When Melody discovers an old abandoned house she sets off to explore, not expecting to find a spy in training hiding away in there. He doesn’t look much like a spy but the boy whose name is Hal is adamant that he’s on an undercover surveillance mission! Melody’s friends Matthew and Jake are not convinced, who would entrust a teenager with a mission like that? no one would, so they decide that they are going to be the spies and set out to unravel the mystery of what Hal is really up to.
The Graveyard Riddle see’s Lisa Thompson returning to her much loved characters from The Goldfish Boy, taking up the story of Melody this time in another gripping mystery!
Matthew is a 12 year old boy, but unlike a lot of other 12 year olds Matthew spends most of his time trapped in his bedroom, staring out of his window, not out of choice but because a condition called OCD keeps him from venturing outside. As he sits an watches his neighbours come and go he becomes very observant, a skill that helps to turn his life around, when, one day his next door neighbours son Teddy goes missing. Matthew was definitely the last person to see him and so now he must take on the role of detective and unravel the mystery to save Teddy.
“Page-turning, heartbreaking, but ultimately life-affirming, this story is perfect for fans of Can You See Me, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and Wonder”
Two orphans Pip & Flora have run away from Sunny Bay Home for Superflous and Accidentally Parentless Children and have fallen into another world entirely, they soon discover that the two worlds are linked and in trying to find their way home they’re thrown into a world of adventure, encountering cinnamon bears, wobsers and dastardly kelps along the way, Of course they also happen upon some snergs, in particular their new friend Gorbo, a cheerful if somewhat happless snerg, who helps then along the way.
The original (on which this book is based) was written by E.A.Wyke-Smith and is credited with having inspired J.R.R Tolkien to write The Hobbit. This updated version written by Veronica Cossanteli is fantastical, funny and adventurous, with just the right level of peril and an all important satisfying ending! The new edition published by Chickenhouse books is accompanied throughout with glorious illustrations by Melissa Castrillón.
Encourage all those green fingered small folk with this beautifully illustrated gardening book. Gardening is a great way to engage your kids in outdoor activity and whether you have a garden, a balcony or windowsill this book has projects to suit all including:
how to make a seed ball
growing vegetables indoors (and from kitchen scraps!)
making a kokedama
creating a terrarium
and many more!! The book also takes you through the inside of a flower and garden maintenance, with a handy glossary at the back of the book. It’s wondefully written with clear and simple instructions and full of inspiration.
“So what can we do about rainclouds” This beautiful book perfectly illustrates what its like to have a raincloud day, how your thoughts are sometimes like nice white fluffy ones, but then along comes a raincloud thought and makes you feel all fizzy and stormy, or maybe just a bit grey. It walks us through the choices we have when faced with a raincloud thought, get caught up inside it, get your wellies on and dig around inside it, ignore it and hope it floats away, or acknowledge it and then notice all the other white fluffy clouds along side it.
Bronwen Ballard is a coach and psychologist, she teaches mindfulness based thinking skills in primary schools, her approach here provides a clear and calm approach to what can be a tricky subject to discuss with kids. Matched perfectly with Laura Carlin’s wonderful illustrations, that demonstrate so well the feeling of wrestling with raincloud thoughts.
We bought this book for our kids and it’s become a truly important resource for when dark clouds come around.
During the months of the UK’s national lockdown Katherine Rundell felt in need of hope and she was pretty sure so did everyone else, so she set about capturing some by asking children’s authors and artist who she most admired, to write or draw something that, in her words would “give a sense of possibillity even in darkness” the result is a wonderful selection of stories and poems “true accounts of cats and hares and plastic-devouring caterpillars; there are doodles and flowers; revolting poems and beautiful poems; and there are stories of space travel and new shoes and dragons”
The original was produced as an ebook completely free to read online here at National Literacy Trust, later came this beautiful hard back edition the sales of which will contribute to the NHS Charities Together, or UK sales £2.10 will be donated per book.
The book is dedicated to the doctors, nurses, carers, porters, cleaners and everyone currently working in hospitals.
Beware, Bernard’s on the prowl…He lives up on the moors and howls when he’s hungry…He’s a BIG SCARY HOUND and he likes nothing more than to eat…strawberry jam. Phew. I thought he wanted to eat me, but no he just likes strawberry jam, still you’d better lock yours up if you want it to be safe because Bernard’s coming to get it aaargghhh!!!!
Created by UK illustrator Rob Jones and published by Beast In Show. It has the right balance of peril and humour for young readers who are no doubt very protective of their strawberry jam.
We’re lucky enough to have a limited number of signed copies available.
Have you ever popped out to the shops to get milk and its taken slightly longer than it should? thats what happened to Dad only he got quizzed by his children when he returned and had to explain exactly what happened including.. a spaceship of green globby aliens who think plastic flamingos are the best thing Earth has to offer, a God called Splod, wumpires, dinosaur galactic police on space bikes; and a time-travelling stegosaurus called Professor Steg.
Do you think they believed him? you’ll have to read the book and judge for yourself. This fantastical adventure by Neil Gaman is a great introduction to his talent as well as that of Chris Riddell who is responsible for all the amazing accompanying illustrations.
“Dad drops into the sea, a pirate picks him up and on that mysterious adventure he meets wumpires and dinosaurs and gods!!! it is very scary and funny, would you like to read it?” review by Molly age 7
In the land of Thrynne the Forever Tree is a powerful source of magic, but enemies are working together to destroy it, if they succeed magic will be gone and so will the cloud horses on which all the children cast their wishes. Three children, one from each city of Thrynne receive a gift from the tree to help them try to save it. Zam, Phoebe and Bathsheba are to be the Guardians of Magic they will have to believe in the impossible in order to save it.
Includes ballet dancing bears, professional princesses and flying cloud horses, whats not to love, with wonderful illustrations by Chris Riddell throughout this beautiful hardback edition.
Illustrator David Roberts, who bought us Iggy Peck, Madame Chapeux and The Bolds amongsth many others, has joined forces with his sister Lynn Roberts-Maloney to bring us a delightlfully different take on three classic fairytales. Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Cinderella all get an update, with each being set in a different time period 1950’s / 1970’s an art deco really allows Mr Roberts to show off his talents.
This is wonderfully written, with plenty of wit and of course beautifully illustrated with full page illustrations throughout, a hardback edition that you’ll want to keep forever!!
Meet Bo she’s brave smart and strong, but she’s the youngest and her brothers wont let her join them on a monster hunt. So Bo decides to go it alone. Along the way she meets a Griffin, The Kraken and the scariest of all a d-d-d-d-dragon. However they turn out not to be the monster she is hunting.
A funny adventure all about bravery and kindness, wonderfully written and beautiully illustrated by Bethan Woollvin. Her first book Little Red ( a re-interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood) was penned when she was still studying at Cambridge School of Art and has gone on to win several awards including the Macmillan Prize for Illustration.
This is Little Red Riding Hood but not as you know her..
Little Red Riding Hood meets a wolf on her way to Grandmas, tick.
The wolf is hungry and Little Red looks tasty, tick.
The wolf runs off to get to Grandma first and gobbles her up..tick
But thats where things take a turn for the better, this Little Red Riding Hood has a plan of her very own and the wolf had better watch out!
A fantastic twist on the original, wonderfully written, with brilliant, bold illustrations by Bethan Woollvin, this was her first children’s book, created whilst she was still studying at Cambridge School of Art and has gone on to win several awards including the Macmillan Prize for Illustration.
The Pencil isn’t lonely for long though, not once he’s drawn Banjo the little boy, followed by a dog called Bruce and a cat called Mildred, requested by Bruce, of course, so he can chase her around the house, which the pencil drew, and up the road, which the pencil drew.. until everyone realises they’re black and white, so the pencil draws a paintbrush to help him with his creations, her names Kitty. Then yet more and more creations until everything starts to go a bit wrong, people start complaining about their ears being too big, or their trainers aren’t right, the pencil decides to draw a RUBBER!! which is fine, until its not….
A wonderfully funny story about the chaotic world that the pencil creates and what happens when a rubber’s let loose on the world. No one goes without a name, not even the boiled egg.
Allan Ahlbergs creations never fail to entertain but this is certainly one of my personal favourites, accompanied by Bruce Ingmans charming illustrations.
There are a lot of great children’s books about the plastic issues at the moment, this one takes the time to explain how plastic is made, how it’s helped us in our lives, but also how it’s become a problem, concluding with what people are doing to try and solve the problem. Wonderful bold illustrations matched with bite sized but educational chunks of information make this a winner in the plastics category!
All you ever needed to know about whales is right here in this beautifully packaged book. Discover how the largest mammals on earth have evolved over millions of years, what and how they eat, their migration patterns and more!
Delicately illustrated in black and white, this book is packed with detailed information written in a playfull style, its well laid out and easy to navigate, a must have for curious nature lovers young and old!
Andrea Antinori is the author and illustrator of a number of Italian children’s books. He was awarded the Anderson Award in 2017 for his illustrations in La Zuppa Dell’orco and was on the IBBY Honor List in 2016. He lives in Italy.
Duncans Crayons have had ENOUGH they’ve been used too much, not enough and some simply on the wrong paper. Green crayon is very happy with his work but makes a plea on behalf of his quarelling friends Orange and Yellow, who are in dispute about who actually IS the colour of the sun (an argument they’ll later come to regret in the second book). These issues are all delivered to Duncan as a stack of letters, can he come up with a plan to bring his disgruntled crayons back together again?
This book (and in fact the whole series) is comedy gold, its entertained my family for years and I STILL love reading it, I think I might still read it to myself when they’re all grown up. Perfectly matched with Oliver Jeffers illustrations, bringing each crayon to life. The second book in the series The Day the Crayons Came Home will also not disappoint and there’s also a spectacular Christmas Edition