reviews 5 – 8 Infant/Junior continued


The illustrations are outstanding. Full of cold and snow and bleakness in the beginning, they become brighter and brighter until the final two-page spread is crammed with light and colour and happy people sharing happy tasks. A brilliant (in every sense of the word) production. ES


Bea by the Sea HHHH


Jo Byatt, Child’s Play Ltd, 978 1 78628 469 3, 32pp,£6.99 pbk


Bea just loves lions, and has vast library of information books on the species. She also dreams about them. Would lions like bubble baths? Do they visit the dentist? But living beside the sea is a problem for Bea, for she just HATES sand. She thinks it is too gritty, too sticky and too scratchy, especially when it gets between her toes. When Mum persuades her to come to the beach for the day, (Bea with her wellies on,) they find it full of sand sculptures, including one of a large life-size


lion. Having miraculously


come to life, Lion befriends Bea and soon they are playing all sorts of games which involve removing her boots and slowly learning to enjoy the feel of the sand. Meantime, Lion reveals that his fear is of the water, as Bea eventually goes into the sea to get the sand from her hands. Both characters are helped to overcome a dislike/fear by sharing it. Young readers will enjoy reading about how Bea comes to love the beach, even when next day they return, searching for Sandlion, only to find all the sculptures washed away by the tide. The final page shows a delighted Bea who then makes her very own lion sculpture, with a mane as prickly and bobbled as her own. The endpapers are littered with information boxes; at the front, centred on lions. Did you know a male lion’s roar can be heard up to 8km away? Or that lions may sleep for up to 20 hours a day? They are top hunters, eating buffalo, deer, warthog, wildebeest and zebra.….and it is usually the females that hunt. The book closes with end papers full of information about sand. Did you know that the tallest sandcastle ever built (so far!) measured 17.65metres? It was built in Germany in 2019. The longest beach is in Brazil, about 240km long. Sand is used to make glass, concrete and bricks. These papers add a finishing touch to a gentle book and will encourage readers to explore them for themselves. GB


Howard the Average Gecko


Wendy Meddour, ill. Carmen Saldana, Oxford, 32pp, 978 0 19 277734 8, £6.99 pbk


The key character in this fascinating book He


is Howard the considers himself the


gecko. only


camouflaged creature in the forest, so brilliantly camouflaged that he


HHHH


really deserves a prize. So he is amazed as well as shocked to be told by exasperated bees, beetles, birds and butterflies that they are ALL camouflaged, but he is too busy noticing himself to realise. They tell him he is …just average, an idea which appals Howard. He believes that no one will ever love him if he is just an average gecko. But into the picture comes the most beautiful creature he has ever seen. ‘Her skin is wrinkly. Her fingertips are gloopy. Her eyes wobble about like spinning moons.’ Howard thinks she is MAGNIFICENT. But other creatures call her…average. So, one doesn’t have to be special to be loved? Indeed. Rich glowing colours flood every page, and the camouflaged creatures hidden in the forest are worth seeking. The final page gives more information on camouflage, how it can help an animal hide from would-be predators. The camouflage can be of colour, or pattern, and some creatures, like geckos, can change colour to match their immediate surroundings. GB


Penny and the Little Lost Puppy


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Emily Sutton, Walker Books, 32pp, 978 1 4063 8276 1, £12.99 hbk


Moving home is often difficult especially when you’ve had to leave all your friends behind like Penny in artist Emily Sutton’s debut as both author and illustrator. Imagine her joy then when as she sits under an old apple tree in the back garden, out of the bushes appears a little dog that, far from being scary, clearly wants to play. By the end of the day with a new lively friend, Penny feels very different about things and can’t wait for the following day when they can play together again. Next day however, there’s no sign of


the little dog so Dad suggests visiting the shops and asking if anyone has seen the animal. They certainly get to know the new town and shopkeepers a bit better, but of the little dog there is apparently no sign, so the newcomers make their way back home. As they approach their house, a neighbour’s door opens and what should bound out but Penny’s canine companion from the previous day. Moreover she’s swiftly followed by a little boy who introduces his pet as Smudge and himself as Bill. Soon Penny is having a tea party


in her new home to celebrate not one but two new friends. Illustrations


crammed cornucopia of colourful


with a details,


particularly the shopping and park pages, positively cry out to readers to join in the quest to find the missing dog which may only become apparent in a retrospective perusal. JB


8 – 10 Junior/Middle


an intriguing and ramshackle building full of life and activity. There are changes for Lara (Erin’s


mum) too when she loses her job. A skilled and creative cook, Lara enters a cookery competition hoping this will be the answer to their financial problems.


Unfortunately, she is


unsuccessful. Concerned, Erin and her friends help her find a new role when a leader is suddenly needed for the Community Centre’s cookery club. Skipton House Community Centre becomes pivotal Lara’s


in both Erin and lives. Unfortunately, Erin The Weather Weaver HHHH


Tamsin Mori, Uclan Publishing, 322pp, 978-1912979455, £7.99 pbk


A stormy island in the Shetlands provides the setting for Tamsin Mori’s debut, a story of magic and old myth. Eleven-year-old Stella is staying there with her grandpa and finding things difficult: it’s her first visit since her grandma died, and the atmosphere in their cottage is very different now, and much sadder.


After one


particularly big row with her grandpa, she runs out onto the clifftops where she encounters the mysterious Tamar who, to Stella’s astonishment, reveals that she has magical gifts. Stella, it appears, is a weather weaver, able to commend and control clouds and the wind. Indeed, she is able to pull a cloud out of the sky. When the island is threatened by a sea witch, Tamar and Stella, with the help of the clouds and Grandpa form an unlikely team of heroes to stand against her. It’s a story that makes the most of old magic and of its wild backdrop, while the idea of having a cloud as a best friend will intrigue readers – Nimbus, as Stella calls him, is a wonderful mix of reassuring companion and cheeky, badly behaved puppy, though with the added advantage of being able to provide ‘cloud cover’ when necessary from attacks generated by the evil witch. The plot scuds along like clouds on a spring day and it’s a commendable debut. More adventures for Stella and Nimbus are promised. MMa


The Cooking Club Detectives HHHH


Ewa Jozefkowicz, Zephyr, 244pp, 978 1 789543605, £7.99, pbk


Erin Bellisima, our young narrator,


is facing lots of changes as she begins her story, she has just moved to a new flat and has to start a new school too. Fortunately, she makes friends and develops new interests when she starts attending activities at Skipton House Community Centre,


discovers the community centre is under threat from a mystery buyer. Who could this be and how can they be stopped? Erin and her friends Tanya, Sam and Frixos become the cookery club detectives determined to solve the mystery. This is a warm and engaging story with appealing characters. Many themes are explored such as settling into a new school and making friends, including with those whose lifestyle is very different


from your of community own.


It also touches on bigger themes such as food poverty, the impact of unemployment, online bullying, the importance


another centres


and the potential power of activism. Healthy cooking on a budget is focus and seven recipes


are sprinkled throughout the book to tempt young cooks to create their own Fantabulous Fatijas, Perfect Pizza and of course when the mystery is solved, celebratory Banana Bread. SMc


Coyote’s Soundbite – a poem for our planet


HHHH


John Agard, ill. Piet Grobler, Lantana, 30pp, 978 1 911373 5, £12.99, hbk


The rainforest is buzzing with news that the Earth goddesses are having a conference to discuss what should be done to save the planet and stop humans destroying it. Coyote is keen to attend and is undeterred by the fact this is a female only event. He decides to go in disguise and wearing his wife’s blue dress, with matching shoes and handbag, he arrives undetected. The conference begins and one by one, the Earth goddesses make their speeches relating creation stories


from cultures around the


world. As he listens an idea occurs to Coyote and he decides to interject to make his point. He tells the speakers and delegates that what the Earth goddesses need is a soundbite to get their message across. Coyote’s suggestion received.


after successfully infiltrating the conference Coyote is surprised


to


discover that he is not the only one who has been playing tricks, his wife has too.


Books for Keeps No.248 May 2021 25


is enthusiastically On returning home,


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