When a new boy joins Pearl’s class in school at first she is surprised to learn that he has two mums. In a refreshingly childlike way, she accepts this fact and goes on to learn more about her new friend and their shared love of art, humour and chocolate cake. This is a simple story with a simple message at its core and will be enjoyed by young artists in particular. The children are relatable and sweet, and the classroom context is one that many will feel familiar with.
As the rain starts to fall, Mouse sets out to find their way home during the storm. The reader is rooting for Mouse from the moment they set off on their adventure, carefully wrapped gift clutched firmly in hand.
Down on Old Worrall’s Farm, the hens are laying very unusual eggs. Some are striped, some are spotty and some even glow! When the narrator of the story interjects to challenge the hens on the patterns appearing on their eggs, they admit the truth: they’ve chosen to fake the patterns on their eggs in order to meet the rhyming criteria of the text so that they can appear in the story!
A young explorer finds a family of colourful mammoths in the Antarctic, they play music, show-off on skateboards and wear fancy sunglasses. The young explorer also sees a Yeti and we see the footprints and the Yeti, but the older explorers try to convince him that he has seen a mammoth instead!
Everyone has their own tastes and ways of living that they think are perfect so it is hard when visitors come to stay and have different ideas, especially when it is family. Readers observe Colin navigate through these experiences of being a host and making his Grandma feel welcomed. The characters are funny, fussy and most of all love each other. With the help of duck, they find ways to compromise. Colin’s parting advice is ‘it’s always good to try new things!’
This comical graphic novel introduces Yeti and Betty to readers familiar with the classic Beano. Beginning with the classic characters, Dennis the Meance, Gnasher, and Mini the Minx, the gang stumble across a Yeti that has arrived in Beanotown to find a new home.
Sophie and Lil embark on their first case for the Secret Service Bureau in this exciting mini adventure. We meet them on the train travelling to the seaside town of Rye, which despite its sleepy appearance, is in fact housing German spies, who are planning despicable actions. But these two Secret Agents are on the case!
This fun, engaging picturebook is the fifth in the Pick a Story series where the reader is in control of the plot. Big brother Bo chooses the perfect stick for his little sister Kai when hers snaps. However, it suddenly disappears, and the reader has to help Bo track it down before Kai gets upset. But who is the culprit – a wizard, an astronaut or a pharaoh? The reader gets to choose who they will pursue first!
Tahlia is enraptured by the dancers at the mehndi ahead of her cousin’s wedding as they leap, hop, twirl and snap through the air. She imagines herself ‘dazzling the crowd’ with her own dance moves, but she feels much too self-conscious to join the crowd on the dance floor, and knows her feet will turn into ‘heavy clay pots’ if she tries to dance in front of people.
Shadow Thieves opens with the author asking us to imagine ‘what if’… What if, there’s an alternate reality, where a band of ragged orphans must hustle to survive, ducking and diving from child-catchers intent on imprisoning them into workhouse slavery. What if their wily skills, honed by life on the streets, are not enough?
