Templar Books

Dedicated to everyone who “was made to feel different”, The Midnight Panther is a striking celebration of innate beauty and strength, especially in those who have been marginalised. Lion, Tiger and Leopard don’t like Panther because he doesn’t look like them. They consider themselves superior and ostracise him on account of his appearance. The other cats deride Panther daily until he begins to believe their taunts and sets off in search of a sense of belonging, attempting to change along the way.

The Book Family Robinson tells the story of the bookish Robinson family. Their love of literature goes all the way down to Baby Charlie, who rereads his favourite board book constantly. When they decide to go on a sailing holiday, they make sure to pack up their library to bring with them.

This lyrical, beautifully crafted picture book transports us to a bustling fishing town, as full-page landscapes unfurl from the pages, leading to the place where the land meets the sea and on-wards to the village where our story begins. Illustrated in muted hues echoing the sepia tones of photographs from days gone by, we become part of a family whose livelihood is thoroughly entwined in the community in which they live.

A book about food that contains only one recipe! All those culinary delights and no washing up! The World of Food lifts a lid on everything that can be eaten and digested. From what we eat to where it comes from, this well researched and interesting book will enchant and educate all gastronomes, historians, and budding chefs.

The first page of John Kane’s new picturebook tells readers that there is something very important they have to remember. When the narrator says ‘Ooh’ they must say ‘Aah’. This simple principle of read-and-respond underpins this inventive story and supports a gloriously interactive reading experience. As the story unfolds, Kane asks more and more of his readers, developing the verbal and visual jokes into a genuinely funny climax.

Myths, Monsters and Mayhem in Ancient Greece delivers just that! Some of the oldest stories ever told, those of the ancient Greeks, are given new life in the comic format of this book – comic in both senses of the word. Woven with the same thread as Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories series, Davies’s retellings are engaging and fun with a large dollop of educational merit thrown in for good measure. Full-colour illustrations do their bit to encourage reluctant readers to give the book a go, and they are duly rewarded.

Ratty’s Big Adventure is inspired by discoveries in 2009 of new species of animals and plants at Mount Bosavi in Papua New Guinea. It is into this unique world that Lara Hawthorne brings her lyrical illustrative style and tender narration of the story of Ratty.

In cartoonist Tom Gauld’s first picturebook for children, a king and queen and their children (a little wooden robot built by the royal inventor and a log princess crafted by the good witch) live happily ever before, until the robot prince forgets to say the ritual magic words that every morning turn his sister from a lump of wood into a little girl.

Little Mole really is a whirlwind. He can’t stop moving, is always fidgeting, breaks things and constantly forgets what he’s supposed to be doing. His classmates avoid playing with him. Little Mole is ‘wearing so many labels he doesn’t know who he is’. His teacher doesn’t know what to do. His parents, at the end of their rope, eventually find an advert in the paper: Serena the Forest Bunny can make learning fun.

I love this little book. I am going to send a copy to every adult I know – well every parent maybe – so that they have an excuse to keep it. It is, as they say, so on the money.