Also An Octopus is also, just so you know, the story of a little bit of nothing – because that’s how every story starts, when you think about it. Featuring a ukulele-playing octopus who wants to fly in a spaceship, a team of rocket scientists, a little girl and a cute bunny, this odyssey into the inner workings of a story is much more than the sum of its extraordinary parts.
Angels are falling from the sky and it seems as if the world itself is ending. But the world keeps turning even as the angels keep falling. For Jaya it’s a moot point – her world ended when her mother died, two weeks before the first angel fell. Falling at fatal speed from the sky, none of the angels survive their descent from the heavens, and as the world becomes obsessed with these strange beings, Jaya’s father moves his family to Edinburgh, spurred on by the hope of capturing a live angel.
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.
Sometimes life is exactly what we want it to be and everything seems perfect. But at other times we feel like everything is out of our control, everything from our emotions to our friends’ behaviour to the way the world itself is being run. This is where YouTube influencer Lex Croucher’s new book steps in to tell young people the truth – this is completely normal, and everyone feels this way.
This début picturebook from Sarah Jacoby unfolds in the form of a conversation of sorts between a narrator that might be a parent and a listener that might be a child across the length of a single day.
What does time mean to you? How do we feel it? How do we see it? Jacoby poses these questions but tellingly never offers definitive answers, preferring instead to provide the reader with intimate images of how time might be spent and made meaningful, usually through important relationships.
This is the third instalment in Julian Gough and Jim Field’s series about an unlikely and hilariously unpredictable friendship between a rabbit and a bear, and just as before, these creatures are the stars of a wonderful story.
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.
It’s dinnertime in Valdemar’s house and his father is serving peas. Valdemar may not be a very big wolf, but he knows exactly what he wants. Or rather, what he doesn’t want – and Valdemar does not want peas. But his father is adamant; Valdemar must eat his peas, just like his little sister, or there’ll be no chocolate ice-cream for dessert. What will the little wolf do? Does he have a plan to outsmart his father and avoid the pointless peas he hates so much?
John Chambers’ latest book chronicles the mad-cap adventures of Manchán, a young boy who loves mucking around in medieval Ireland. Truly horrified at the idea that his mother wants him to become a monk, Manchán would much rather spend his time getting into scrapes with Muck his pig and his best friend Pagan-of-the-Six-Toes.
Author Camille Andros and illustrator Julie Morstad present the seemingly simple story of a little girl and her favourite dress. Living on a beautiful Greek island, they both dream of a world beyond the horizon they know, as each day, however ordinary, with its chores and tasks, is infused with hope and a desire to leave the island. One day, their dream comes true and the girl and her dress embark on a ship to the United States – only to be separated the moment they reach their new home.
