Gecko Press

Arnold, the seafaring elephant of this book’s title, meets disaster with apparent equanimity and an endearing ingenuity in a warm and enjoyable adventure. Arnold’s tendency to rush in gets him into scrapes with the series of characters who could potentially rescue him from shipwreck but in the process of trying to solve those problems he actually makes Elephant Island ‘too much fun to leave.’ In the end, the book reminds us that life’s difficulties can also result in the things most precious to us.

From New Zealand, Juliette MacIver and Sarah Davis are at the top of their game with a new offering from Gecko Press.

That’s NOT a HIPPOPOTAMUS tells the story of a class of children and their teacher on a visit to Don’s Safari. The hippopotamus has gone missing and the children notice. A hunt ensues and despite many choruses of: ‘I got ‘im Miss/I got ‘im Miss/I KNEW that I could spot ‘im, Miss!’ … the hippo remains elusive. (Mind you, he is featured on every spread if you are sharp-sighted enough to spot him!)

Timo Parvela is a teacher and a best-selling author in Finland where many of his books have been adapted for both the big and the small screen. The main characters in Bicycling To The Moon have their own TV show and the author does regular school tours where their adventures are read and discussed.

Translated from the Japanese original, this picturebook about a stray, sick kitten and the mother and daughter who take care of it is utterly charming. Charged with emotion, the narrative is understated and evocative, and while the pace is calm there is just enough anxiety (when the kitten appears to have got lost) to keep the narrative taut and the reader turning the pages. The relationships between mother, child and kitten are beautifully and minutely observed and are reflected in the images that are as muted in tone as the text is understated.

Wolves have featured as story-characters since Antiquity. They have been cast as violent and savage, or sometimes as devious or predatory, but almost always as synonymous with danger, or perhaps evil. Some cultures equated wolves with the devil, others drew parallels with man’s–and especially men’s–animalistic nature.

Bim Bam Boom is a fun-filled book for toddlers, following the noisy adventures of a group of young birds as they create an orchestra from the contents of the kitchen cupboard.

It begins with baby owl making music with wooden spoons and a pot, and soon builds to a cacophony as each character joins in, banging yet another kitchen utensil. The transformation of expressions on their faces tells their own story, as Mother owl gathers up the pots and pans, putting an end to the session.

Loneliness pervades this simply told story of homelessness. Both the watercolour pencil illustrations in soft greys and yellows, and the spare text, convey the isolation of the old man who wakes in a doorway while, down the road, children tumble and shout their way to school.

The Yark loves children. That much is indisputable. But the Yark loves children to eat. This is because the Yark is a monster. But the Yark is not just any monster – he’s a monster with a problem. Good children are delicious to eat. But good children are harder and harder to find these days. Until, that is, the Yark makes a friend.

Coinciding with the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s Endeavour voyage, prepare to jump abroad and sail through a story from the other side of history. It is often the characters in the background during great moments that give us the most rounded and fullest of accounts.

Everything scares Elsie: people, children, spiders and trees. She stays inside her house for safety; a place that is tidy and clean, and very grey. Then one day something sky-blue flies in through an open window. She sweeps it into the fire, but can’t sleep that night, her dreams haunted by thoughts of her house filled with flying things. Elsie is still scared the next morning when she hears a knock on her front door. Outside is a small boy looking for his paper plane. It was blue.