Age 5 plus
Once I Was a Tree
Eoin McLaughlin and Guilherme Karsten
THE seed of an idea which explores the amazing connection between trees, books and stories transforms into a guaranteed future classic picture book thanks to the brilliant pairing of award-winning duo, Irish author Eoin McLaughlin and Brazilian illustrator Guilherme Karsten. Youngsters will love the hilarious adventures (and unexpected journeys!) of a seed that turns into a tree and then into a book...THIS book to be precise! So get ready to gape, guffaw and giggle as readers meet Barbara the beetle and Derek the squirrel who (through the power of poo) help a wise-cracking seed turn into a handsome tree... and become a wonderful book! And guess what... it’s the book that you are holding! The wonders of nature, and a pine seed’s up and down journey to become a towering tree, blossoms into a comedy-filled rollercoaster ride as we meet a squirrel with a voracious appetite, a beetle with pizzaz, and a tree with a character all of its own. Add on Karsten’s characterful illustrations, a tactile jacket cover with a surprise underneath, the fun of turn-around pages, and a delightful twist at the end, and you have a very special book to love, share and treasure!
(Nosy Crow, hardback, £12.99)
The Maps and Flags Book: Explore
amazing facts, maps and flags of the world
Joe Fullman and Andy Rowland
THE two most important ways to visually represent a country are maps and flags so chart a course through the world with this fun and fact-packed book which takes youngsters on a colourful, globe-trotting reading adventure. This exciting and engaging new reference book – written by Joe Fullman and illustrated by Manchester-based Andy Rowland – kicks off with a detailed introduction so that readers can learn how maps are created, how countries are defined, and take in some useful background information about flags before they get set off on their exciting journey of discovery. Split continent by continent, and with every country in the world included, readers learn key stats about countries’ populations, capital cities, the currency used and what the flag looks like in an engaging way. Each country entry is also met with a fun fact about the flag which helps readers to understand the meaning and symbolism of each one. Along the way, readers make some furry friends amongst the local animals, from pigeons to warthogs and dolphins to turtles! Bonus quirky maps are dotted throughout, covering topics such as national animals, journeys of exploration, pirate maps and flags, and time zones. Packed with information and exciting facts, this is the perfect introduction to the wonderful and unique flags of the world for young geographers, global adventurers and budding explorers!
(Buster Books, paperback, £10.99)
Donut Squad: Take Over the World!
Neill Cameron
COMICS genius Neill Cameron is back with a delicious new graphic novels series... and it’s a hole lot of fun! Any youngsters who like silliness and donuts are going to be gobbling up these perfectly baked and addictively moreish stories starring donuts with BIG plans for world domination. So if you’ve ever wondered what donuts get up to when they’re not being eaten, meet Sprinkles, the leader of the Squad, Jammyboi who spreads stickiness everywhere, Dadnut and Lil' Timmy who explain obscure facts, and Spronky who is bizarrely unconventional! But don’t mention the arch-nemeses of the donuts... the bagels who are secretly plotting Donut Squad’s doom! This jam-packed new series comes from comic powerhouse, The Phoenix, and features all the characters from the comic strip that fans know and love. Full of crazy humour and mouthwatering full-colour illustrations that will keep readers going back for seconds, the book also helps budding artists to create awesome characters just like the Donut Squad with a section of how-to-draw tutorials from Cameron. Add on links to The Phoenix comic club website where you can find draw-along videos, free printable material and top tips from tons of creators, and you have the perfect oven-baked series for all donut-loving mischief-makers!
(David Fickling Books, paperback, £9.99)
The Blockbusters!
Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Steven Lenton
LIGHTS, camera, action... Frank (Cottrell-Boyce) is going to Hollywood! Head off to Tinseltown in this hilarious and heart-warming new adventure from the UK Children's Laureate and bestselling author who cannot help but deliver a rip-roaring adventure every time he puts pen to paper! Award-winning Cottrell-Boyce – who is also a screenwriter and film industry insider – unleashes his vast imagination on a joyous comedy caper which gives young readers an exciting behind-the-scenes glimpse into the making of a major blockbuster movie and is brilliantly illustrated throughout by his talented partner, Steven Lenton. When new boy Rafa and his friends accidentally stray on to the set of a Hollywood blockbuster, the last thing they expect is to become part of the action. Rafa’s likeness to the famous movie star, BB, gives him VIP access all areas. But Rafa isn’t the only one having an adventure. His big brother, Cillian, is missing. He sent Rafa a clue to his location but he can’t really be in actual Hollywood, can he? It’s up to Rafa to keep acting the part of a movie star if he is to find his brother – and home. Master storyteller Cottrell-Boyce scatters an abundance of Hollywood glitter and glamour over this dazzling and entertaining story which blends laugh-out-loud fun with exhilarating adventures and a big helping of heart. Featuring Lenton’s brilliantly vibrant illustrations and with fascinating insights into the thrills and chaos of film-making, The Blockbusters! will keep readers gasping and giggling right through to the final scene.
(Macmillan Children’s Books, hardback, £12.99)
The Boy in the Tree
Lisa Thompson and Katie Kear
THE fall-out on a child from a broken marriage lies at the heart of an uplifting and inspirational tale from Lisa Thompson, one of the shining stars of children’s fiction and bestselling author of The Goldfish Boy which was nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Written with love, empathy, humour and wisdom, The Boy in the Tree is written in the first person, enabling young readers to understand the complexities of parental separation and explore the story behind one boy’s heroic fight to save a tree... and his parents’ marriage. No one can quite believe it when troublemaker Noah gets involved in the campaign to save a majestic local oak tree in his local park. And when he teams up with goodie-two-shoes Grace and takes his protest into the tree’s branches and refuses to get down, the story goes viral, attracting more attention than he could ever have imagined. But while Noah does really want to save the tree from developers, and marvels at the thousands of creatures that depend on it as their home, he also really wants to save his parents’ marriage. He hopes that his actions will somehow unite them and stop them arguing, but has he gone too far this time? Published in Barrington Stoke’s trademark dyslexia-friendly format, and with the heartfelt illustrations of Katie Kear bringing a visual reality and extra depth to Noah’s dual battles, this sensitively and lovingly written story about family, life changes and saving the environment sees master storyteller Thompson on her very best form.
(Barrington Stoke, paperback, £7.99)
The Fart that Saved the Universe
Stephen Mangan and Anita Mangan
HOLD your breath and step into the another fun-filled, fart-powered adventure from the sensational sibling team of much-loved actor Stephen Mangan and his talented artist sister Anita. The dynamic duo – whose joint success has taken the book world by storm – make a welcome return with a trademark high-energy, brilliantly imaginative and laugh-out-loud tale that is guaranteed to blow away young readers. When Saskia is captured by aliens who plan to turn her into a human fart-machine, Perks, Jezza and Leslie blast off on a mission to bring her back down to Earth. Things get even more complicated when they discover the spaceship holds some top-secret cargo… a gadget that the most dangerous, double-crossing villains in the galaxy are in hot pursuit of. Throw in a pit-stop at the universe’s worst restaurant, a visit to the Milky Way Museum of Oddities and a deeply strange encounter with a praying mantis wearing a big bouffant wig and sparkly platform booties and it’s truly an out-of-this-world adventure for our heroes. But when the mysterious gadget falls into the wrong hands, the kids must be the heroes the universe needs… and could the day be saved by one teeny, tiny fart? Anita Mangan’s quirky and characterful illustrations are the perfect pairing for her brother’s wild, witty, planet-hopping, fart-powered, spaceship-shaking story which celebrates youthful ingenuity and heroics, and features a brand of humour that will have mischief-makers giggling all the way to the last page... and ensures that The Fart that Saved the Universe will be another ‘resounding’ success!
(Scholastic, paperback, £7.99)
Science is Lit: Awesome Electricity and Mad Magnets
Big Manny and Subi Bosa
THE fine art of learning science is back with a BOOM thanks to TikTok science sensation Big Manny, aka Emanuel Wallace, a 26-year-old science-first content creator and music artist who is making the periodic table and Bunsen burners cool again! With a master’s degree in biomedical science, Big Manny creates age-friendly and class-friendly content that is entertaining, educational, and experimental. He has a combined following of 3.4 million on TikTok and Instagram, has appeared on Blue Peter, and regularly collaborates with BBC Bitesize. Packed with the characterful illustrations of Subi Bosa, an artist based in Cape Town, South Africa, Science is Lit: Awesome Electricity and Mad Magnets is the second book in the series and shows youngsters how they can become a real-life scientist and try out amazing experiments at home. Using his own special vocabulary (wagwan, ite, likkle and ting!) Big Manny’s second book has some fascinating facts about physics tings, from sound waves to circuits. We meet the awesome forces – from mad magnetism to fantastic friction – and discover mind-blowing experiments, from bending water to building an electroscope! (If you want to know what an electroscope is, you’ll have to read the book!) It’s time to start experimenting and find out why science is lit, innit. Perfectly created, written and illustrated to engage children, and with accessible, easy-to-follow experiments to try out at home, this is science on steroids for tomorrow’s professors!
(Puffin, paperback, £8.99)
Tiger, Don’t Worry!
Daishu Ma
ADORABLE duo, Tiger and Mei – a little girl and her tiger best friend – learn the value of responsibility and courage in the second endearing and inspiring picture book in a delightful series from Daishu Ma, a London-based Chinese illustrator and graphic artist whose work expresses her keen interest in science and nature. In this heart-warming new tale of friendship, responsibility and courage, Mei and her exuberant friend Tiger eagerly try to help make tea, but their efforts lead to broken tools and panic! Fearing they will be scolded, they run away but Mei soon realises the importance of facing their mistake. Returning home with dread, they are met not with anger, but with patience... and a lesson on how to make tea properly! Little ones will love joining this delightful duo again as they welcome every new day, navigate fresh experiences, learn that it’s always better to admit your mistakes, enjoy a world full of fun, adventure and friendship, and still manage to get home in time for tea... tea for two of course!
(Post Wave Children’s Books, hardback, £12.99)
Liliana the Strong
Quentin Blake and Emma Chichester Clark
IF your youngsters are feeling a little down and out, give their spirits a much-needed lift with this brilliantly funny picture book from two award-winning superstar creators. Featuring a small but mighty little girl with superhuman strength, Liliana the Strong is the work of Quentin Blake – one of the world's foremost illustrators, best known for his collaboration with Roald Dahl – and Emma Chichester Clark, one of Britain’s best loved children’s authors and illustrators. Liliana wears her super power lightly, using it to help others in a crisis. A resilient child, she thinks nothing of singlehandedly rescuing a highland cow stuck in the mud, or of stopping an out-of-control steamroller in its tracks, or of throwing a beached whale back out to sea. But one day, languishing in her bed because she has a cold and feels quite weak, she appears to have lost her powers. In step Mum and Dad with a reminder that everything will soon be well... particularly when a stash of iron bars appear for Liliana to bend, twist and arrange! Written with humour, and a big helping of heart, by Blake and illustrated with Chichester Clark’s beautifully detailed and playful artwork, this classic-in-the-making is the perfect gift for any child who needs a little reminder that everything will be okay.
(Two Hoots, hardback, £12.99)
Matty and Mo: The Lost Teddy
Rosalind Beardshaw
MEET Matty and Mo... two adorable puppy siblings who are also best friends and take starring roles in a fresh and funny new board books series from award-winning children’s illustrator Rosalind Beardshaw. With flaps, a wheel and an enchanting fold-out heart ending, their (often chaotic!) adventures are inspired by relatable, real-life family experiences. In The Lost Teddy, a story about learning to play together, Matty and her little brother Mo are playing rainy day picnics inside with all their toys. Matty is a bit sad when she can’t find her favourite teddy, but luckily Mo has a useful bag for taking on important missions. So off they set...
With a simple story to keep little ones engaged, Beardshaw’s engaging and colourful illustrations, gentle lessons about being helpful, patient and playing together (however tricky that proves to be!), and a free audio recording available via QR, giggles galore are guaranteed for readers young and old.
(Campbell Books, board books, £7.99 each)
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