#365PictureBooks 57. Between the Pages by Joan van Loon, illustrations by Chantal Stewart

Van Loon, J., & Stewart, C. (2010). Between the Pages. Frenchs Forest, Australia: New Frontier.

ISBN: 9781921928444
Pages: 32
Age Level: Early Childhood 0-6 / Middle Childhood 7-12
Genre: Picture Storybook
Rating: 4 stars

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Join Billy and Jack on an exciting adventure in the rainforest where they are chased by snakes and lizards and big scary emus ... just to name a few.  With some quick thinking they escape through the pages of their book. 

Van Loon's use of descriptive language and the way she tells the story right from the start gives the impression of tension and adventure.  Told simply enough that younger children will enjoy it as a read-aloud, it is sophisticated enough for middle primary school children to enjoy as well.  The spacing between lines and the font (which looks like 'actual' writing) make it a book that beginning readers will be able to enjoy on their own.

I like how this is a story within a story ... the boys are actually reading about their own adventure!

I'm just loving the illustrations.  They are a combination of full page and graphic novel panels (either inserted in boxes within the main illustration, or like this image as 2 or 3 full length panels beside each other).  The images are quite busy and full of lots of detail so I'm leaning more towards this being a Middle Childhood book rather than an Early Childhood book (although younger children will definitely love the story!).

What a fantastic book.  As it says on the back cover this 'is a story that celebrates the pleasure of reading'.  A great addition to your collection as a read-aloud, for prediction and getting kids imaginations working.  Also a good exemplar to use with students for a story writing text.

I got my copy of Between the Pages from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

You can find a copy at Napier Libraries.

#365PictureBooks 40. Toys Galore by Peter Stein, illustrated by Bob Staake

Stein, P., & Staake, B. (2013). Toys Galore. London, UK: Walker Books.

ISBN: 9781406346213
Pages: 32
Age Level: Early Childhood 0-6
Genre: Picture Book 
Rating: 5 stars

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Toys are silly.

Toys are fun

Who loves toys?

Everyone!

This book ticks all my 'fun factor' boxes.  It is bright.  It is rhymey (yes I know it's not a real word).  The illustrations are cute.  It is just plain fun!  I defy you to put it down before you have finished.  Not going to happen!!!

The rhyme is easy to pick up, and with lots of repetition little kids will be able to follow along with the humorous text.

The character illustrations are kind of alien'ish, but they are just so awesome.  They are bright and happy looking, and just make you want to smile along with them.  There are so many great toys to spot.  Each page has toys relating to the particular part of the rhyme.

This is such a cool book to add to your collection.  It is a fun book for reading aloud either at bedtime ... well maybe not if you are trying to settle your child down to sleep!  But certainly great for daytime read-alouds and class read-alouds.  Older kids will have fun reading it to their younger buddies.  Be careful you don't get your tongue twisted around the words :-) 

I got my copy of Toys Galore from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

You can find a copy at Napier Libraries.

#365PictureBooks 33. The Birthday Cake Mystery by The Tjong-Khing

Tjong-Khing, T. (2012). The Birthday Cake Mystery [Text free]. Wellington, New Zealand: Gecko Press.

ISBN: 9781877579103
Pages: 32
Age Level: Early Childhood 0-6 / Middle Childhood 7-12
Genre: Picture Book / Text Free
Rating: 4 stars

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Whose birthday is it?

Who steals the necklace?

What mischief are the mice up to?

Will poor dog ever finish making the cake?

The Birthday Cake Mystery is a text free detective story.  Told entirely in pictures, there are so many things to spot and a lot of red herrings to lead you astray!  Can you figure out the mystery before the end of the book?  

Created by The Tjong-Khing, it was originally published in 2010 with the title of Verjaardag met taart.  Tjong-Khing is an award winning children's book illustrator based in the Netherlands. 


Tjong-Khing's illustrations remind me a lot of the Berenstain Bears and Richard Scarry books.  They are so well done and they have a very 'old fashioned' feel to them.  

The first image sets the scene (actually if you want a clue, be sure to 'read' the title page!), and each consecutive page adds more detail to the mystery.

This is not a storybook that you can read from start to end.  You will find yourself flipping backwards and forwards between the pages as you try and decipher the mystery/mysteries.

This is such a great addition to your collection, be it at home or at school.  There are so many different stories to follow.  It is great for building children's imagination, and would work really well for story starter activities in literacy sessions.  It makes a great search-and-find activity, and young & old kids (and adults) can spend hours pouring over it and finding something different every time they read it.

This quote from The Children's Bookshop sums it up nicely:

This is a puzzle book that encourages lateral thinking, imagination and optical awareness, without losing its sense of fun or child appeal ...  you find fresh dramas with each reading.

The Children's Bookshop Newsletter, May 2012

I got my copy of The Birthday Cake Mystery from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

You can find a copy at Napier Libraries.

#365PictureBooks 32. Use your imagination (But be careful WHAT you WISH for!) by Nicola O'Byrne

O'Byrne, N. (2014). Use your imagination (But be careful WHAT you WISH for). London, UK: Nosy Crow.

ISBN: 9780857633354
Pages: 32
Age Level: Middle Childhood 7-12
Genre: Picture Storybook
Rating: 5 stars

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Rabbit is bored, bored, bored!  One day he is laying around wishing something would happen when Wolf has the perfect idea...

"Why don't we write a story?"

"I am a librarian, you know,

and librarians know a lot

about stories."

After a bit of a nervous start Rabbit decides that this is a fantastic idea, and Wolf teaches Rabbit how to use his imagination to write a story.  But is Wolf really as helpful as he appears, or does he have some other sneaky plot up his sleeve?  And is Rabbit really as unaware as he makes out?  

You'll just have to read it for yourself to find out!  And I really do suggest you read it.  It's fantastic!!!

What a brilliant twist on the traditional tale of Little Red Riding Hood.  Children that know the original tale will be able to compare the two, and try and predict what is going to happen.  And of course intermingled within the story is some really worthwhile information on how to write a story.



O'Byrne's illustrations are presented with the books sepia paper as the background.  The only spots of bright colour are the props that Rabbit imagines for his story, with help from Wolfs suggestions.  The expressions on the characters faces are so well done, especially poor elephant's shock at being in the story.



A great teaching tool for use with story writing, use of speech marks, prediction, and using your imagination.  It's also a brilliant read aloud book.

I love the ending when Wolf gets his comeuppance!  (Oops! Sorry! Spoiler alert!!).

My favourite line from Rabbit ... 

"Isn't Imagination a wonderful thing?"

I got my copy of Use your imagination from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

You can find a copy at Napier Libraries.

#365PictureBooks 27. What If ... ? by Anthony Browne

Gurney, P., & Webb, P. (2010). Kiwi Corkers: A Kiwi Christmas Carol. Auckland, New Zealand: Scholastic.

ISBN: 9780552565196
Pages: 32
Age Level: Early Childhood 0-6 / Middle Childhood 7-12
Genre: Picture Book
Rating: 4 stars

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Joe has been invited to his first big party.  Unfortunately he has lost the invite.  He knows which street he lives on but he can't remember the house number.  As he and his mum set of in search of Tom's house Joe's imagination starts to get the better of him and he spends the whole journey worrying.  Each house they pass brings another set of worries as they pause to peer inside and find some surprising sights.  Will they find Tom's house?  And will all of Joe's worries be real? 

Full of the repeated refrain "What If ...? and the worries of many children of dealing with a new situation (and adults if I am to be honest), Anthony Browne (former Children's Laureate) leads us on a journey of self discovery and how our imagination can make us blow things out of proportion.  

In typical Browne fashion his illustrations are extremely thought provoking, and yet entirely appropriate for the story.  There are two types of illustrations.  There is Joe and his mother done in a combination of blue-tones that depict the worry and self-doubt they feel and their continuing discussion which moves seamlessly between images.  These images are predominantly in sequential graphic-novel style boxes.  Then there are the full colour pages that display the house from the outside and what they can see.  Followed by an amazing two-page spread of what is happening on the inside of each room they look into as they pass.

The concept behind the story is fine for younger children and they will enjoy the full-page colour illustrations.  However I think that older children will get more out of this book.  Not just because the illustrations are so sophisticated.  I believe that older children will 'get' the issue of self-doubt more-so than younger children and be able to relate their own experiences to it (and maybe build some confidence of their own in their understanding!).  Hence I have classified it as more of a Middle Childhood 7-12yrs read.

What a fantastic way to discuss with children how their worries can often make things seem so much worse than they really are.  And if you didn't want to read it for the story-line, then Anthony Browne's artwork is a-may-zing to look at and spend hours pouring over.  A fantastic book to add to your collection.

I got my copy of What If ... ? from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

You can find a copy at Napier Libraries.

#365PictureBooks 23. All I Said Was by Michael Morpurgo, illustrated by Ross Collins

Morpurgo, M., & Collins, R. (2014). All I Said Was. Edinburgh, UK: Red Squirrel Books.

ISBN: 9781781123485
Pages: 32
Age Level: Early Childhood 0-6 / Middle Childhood 7-12
Genre: Picture Storybook
Rating: 5 stars

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All I can say is ... Wow!  I wasn't expecting that ending!!! 

This is the story of a young boy who looked up from his book one day and saw a bird.  And you know what he said?  

"Hi there, bird.  You know what I'd like?

I'd like to be you.  I'd like to be able to fly off to any place I liked.  That would be so good."

And guess what?!?!  He did!



Morpurgo has presented us with a well written and imaginative story about a boy who dreams of flying and a bird who dreams of reading a book.  Told in short sentences with double spacing and easy to read font, this is a good book for beginning readers, and for those parents who do not read as confidently as they would like.  It's also a good story to use for prediction.  The young boy repeatedly asks the question "And what happened?" before you turn the page.

Collins' illustrations are bright and colourful and perfectly capture the humour in the story.  You can see the young boys joy in the birds face when he first flies off and his terror on the return flight.  And he depicts all the other creatures anger towards the bird so clearly.

Picture Squirrels are the Barrington Stoke's picture book range, designed with a selection of 'dyslexia-friendly features to support parents and carers who do not read confidently so that they too can enjoy the books with their children' (Picture Squirrels, n.d. para. 1).

This is a great read-aloud book that celebrates the power of books and the ability of stories that can take us anywhere we can imagine.  It's a great resource to have in your collection for working with imagination and prediction.  Just watch out for the ending!!!!!!!


I got my copy of All I Said Was from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

You can find a copy at Napier Libraries.


References:
Picture Squirrels. (n.d.). About Picture Squirrels. Retrieved January 23, 2015 from http://www.picturesquirrels.co.uk/about-picture-squirrels.html

#365PictureBooks 19. Mix It Up! by Herve Tullet

Tullet, H. (2014). Mix It Up!. Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.

ISBN: 9781760110956
Pages: 68
Age Level: Early Childhood 0-6 / Middle Childhood 7-12
Genre: Picture Book
Rating: 5 stars

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First off, let me just say ... I LOVE HERVE TULLET!  His books are just freaking AWESOME! 

Mix It Up! was originally published in France, by Bayard Editions, with the title Couleurs.  It was published in the same year in English by Allen & Unwin.  It has a board-book cover, and stitched and glued pages, which makes it robust and able to handle the use it will undoubtedly get.

At its heart this is an instruction manual on how to mix colours.  But it is so much more than that.  It is interactive.  It is fun.   It gets kids thinking "What if?"  What if you mix this colour with that colour?  What if you smash two pages together with wet paint on them?  It starts children on the track of creativity and exploration. 

The text is simple and instructional.  The illustrations are paint strokes and splotches - nothing more.  But they are exactly what is needed.  This is what children would see on their own sheets of paper as they investigate what mixing different colours together will achieve.  As you look at each paint splotch you can see the paint brush bristles or the finger prints, and you can see the flicks and smudges (the mistakes) that are not part of the main image.  It shows children that they don't have to be clean and tidy when they are trying things out.  Painting, and creativity in general, is a messy business.  Have Fun.  Embrace the crazy.  Let loose and be creative!

You have to check out Tullet's website.  It is so much fun.  There are simply oodles of things for you to look at and interact with.  I spent ages on The game of eyes page.  It wasn't till my second time through it that I realised the eyes move.  Freaky!  And so much fun trying to trick the eyes into not knowing where the mouse is ;-) 

This is a seriously awesome book to add to your collection.  It is a fun & interactive read, AND it teaches children about colours.  I can guarantee that the adults reading it will HAVE TO do all the actions it sais, AND they will have sooooooo much fun.  I dare you to read this and NOT do what it tells you!!!  Our year 5's & 6's are the ones that have been getting the most fun out of his book Press Here.  You don't have to be a little kid to enjoy Tullet.  

See you.  I'm off to play the game of eyes again. #Hooked

I got my copy of Mix It Up! from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

You can find a copy at Napier Libraries.

You can check out more reviews of Mix It Up! on Goodreads.

#365PictureBooks 12. The Return of the Jabberwock by Oakley Graham, illustrated by David Neale

Graham, O., & Neale, D. (2013). The Return of the Jabberwock: Inspired by Lewis Carroll's famous poem. Heatherton, Australia: Hinkler.

ISBN: 9781743670286
Pages: 24
Age Level: Middle Childhood 7-12
Genre: Picture Storybook
Rating: 5 stars

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Wow!  What an awesome book. 

I've got to admit that when I had to do a study of Lewis Caroll's Jabberwocky poem in high school, I just didn't understand it.  Quite a few years later as an adult ... yeeeeaaaah, nah!  I still don't get it.  But boy, Oakley Graham does!

Setting the scene right from the get-go, this book starts off with Lewis Carroll's 1872 Jabberwocky poem in a two-page spread, surrounded by a misty forest and dark looming trees.  Devoid of much colour the illustrations lend an air of suspense as you read the poem. 

Then starts the story of a young boy who sets off on an adventure into the Tulgey Wood to find his own Jabberwock, just like his great grandfather did.  Will he be brave enough to go into the woods and face the creatures that live there?  And if he is will he find a Jabberwock?  

Graham's use of language, from his rhyming text to his imagery, really help give the story a sense of excitement, tension and relief.  I really love this particular verse:

'It had an ugly beak and a toothless smile,

And it perched in a nest by an old sundial.

The boy started to tremble; the adventure felt real.

Would he end up as the creature's next meal?

Neale's illustrations are just freaking awesome.  They are perfect for the story.  The young boy stands out as the main character with his use of a muted almost transparent background and scary creatures in shadowy relief.  Shafts of moonlight peeping out from behind the clouds and car lights show what the scary creatures really are - just woodland creatures out and about!  The expressions of fear, determination, and dissapointment are shown so well on the young boy's face.  And Neale's depiction of the animals are just so cute - especially the little piggy!  

I'm so glad I purchased this for school.  It will set a new generation of youngsters on the path of discovery of Lewis Carroll's awesome works.  Whether they understand his original poem, or like me have noooooo freaking idea, they will certainly love this story that it inspired.  Actually it's really a poem, and I can see our older students using it for their poetry competition this year - I'll just have to remember to recommend it!

I got my copy of The Return of the Jabberwodk from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

Woops!  I couldn't find a copy at our local library but you can order a copy from your local bookseller.

#365PictureBooks 11. There's a Dinosaur in my Bathtub by Catalina Echeverri

Echeverri, C. (2014). There's a Dinosaur in my Bathtub. London, UK: Bloomsbury.

ISBN: 9781408839393
Pages: 32
Age Level: Early Childhood 0-6
Genre: Picture Storybook
Rating: 3 stars

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And another dinosaur book.  Sorry.  I do like them.  And this time it's a clean on :-) 

'Hello!  My name is Amelia and I have something very important to tell you.

Shhh! 

It's a secret so you mustn't tell anyone in the whole world ... OK?'

Amelia has a friend called Pierre visiting from France.  Only ... he's a dinosaur.   And he is in her bath.  Which makes it very difficult when Amelia's mother and father want to use the bathroom.  Luckily he's really good at hiding.  And Amelia is actually the only person who can see him.

This story is told in the first person with Amelia describing her adventures with Pierre.  Actually this book makes me think of a photo-essay type book with the images and text combining to give the reader a 'you-are-there' feeling.  

Echeverri's illustrations remind me of Lauren Child's style - kind of a collage effect.  In fact there are a number of pages where the images appear three-dimensional - like when they are sailing their bathtub to magical lands.  They tie in really well with the story.  And they are very bright and colourful.  

There is one page that you need to turn length-ways to read ... after all you can't fit a giant ice cream onto a standard page, can you?

I particularly like the page where Amelia's parents are trying to get into the bathroom.  Poor Pierre looks so worried!  There are two pages showing just how good Pierre is at hiding - very clever dinosaur!  

This is a dinosaur book for GIRLS to enjoy.  After all most dinosaur books have BOYS in them, but there are none to be seen in here... well except for Pierre and her dad.

A gorgeous story about imaginary friends.  Even though I've listed it as an Early Childhood 0-6 book I believe it will be enjoyed by many of our slightly older kids, especially as it has a lot of 'bigger' words in it.  It will be especially good for buddy reading or as a bed-time read by parents. 

I really wanted to love this book, but I felt that some of the pages were just too busy, and at times the language comes across as too 'old' for the intended audience.

I got my copy of There's a Dinosaur in my Bathtub from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

You can find a copy at Napier Libraries.