Age 6 plus:
Toto the Ninja Cat and the Superstar Catastrophe
Dermot O’Leary and Nick East
HEAD off for music and mayhem with a magical moggie who sleeps
all day and fights crime at night! Popular TV broadcaster Dermot O’Leary returns with his
amazing ninja cat, Toto, for another gigglesome, gob-smacking adventure
starring the feline heroine who was inspired by two stray cats rescued from an
olive grove in Italy by O’Leary and his wife.
‘One of them, Toto,’ he reveals, ‘has been blind from birth,
but we quickly realised she had ninja-like reactions. Like a lot of cat owners
(or cat servants), we like to imagine our pets having secret lives when we’re
out or asleep. So before I knew it I was writing about Toto and her brother
Silver’s nocturnal adventures around London.’
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| ANIMAL MAGIC: Dermot O’Leary |
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| FUN ILLUSTRATIONS: Nick East |
The cats live in a townhouse in London. Toto is almost
totally blind, and learned to trust her senses from a ninja cat-master who
taught her back in Italy where they were born. By day, Toto and Silver seem to
be ordinary cats, but by night, they love to have adventures!
After months of keeping London safe from notorious animal
bad guys, Toto is going on a well-earned holiday to the world’s most famous
music festival… Catstonbury! But a villain has a dastardly plan to hypnotise
the crowd when a world-famous band is on stage, turning them into evil minions.
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How can Toto possibly prevent a disaster when everyone thinks the band is the cat’s pyjamas? It will take all Toto’s ninja skills – and some help from a friendly otter – to stop a real CATastrophe occurring!
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How can Toto possibly prevent a disaster when everyone thinks the band is the cat’s pyjamas? It will take all Toto’s ninja skills – and some help from a friendly otter – to stop a real CATastrophe occurring!
With lots of laugh-out-loud moments, reassuring and gentle
themes of friendship, inclusivity and winning in the face of adversity, and
East’s gallery of hilarious black and white illustrations, this is ideal for
newly confident readers to curl up with or reading aloud with parents. Animal magic for all the family!
(Hodder Children’s Books, hardback, £9.99)
Age 8 plus:
The Chronicles of Don’t Be So Ridiculous Valley
Mike Batt
MOST adults will remember the hit TV children’s series, The Wombles, starring a collection of furry creatures who help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in creative ways. The antics of the Wombles were based on the books of Elisabeth Beresford but equally memorable was the theme tune for the series, written by songwriter and record producer Mike Batt.
Batt’s hits include the chart-topping Bright Eyes and he has
also conducted many of the world’s great orchestras, including the London
Symphony… but now this irrepressible singer-songwriter has turned his talents
to a quirky, off-the-wall book for children (and adults who would still like to
be children!). The Chronicles of Don’t Be So Ridiculous Valley, lavishly
illustrated by John Gosler and others, is billed as an adventure story for
childish grown-ups and grown-up children and stars a host of incredible
creatures including ‘a ton of fairies and slugs.’
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| SLAPSTICK ADVENTURE: Mike Batt |
If only slugs could play the piano, marry fairies and kill
things… Can a slug learn to play the piano, even though he has no
hands? Can a slug defeat an army of nasty, evil Christmas-hating slug-squashing
Pigfrogs? Can he trick a beautiful fairy into fancying him for long enough to
marry him and live happily ever after? Probably not, but if you don’t try…
Batt invites youngsters to step into the crazy world of
Don’t Be So Ridiculous Valley (which is actually a hill) and to Woodland Land, the
home of two married fairy helicopter pilots, Nigel and Dotty Farnsbarnes… and
enjoy a rollercoaster ride of enchantment, slapstick fun and laugh-out-loud
comedy.
(London Street Books in association with Mango Books,
hardback, £20)
Age 5 plus:
Curious Questions & Answers
EVERY child has a hundred questions to ask… so here’s a
selection of books that provides answers to some of their most curious and
surprising challenges!
Miles Kelly, which aims to provide books that inspire, inform and excite the children of today, as well as future generations, lets youngsters explore all that is strange, wonderful and downright weird about their bodies, about our oceans, about saving the earth and about those long-ago, scary dinosaurs.
Miles Kelly, which aims to provide books that inspire, inform and excite the children of today, as well as future generations, lets youngsters explore all that is strange, wonderful and downright weird about their bodies, about our oceans, about saving the earth and about those long-ago, scary dinosaurs.
The entertaining Q&A format in Curious Questions &
Answers About My Body (written by Anne Rooney and illustrated by Ana Gomez), Curious
Questions & Answers About Our Oceans (Camilla de la Bédoyère and Tim
Budgen), Curious Questions & Answers About Saving the Earth (Camilla de la
Bédoyère and Richard Watson) and Curious Questions & Answers About
Dinosaurs (Camilla de la Bédoyère and Leire Martin) makes them ideal for both
eager learners and reluctant readers.
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Click here for Lancashire Post review
Youngsters will love finding out why cells are so special,
how blood circulates, and what happens inside your intestines, discovering which
fish has picnics on the seabed, why whales spout water, and why the sea is
blue, learn why trains are a greener way to travel, why plants make perfect
presents, what a carbon footprint is, when the dinosaurs lived, which was the
scariest dinosaur, and which dinosaur liked stinky smells.
Lively and humorous illustrations and a playful, informative
text reveal the amazing answers to all these incredible questions making this
both a quirky and educational series.
(Miles Kelly, hardback, £9.99 each)
Winter Animal Stories: Star
Holly Webb
AN enchanting, snow-filled, winter story about a lost tiger cub is set to dazzle youngsters this autumn. Star is the new and exciting Winter Animal Story from bestselling author Holly Webb and is set against a beautiful Russian backdrop and based on the tale of a real-life Siberian tiger named Zolushka.
When Anna borrows a tiny wooden tiger from her Russian
grandmother’s mantelpiece, she instantly knows that it’s special but little
does she realise that it is the start of a magical adventure...
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Click here for Lancashire Post review
That night she sleeps with it on her pillow and, waking the next day, Anna finds herself in a snowy Russian village, where she hears the news that a tiger cub has been spotted in the nearby woods, sending the villagers into a panic. Anna knows this is why she must be here… the cub needs her help! But is Anna brave enough to set out in search of a tiger in the forest at night?
Filled with Webb’s natural warmth, compassion and storytelling magic, this heart-melting, atmospheric adventure is the perfect antidote to cold winter nights.
(Stripes, hardback, £8.99)
It’s My Sausage
Alex Willmore
A CAT-FIGHT over one sausage leaves some funny, fighting felines with a bitter taste in their mouths in a picture book bursting with fun! Illustrator Alex Willmore turns his talented hand to both drawing and writing in this clever, chaotic adventure which will have little ones giggling and guffawing at every turn of the page.
There are five cats but just one sausage to go round them
all! One determined cat is sure that it has the yummy, scrummy sausage in the
bag, declaring in a refrain familiar to many parents, it’s mine, mine, mine,
mine, mine.
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But after some pulling, shoving and skulduggery, the tasty sausage ends up in a most unexpected mouth! Willmore knows how to tickle young funny bones and her action-packed, character-filled story, with a clever twist in its tail, is destined to leave everyone hungry for a second reading.
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But after some pulling, shoving and skulduggery, the tasty sausage ends up in a most unexpected mouth! Willmore knows how to tickle young funny bones and her action-packed, character-filled story, with a clever twist in its tail, is destined to leave everyone hungry for a second reading.
(Maverick Arts Publishing, paperback, £7.99)
A Home for Luna
Stef Gemmill and Mel Armstrong
A SHIPWRECKED cat finds friends among strangers in an enchanting and subtly clever picture book from Stef Gemmill and Mel Armstrong.
When Luna washes up on a strange shore one moonlit night, she
is scared and lonely. She left her homeland because of the danger there and soon
she discovers there is beauty in her new land of sea and penguins.
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Along the way, Luna makes unexpected friends but will she ever feel at home in a place so different from the one she remembers? Gemmill’s tale of a cat fleeing danger reminds us all of the displacement of refugees across the world and their search for a new and safer home while Armstrong’s warm and appealing illustrations capture the welcoming glow of friendship and the comfort of acceptance.
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Along the way, Luna makes unexpected friends but will she ever feel at home in a place so different from the one she remembers? Gemmill’s tale of a cat fleeing danger reminds us all of the displacement of refugees across the world and their search for a new and safer home while Armstrong’s warm and appealing illustrations capture the welcoming glow of friendship and the comfort of acceptance.
(New Frontier Publishing, hardback, £11.99)
A Sea of Stories
(Colour Fiction)
(Colour Fiction)
Sylvia Bishop and Paddy Donnelly
WHEN picture books are too babyish and middle grade books too hard, just what can a young in-betweenie read? The answer is a wonderfully illustrated, full-colour fiction series from the ever-inventive book boffins at Little Tiger Press.
These beautifully produced books, with their sturdy
hardbacks, enchanting stories and highly illustrated glossy pages, are ideal
for bridging the gap between picture books and chapter books for newly
independent young readers.
This inspiring and charming new story about the importance
of sharing stories comes from the top team of children’s author Sylvia Bishop and
Paddy Donnelly who has over 14 years’ experience as an illustrator and
designer.
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Click here for Lancashire Post review
Whenever Roo visits Grandpa, she loves exploring the seaside
cove near his cottage. But on her latest stay, Grandpa explains that he can’t
go down there any more… the path is too steep and overgrown for him to manage.
Instead Grandpa tells Roo the stories behind the many objects that fill his
house. All of Grandpa’s stories feature the cove and Roo realises that now,
even though they’re so close to the sea, Grandpa is cut off from it.
Is there anything she can do to bring Grandpa to the place he loves the most? Bishop’s warm, wise and wonderfully imaginative story, featuring the tender, loving relationship between a little girl and her grandfather, is filled with action and adventure, all brought to life by Donnelly’s use of vibrant and colourful illustrations, creating a charming book for all the family to enjoy.
Is there anything she can do to bring Grandpa to the place he loves the most? Bishop’s warm, wise and wonderfully imaginative story, featuring the tender, loving relationship between a little girl and her grandfather, is filled with action and adventure, all brought to life by Donnelly’s use of vibrant and colourful illustrations, creating a charming book for all the family to enjoy.
(Stripes, hardback, £7.99)
Little Puggle’s Song
Vikki Connelly and Hélène Magisson
EVERYONE in Australia knows that echidnas, otherwise known as spiny anteaters, can’t sing… so what is lonely Puggle going to do to try to find a voice? Puggle lives in the Australian Bush and has always wanted to sing but every time he tries to make sound, nothing comes out.
The Little Blue bird’s song is whispery like the wind, the Fancy Crest has a voice that cracks like lightning, and Brown Feather’s laughter gallops through the gum trees. Can Puggle find his voice and join the bush choir?
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Author and illustrator team, Vikki Connelly and Hélène Magisson, work a special brand of Aussie magic on this heartwarming and poignant story which is packed with simple, storytelling charm and a gallery of gorgeous illustrations in a palette of exquisite colours. Connelly’s thoughtful story encourages youngsters to use their ingenuity and determination when faced with seemingly impossible odds, and teaches us all that sharing and caring are the key to happiness.
(New Frontier Publishing, hardback, £11.99)
Under The Same Sky
Robert Vescio and Nicky Johnston
HERE'S a picture book to melt even the hardest hearts… Two children on opposite sides of the world crave friendship but is it possible to be friends across the miles?
Perhaps with a little ingenuity, a friendly carrier pigeon, and some help from a flock of flying friends, anything is possible.
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Robert Vescio, an award-winning author who is dedicated to inspiring children with his passion for stories, charms every generation with his simple and beautifully poignant contemplation of friendships against the odds, two children who live a world apart brought together in the most surprising way. Nicky Johnston’s soulful and enchanting pastel illustrations add extra warmth and emotional depth to this moving story that celebrates the unity of friendship.
(New Frontier Publishing, hardback, £11.99)
Who’s Afraid of the
Quite Nice Wolf?
Quite Nice Wolf?
Kitty Black and Laura Wood
ALL wolves are hungry, bad and fierce… aren’t they? The Quite Nice Wolf doesn’t fit in with the local wolf pack. Wilfred is a wolf but, unlike the rest of his pack, he’s a nice wolf and certainly not scary.
But the pack thinks he should start training to become a proper wolf… one that’s big and bad. Can he help the wolf pack with their master plan, or does he have one of his own?
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Kitty Black’s wryly funny and wonderfully action-packed picture
book adventure has warmhearted messages about not being afraid to be yourself,
and that being kind will always win the day over being mean and cruel. Laura
Wood’s vibrant, colourful and expressive illustrations bring the action to life
and complete a perfect package of reading delight.
(New Frontier Publishing, hardback, £11.99)
Max’s Dinosaur Feet
Lana Spasevski and Penelope Pratley
ENJOY the fun-filled picture book tale of a little boy who just can’t help putting his foot in it! Max loves playing with his dinosaur feet but mustn’t wake baby Molly. Stomp, Stamp, Smash! Oh dear!
Dad’s feet are too noisy as well, and so are Pop’s new ‘walking feet’ and his sister Merida’s dancing feet. How can he and his family keep their feet quiet, and the baby asleep?
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Author Lana Spasevski and illustrator Penelope Pratley use
their charm, warmth, wit and a gallery captivating, charismatic illustrations
to celebrate the arrival of a new baby and the very special bond between family
members of all generations. Beautifully created, and capturing all the spirit,
enthusiasm and mischief of youth, and the compromises we all have to make when
we share a home, this is a book that little ones will want to read time and
time again.
(New Frontier Publishing, hardback, £11.99)
In the Forest
Nancy Bevington
LITTLE ones love nothing better than a book that puts them at the heart of the story…
So watch their eyes light up as they are set the task of finding a whole host of animals and objects both familiar and unfamiliar in a series of lively board books from Catch a Star, an imprint of New Frontier Publishing.
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In On the Farm, At the Beach, In the Forest and Under the
Ocean, children can explore a variety of farm and forest animals, sea creatures
and all the exciting things to see at the beach, and then turn to the end to
find them all again.
Fun, visually stimulating, and ideal for promoting early
reading, these beautifully created and engaging books are learning in words and
action.
(Catch a Star, board book, £6.99 each)
Than The Stars
Owen Hart and Sean Julian
TRAVEL through a starlit night with two brown bears in a warm and heartfelt picture book from talented duo, author Owen Hart and illustrator Sean Julian.
‘When sunlight fades and shadows fall come walk a while with
me. We’ll watch the sky as stars appear and count each one we see.’
A parent and child roam across a landscape of mountain peaks, valleys, meadows and streams as they share discovery, inspiring sights, playful moments and a love that shines as brightly as the stars.
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A parent and child roam across a landscape of mountain peaks, valleys, meadows and streams as they share discovery, inspiring sights, playful moments and a love that shines as brightly as the stars.
Click here for Lancashire Post review
A bedtime lullaby, a beautiful rhyming odyssey and a magical
night-filled experience, Hart’s moving words and Julian’s breathtaking and
emotive illustrations combine perfectly for this radiant celebration of the
love between parent and child.
(Little Tiger, hardback, £11.99)
Reading Beauty
Deborah Underwood and Meg Hunt
CAN a book-reading gal save her galaxy? Deborah Underwood and Meg Hunt, the top author and illustrator team behind the perennially popular Interstellar Cinderella, return with another remake of a popular fairy tale starring a feisty female star determined to give her fun-filled and frantic adventure a hilarious, happy-ever-after ending.
Once upon a planetoid, surrounded by book lovers, a princess
called Lex read morning, noon and night beneath the covers of her bed. But when
a fairy’s curse – a death-like sleep via a paper cut – threatens to make her
kingdom barren of books, it’s up to space princess Lex to break the spell and
bring books back to her people.
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Click here for Lancashire Post review
This irrepressible fairy tale retelling of Sleeping Beauty will
charm young readers with its brave heroine, its star-studded setting, its
addictive rhyme, and an ending that will leave everyone smiling.
Packed with Hunt’s vibrant and colourful illustrations and
with a rhyming text that adds lyrical depth to the light-hearted, action-packed
story, and explores important themes like the joys of reading and being helpful
to others, this is both entertaining and an invaluable teaching tool.
(Chronicle Books, hardback, £12.99)
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