating list of things Danny swallows. Even these are


ranging from pies and peas to the weather girl off the TV (not it seems the TV!). Of course, it doesn’t stop there and Danny is eventually left on a blank page, alone – or is he? The denouement is unsettling, satisfying and


illustrations


spirit of Danny’s escapade as they fizz with energy and irrepressible spirit. The details are infectious from the horrified look on the face of the Statue of Liberty to the enormous straw that is the start of it all. This is a picture book to delight readers young - and old, and deserves to become a staple of storytime, whether in the classroom or at bedtime. FH


Midnight at the Zoo HHHHH


Faye Hanson, Templar Publishing, 48pp, 978-1-7837-0327-2, £11.99 hbk


It promises to be an exciting day for


siblings, Max and Mia: it’s the school trip to the zoo. Excitement rises as they enter the zoo gates but as they wander


seems oddly devoid of animals: where are the lemurs, flamingos, pandas and salamanders? And what of the


around, the whole place


very funny. Neal capture


the


Layton’s anarchic


absurd Readers will be familiar with the


the layout of the daytime zoo, dotted with the not-to-scale animals on the front endpaper and the fantastical star and butterfly-spangled kingdom of the midnight zoo at the back. In between there is so much more to enjoy in Faye Hanson’s illustrations: the


excitement and gleeful exuberance in her large-scale spreads, games for the reader, of spot the animal in the smaller frames and images of the nocturnal adventures in a magical world seemingly drawn from the myth, fantasy and rich colours of India, the Far East and South America. JB


The Building Boy HHHH


Ross Montgomery, ill. David Litchfield, Faber & Faber, 32pp, 978-0-5713-1409-6, £12.99 hbk


The special bond that so often exists between child and grandparent is celebrated in this story of a little boy and his grandmother. Once a famous architect,


her memories of her award-winning career, and her dreams of the future with her grandson, dreams of the wonderful house she would one day build for the two to share. Dreams they would have to remain though, for Grandma is getting older and older – too frail for climbing upstairs let alone constructing houses: and then one day, inevitably, she dies. Determined to keep her memory


alive, the boy works relentlessly in all weathers constructing an enormous mechanical structure


figure. Staring into her eyes, he utters the words, ‘Grandma, wake up.’ This somehow brings the figure to life, whereupon the two take off on a magical journey across land and sea towards an unfinished building, just waiting for the final portion to be slotted into


that must surely be Grandma’s final resting place and the beginning of something else – a fit memorial to a


22 Books for Keeps No.221 November 2016 of a female Grandma loved sharing children’s mood of wild are well traces.


special person if ever there was one. There’s a dreamlike,


quality about this whole bittersweet story of love, loss and discovering your path in life. David Litchfield’s wondrous scenes are packed full of emotion. The way he uses light and dark adds that eerie glow of otherworldliness


an enchanted flight of warmth and tenderness for readers and listeners to ponder upon. Whoever it was at Faber that paired


whimsical


to the problem of how to wash an elephant in a cooking pot. This title


Racing Reads series to what becomes


these two up made an inspired choice, which deserves congratulating, as well a as the creators of this wonderful and unusual book. JB


Ossiri and the Bala Mengro HHHH


Richard O’Neill and Katharine Quarmby, ill. Hannah Tolson, Child’s Play, 32pp, 978 1 84643 924 7, £5.99 pbk


Best


glossary, tucked at the bottom of the publisher’s page, as to many, some words used in this book will be unfamiliar. (A bala mengro of the title is a hairy person.) Ossiri is a traveller girl, and with her extended family she collects old clothes, scrap iron and broken furniture, often mending latter before selling them on. Ossiri loves music, and when her family play she is enthralled, wanting to be able to play like them. Despite her father saying they can’t afford to buy an instrument for her to learn, she clings to her dream. She decides to make herself an instrument. Using a branch from the wood she adds strings and jangles, and anything she can find around their camp which will make a sound. She names it her Tattin Django (recycling music). Devastated that everyone, including cows and birds, hates the raucous sounds she produces, she is warned by a new neighbour that if she makes that noise and wakes the fearful ogre, Bala Mengro, she will be in terrible trouble. The resolution of the tale is very cleverly told, with a lesson to be learnt ... let your music-making come from the heart and not for gain! With quirky pictures throughout, this book will illuminate a different way of life, while showing how determination and perseverance can pay off. GB


A Jar of Pickles and a Pinch of Justice


HHH


Chitra Soundar, ill. Uma Krishnaswamy, Walker, 96pp, 978 1 4063 6467 5, £5.99 pbk


place. The place


This volume of four short stories is subtitled Stories from India and continues the exploits of Prince Veera and his friend Suku, begun in A Dollop of Ghee and a Pot of Wisdom. In the absence of the King, Prince Veera’s father, the two friends help to settle some of the problems his subjects bring to the court. Each tale sees the boys thinking their way through various moral and ethical problems caused by greed, jealousy or anger to find a fair solution. These Indian versions


present a range of characters and dilemmas


thief, a wicked uncle and five fools from a pickle-swapping of trickster tales to start by reading the


confident readers with the text of each short story broken up by black and white illustrations.


combining Indian folklore, culture and storytelling with themes of problem- solving and fairness, should prove to be a useful classroom resource. SR


The Great Big Body Book HHHH


Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith (ill), Frances Lincoln, 40pp, 978-1-8478-0872-1, £12.99 hbk.


Like the other titles in The Great Big Book series, The Great Big Body Book explores an important subject with a light touch. Young readers and listeners from every heritage will see boys and girls just like themselves as they are taken through the growing and


different stages from birth to death. The amazing development that takes place in babies’ first year as they become able to smile, walk and talk is shown through amusing pictures – for example we see a baby eating in a delightfully


Children will be entertained, too, by the observation that if we kept up the rate of growing that babies do in their first year ‘we’d all be giants!’ ‘Kittens can walk at FIVE days old’ boasts the


witty speech bubble comments can be found on every spread. Hoffman and Asquith take on issues


the implications of an individual’s gender – not everyone ‘fits neatly into a ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ box’. The spreads showing middle childhood celebrate the


achieved like swimming, cycling and climbing and remind us that minds are developing as well as bodies. The physical changes that come about in the teenage years as puberty takes hold are explained and the issues to do with spots, examinations and the search for an identity are addressed with humour and reassurance that most people cope well. Changes and challenges continue into adulthood and


about the stages of pregnancy and of the demands and joys of family life. Throughout the book a succinct but


which they can be different. We see a picture of a little boy with one short and one long arm and, near the end of the book, a young artist paints from her wheelchair. Interspersed between the


through time are some with useful information


and minds fit through exercise and a balanced diet. The physical


aging body is heir to are not avoided. However, a chart shows the fine achievements of some older people: Mary Wesley published her first adult novel at 71 and Teiichi Igarashi climbed Mount Fuji at age 100! The section on ‘Dead Bodies’ shows a family looking sad by the grave of a loved one. Some comfort is offered:


limitations that an about


tracing development keeping bodies


spreads point out those ways in young readers are informed


skilful written text and lively pictures show the ways in which human beings are similar at particular life stages, but also


many physical competencies like little tabby cat whose messy manner. changing that happens at The stories, newly


forms part of Walker’s for


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