Tag Archives: picture book

Jul27

Ten Tiny Toes by Caroline Jayne Church

Posted on by
Standard

IMG_1195Ten Tiny Toes by Caroline Jayne Church, boardbook, published by Cartwheel Books in 2014.

A simple and engaging book for toddlers celebrating their bodies. As I read through Ten Tiny Toes with my son (15 months old), I encouraged him to point to each part of his body and do the actions in the book. He liked looking through the book and pointing to the pictures, and especially grabbing his toes when we read ‘and ten tiny toes!’ He did laugh and giggle when we touched his tummy too. The text was large with rhyming language, and the illustrations were simple, yet nice. This story helped us to focus on learning parts of the body in a fun way that many toddlers will enjoy.

Jul25

Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley

Posted on by
Standard

IMG_1171Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley, boardboard picture book, first published by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Ltd, this edition published in 2007.

This is a delightful children’s book about the life of a pet wombat. She sleeps, she eats, she digs holes, she sleeps, and she causes all sorts of destruction and mayhem, she sleeps again. Her human family continue to love her, as she digs up the flowers, chews the doormat and demands lots of carrots.

My children love this book, it is definitely a favourite. They love all the trouble that the wombat gets into, they think it is very funny! The story is written in a diary format, with short, yet descriptive entries for each part of each day. The illustrations are very distinctive, perfectly capturing the wombat’s mood. This is a wonderful book to share with preschoolers and lower primary school children, it will entertain them and it will make them laugh. You’ll probably find yourself chuckling too and wondering why you don’t have a pet wombat to liven up your days!

Jul6

King Pig by Nick Bland

Posted on by
Standard

IMG_0509King Pig by Nick Bland, hardback picture book, published by Scholastic Australia in 2013.

King Pig has a kingdom full of sheep that don’t seem to like him, and he doesn’t understand why. He desperately wants them to adore him, but nothing seems to work, and this is the one thing that he can’t command them to do. One night he has an idea, and he wakes up all the sheep to make him some new fancy clothes, but it doesn’t impress the sheep. What can he do to remedy the situation?

In this book we see that being powerful doesn’t automatically make one likable. It is much better to be nice and considerate of others, and being bossy all the time only leads to resentment and discontent. This is a hard lesson for King Pig to learn, and a good message for our children. My kids enjoyed this book, but not quite as much as the other Nick Bland books we have. It wasn’t as funny, though we still liked the story and the illustrations are lovely. I liked the way that the sheep had their wool dyed and removed, while my kids liked it when King Pig used one of the sheep strapped to a wooden handle to clean his castle. This is a good book for preschoolers and kids in lower primary school.

 

* King Pig was an honours book for the 2014 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year in the Picture Book category.

 

Jul3

Don’t Wake the Troll by Ben Kitchin and Ben Redlich

Posted on by
Standard

IMG_0859Don’t Wake the Troll by Ben Kitchin and illustrated by Ben Redlich, paperback picture book, published by Scholastic Australia in 2013.

A group of dwarves make a plan to creep deep into the mountain to steal back their treasure from a giant troll. They wait until the troll is sleeping and down the tunnel they go, they have to be very careful not to wake up the troll. As they tip-toe along, there comes a noise, kerlunk, kerlunk. It is their shields banging into their armour, so they ditch the shields, the noise might wake the troll, and on they sneak. But then there is another noise….

A wonderful and amusing adventure with treasure and a big smelly troll. The story is clever and exciting. I just love the illustrations too! There are some very funny pictures that made both my preschooler and second grader laugh out loud. The dwarves look so funny, especially as they start to leave their armour and weapons behind. The troll is very well drawn, covered in hair with great dirty nails, a big warty nose, and flies surrounding his stench, he is funny, yet a little scary at the same time. My kids really got into this book. My preschooler wanted to make all the sounds as the dwarves move down into the troll’s lair. Don’t Wake the Troll also has a very fitting ending. This is a book to be read and read again, especially with preschoolers and children in lower primary school.

 

Jul2

Little Lost Unicorn by Lorna Hussey

Posted on by
Standard

IMG_0832Little Lost Unicorn by Lorna Hussey, hardback picture book, published by Hinkler Books in 2009.

Little Unicorn goes exploring in the forest and gets lost. Some little forest animals befriend him and they have a lovely time playing together until baby rabbit falls into the stream. Little Unicorn must be brave to help baby rabbit.

This is a magical story of friendship and courage with beautiful illustrations on embossed pages. There are unicorns hiding on every page, which my preschooler loved! She spent a lot of time poring over the pages looking for them, and running her hands over the embossing. She is a big fan of unicorns and this is the best unicorn story book we have read so far. It was very engaging for my preschooler, and I enjoyed her enthusiasm for the book. Perfect for every little unicorn lover, this is a great book for sharing with your preschooler, or for lower primary school students.  Personally, I liked this story, and I was very impressed with the lovely illustrations, and ingenuity of the hidden unicorns.

Jun29

The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith

Posted on by
Standard

IMG_0794The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith and illustrated by Katz Cowley, boardbook (and CD), first published in the boardbook format by Scholastic New Zealand Limited in 2013.

This is an hilarious tale of a very interesting donkey. He only has three legs, one eye and he likes country music! And as the story progresses, a new quirk is added to the previous ones, making this a donkey like no other.

The illustrations are just as humorous as the story, and a great asset to the book. The donkey really is a very cheeky fellow, and is drawn as such. The Wonky Donkey is a cumulative story, repeating all of the previous attributes before adding the new one. This repetition is fantastic for preschoolers and lower primary school children alike. Older children and adults will also laugh out loud while reading this book! Both my preschooler and my second grader love it, they think it is side-splittingly funny. My preschooler loves to make the Hee Haw sound when we see the donkey on each page. Both of my kids really like the illustration of the donkey releasing such foul gas that it knocks out a bird (he is a stinky-winky as well as a wonky donkey!) Read it aloud, or follow along with the CD, for even greater enjoyment of this very funny story.

 

 

Jun28

Elmer and the Rainbow by David McKee

Posted on by
Standard

IMG_0759Elmer and the Rainbow by David McKee, paperback picture book, first published by Andersen Press Ltd. in 2007, this edition published by Andersen Press Ltd. in 2009.

Elmer is a rainbow patchwork elephant living in the jungle with his elephant friends. They are sheltering in a cave during a storm, and Elmer is excited about the possibility of a rainbow emerging once the rain stops. However, when the rain is over, instead of the beautifully coloured rainbow that Elmer imagines, there is a pale arch across the sky. Elmer thinks he could share his own colours with the rainbow. The birds tell him that to restore the colours, he must find the end of the rainbow, so with help from the other animals in the jungle, Elmer goes searching.

This is a nice story about helping and sharing, with the lovable and well known character, Elmer the Patchwork Elephant. My kids are quite fond of Elmer, and this book was no exception. The story is simple, and the text is in a biggish, black, basic typeset, which is easy to read. The illustrations are interesting and unique. I particularly like the expressions on the animals’ faces throughout the story. We enjoyed reading this story together, and my second grader has read it several times on her own since we brought it home. My preschooler likes it when Elmer shares his colours with the rainbow, along with the picture of the rainbow as it would be if it had become patchwork like Elmer. Elmer and the Rainbow is most suitable for lower primary school and preschool children.

Jun28

Esther’s Rainbow by Kim Kane and Sara Acton

Posted on by
Standard

IMG_0757Esther’s Rainbow by Kim Kane and Sara Acton, hardback picture book, published by Allen & Unwin in 2013.

While she is eating lunch one Sunday, Esther sees a rainbow streaming out from under her stool. She touches it, and smells it, but it soon disappears. Throughout the following week she looks for the colours of the rainbow in the world around her. Each day shows her a new colour, as she continues to search for her rainbow.

This is a truly beautiful book about discovering our surrounds, and the joy of everyday items. I felt warm and fuzzy reading this with my preschooler, it is a gorgeous book for sharing with preschoolers and children in lower primary school. My daughter marveled at the things that Esther found the rainbow colours in, and this gave us an opportunity to talk about the colours in our own everyday world. She particularly liked that Esther used all her senses to experience the colours, like smelling green in mint, and tasting yellow pears. Esther’s Rainbow will be read many times in our house, and it will make us feel happy and inspired every time.

Jun26

Princess Evie’s Ponies: Indigo the Magic Rainbow Pony by Sarah KilBride and Sophie Tilley

Posted on by
Standard

IMG_0754Princess Evie’s Ponies: Indigo the Magic Rainbow Pony by Sarah KilBride and illustrated by Sophie Tilley, paperback picture book, published by Simon and Schuster in 2012.

Princess Evie and her pet cat, Sparkles, have a stable full of magic ponies who take them on adventures. In Indigo the Magic Rainbow Pony, when they ride through the tunnel of trees they emerge into a world of colours. Evie’s clothes have changed to rainbow colours, and so has Indigo’s coat and mane, and there are beautiful butterflies everywhere. Yet, as they ride on they encounter a drab, grey garden, drained of colour. Evie discovers a map that tells her to find the magic girls and collect their coloured stones to return the colours. So Evie, Indigo and Sparkles set out to do just that.

A fun story with magic, adventure, new friendships, sharing and colour. The illustrations are particularly nice, with lots of detail and lovely colours. My preschooler was immediately drawn to this book because it had silver sparkles and a pony on the front cover. She also liked the shiny pink hearts and lettering of the title. The story containing a princess, magic and rainbows were bonuses. My daughter is very pink and princessy and this is the sort of book that she will ask for repeatedly, until I can’t stand reading it any more. And when I have had enough, she will continue to peruse it herself. With two daughters, I’m working on building my tolerance for magic ponies, fairies, princesses, animals…. I prefer a good giggle book to share, but I have to run with what the kids like, though it will be nice when A can read these types of books herself! This is not a bad book however, it just isn’t my cuppa, and my four year old loved it! This book would particularly appeal to girly girls in the preschooler to lower primary age groups.

Jun24

The Runaway Hug by Nick Bland and Freya Blackwood

Posted on by
Standard

IMG_0510The Runaway Hug by Nick Bland and Freya Blackwood, paperback picture book, published by Scholastic Australia in 2011.

When Lucy asks for a hug before bed, Mummy tells her it is her last one. Lucy promises to return it, and Mummy gives her a nice, gentle hug. Then Lucy runs off to share it with the other members of her family, where it becomes bigger and peanut-buttery, but still nice. The hug runs away with Annie, and Lucy chases her to get it back, but it’s not easy, and she really wants to give Mummy back her last hug.

This is a sweet book about sharing love within families and the differences each family member brings. It contains simple language suitable for emergent readers to try, and delightfully quirky illustrations. At the start of the story, Mummy appears to be searching for a skirt in the dirty wash pile in just her undies and shirt, despite it being almost bedtime. I liked that the house was messy, there were drawings on one of the walls and Mummy was breastfeeding the baby at the end. The steps in the house also made me think of the MC Escher house. I really enjoyed the uniqueness of the illustrations, and the realistic portrayal of a house with four children in it.

The Runaway Hug is a nice book to share while cuddling up with your child. It leaves us with a warm and happy feeling each time we read it together. Best for preschoolers and lower primary school children, this award winning* picture book is loved by both my preschooler and my second grader.

 

* The Runaway Hug won The Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year in the Early Childhood category in 2012.