Art and creativity

Mei Mei is a little bunny with a big dream: to share her music with the world. At home, she plays her violin while her parents and her pet bee, Beethoven, hum, whistle and buzz along.

This book offers a powerful and necessary exploration of the weight of silence surrounding mental health. As Tweety prepares to dance at Bristol’s Pohela Boishakh festival, the celebration of the Bangla New Year stands in sharp contrast to her inner turmoil. This story captures the unique pressure of achieving one’s dreams while feeling completely disconnected from that reality – a struggle made worse by a community where depression is often a silenced or non-existent concept.

If this book doesn’t inspire and encourage your teenager to become a writer, I don’t know what will!

Always Angel represents those who are not always in the spotlight. Whittam gives a voice to her protagonist, Angel, who is living in foster care, and coping with her parent’s mental health problems. Whittam creates a genuine and sincere world in which Angel exists, and writes with flair to present authentic characters. While Angel struggles to hold onto her relationship with her mum, she also must confront toxic friendships, all while competing in the school-wide baking competition. While baking, Angel shines brightly, now all she has to do is avoid lunchtime detention!

There are moments where the difference between the worlds adults and children live in become clear. Adults are focused on moving forward, whereas children exist in a world filled with imagination all around them. This picturebook demonstrates how a simple walk for adults can transform into an imagination-filled adventure for children, and reminds us that maybe we should take the time to join them on their journey.

A tangram is a puzzle made of seven geometrical pieces that you must assemble to replicate various patterns. With patience, observation and imagination, the possibilities are vast. And if, as R. Henderson does in his latest picturebook, you allow yourself to add some extra detail in pen, then there is no limit to what you can create: animals, people, objects and whole stories to showcase them.

When I’m feeling this and that, I pretend to be a cat! So say two imaginative children who decide they would like to learn how to be a cat. Join them as they spend the day drinking water from a bowl, licking their paws and purring, pouncing and bouncing, before stretching out in a patch of warm sun light for a well-deserved cat nap.

When a storm destroys the homes of the animals in the forest, they must come together to rebuild.

This delightful picturebook tells the story of a visit to the park and how through dance, people and nature connect to one another, creating a mood of great happiness.