World Of Children's Books

Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Picture Book - Love Monster - Rachel Bright (Author & Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

I couldn't resist this. The cover just screams out for the book to be read. That's a glorious picture to have as a front cover. Even if the title does sound like a Heavy Metal album from the 1980s.

Let's face it, this monster is adorably cute. In fact, by the end of the story, my heart was almost breaking for him (I'm a big softie and I cry at anything) as he tried to find love. Being a monster, it's a little hard to come by, although rest assured that everything turns out fine in the end. What I really enjoyed is the style it's written in - it's very engaging to it's audience, it's humorous, and the font used to print the text on the page matches the feeling that we're reading about a monster. It's got a good old fashioned moral message at the end (I approve of these heartily), and it shows that everyone will find love just around the corner one day.

I've mentioned how cute the monster is already, and the rest of the illustrations have a really fun feeling to them (not the world's greatest description, I know, but they're just...fun). It's a book that's going to raise smiles all the way through, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

9/10

Picture Book - Grumpy Cat - Britta Teckentrup (Author & Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

Have you ever seen something in a book and thought, 'Yes! I recognise that! It's ME!'. Well, I hope my cat was paying attention when I read this book out loud, because I swear it could have been written about him.

Now I know all cats can be grumpy, but seriously, this almost perfectly mirrors how my cat made friends with a kitten when we lived in Lincolnshire. The titular grumpy Cat of this story is a bit of a loner until one day he meets Kitten. Kitten is very taken to him, and wants to play, but Cat isn't having any of it. Eventually, Kitten gets into a bit of trouble, and after Cat rescues her, they become best friends. It's not a story that's particularly unusual, but it really did strike a chord with me. Change the fish that Cat brings Kitten at one point to a rabbit, and you've got the story of Octavian and Tilly (my cat and his girlfriend - boy did we feel cruel when we moved house). If you've read my review of Esme's Egg, you'll know I love a grumpy character, and especially so in this case. You're guaranteed to get a giggle if you know that one character's usually grumpy personality is getting taxed with another's boundless enthusiasm.

The illustrations are a very unique style, and I think they're brilliant. If I described them as 'choppy', does that make sense? I don't know. They just seem very 'choppy' to me. In a good way.

Somebody bring me more grumpy animal stories please, there's just something oh-so-charming about them.

9/10

Monday, 4 February 2013

Picture Book - Chilly Milly Moo - Fiona Ross (Author & Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

Yes, I know Christmas was over a month ago, but I have a pile of books I've never got round to reviewing, and you can always view this again next year.

Chilly Milly Moo tells the story of a cow called Milly, who finds it too hot to produce milk. The other cows and farmer can't cheer her up, until the snow comes along. All of a sudden, when the other cows can't produce any milk anymore, Milly is able to produce...ice cream! Children (or the ones who've had ice cream by now anyway!), will think this is wonderful, and you might have to spend the next hour or so explaining why this isn't quite accurate, and how they can't have an ice cream making cow. Although surely if you could buy one, it'd be a real cash-cow...sorry, couldn't resist.

The illustrations in this book are brilliant, some of the best I've seen since I started this blog, and the story uses the scenery in many imaginative ways, such as writing sentences in the walls of the barn (a word per brick). It's also another example of a story to show children that everyone has their value, and you shouldn't count anybody out. I'm all for a good moral message in a children's story!

Make sure you check it out next Christmas.

8/10

Wednesday, 30 January 2013

Picture Book: Esme's Egg – Neil Griffiths (Author) & Christine Grove (Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

Esme's expression on the front cover should give you a hint as to what this is about. A disgruntled hen, fed up with having her egg stolen every day, decides to hide it from the farmer. A battle of wits ensues, as the farmer still manages to get the egg for several days, until Esme decides to follow the farmer to where he keeps the eggs, and ends up sitting on it all the way to the supermarket. It's fair to say she ruffles a few feathers...ahem.

Now, sometimes a picture paints a thousand words, and for me the best part of this story is the grumpy expression that Esme wears on her face for most of it. For some reason, I find the idea of a grumpy hen hilarious, and in all fairness, if i'd spent all that time popping out an egg I'd be pretty grumpy if someone came along and took it off me. It's nice and brightly illustrated, and I really do like that grumpy hen. The story itself is fun, and wordier than most of the picture books that I've reviewed, so if it's one you're planning on getting your children to read it's a good way of challenging them once they've been reading for a little while.

Definitely worth checking out, especially if you're children even wonder where their boiled eggs come from.

9/10

Picture Book: Bear's Loose Tooth – Karma Wilson (Author) & Jane Chapman (Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

Yep, it's another in the Bear series, and it might be my favourite yet. This time around, Bear has a loose tooth, and enlists the help of his friends to get it out. They try various methods until...it just sort of falls out, exactly how it used to happen to me. Unless there was a chocolate toffee involved. Sometimes then it came out a bit earlier than it should have.

Bear's quirky charm is on display again here, although he isn't playing quite the same dozy role as he has previously. While the story itself is one that all children will relate to (and let's face it, we were all impatient when we had a loose tooth, waiting for it to drop out so that the Tooth Fairy would visit), what made me smile most of all is Bear's expression on the last page. It breaks the fourth wall with Bear looking at the reader with a shocked expression on his face, and I couldn't help smiling at it. Also, in a lovely bit on continuity, Bear falls asleep under the same blanket that Badger gave him for Christmas in Bear Stays Up.

This really is a great series. Bring on the next one!

9/10

Picture Book - Bear Stays Up - Karma Wilson (Author) & Jane Chapman (Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

This is the third book in the Bear series by Karma Wilson, and I must say it's great every time I come across one of these. There's a recognisable quirky charm to Bear now each time I read about him, and I suspect in each book he's going to struggle with an idea or task but come through in the end, just as you want from a children's book.

In this story, set at Christmas, Bear is struggling to stay awake for Christmas. Apparently he missed it last year, and his friends don't want to let that happen again. In now classic Bear fashion, although he struggles to begin with, eventually he manages to stay awake whilst all his friends turn out to be the ones who fall asleep, and he even narrowly misses Santa Claus whilst wrapping presents. It's a sweet ending, as ever, and a perfect little Christmas tale.

I'm really growing to love the illustrations in these stories, and there's something really lovable about the way Bear is drawn. You can tell he's a bit dopey, which is why his friends have to help him all the time, but that just adds to his charm. A quick glance online suggests there's at least another five books in this series, so rest assured if you're a fan of the Bear series, there's plenty more to come.

9/10

Friday, 11 January 2013

Picture Book - What's The Time, Mr Wolf?- Debi Glior (Author & Illustrator)

Recommended for: Babies/Toddlers/Younger Readers

You might be expecting a grizzly fairy tale when first picking this book up - after all, as far as I'm concerned, the title refers to a game we used to play at primary school where whoever played the wolf tried to eat everyone else (not literally. I don't think. Some children are strange). However, there's a great twist at the end of this book that marks it out as different from the norm.

Every hour, from 7am to 6pm, Mr Wolf encounters another fairy tale character (or characters) causing him problems as he tries to go about his day. Despite the early threats to eat the Three Little Pigs (mainly because he's tired and grumpy), it turns out that all the dashing around that everyone has been doing is in preparation for a party at Mr Wolf's house, and that in fact everyone is the best of friends. Children will lap up this ending, because it'll be the last thing they expect.

Adults will appreciate some of the humour (his cupboard is bare as the dish ran away with the spoon), as well as feeling sympathy at being woken early. The illustrations are great, and you end up wishing they had told it over 24 hours instead of 12, so you could have seen Mr Wolf interact with more fairy tale characters.

A great book this one. Make sure you check it out (both figuratively and from your local library).

9/10