The creature’s eyes reflect galaxies, with twinkling stars and golden sun flares. Exposing a solar system-pale tummy, the creature stretches out. Reaching out with curling and flexing claws, it watches as the nails catch on fabric and space. Purring contentedly, the creature licks paws and whiskers and goes in search of attention and affection.
The little girl at the heart of this story has a secret, or rather a secret friend: her fear. Fear has always kept her safe, but ever since she has moved countries and changed schools, Fear is becoming bigger and more demanding, taking all the space in the heroine’s head and heart. It is only when she befriends one of her schoolmates that things – and Fear – start going back to normal.
Some of the best picturebooks are the ones with very little text but a very big message. Marianna Coppo’s story within a story is a wonderfully clever example of how illustration and simple expression is sometimes more powerful than words themselves.
Picturebooks are a wonderful tool for helping little ones make sense of the world: how things work, what people do all day and, in this new title from Rachel Woodworth, how we can manage our very unpredictable emotions. Told from the perspective of a young red-haired girl, this is a story of two worlds: the real world inhabited by our emotionally charged protagonist and her family, and an imaginary world she can turn to when the real one becomes too overwhelming (‘on those MAD SAD NOISY days’).
Ping and Pong are two edamame beans who share a dream to become the best table tennis player in the world. They train together night and day while defeating everybody in their way. Soon the day will come for them to become adversaries. But who will prove the best and what will happen to their friendship?
This hugely endearing comic, set in Ivory Coast and scripted by Marguerite Abouet (the celebrated author of Aya), is a helicopter parent’s worst nightmare. Meet the hyperactive, not-easily grossed out, swift-legged Akissi, a little girl with a knack for trouble. When she isn’t getting lost in her busy city or accidentally knocking out her own grandmother with a loose coconut, she nurses a special fondness for animals, including mice, lice, and – in a particularly delightful episode – the tapeworm in her nose.
Trees have long been considered nearly sacred, as they provide food, medicine, shelter, shade, natural materials and, most importantly, oxygen. More than just nature-lovers and tree-huggers will be happy with what lies beneath the unnaturally bright cover of Under the Canopy: Trees Around the World.
Marcy finds it hard to believe that the tales of adventure and exploration told to her by her father Arthur are anything more than just that – exciting stories. She just can’t see how her slightly portly dad could be that brave, especially when the creatures from her dad’s amazing adventures fill the shadows at night, terrifying her.
Crow spots a ‘strange white creature’ floating towards the shore on a piece of ice. As the beast makes home in a nearby cave, the surrounding forest animals try to make sense of the new arrival. The majority feel frightened and threatened, and the creature’s odd leaf-collecting habit only deepens their suspicions. As the creature begins covering his body in leaves and hurling himself across the waves, the wise crows come to a startling conclusion – maybe this stranger is simply lost and just trying to find his way home…
Big and Little are a great team and do everything together, but one day Big decides to hide inside his shell! Little tries everything to get his friend out. He bakes his favourite cake and even brings friends along, but nothing works. What is wrong with Big? Little really misses having him around.
