Herbert loves foxes so much he wants to be one. But his mummy just wants him to be a good rabbit. Herbert gets into all sorts of trouble trying to turn himself into a fox and his mummy is not happy. Mummy finally realises that the best way to support her little one is to let him be himself. And if that means living with a fox, then so be it.
Written by award-winning children’s poet Rachel Rooney and illustrated by Zehra Hicks, The Problem with Problems is a brightly coloured, funny, one-of-a-kind picturebook that introduces children to what problems are.
Joanna finds it difficult to communicate with her family. Her grandparents don’t speak English at all. Her mum barely speaks any English. She and her siblings hardly speak Chinese. Her dad speaks Chinese and good English, but doesn’t like talking. A teen growing up in the eighties, Joanna deals with it all, from bullies and difficult family dynamics to her first love, her best friend and her passion for art.
The comforting routine of a monthly visit to the barber’s, where a little boy and his dad talk about legendary characters with long hair like Samson and Rapunzel, stops suddenly. With Dad no longer around, the barber visits stop and the boy’s hair grows all tangled and uncontrollable – just like his feelings.
This beautifully written book follows the story of a baby who was the only survivor of a thunder and lightning storm. The villagers cradled her as the vicious storm claimed their own lives. Mary Anning grows into a courageous young girl as she follows in the steps of her father along the Dorset coastline. She faces danger by hunting for fossils uncovered by waves and landslides and for ancient creatures that have now turned to stone.
Pia lives in the world’s last zoo, where she looks after the animals there – not lions, tigers and bears, but fantastical creatures like genies, unicorns and hummingdragons, which are possible after scientists detonated a reality bomb. Her special care is the angels, whose miracles humans are relying on to save a dying and polluted Earth. One morning, the angels are gone, and Pia and her friends must find them.
Eva Eland’s first book, When Sadness Comes to Call, uses simple illustrations and text to explain a difficult and sometimes complicated emotion: sadness. Sadness is personified by Eland and illustrated as large and imposing. Its arrival is unexpected, towering over the child character. This story highlights the importance of sitting with Sadness instead of trying to hide from it. The author not only opens up a conversation about Sadness, but also offers practical suggestions of things to do with Sadness when it calls, such as listening to music or going for a walk.
‘It began with a girl named Mary. She liked to daydream and imagine.’ As a book-lover and a story-writer, the young woman at the centre of this tale is keenly aware of the life-giving power of words. Mary’s tough childhood, the literary journey she goes on with fellow writers Shelley, Polidori and Byron, the strange but appealing creatures she meets in her evenings of reading, her sheer sense of curiosity and her incredible imagination are all part of her becoming a writer.
Homelessness is a topic on everybody’s lips these days. In this Amnesty International endorsed novel, our narrator, Felix Knutsson, finds himself ‘temporarily’ living in a van with his unemployed mother, the rebellious Astrid. Having an uncanny talent for memorising wide-ranging facts, Felix enters a competition to appear on a junior version of his favourite quiz show. He dreams of winning it and turning his and his mum’s fortunes around.
Hungry Babies sees the return of Fearne Cotton’s Yoga Babies. This time, the babies are exploring food and eating. The rhyming text takes us through meal times, different foods, messy eaters and personal likes and dislikes. It demonstrates the important place of food in our lives as it takes centre stage in birthdays and other shared events. Singling out one child as ‘annoying’, however, strikes an odd note and seems to jar in a book where even the messiest scenes are portrayed as fun and naughty.
