Category Archives: Books and Magazines

Finding out about animals

Home education, Learning, Nature Books, ,

My youngest and I are both very interested in animals, so I have started spending more time finding books and other resources that should interest her.

Our approach is fairly informal. But I do have a need to create a framework, in order to satisfy my sense of order and it makes it easier for me to research good resources and books, which as you can tell from my blog is something I love to do! Then if and when my daughter is interested we share them.

For the animal kingdom the obvious approach seemed to be to reflect the evolutionary relationships of animals, and the starting point for this has been the poster that takes pride of place on our living room wall. Produced a couple of years ago for the Open University, the Tree of Life poster is a beautiful representation of evolutionary relationships between living things. We have laminated it so that it will last. A variation on the poster is available on Amazon. My daughter is endlessly fascinated by pictures on this poster and the relationships between the animals. And this prompted me to find more resources for her.

A second essential resource is a good animal encyclopedia. As a child I spent hours reading my one and became extraordinarily proud of knowing about really obscure animals such as the South American Yapok (an otter like marsupial or pouched animal). So I spent a while roaming shops and Amazon looking for a really good up to date book to replace my rather out of date and tattered volume. My criteria were that the illustrations or photographs had to be beautiful to look at, that it be an adult one so that it has enough detail and coverage to satisfy an interested child’s thirst for the unusual, and that it include distribution maps so that we can easily see where a species comes from. The favourite we settled on it was the then current edition of The Encyclopedia of Animals: A Complete Visual Guide. Though we do also like the Natural History Book from DK – which includes rocks, plants and a larger number of species, but lacks the distribution maps.

We also have a copy of the very wonderful Zoo-ology, which I have blogged about before and is a great pictorial starting point for even the youngest child.

We don’t tend to use online resources but a one that appeals to me and I’m keeping in mind for my daughter as she gets older is the very comprehensive and visually appealing Arkive, a multimedia guide to animals, plants and fungi. There are teachers resources, games as well as comprehensive information on each species.

We also have a giant world map that we use to blue tac on things of interest. It has taken me a long time to find the ideal map website for our home education needs but have finally found the solution. These MegaMaps allow you to print out maps on A4 paper and stick them together to create really large maps. We print out pictures of animals of particular interest and stick them on to show where they come from.

For each group of animals I search Amazon and the local library for books to share. Then we reserve and borrow library books and see which ones we like. If there are books from particular series or that come highly recommended and my daughter likes the look of them then we might even buy one! I will post our favourites as we go along.

Coming next – Our favourite resources on the Great Apes

 

The animals of Eric Carle

Children's books, Children's fiction, Nature Books, , , , , ,

One our favourite author’s for younger children who love animals is Eric Carle.

He has a way of combining a quick, colourful story with a good first look at a group of animals. Although most famous for the Very Hungry Caterpillar, with its less than realistic diet of a caterpillar, some of his other book introduce new animals in a very accessible way.

Three of our favourites are:

See on Amazon

See on Amazon

See on Amazon

Mister Seahorse – A pregnant Mr Seahorse meets lots of other different fish, including other Dads looking after their eggs and babies in their own way. Interesting look at male parental care in fish.

The Very Quiet Cricket – The Very Quiet cricket meets a range of other insects, including a spittle bug and a lunar moth

Slowly slowly slowly said the sloth – The sloth introduces us very slowly to some of the animals of South America including a tapir and some leaf cutter ants

Kings and Queens of England

Children's books, History, History Books, ,

To celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee we have been thinking about our favourite children’s books and a few other resources on the Kings and Queens of England.

Our favourite:

Tony Robinson’s Kings and Queens

(or The Hutchinson Book Of Kings & Queens)

This is one of my eight year old’s absolute favourite books in the whole world. It has done much to turn an general interest in people into a passion for history. It covers Kings and Queens of England, and unlike many books goes back to Anglo-Saxons rather than just starting with Normans.

Read our full review of Tony Robinson’s Kings and Queens …

Other recommended books:

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Cruel Kings and Mean Queens (Horrible Histories)

Horrible Histories books always go down well in this house. This is a chatty, humorous and highly irreverent book. Starting at William the Conqueror it covers the monarchs of England in bite size pieces. The cartoon strips and bullet points make it very approachable for inexperienced or reluctant readers.

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King and Queens, A Very Peculiar History

This mini book is absolutely jam packed with concise facts, lists and quirky stories. It includes Saxon and Scottish Kings and provides good context for the monarchy. Although maybe slightly less approachable than the Horrible Histories it will appeal to those with a love of small books, and who want to move on from the gruesome, all kings and queens are cruel and mean approach of Horrible Histories.

Other books:

A couple of other books on Kings and Queens that we haven’t got around to investigating properly:

Sticker books

Sticker books provide a fun way to approach a subject.

  • Sticker Dressing: Kings & Queens – A sticker dolly dressing up book with kings and queens from all over world. This is a firm favourite. Bold, beautiful pictures, with luxurious stick-on outfits and a simple summary of each ruler with details of their clothing. This book has a nice balance of male and female figures. Ranges from Ancient Egypt to modern day, and an interesting mix of the usual suspects (Henry VIII) and less often covered rulers that we found sparked further investigations (Theodora and Justinian).
  • Kings and Queens Sticker Book (Usborne sticker book)
    More complex sticker book on the monarchs of England and Scotland. Packed with information on each ruler, with stickers to add through out.
  • Kings & Queens Ultimate Sticker Book (DK)

Cards, games and posters

Kings and Queens of England Playing CardsHeritage Cards does some lovely playing cards with very interesting pictures. My daughter loves the Kings and Queen of England ones (they also do Kings and Queens of Scotland). These are beautifully illustrated, and simple with just the name and dates of their rule. These get hours of play in our house – both as playing cards and for laying out family trees.

Whilst researching this post I found a card game called Monarchy, which we hadn’t seen before and looks like it might be interesting. Also just wondering if anyone knows of good top trumps game with English monarchs on them?

Usborne do a set of Kings and Queens Cards (History Cards) – a picture card with a large picture on one side and facts on the back. Plus cards listing the royal dynasties and kings and queens of England and Scotland. These are a larger size than the Heritage playing cards.

Music Videos

History Teachers and Horrible Histories both cover various monarchs, including some English and Scottish ones. These are firm favourites here, and we find that an enormous amount can be learnt from a good music video.

Our recommended starting place for English Kings and Queens of England is the Horrible Histories English Kings and Queens Song – a fun way to become familiar with them and maybe learn their order! There are also songs and sketches about lots of the English Kings and Queens from the TV series. (the easiest way to find these is to search Youtube for a ‘horrible histories’ and the monarch in question).

Another favourite source of history music videos ours is the History Teachers – more grown up, less ‘horrible’ and often quite poignant. I’ve blogged a rough chronological list but here are the English and Scottish ones.

Videos

Timelines and Posters

Finding out more:

And finally a few websites for finding out more. Suitable for older children or adults.

——–

Do you have any favourite books on Kings and Queens of England?
Can you recommend any that cover Wales, Scotland and Ireland too?

Tony Robinson’s Kings and Queens

Children's books, History, History Books, Uncategorized, ,

Buy on Amazon

This is one of my eight year old’s absolute favourite books in the whole world. It has done much to turn an general interest in people into a passion for history. It covers Kings and Queens of England, and unlike many books goes back to Anglo-Saxons rather than just starting with Normans.
Written with the humour you would expect from Tony Robinson. With big, bold, funny illustrations to match. It is funny, and full of personal details that bring historical characters to life.
Text is divided into manageable, well thought out chunks so it is easy to dip into.
We have found the odd historical inaccuracy. My daughter was rather perturbed to see George I and George II described in a round about way as grandfather and father of George III. But actually it generally seems accurate and it has resulted in a good understanding of the limits of history, and history books!
All in all a great place to start.

 

Stone Age – Children’s Historical fiction

Children's books, Children's fiction, History, History Books, , , , , ,

Historical fiction is a great way of finding out more about history. This list includes some great picture books and novels for young adults.

***HIGHLY RECOMMENDED***

Stone Age Boy

This historical fiction picture book is a great introduction to archaeology and stone age people for younger children – for us it is the one essential book on the subject.

Read full review

Historical Fiction

Mini reviews of the ones we have read:

Picture Books

  • The First Dog (Reading Rainbow) by Jan Brett
    Another beautiful picture book – Stone age boy Kip encounters Paleowolf. Paleowolf would like some of his food, but Kip doesn’t want to share. But they are not alone, and Kip soon finds out that having a wolf for a friend has advantages. A lovely look at how the first dog might have been welcomed into our lives. The artwork not only tells the story, but gives clues as to what is happening next and the page borders are filled with pictures of stone age artefacts.

minnowandbear

  • Minnow and the Bear by Benedict Blathwayt
    A good picture book for a child that loves visual elements and tiny details, but disappointing as stone age historical fiction. Full review …
  • Adventures in the Ice Age (Good Times Travel Agency) by Linda Bailey
    Comic book time travelling adventures. This entertaining series takes modern day children back in time. We have found this a really approachable way to learn about the stone age.
  • The First Drawing by Mordicai Gerstein
    Who drew the first cave art? A picture book imagining how the Palaeolithic world might have inspired a boy to create the first cave art.
    Vibrant and lively illustrations.

Chapter books

  • Wolf Brother: Chronicles of Ancient Darkness Book 1 by Michelle Paver
    Book 1 of Chronicles of Ancient Darkness  (9+)
    Torak’s father is killed by a giant, possessed bear and he must find new friends and family and save the clans. Very detailed descriptions of stone age life in Northern Europe, particularly strong on natural history and animals of the time. It touches on fantasy as it brings the mages and belief in magic of these people to life. Although an enjoyable read even as an adult, the six book series feels as though something is lacking in the writing or pace of the books.

Older children/Young Adult

  • 11, 000 Years Lost (Amulet) by Peni R Griffin
    Young adult fiction. A modern Texan girl Ester discovers an 11,000 year old spearhead. Her fascination with the people who made it leads to her time travelling into the past. Adopted by a group of mammoth hunters, who are an interesting mix of characters she must learn how to survive in a very different world. What was life like as a mammoth hunter, can they find food, and survive? Will Ester ever find her way home? A really good read.

More children’s historical fiction set in the stone age (we haven’t read these yet)

 

View Children’s Historical Fiction: Stone Age on Amazon Listmania

Do you have any comments on these or any other historical fiction set in the stone age?

 

Stone Age Boy

Books and Magazines, Children's books, Children's fiction, Featured, History Books, , , ,

***HIGHLY RECOMMENDED***

Stone Age Boy

This historical fiction picture book is a great introduction to archaeology and stone age people for younger children – for us it is the one essential book on the subject.

When a boy falls down a hole he finds himself back in the stone age. His new friend introduces him to stone age life.

This is a great children’s picture book – well written and beautifully illustrated and unusual in bringing historical fiction to younger children. Stone Age Boy is a great introduction to a very different way of life, showing how stone age people made tools, hunted, and cooked. A particularly nice touch is the beautiful pictures of stone age animals on the inside covers.

Whilst the simple text and story make it suitable for reading to younger children the detail in the central spread make for an useful introduction and discussion point for older children.

Buy on Amazon

Stone Age Boy

Buy on Amazon

Zoo-ology

Books and Magazines, Children's books, Nature Books, ,

Buy on Amazon

This book is all about the illustrations! Zoo-ology, by Joelle Jolivet is a great first animal encyclopedia.

This wonderfully over-sized book at nearly 45cm high, is big, bold, beautiful and packed with animals. Each double spread has a theme – cold, horned, in the sea and so on. It is the kind of book that a child will spend hours examining, again and again. I particular love the way the animals are not limited to the more familiar – whilst these are represented so are green-eyed tree frogs and tarsiers!

We also enjoy looking through the pages for the chameleon hidden on each one.

My Name is Mina

Children's fiction, Home education

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My Name is Mina, by David Almond, is a wonderful, poetic story depicting home education. My Name is Mina is a rare book -beautifully written using language in an almost hypnotic way, quirky and with an instinctive understanding of unschooling/autonomous/informal education. Written as Mina’s diary, it reflects the main character’s creativity and curiosity. Mina loves words – the sound of them, their flow and patterns, reflected in the wonderful use of words, fonts and space throughout the book. She has a uncompromising sense of wonder at the world around her – from the blackbird chicks in her tree, to the sheer immensity of the universe. As a result Mina does not fit in at school. She is unwilling or unable to lose herself and her world of words and ideas in order to meet the requirements of school or fit in with the other children. So her mother takes her out of school to be home educated. The diary tells of her experiences leading up to leaving school, her coming to terms with the loss of her father and dealing with having been a square peg in a round hole, until eventually she comes to a place where she can reconnect with the world again. The descriptions of the quiet moments of contemplation and the time spent round the kitchen table making and talking with her Mum are something that strike a chord with my family.

Picture books

Children's books

30th Nov: Yummy nummy mummy

As a family that breastfeeds many picture books aimed at young children and babies are frustratingly quiet on the subject. When ever a baby needs feeding most books resort to the bottle with no reason at all. So we really enjoy finding books that include or are about breastfeeding. When my eldest was little she really liked Breastmilk Makes My Tummy Yummy, by Cecilia Moen. Simple text and pictures focused on the breastfeeding baby and child. More breastfeeding children’s books

29th Nov: Read and Wonder

Our next choice is a whole series, and an interesting illustration of the advantages of a picture book format over others. The fabulous Read and Wonder books look at a range of subjects in a wonderful way – great illustrations, humour and text combine in a series of gems, whatever your child is interested in. We particularly love What is a wall after all, but it is hard to pick a favourite! Some of the titles overlap with our other favourite the Nature Storybooks series.

Unfortunately this is an old format, replaced by a smaller number of the much less successful format of the Read and Discover series. In a bid to make more interesting early readers Walker Books have lost the soul of these books. The tiny size of the illustrations and the way they disappear into the crease of the spine, make them feel cramped on the page. The text in the ones I have seen no longer flow through the book with the illustrations, but is separated. They are no longer joyful, expansive books to share, but small cramped ones who do neither the words of pictures justice.

28th Nov: Our Christmas favourite

With Christmas fast approaching we have been thinking about our favourite Christmas books. One of these is The Christmas Bear, by Henrietta and Paul Stickland. Little Bear falls into the magical world of Santa’s workshop. It is joyful books, richly illustrated and full of lots of detail. This wonderful world of toys and wrapping and all the jobs and tools for the elves to make and test the toys is mesmerising. There is so much to look at! and we love spotting Father Christmas’ naughty pet penguin. Another favourite is The Sea Mice and the Stars, by Kenneth Steven and Louise Ho. Ashenteen is a sea mouse, and she and her family collect fallen stars each winter to light the other mice’s homes and guide them home through storm and snow. A lovely adventure story, with a happy ending. A really magical Christmas book.

27th Nov: A early favourite

One of my daughter’s early favourite board books was My First Words, illustrated by Kate Merritt. She loved the bold, colourful pictures on themed pages. The words are really clear and she loved pointing to them and saying the animal, or part of the body or clothes.

26th Nov: Katie Morag

One of our favourite picture book characters is Katie Morag. This little person’s big personality shines out of this series of books by Dr Mairi Hedderwick. There are a number of these that we borrow from the library again and again. Hedderwick’s soft watercolours provide an evocative feeling of living on a small Scottish island. Both my children have been breastfed and it is wonderful to see that depicted as part of everyday life in the books where Katie has a baby sister, in particular Katie Morag and the Tiresome Ted.

25th Nov: Urbble Gloop

A few years ago we visited Heligan Gardens in Cornwall and bought this lovely book. The Mud Maid: A Story of Heligan, by Sandra Horn (Author) and Karen Popham (Illustrator) It  is a wonderful bitter sweet fantasy story, with a happy ending, all about the passage of time in the abandoned gardens and their return to glory from the point of view of the mud maid – a pond spirit who lives in the gardens. It covers time, abandonment, loneliness, war, hope and renewal.

24th Nov: Mia’s story

Mia’s story, by Michael Foreman is a poignant story about how a little girl living with her family on a rubbish tip in Chile, finds hope and beauty after the loss of her dog. The soft watercolours provide a gentle background and beautifully illustrate the change from the cold, desolate rubbish tip to a beautiful field of flowers, providing financial hope to the family. One of the things we love about this book is the different cultural setting and the way that, although integral to the story, it is secondary to Mia’s story, rather than the focus.

23rd Nov: Lift the flap …

Another series that we have several of and return to again and again is Usborne‘s Lift the Flap books. We have Dragons, Bugs and slugs and Dinosaurs. These are very approachable very early factual books  (not sure this is strictly true of the Dragons one!), with lots of interaction. The colours are bright and bold and the text really uses the page and the flaps to work altogether, unlike many factual books which end up stilted and a little boring. In fact we find it much harder to find factual books that match our expectations of illustration and readability. These ones certainly do that.

22 Nov: Another Aussie gem

Another Australian picture book today, Uno’s Garden by Graeme Base. This is a book on the balance of nature,  on ecology and maths. It is the story of how one man, Uno, came to live in the rich, lush forest full of animals and plants. But as more people join him the they have a terrible impact on the animals and plants. But not all is lost and a more balanced approach provides hope, and the animals and plants return. The stunning, rich illustrations are filled with details and the words have a lovely rhythm to them. It is search and count book, filled with imaginatively named animals such as the snortlepig and the lumpybums. But it also tackles more advanced number patterns in the form of square numbers and doubling numbers.

21 Nov: Lauren Child

Another of our favourite illustrators and authors today - Lauren Child. Best-known for Charlie and Lola, her illustrations use patterns in an often surprising way. Lola is a character my girls both love. And they enjoy many of the books and the TV series. But our current favourite is something a little different - Who wants to be a Poodle? I Don’t! All about a pampered pooch who longs to reconnect with what it should mean to be a poodle. The wonderful use of patterns against other patterns, and patterns of text make for a visually treat, and a more sophisticated picture book than Charlie and Lola, which are aimed at younger readers.

20th Nov: A right royal mess …

Humorous,slightly risqué picture books can delight child and adult alike. We have two favourites about knickers and pants. Pants in the UK sense of the word – meaning underwear rather than the decidedly less humorous trousers/pants! The first is The Queen’s Knickers, by Nicholas Allen. The story of the Queen’s many knickers – one for every occasion, how they go missing and which will she wear for a school visit. We have borrowed this one from the library repeatedly. A nice gentle, humorous book. Pants, by Giles Andreae and Nick Sharratt on the other hand is a big, bold, shouty book! Bright and colourful, skipping through lots of different kinds of pants.

19th Nov: Big, bold and beautiful animals …

Today’s book is all about the illustrations! Zoo-ology, by Joelle Jolivetis a wonderfully over-sized book, with lots of illustrations of animals. It is big, bold and beautiful. Each double spread has a theme – cold, horned, in the sea and so on. It is the kind of book that a child will spend hours examining, again and again. I particular love the way the animals are not limited to the more familiar – whilst these are represented so are green-eyed tree frogs and tarsiers! It really feels like a great first animal encyclopedia. We also enjoy looking through the pages for the chameleon hidden on each one.

18th Nov: Wonderwise

As home educators we are always on the look out for factual books that entertain and interest. A friend introduced us to a great series – Wonderwise. Yum-Yum: a look at food chains, by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom is unusually good as a first book on food chains. It reads very well as a story, without any extra information disturbing the flow. It isn’t too simplistic in its view of food chains. It includes what happens when an animal dies, the fact that plants use nutrients from decomposed animals as food, and illustrates that there may be different consumers of that same plant (in this case). Our favourites also include The World is full of babies and When I was young.

17th Nov: My Two Grannies

Whilst working on this post for Picture Book Month we have been reminded of some picture books that we haven’t borrowed from the library for a while – but have really loved and at one time borrowed again and again. One of these is My Two Granniesby Floella Benjamin, ullustrated by Margaret Chamberlain. Alvina’s two grannies are very different – one is from Trinidad, the other from the north of England. A lovely story about how they learn to share their time with their grand daughter, and become good friends whilst her parents are away.

16th Nov: Another favourite author …

Another favourite author/illustrator today. Bob Graham. We really like his whimsical, gentle books. They manage to mix the very down to earth with the positively magical in a unique way. One of our favourites is Oscar’s Half Birthday. Set in an inner city, baby Oscar and his family celebrate his first six months of life with a trip to the park for a picnic. A very simple, uplifting story, but with lots of characterisation and it is great to see books showing urban life, younger parents and mixed race families with out it being the focus of a moral or issue to be tackled, just in an everyday but joyful way. Another favourite is Jethro Byrd, Fairy Child. Again Bob Graham mixes the magical – fairies – with the mundane. In this case a back yard and travelling in an old van (the fairies that is).

 

More favourite picture books for November …

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November is Picture Book Month. To celebrate I’ll add some more of our favourite picture books each day through out November. In a picture book, the illustrations are integral, providing not only a visual experience but telling the story too. They can provide not only a wonderful introduction to reading, but also an appreciation of poetry and art. As the saying goes a picture is worth a thousand words. Find out more about Picture Book Month and read the daily featured posts from Picture Book Champions. Please leave a comment telling us about your favourite picture books…

Picture books – more

Children's books, Uncategorized, , ,

15th Nov: A classic favourite…

Today’s favourite is a real classic. An action song in a picture book - We’re All Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. The poetic use of repetition and rhyme make this a great read aloud and pull the child along on the bear hunt. It is full of sounds and movement. The sense of adventure in this book is palpable and lends itself naturally to being turned into a game. It is one of those books where the story comes off the page and follows you and your children into the real world.

14th Nov: A favourite illustrator …

I haven’t been using the Picture book Month theme calendar for my posts because so many of our favourite books just don’t fit into the categories and I wanted to talk about individual authors, illustrators and series of books. But today my chosen illustrator happens to have created a wonderful book on today’s theme – dragons. Not only that but I have just discovered that she illustrated the covers of some of my favourite adult fiction books written by Robin Hobb, which feature … dragons.

Jackie Morris‘s illustrations are beautiful – each page is a masterpiece in its self. She combines intricate detail and fantastical, exotic colours and places, with almost whimsical people and powerful animals. Tell Me A Dragon shows that everyone has a dragon – what ever its size or speciality. What is yours? Another of our favourite Jackie Morris books is Can You See a Little Bear?

13th Nov: And something for the little ones …

Looking back to when my two girls were babies their favourite first picture books these were simple, boldly illustrated books with minimal words, and either something to do (feeling the textures or lifting flaps) and/or strong characters.

That’s not my teddy, Hug, and Spot Bakes A Cake.

12th Nov: Something a bit more grown-up …

My eight year old daughter is currently very taken with a couple of Babette Cole‘s picture books. Funny, child-friendly illustrations introducing puberty (Hair In Funny Places) and the strange world of grown-ups (Mummy never told me) in a relaxed way tongue – cheek way. Now we certainly need to track down another of her books – Mummy Laid an Egg. These are great examples of how picture books, traditionally aimed at very young children can be appropriate for older children – how funny illustrations and good rhythm and rhyme continue to appeal as children get older.

11th Nov: More historical fiction

History is a favourite subject in our house. So here are a couple of very different historical fiction pictures books. The first is a princess story with a difference – a real life princess and the real pressures of being royalty. Moi and Marie Antoinette (by Lynn Cullen and Amy Young) follows Marie Antoinette from her idyllic childhood in Austria to the pressures of the French court, through the eyes of her lap dog. The dog acts as a proxy – this is all about how French court life separates him and his mistress, but has a happy ending as he finds a loving mistress in her daughter Theresa. No French Revolution here. Another of our favourites covering a very different time and place is Freedom Ship, by Doreen Rappaport and Curtis James. Based on a true story of a group of slaves, including women and children who escaped with a Confederate ship, joining the Union fleet and gaining their freedom. An exciting adventure of a boy and his family, filled with the professionalism of the slave sailors and the fear and suspense of this very daring escape.

10th Nov: Counting books

As so many picture books are aimed at babies and young children a lot of them feature numbers and learning to count. A classic is The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. With his signature colour and texture dense illustrations it tells the story of a caterpillar eating lots of things – with the extra fun of holes in the page where he has eaten through the food. Unlike many picture books devoted to counting the story line stands on it own. Another counting book with more to it than just counting is We all went on Safari. A bright, journey through the grasslands of Tanzania with a band of Maasai children, counting the different animals as we go – in both English and Swahili.

9th Nov: Once in a life-time Great Aussie Do!

Our favourite picture books from Australia are both published by Scholastic. And Kangaroo played his Didgeridoo, byNigel Gray and Glen Singleton. “You should have come to the Great Aussie Do” – lots of Australian animals come together for a party in a book with a wonderful song like rhythm to the lyrics and friendly humorous illustrations, introducing an assortment of Australian wildlife. Another very different favourite is an version of Waltzing Matilda, lyrics written by Banjo Patterson and illustrated by Freya Blackwood. The beautiful, evocative pictures tell the story of the shearers strikes that the song is said to have been written in honour of. It comes with a CD of the song, sung to the little known, original tune.  (Both are hard to get hold of in the UK).

8th Nov: Our favourite animal books

My youngest daughter and I are animal mad, so we find ourselves drawn to beautiful picture books about animals. Not the anthropomorphic kind, but the books showing animals as they really are. These as it turns out are a very rare beast indeed. Many of the factual books about animals aren’t picture books, or are dry with random text that fails to flow through the book, often accompanied by not very inspiring photographs. But one of our favourite publishers Walker Books do a fantastic series called Nature Storybooks.

Each is a great example of a picture book, written to flow like fiction with beautiful illustrations. And each is different – different authors, and illustrators make for a varied look and read. We already have five, and regularly borrow two others from the library. Every single one is a gem.

7th Nov: Babywearing books

I have carried both my daughters and we love to see pictures of children being worn. Here are a couple of the rare books specifically about babywearing. Thought there are others which show it in passing. Our favourite is the classic A Ride on Mother’s Back, by Emery & Durga Bernhard. With rich, friendly, fascinating pictures of babywearing all around the world, it is a great introduction to how different traditional cultures carry their babies. Another one, set in Africa is Goodnight, Kuu Kuu by Wamoro P. Njenga and Anne Sibley O’Brien. It follows a baby through his day from the vantage point of his mother’s back. Evocative and very sweet natured. Do you know of any babywearing books? We are always on the look out for more. More babywearing books …

6th Nov: Food glorious food …

Many picture books have a moral to the story or are written to teach children a lesson about behaviour. As a parent these can make us feel uncomfortable or positive about the book depending on our own parenting style.  Some of our favourite picture books turn food discipline on its head. One of these is the Daisy book Eat Your Peas by Kes Gray and Nick Sharratt and the other is Don’t Dip Your Chips in Your Drink, Kate by Caryl Hart, Leigh Hodgkinson. Both deal with how children eat with humour, and have something for the parents reading them to take away and think about.

5th Nov: Princess stories

Having two little girls in the house it is hard to avoid the influence of helpless, ball-gowned princesses. But one day in the library we discovered Mary Hoffman‘s Princess Grace. This is a really nice book exploring a young girl’s developing interest in princess, as she discovers that there have been far more interesting storytale and real-life princesses than the ones that require rescuing by fairy tale princes and who wear pink floaty dresses. The illustrations by Cornelius van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu are rich and full of facial expression. On the subject of princesses – we really like John-Steptoe’s Mufaro’s beautiful daughters, a traditional African twist on the old fairy tale princess.

4th Nov: You Choose

My girls love You Choose. Over the years we have spent hours playing imaginative games with this book. It is highly interactive, with page after page of pictures to choose from. The pictures are bold and cartoon like in Nick Sharratt’s trademark style. He is another illustrator whose picture books feature in my children’s favourites. Who do you want to be your friend? Which clothes, house or food would you choose? Warning – parents may get fed up of this one long before the children!

3rd Nov: Stone Age Boy

Picture books of course aren’t just for babies, and can have great educational value. Though we have found surprisingly few historical fiction picture books. One of our most borrowed books from the library is just that –Stone Age Boy, by Satoshi Kitamura. When a boy falls down a hole he finds himself back in the stone age. His new friend introduces him to stone age life. This is well written and beautifully illustrated, with glorious clear colours and lot of detail. Stone Age Boy is a great introduction to a very different way of life, showing how stone age people made tools, hunted, and cooked. A particularly nice touch is the pictures of stone age animals on the inside covers.

Please leave a comment if you would like to share your favourite historical fiction picture books. We are always on the look out for more.

2nd Nov: Bear Books

Both my girls have loved the Bear books, by Stella Blackstone and Debbie Harter from Barefoot Books. They are simple but joyful, with bold illustrations full of colour and patterns. A single book grasps their attention so that they not only want to be read the book, but will spend hours looking at the pictures and playing with the Bear. In the back of our favourite Bear at Home there is a plan of Bear’s house and my daughters have spent hours walking their fingers around the house, and imagining themselves living in the house. Highly recommended as a first book for a baby, especially in its board book format.

1st Nov: Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

cover - Monkey PuzzleSo to kick off I thought I would share one of our favourite writer/illustrator partnerships - Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Amongst these are some of my daughters’ all time favourites. My youngest daughter’s first favourite book wasMonkey Puzzle – she always waited with bated breath for the little monkey to be returned to its Mum. Another of our favourite characters – the Gruffalo has taken on a life of his own with merchandising, a stage show and an animated film. Room on the broom is also a much loved classic in our house, but actually you can’t go far wrong with any of these picture books.

The illustrations are bright, humorous and friendly and the words bounce along through the pages, with a song-like rhythm. Indeed many have been put to music in songbooks.
Which are your favourite Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler picture books?

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November is Picture Book Month. To celebrate I’ll add some more of our favourite picture books each day through out November.
In a picture book, the illustrations are integral, providing not only a visual experience but telling the story too. They can provide not only a wonderful introduction to reading, but also an appreciation of poetry and art. As the saying goes a picture is worth a thousand words.

Find out more about Picture Book Month and read the daily featured posts from Picture Book Champions.

Please leave a comment telling us about your favourite picture books…

More favourite picture books for November …