#365PictureBooks 36. Tom & Millie's Great BIG Treasure Hunt by Guy Parker-Rees

Parker-Rees, G. (2013). Tom & Millie's Great BIG Treasure Hunt. London, UK: Orchard Books.

ISBN: 9781408311776
Pages: 32
Age Level: Early Childhood 0-6
Genre: Picture Storybook
Rating: 4 stars

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Join Tom & Millie as they go on a treasure hunt around their town and collect friends and things from their list.  I wonder what they are collecting their treasures for? 

Parker-Rees, illustrator of Julia Donaldson's Giraffes can't dance has written and illustrated this fantastic world that children will be eager to investigate.  As they help Tom & Millie find the items on their list they are also learning different types of maths like counting, colours and shapes.

There are hundreds of things to spot throughout the book as part of the story, and the end papers give you some of Tom & Millie's friends to look out for as well.  You could also get your children to look for all sorts of different things that are not part of the treasure hunt.

The illustrations are are quite simplistic, yet you can clearly make out the individual animals.  The animals and their backgrounds are done in realistic colours and are quite muted.  The bright colouring comes from their clothing and the accessories, like cars, playgrounds and shapes.   

The pages alternate between scenes like this one where the friends discussing what they have found, and what they have to locate next.  The clue for the next item is displayed in the previous item found.  Then you have a 'busy' scene where you need to help Tom & Millie and their friends find the next treasure, and there are simply dozens of things to spot on each page.

There is lots of discussion about colours and numbers, plenty of repetition, and the language used is very appropriate for the reading age.

This is a great book for sharing with friends.  It is also a really good maths resource for using with younger primary school students.

I got my copy of Tom & Millie's Great BIG Treasure Hunt from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

You can find a copy at Napier Libraries.

Brotherhood of Thieves Bk1 The Wardens by Stuart Daly

Daly, S. (2014). Brotherhood of Thieves 1: The Wardens. Sydney, Australia: Random House.

ISBN: 9780857983275
Pages: 329
Age Level: YA 12-18
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5 stars


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"A brotherhood of treasure hunters.

A terrifying enemy.

Five young recruits.

The race is on."

Caspan is a thief who has lived his life on the streets.  A chance encounter while plying his trade one day leads him to being accepted into a secret order sanctioned by the King.  Together with four other recruits - Roland, Lachlan, Sara and Kilt - they learn what it is to become part of the Brotherhood.  Bonds of trust and friendship are slowly formed while they are trained in their new art.  Will they all pass the test at the end of their training, or will they fail to work as a group and fail in their first (unintended) quest?

What an epic read.  Full of action and adventure, courage, friendship and fantasy it's a great read.  I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

As an adult reading this, I can see that a lot of the storyline ideas / populations may have come from a variety of other fantasy reads.  The Four Kingdoms itself seems very much like an adaptation of England.  I'm not saying this is a bad thing, as many of our preconceived ideas & previous experiences (real & read) slip into our understanding / imagination of what we are reading.

The characters are well formed and the plot flows seamlessly.  It's not until about 1/4 of the way through the book that the fantasy aspect comes into play, and the image on the cover makes sense as it does not appear to have any relation to the title.

This is a good read for ages 10 and up that aren't quite ready for Lord of The Rings or Game of Thrones.  It's got a similar theme - underdog saves the world while trying to fight off hoards of giants, with internal conflicts that are causing treason taking place.

I got my copy of Brotherhood of Thieves 1: The Wardens from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

Check out other reviews of 'Brotherhood of Thieves 1: The Wardens' on Goodreads.