picture book

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.

 

Win Mister Whistler by Margaret Mahy and Gavin Bishop

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Mister Whistler is the wonderful new picture book by Margaret Mahy, with stunning illustrations by Gavin Bishop.  I absolutely love Mister Whistler and it’s my favourite New Zealand picture book of the year (you can read my review here).  Everyone should have this book on their bookshelf!

Thanks to everyone who entered.  This competition is now closed.

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: 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.

This Moose Belongs to Me book trailer

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This Moose Belongs to Me is the stunning new picture book written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers.  He is one extremely talented guy who always creates wonderful picture books, and this is no exception.  It’s available in NZ this month and you can read my review on Monday.

Picture Book Nook: In the Lion by James Foley

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‘In the city there’s a zoo.  In the zoo there’s a lion.  And in the lion there’s…’  Richard and his family are visiting the zoo one day when they witness the lion swallowing the zoo dentist whole!  This is only the first of many things that end up ‘in the lion.’  Will anybody be able to stop the lion?

In the Lion is a hilarious picture book about a very hungry lion and the havoc that he causes.  The story gets sillier and sillier at more and more things end up in the lion.  Children will be laughing out loud because they’ll figure out very quickly what is going to happen next.  Just when you think you know what is going to happen on the next page, James Foley surprises us and brings in the hero of the story.  I love James’ illustrations because there are lots of extra details that you might not notice the first time (look at the shadows and reflections on each page). The expressions of the characters in the story (both people and animals) are hilarious, especially at the end of the book.  Every page in the book is illustrated and full of colour, including the very cool end papers.  If there was an award for the best picture book cover it would have to go to In the Lion because it’s absolutely fantastic and will really appeal to children.

The story works well as a read-aloud, but is even better for one-on-one sharing so that you can make the most of the illustrations.  James Foley is a very talented author and illustrator and I’ll look forward to reading more of his picture books.

Picture Book Nook: A Hare, A Hound and Shy Mousey Brown by Julia Hubery

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The best picture books are those where the text and the illustrations are perfectly matched.  Even though the author and illustrator may have worked in different parts of the world, the book is so perfect that they could have been working side by side.  A Hare, a Hound and Shy Mousey Brown, written by Julia Hubery and illustrated by Jonathan Bentley is one of those rare picture books.

‘There’s a hare in the air, there’s a hound on the ground, and watching them both is shy Mousey Brown.’  On the first page we meet these three very different characters.  The hare is bouncing around, full of joy, while Mousey Brown watches on, hoping the hare will notice him.  But when the fearless hare dances right up to the hound and tries to wake him, Mousey Brown has to be brave and save the hare from the hound’s jaws.

A Hare, a Hound and Shy Mousey Brown is a beautifully illustrated picture book, full of joy, mischief, and three very loveable characters.  Julia Hubery’s rhyming text begs to be read aloud and it simply rolls off your tongue.  It’s the sort of story that’s perfect to act out because of the three different characters and their very different personalities.  The hare has lots of energy and is always bouncing around, the dog is pretending to sleep, and Mousey Brown is just watching from afar and trying to warn the hare.  Jonathan Bentley’s illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and he’s perfectly captured the personalities of the three different characters.  The illustrations are cute but full of character.  I love the way that Jonathan has captured the complete joy and carefree nature of the hare, the irritation of the hound, and the admiration and worry of Mousey Brown.  Even before I opened the book and read the wonderful story inside, Jonathan’s front cover grabbed me and I knew it was going to be special.

Like Mousey Brown, my heart goes pitter-pat-pounding with love for Julia and Jonathan’s book.  I hope that we see more picture books by this amazing duo.

Picture Book Nook: The Giant’s Loo Roll by Nicholas Allan

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Kids love a good book full of toilet humour.  The best of those books are the ones where the author is clever, not just trying to get as many poos and wees in as they can.  Nicholas Allan’s latest picture book, The Giant’s Loo Roll, is one of those books and it’ll have kids in fits of giggles.

The giant is sitting on the toilet one day when he drops his toilet roll and it rolls off down the hill.  Follow the giant’s loo roll as it hurtles through town, leaving havoc in its wake.  What will the townsfolk do with all the enormous sheets of paper?  They use it for painting, making paper planes, paper pants and even more toilet rolls.  Eventually the loo roll comes to a stop and the townsfolk roll it back to the giant – just in time!

The Giant’s Loo Roll is a classic Nicholas Allan story, that’s funny and a little bit naughty.  The rhyming text rolls off your tongue as you follow the loo roll down through town.  There’s an environmental message in the story, as the townsfolk find all sorts of ways to recycle and reuse the giant toilet paper.  I’m sure your children could come up with many other uses for the toilet paper. The children that I’ve read the story to especially like the giant paper plane that the school children make to knock over all the teachers.  I really like the way that Nicholas has used anticipation when turning the pages, because children never seem to be able to guess what is going to happen on the next page.  Unlike a lot of giants, this one is friendly and even invites the townsfolk in for a cup of tea.

The Giant’s Loo Roll is perfect for reading aloud with a group or sharing on your lap, and will have children giggling away with every read.

4 out of 5 stars

Win Blue Gnu by Kyle Mewburn

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Blue Gnu is a delightful, tongue-twister of a book about friendship and being different, written by one of our best children’s writers, Kyle Mewburn and illustrated by new talent Daron Parton.  If you’re not already hooked on Kyle Mewburn’s books, you will be once you read Blue Gnu.

Thanks to Scholastic NZ I have 2 copies of Blue Gnu to give away.  All you have to do to get in the draw is enter your name and email address in the form below.  Competition closes Wednesday 15 August (NZ only)

This competition is now closed.  Thanks to everyone who entered.  The winners are Christine and Gabrielle.

Picture Book Nook: The Magical Life of Mr. Renny by Leo Timmers

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The wonderful Gecko Press introduced us to the remarkable Belgian picture book creator, Leo Timmers, when they started to publish his books in English.  He is incredibly talented, not only as a storyteller, but also as an artist.  His illustrations are vibrant and almost seem to jump off the page, so I can’t think of a better illustrator to create a picture book about an artist whose paintings become real.

Mr. Renny is a very good artist.  Whatever he paints looks just like the real thing, but no one wants to buy his paintings.  He has no money, and he’s hungry.  One day a mysterious stranger offers to make Mr. Renny’s dreams become real.  Now whatever he paints becomes real, including a hotdog, a car, and a ship.  But what happens when his friend wants to buy one of his paintings?

The Magical Life of Mr. Renny is a colourful masterpiece that children and adults alike will love.  Like Leo’s other books, including Who’s Driving? and I am the King, the illustrations are bright and vibrant, and he makes them look 3D so they jump off the page.  This is one of those picture books that you want to pick up again and again just to stare at the illustrations and find what you might have missed last time you looked.  Leo adds in lots of little details for you to find, like the goat who has dropped her eggs or finding all of Mr. Renny’s treasures in his mansion.  The story itself is funny and thoughtful and would make a great read aloud.  It promotes lots of discussion about art, greed and friendship, and you could have children talking for hours about what they would paint if their paintings became real. Local author, Bill Nagelkerke has done a fantastic job of translating the book into English and making it flow so well as a read aloud.  Gecko Press’ books are always beautifully designed and this is no exception, from the front cover and the inside flaps to the back cover with its frame design.

Get your hands on the work of art that is The Magical Life of Mr. Renny by Leo Timmers.

5 out of 5 stars