REVIEWERS IN THIS ISSUE BfK


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. Jane Churchill is a children’s book consultant. Katie Clapham runs specialist children’s bookshop Storytellers, Inc. in Lancaster. 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. Ferelith Hordon is a former children’s librarian and editor of Books for Keeps 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. Jana Novotny Hunter is an author and editor. 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 Reece is a marketing consultant and Managing Editor of Books for Keeps Sue Roe is a children’s librarian. Elizabeth Schlenther is the compiler of www.healthybooks.org.uk Lynne Taylor is Schools Programme Manager, Paper Nations. Nicholas Tucker is honorary senior lecturer in Cultural and Community Studies at Sussex University. Sue Unstead is a writer and publishing consultant


Home in the rain HHHHH


Bob Graham, Walker Books, 32pp, 978-1-4063-6823-9, £11.99 hbk


A family is on its way home in the pouring rain – Mum, Francie , and Baby Sister. Their little red car must battle through the downpour keeping the little group warm and dry while outside the rest of the world is drips. But what will they call Baby Sister who still a bump? Can they decide before Dad gets home? A new picture book from Bob


Graham is always a treat. This is no exception. As usual he takes a small everyday incident and shines


spotlight on it. We feel the connection between Francie and her Mum, the love that links them to Grandma in her house, to Dad out at sea - and the real presence of a baby still to be born. We are safe and warm in the little car, while outside the rain drums down. We feel the hard drops as they hit the waters of the canal, we shiver with the baby rabbit soaking in the grass and Marcus wishing he was at home. Graham creates the atmosphere not through excessive description; his prose is quiet, low key. Rather it is his illustrations that draw us in. The rain streaks across the pages, the water sprays out from under the traffic wheels. Above all there are the details, the different perspectives, nothing is forgotten. Who else could capture the anxiety, the excitement and the joy of a little girl finding a name for a sister, yet to be born. For those who wonder where the name comes from look at the quotation with which Graham prefaces his story. Exceptional. FH


Let’s Feed the Ducks 978-1-911402-02-2


Let’s Have Fun 978-1-911402-03-9


Let’s Go to Playgroup 978-1-911402-04-6


Let’s Go to Bed 978-1-911402-05-3


HHHH


Pamela Venus, Firetree Books,14pp, £5.99 each board book


There are a lot of good concept books for the under-fives on the market but these stand up well to the competition. They recognise diversity in much more than a token way and the action packed pictures, full of life and colour, tap engagingly into the experiences of the very young. The text is simple but not banal and the


and adult ring true. In Let’s Feed the Ducks we have one of those familiar quick exchanges. ‘Ready?’ said Dad. ‘Nearly’, said Max. ‘Let’s go to the ducks!’ Then we are taken on the walk to the pond through lively text and


conversations between child


three books have a playful rhyming text. So in Let’s Go to Playgroup we find ‘Sand and sea, for Nita and me’ accompanying pictures of two small


detailed the


reviews Under 5s Pre – School/Nursery/Infant


girls playing with sand and water trays. This book goes up a stage when children learn about routines and how to get along well with other children. Let’s Have Fun shows young children enjoying adventures at the swings but a little boy is glad his mother is nearby to comfort him when he slips. Let’s Go to Bed shows Mimi’s soothing rituals, tracking down her bear and enjoying splish splashing in the bath before settling down in her bed while her mother reads her a story. At first children will look at the


to enjoy it.


illustrator of Little Rabbit Foo Foo amongst


captures this mischievous cat, one we hope readers will meet later in life in T. S. Eliot’s original poem. A treat to be enjoyed over and again. GB


Topsy Turvy Animals


pictures as the sharing adult reads the text. But they will soon be able to recognise words that are strongly contextualised and so be helped to begin the journey towards getting meaning from print. These books deserve a place in play group and nursery school collections and are likely to be favourites at home too. MM


A Dot in the Snow HHHH


Corinne Averiss illus Fiona Woodcock, Oxford, 32pp, 9780192744265, £11.99hbk


Mikki is a polar bear cub. Venturing away from his mother to explore he sees a red dot in the snow; a little girl. Time to play – but when an accident happens, can Mikki help? And as darkness falls and the polar white surrounds them, where is mum? This gentle little story may be set in an icy landscape but it conveys the warmth of friendship, especially between childrent. It also reassures the young reader as both characters find themselves back where they belong. A conventional story, perhaps, but neatly told without fuss and with a pleasing directness. Fiona Woodward’s illustrations capture the space and cold of the Arctic world, while the vivid red of the little girl’s coat - the only colour against the cool whites, greys and an icy blue – creates a focus for the friendship between the two as well as emphasising their difference. An attractive picture book, beautifully packaged ready to share. FH


Macavity’s Not There! HHHH


T.S.Eliot, ill. Arthur Robins, Faber & Faber, 16pp, 978-0-5713-2863-5, £9-99 board book


Oh, Macavity! T. S. Eliot’s well-loved feline


interactive board book. The cat character on the cover intrigues, as Macavity stands there with a huge hunk of iced layer cake, a sneaky expression on his face. There’s a question posed on each left hand page: “Is he in the kitchen?” with the repeated response, “Macavity’s


pictures. The other


there!” on the right, an immediate invitation to join in. The well-designed flap reveals just who is hiding where, and on the final page, guess who is hidden under


pawprints across the page may give a clue.


having helped himself to someone’s 3rd birthday cake and hidden away


It is Macavity, of course, the tablecloth! The not lives again in this sparkling HHH


Wes McGee, ill. Tracey Tucker, QED, 24pp, 978-1-78493-596, £10.99 hbk


Topsy Turvy Animals is one of a series of books by this writer and illustrator team which describe a surreal (or topsy-turvy) world. On each page we meet disparate animals


pairs of


unexpected. This is a world where snakes can fly, zebras climb trees and camels strum guitars. Poet Wes McGee’s text is rhythmic with rhyming couplets and word play on each page which invites the reader to join in or predict how the lines might end. The ‘next steps’ section at the back of the book makes this suggestion in fact, together with simple ‘ways in’ for children’s own writing following the same line structure. Ideas for art work are included too. The idea of a ‘topsy-turvy’ world with animals doing crazy things has potential,


children’s own creative writing, but the overall effect in terms of text and illustration is disappointing and a little overwhelming. This is due, in part to the layout which is very hectic, any potential humour from illustrating this upside down world is lost as the pages are so crowded with images. SMc


Time Now to Dream HHHHH


Timothy Knapman, ill. Helen Oxenbury, Walker Books, 32pp, 978 1 4063 6735 5, £12.99


Alice and Jack’s ball game in the meadow is disturbed by a strange noise: ‘Ocka by hay bees unna da reeees’ the


see!” suggests nearby forest. comes the sound


enthusiastic; he’s concerned in case it’s the “Wicked Wolf.” Nevertheless, off they go with Alice reassuringly clutching her little brother’s hand. More sounds are heard and more; Jack’s certain they’re


imagining a big, bad clawed, snap- trap jawed wolf’ and longing for the comfort of snuggly pyjamas. Once again, Alice


lost and is


Then, when the next sound comes, seemingly right in front of them, the dynamic suddenly shifts. “Run!”


home!” But Jack has seen something amazing and not at all alarming. Yes, it is a very large wolf but certainly not a wicked one and she’s not alone. But what is she doing? There’s a clue in the line at the beginning of this review, but I’ll say no more. Every word of Knapman’s text is carefully weighed and his pacing of the tale brilliantly controlled. As


Books for Keeps No.222 January 2017 21 she cries, “All the way encourages bravery. Alice. Jack is less “Let’s go and from particularly in terms of doing the


Arthur Robins (famed others,) energetically


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