An unnamed boy takes us on a gentle journey from morning to night in the seaside town he calls home. This town is deeply linked with the mines which provide employment and a focal point for the community, and with the sea-scape which frames and backgrounds their daily lives. The boy takes us by hand as we follow him on a typical summer day, each double-spread giving us a snapshot of his life, family, town and community.
Julian and Nana love to go swimming, and on their way home they notice three beautiful mermaids. Julian LOVES mermaids we are told, and as soon as they get home, he decides to make himself up to look just like one. But what will Nana think of Julian’s new look?
When Ken Nedimyer was little, Nasa was just sending its first rockets, and then men, in to space. But while the whole world looked to the unknown realms of space for inspiration, Ken was far more interested in the unknown here on Earth – in the ocean. As a young man he collected hundreds of fish and sea specimens in his home-town near the Florida Keys, and as an adult he went on to form the Coral Restoration Foundation, an organisation which works to rebuild coral reef colonies all over the world.
Are you crazy about cats? Fascinated by frogs? Maybe you’re obsessed with ostriches – whatever your animal of interest is, you’ve found the right place with this collaboration from animal lovers Sarah Webb and Alan Nolan.
The relationship between humans and dogs is a long and fascinating one and it is this special friendship which is explored, sparsely but lyrically, in Shaun Tan’s latest book. There is no science of domestication here, or facts about genetic links to wolves – in typical Tan style, the story of ‘man’s best friend’ is told through limited text and deceptively simple illustrations.
A blue circle asks you if you’re really sure you want to play and then we’re off on a wild and noisy journey through sound and colour! Hervé Tullet, master of interactive picturebooks, returns with another fabulous text which claims to do for sound what Press Here did for touch. Circles, dots and bubbles of blue, red and yellow dance and pop across the page, encouraging readers to shout, whisper and sing out loud. With each turn of the page Tullet asks us to vocalise these simple circle characters, ohhing, ahhing and wahooing our way through the text in a riot of play-acting and silly noises.
Odd might seem like an unusual name, and even though it’s actually quite a lucky one in the Viking village he grew up in, there’s no denying that Odd has taken some of the qualities of his name to heart. After his father dies unexpectedly in a freak ‘pony-overboard’ incident after a raid, Odd becomes even more so, wandering off into the forest and smiling quietly to himself in an infuriating fashion that his new stepfather and siblings cannot abide. But as every myth-lover knows, wandering alone in a forest can only lead to adventure…
