Picture Book Nook

Picture Book Nook: Hey Baby! by Corinne Fenton

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Everybody loves a cute animal photo, especially when it involves baby animals.  The latest picture book by Corinne Fenton is filled with extremely cute photos of baby animals and it’s perfect for sharing snuggled up with your baby.

Corinne’s lovely text is from the point of view of a parent, telling their baby just how special, precious and unique they are.  I love the positive message of the text and parents will love reading it to their baby.  I also really like the layout of the text on the page and the way Corinne has used different colours for the text.  The text is perfectly matched with some beautiful photos of baby animals, from pigs and rabbits, to monkeys and elephants.  When the text talks about eyes and ears, the photos are of baby animals with unique eyes and ears.  The photos are quite extraordinary and will make you laugh (especially the monkeys holding their breath) and make you go ‘awwww’ (especially the baby elephant running along).  I love that there is lots of white space so the focus of you and your baby goes straight to the animals, and that the photos are quite large and close up so that you can see the unique features of the animals.

If you’re looking for that perfect book to give to a newborn baby or for a special book to give to your own baby this Christmas you can’t go past Hey Baby! by Corinne Fenton.  

Picture Book Nook: Bernie and Flora by Annemie Berebrouckx

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Bernie the bear and Flora the duck have been best friends for a long, long time. They enjoy the same things and love to work together in Bernie’s garden, where he grows the most beautiful flowers.

But one day, Flora arrives at Bernie’s house to find that his flowers have all disappeared! And there’s no sign of Bernie either.

Who has taken the flowers? And why? Flora turns detective and questions Bernie’s friends. What she eventually discovers is even more beautiful than Bernie’s garden …

Bernie and Flora, always and forever.

Bernie and Flora is a sweet story about love and friendship.  It’s a story that makes you smile from ear to ear, not only because it’s a very happy story, but because of the feelings that Annemie captures so perfectly.  Her text is wonderful and she uses some beautiful language, like when Bear breathes in the scent of the flowers and ‘feels the joys of spring tickling inside his tummy.’  I love the way that Annemie describes their relationship,

‘They share their little secrets, and their big ones, too.
They love to talk, but being quiet together can be fun as well.’

Annemie’s illustrations are quite simple but she makes good use of the white space and the flowers in Bearnie and Flora’s gardens add splashes of colour.  I like the way that she has given each of the animals a personality, no matter how small a part they may have in the story.  I love Annabel the sheep in her colourful dressing gown and Mo the crow in his paper hat.

There are some quirky wee details at the end of the story too, that make the book extra special.  There is an explanation of Bernie and Flora’s names and a list of different flowers explaining what each of them means.  The book also comes with a colouring page so you can create your own Bernie and Flora masterpiece.

Bernie and Flora is one of those picture books (similar to the wonderful Donkeys from Gecko Press) that I can see adults buying as presents for loved ones.  Although children will enjoy the story, adults will appreciate the message of the story more.

You can get your copy from www.bookisland.co.nz from 11 November.

4 out of 5 stars

Picture Book Nook: Sammy and the Skyscraper Sandwich by Lorraine Francis

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Sammy and the Skyscraper Sandwich is one of the first three titles from new local publisher, Book Island.  The books will be launched on Sunday 11 November at Raumati South Memorial Hall on the Kapiti Coast.

Sammy is a little boy with a huge appetite. The enterprising toddler feels like eating the biggest, tallest sandwich in the world, so he pulls out all the stops. The sandwich soon grows taller than he is, but fortunately there’s a ladder. Sammy saws holes through the ceilings and carries on stacking his sandwich. He can make it even higher by going through the skylight, and with the help of a crane he’s able to top off this creation with an olive and a sprig of parsley. And then … Sammy feels like having a banana.

Sammy and the Skyscraper Sandwich is a picture book bursting with imagination (and sandwich ingredients).  Lorraine Francis’ story is simple and one that kids can relate to, but it also fires their imagination.  It gets you thinking about what ingredients you would use if you were making the world’s biggest sandwich and how tall you would be able to make it without it falling down. You could have a great discussion about whether or not the different ingredients in Sammy’s sandwich would go together well.

Pieter Gaudesaboos’ illustrations are a visual delight.  There is so much to look at on each page, from different types of food to the weird and wonderful objects in Sammy’s attic. The page where Sammy lays out all the ingredients for his sandwich makes my mouth water so you probably shouldn’t read this book when you’re hungry.  I really like all the contraptions that Pieter has created for Sammy to help him build his monstrous sandwich, like his remote control aeroplane for spreading the bread, the fishing line for adding sprinkles to the top, and his crane to help him finish it all off.  My favourite illustration is right at the end when we see the sandwich from bottom to top, and I’m sure children will gaze at it in wonder.  I love the design of the book too, because it’s big and has sturdy cardboard pages.  It isn’t really a board book though (in the traditional sense) because the story is aimed at preschoolers.

Both parents and children will love the ending and will want to go and help Sammy build another skyscraper sandwich.  Grab a copy of Sammy and the Skyscraper Sandwich from your library or bookshop.

 

Picture Book Nook: One Gorilla – A Counting Book by Anthony Browne

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As a kid I loved Anthony Browne’s Willy the Wimp books and The Piggy Book is one of my Mum’s favourites (and probably mother’s everywhere).  It wasn’t until I was older that I really appreciated his books for the illustrations, but once I did I was blown away by the magic that he could create in his pictures.  Anthony Browne has just released a new picture book that’s quite different from anything else he’s done before – a counting book.  But One Gorilla is a counting book like no other.

In One Gorilla children count from one to ten, while exploring the family of primates.  They’ll meet Chimpanzees, Baboons, Gibbons and Colobus Monkeys.  As well as teaching children about numbers, Anthony conveys the message that we’re all alike and members of the same big family, so we have to protect these wonderful animals.

One Gorilla is an eye-catching book, with a big gorilla face smiling at you on the front cover.  The most wonderful thing about this book is that Anthony has given each of the primates a different personality.  Even on the page with 10 Lemurs, no one Lemur is alike.  Each Lemur has a different expression, slightly different colouring, and different shaped heads.  So even though, like humans, they’re the same species, every one is different.  I love the page with the Chimpanzees because you can see every wrinkle of their skin and every hair on their chin, and the adult is looking right at you.  The very last page is fascinating, because you can stare at all the human faces and match them up with a primate from the previous pages.  I can imagine that children will have great fun doing this too.  I also love Anthony Browne’s self-portrait because it’s incredibly life-like.

One Gorilla is a counting book that children young and old can enjoy, and it’s a book that fans of Anthony Browne should absolutely have in their collection.

5 out of 5 stars

Picture Book Nook: I Love Lemonade by Mark and Rowan Sommerset

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Most Kiwi kids will be familiar with Little Baa Baa and Quirky Turkey, the characters in Mark and Rowan Sommerset’s award-winning picture book Baa Baa Smart Sheep.  I had no idea they were planning a sequel, but when I saw I Love Lemonade in a bookshop last week I had to read it.  When you end up getting dirty looks from other customers because you’re laughing out loud in the middle of the store, you know it’s a great book.

I Love Lemonade features the same characters as Baa Baa Smart Sheep, Little Baa Baa and Quirky Turkey.  After being tricked into eating Little Baa Baa’s ‘smarty tablets,’ Quirky Turkey decides it’s payback time.  But has Quirky got what it takes to pull the wool over Baa Baa’s eyes?

I Love Lemonade is absolutely hilarious and is, I think, even better than Baa Baa Smart Sheep.  It’s told in the same way as the first book, with Baa Baa and Quirky having a conversation with each other, using the back and forth speech bubbles.  At first I thought it was just going to be a role reversal of the original story, but it is far better (and funnier) than that.  Eating ‘smarty tablets’ definitely hasn’t made Quirky any smarter, but he’s out for revenge.

I love a story with some good toilet humour and Mark and Rowan write these stories so well.  I certainly don’t think I’ll look at lemonade the same way again (especially when it’s freshly squeezed!).  If you’re cracking up laughing while you’re reading it (like I was) you know that kids are going to love it.

Mark and Rowan are the perfect team and it’s the combination of their text and illustrations that make the book so funny.  You could act out the story, just using Mark’s text and kids would be rolling around on the floor, but Rowan’s illustrations give the characters their personality.  Their facial expressions tell you so much, especially Quirky Turkey’s expressions.  At the beginning, you can tell by the look in his eyes that he thinks he has tricked Baa Baa, and you can see him getting more and more excited as the story progresses.

If you want a picture book that will have you and your kids in stitches grab a copy of I Love Lemonade from your bookshop or library now.

 

Picture Book Nook: Stupid Baby by Stephanie Blake

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One of my favourite picture books from last year was Stephanie Blake’s Poo Bum!, published by the wonderful Gecko Press.  It’s a book that kids immediately love (and end up repeating Simon’s favourite phrase) and divides adults (they either love it or hate it).  Thanks to Gecko Press I have a Poo Bum badge that I wear with pride in the library, which makes a great talking point.  Gecko Press have just published Stephanie Blake’s second book featuring Simon the rabbit, Stupid Baby, and it’s just as hilarious as Poo Bum!

In Stupid Baby, Simon has just gotten a new baby brother.  Simon is always getting told off because he’s making too much noise.  Of course, Simon doesn’t like his new brother at all and wants the ‘stupid baby’ to go back to where he came from.  His parents tell him that the baby is here to stay, but he won’t stay forever will he? What a stupid baby!

Stupid Baby is a spectacular picture book!  I loved Simon in Poo Bum and he is certainly on fine form in this book.  He’s such an amusing character, who is pretty horrible, but loveable at the same time.  Although he acts all tough and mean, he worries just as much as most kids.  He’s scared of the dark and the wolves that are coming to get him, and he’s scared that his baby brother might stay forever.  The text is simple, but the wonderful translation and the design of the text make the story special.  The variation of the text size helps the reader to put the emphasis in the right place, whether it’s the Ka-boom! of the rocket or whispering around the teeny, tiny baby.  Stephanie Blake’s illustrations are big, bold and bright (similar to Lucy Cousins’ illustrations) making them appealing to kids.  There is no white space in Stupid Baby, every page is colourful.  The bright red cover, with Simon in his superhero outfit, jumps off the shelf and shouts ‘READ ME!’  I love the page where Simon is worrying about all sorts of things, as his expression goes from worried to angry.  I also love Simon’s wide-eyed expression when he’s worrying about the wolves.

The ending is unexpected and will have kids rolling around on the floor laughing.  Get a copy of Stupid Baby now and meet the worst role model in the picture book world.

Picture Book Nook: If You’re a Kiwi and You Know It! sung by Pio Terei, illustrations by Stevie Mahardhika

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Children love singing and dancing to songs like ‘The Wheels on the Bus,’ ‘Old MacDonald Had a Farm,’ and ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It.’  In the last few years there have been a number of books, based on these action songs, that have been given a Kiwi twist.  Donovan Bixley’s The Wheels on the Bus and Old MacDonald’s Farm, and Do Your Ears Hang Low by The Topp Twins and Jenny Cooper, are recent favourites of mine.  Scholastic New Zealand, along with Kiwi entertainer Pio Terei and illustrator Stevie Mahardhika, have just released a Kiwi version of ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It,’ called If You’re a Kiwi and You Know It!

They have taken the original action song and given it a Kiwi twist by adding in some of our wonderful wildlife.  Kids can join in the song and dig for worms like a kiwi, dive and play like a dolphin, strut around like a pukeko, slither away like an eel, and many more.  The actions are easy to do and you can have a lot of fun pretending to be different creatures.  Stevie Mahardhika’s illustrations are beautiful and they get funnier as you go through the book.  I love how each of the animals pretends to be a different animal (the kiwi and pukeko trying to dive like a dolphin and flap their flippers like a seal are absolutely hilarious!).

The book comes with a great CD of Pio Terei singing the song (and just the guitar accompaniment), as well as a Te Reo Maori version of the song.  Thank you so much Scholastic New Zealand for including the Te Reo version of the song on the CD and for including the Te Reo lyrics in the back of the book (rather than as a separate book).  This is a godsend for librarians like myself who will use this book and CD in their preschool sessions in the library, and for parents all over the country.  We certainly need more bilingual books of this quality.  Get a copy of If You’re a Kiwi and You Know It! from your library or bookshop now, and sing and dance along with our wonderful wildlife.

4 out of 5 stars

Picture Book Nook: This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

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When a tiny fish shoots into view wearing a round blue topper (which happens to fit him perfectly), trouble could be following close behind. So it’s a good thing that enormous fish won’t wake up. And even if he does, it’s not like he’ll ever know what happened…

This Is Not My Hat is a perfect picture book. The story is quirky and captures children’s attention, the illustrations are wonderful and the ending is unexpected.  The thing that really makes this picture book stand out for me is that the illustrations tell a slightly different story to the text.  Tiny fish tells us that Big Fish probably won’t wake up for a long time and that he probably won’t notice that his hat is gone, but the illustrations tell us that this is not the case.  The humour of the story comes from these mismatched illustrations and text.  This just goes to show you what an incredibly talented story teller Jon is and the wonderful things that can be achieved in the 32 pages of a picture book.

Jon’s illustrations are quite basic, but he has managed to convey so much humour and emotion on each page.  I love the way that Big Fish’s expression changes when he realises something isn’t quite right and he figures out pretty quickly what has happened.  Jon uses a very limited colour palette in his illustrations (mostly brown, green, blue, grey and black) and these set the tone of the story.  It’s not all bright and colourful so you know straight away that it’s not going to be a bright and happy story.  I like the way that the story moves with the fish (swimming away towards the right) and the way that Jon shows this movement through the bubbles that follow each of the fish.

My absolute favourite thing about This is Not My Hat is the surprise ending that shocks you and also makes you laugh.  After reading I Want My Hat Back I kind of expected a shocking ending but it still made me laugh, and I’m sure children will too.  If you want a picture book that you will enjoy even more than the children you’re reading it to, get a copy of This is Not My Hat from your library or bookshop now.

5 out of 5 stars

Join me tomorrow when I host Jon Klassen on his This is Not My Hat blog tour.  I’ll be asking Jon about being an author/illustrator, how he creates his illustrations, and what he does when he’s not working on books.

Picture Book Nook: Do Your Ears Hang Low sung by The Topp Twins, illustrated by Jenny Cooper

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Last year Scholastic NZ brought Kiwi legends, The Topp Twins, together with one of our top illustrators, Jenny Cooper, to produce a wonderful illustrated edition of the song, There’s a Hole in my Bucket.  Now, this fantastic team have come together once again to produce a very cute and funny, illustrated edition of the song, Do Your Ears Hang Low.

Based on the original song, Do Your Ears Hang Low? is a new arrangement by The Topp Twins, that ties in perfectly with Jenny Cooper’s illustrations.  I’d love to know what came first, the lyrics or the illustrations, because they’re made for each other.  The Topp Twins’ lyrics are funny and you can add some easy actions for children to sing and play along.  Who would have thought there were so many uses for big ears?  The CD of the Topp Twins performing the song (that comes with the book) is a great addition to the book and it’s that classic Topp Twins sound that we love.

I absolutely love Jenny Cooper’s big-eared illustrations!  They’re cute and made me crack up laughing.  Jenny is amazing at capturing animals, especially the wrinkled skin of the dog and the curly fur of the llamas.  The expressions on animals faces are hilarious too.  I love the shock on the dogs face as the mouse ties up his ears, the mellow look on the llama’s face, and the expression of pure joy on the pig’s face.  The animals all look so cuddly and loveable that you just want to give them a big hug.  Book Design have also done a fantastic job of the design of the book, from the layout and size of the very cool font, to the flaps and the cute end papers.

As well as the wonderful song and illustrations, you also get the added extras of some strange, but true facts about ears.  Do Your Ears Hang Low? is the perfect book for Kiwi kids with ears of all shapes and sizes.

4 out of 5 stars

Picture Book Nook: The Man from the Land of Fandango by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Polly Dunbar

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Come to the magical land of Fandango!  There’s dancing and music, with bears, bisons, baboons, kangaroos and even dinosaurs.  Most amazing of all is the Man from the Land of Fandango himself.  He bingles and bangles and bounces, and he’s coming to give you a call.  Are you ready for the party?

Reading The Man from the Land of Fandango is like stepping into Margaret Mahy’s imagination.  You can imagine that all these wonderful things would have been flying inside her head.  When she describes the man from the Land of Fandango it’s like she is describing herself.  Someone who brings joy and excitement to children and ‘is given to dancing and dreams’ sounds exactly like Margaret.  Her wonderful poem is full of her characteristic wordplay, and the rhythm and rhyme bounces you along.  I especially love the alliteration, like ‘jingles and jongles and jangles’ and ‘he juggles with junkets and jam in a jar.’  This is the third book of Margaret’s that Polly Dunbar has illustrated and her style is just perfect for Margaret’s wacky poems.  Polly’s illustrations are magical and full of joy and laughter.  I love that the children never stop smiling from beginning to end.  Her illustrations make you want to jump right into the book and join in the fun with the bears, baboons, dinosaurs and The Man from the Land of Fandango.  Even the words on the page look like they’re having fun in this book, as they dance all over the place.

You won’t be able to stop yourself from reading The Man from the Land of Fandango out loud, because the words just roll off your tongue.  Just like Margaret and Polly’s other collaborations, Bubble Trouble and Down the Back of the Chair, this will certainly become a favourite that children will beg to be read again and again.

5 out of 5 stars