Humza Arshad and Henry White,  Illus. Aleksei Bitskoff
Penguin Random House
Age 8-11

Humza Khan aka Little Badman wants to be a famous ninja rapper, it is his destiny. When strange things start happening at his primary school – staff mysteriously disappearing and being replaced by an army of food obsessed aunties he and his friends Wendy and Omar decide to find out why.

This is a funny and page turning story in which Humza not only solves the mystery and saves the world from an alien invasion but also comes to appreciate his family, learns to be brave and finds out that there is more to aim for in life than just becoming famous.

Watch a trailer

 

Talk about the story

• Talk about the clues early in the story to show that something is wrong.

• Think about the characters, did anyone surprise you? For example, the aunties being scary, grandpa being much more interesting than he seems or Wendy becoming a good friend.

• Talk about the parts of the story you found funniest or scariest.

Things to make and do

Draw a scene from the story
Draw a favourite scene from story, eg maybe from the end of the book when Little Badman performs his rap or the aliens disappear in their spaceship.

Perform Little Badman’s rap and write one of your own
In chapter 15 Little Badman performs his rap. Have a go at performing his rap yourself! Watch the videos here and here first. The second one is a good background beat for your performance. This can be fun to perform with someone else. You could try writing and performing your own rap poem too.

Learn a magic trick
Look at the pages at the back of the book and learn Grandpa’s disappearing coin trick. See if you can amaze your family with it. Learn more magic tricks here 

Talent show
Now you can rap and perform magic tricks why not organise your own talent show? Maybe your friends and family can join in with different skills. You could write a programme and organise a performance.

 

See our print-off activity book with some of these ideas and other activities

Find out more

Read another story about Little Badman by the same writing and illustrating team

Little Badman and the Time-travelling Teacher of Doom 

Watch illustrator Alexsei Bitskoff demonstrate how to draw Little Badman 

Learn more about becoming a rapper

Learn about rap beats 

Listen to poet Grace Nichols read her poem Cat Rap 

Listen to poet John Foster read his poem School Kids Rap 

 

 

 

 

 

The Explorer
Katherine Rundell, Hannah Horn (illus.)
Bloomsbury
Age 8-11

Fred, Con, Lila and Max find themselves alone in the rainforest after their plane crashes. Facing incredible danger they gradually learn to trust each other and find ways to survive including eating grubs and even tarantulas. After finding a map they set off for the city of Manaus on a homemade raft and find a mysterious man living in a hidden city. Is this one of the lost explorers Fred is fascinated with? Will he help them find their way back to civilisation? In time the children discover a little about this enigmatic man, his sad past and the reason he wants to keep the hidden city secret.

The Explorer is an exciting and beautifully written adventure story which describes the wonder, beauty and danger of the rainforest. This is a story about being brave despite your fears, paying attention to the world just as explorers do and why it might sometimes be ok to keep a secret.

The book itself is really beautiful with many wonderful pen and ink line drawings of the setting and wild life framing the text.

Share the story

Talk about the story

• Which character do children find most interesting and why?

• Did the children do the right thing in keeping the explorer’s secret? Is it sometimes ok to keep secrets?

• Which is your favourite scene in the story?

• Could you survive in the rainforest – what would be the hardest part?

Frances talks to us about sharing The Explorer with her daughter Zoe

Sharing books with older children, reading them aloud or discussing what children are reading really helps them become thoughtful and enthusiastic readers. Frances told us about the experience of sharing books with her ten year old daughter Zoe, including our book of the month, The Explorer.

 My mum has always shared her favourite books with me and similarly Zoe and I enjoy sharing books; this now includes discussing books we’ve both read rather than me reading whole books aloud to her. Sometimes the sharing is as simple as me ‘clocking’ where she’s got to in the book and making some sort of evaluative or predictive comment about that part; at other times she asks me to read the first few chapters of a book aloud which seems to help her become quickly immersed in it. At other times she’ll share puzzles with me:- in The Explorer she asked why Con lived with her aunt which led us to look back through the book together because it was clear that she missed the part where Con confided to the other children that she was an orphan. Because we’ve built up quite a ‘bank’ of shared reads over the years, Zoe will also volunteer connections between books or characters. For example, she drew parallels between ‘The Explorer’ and ‘The Wolf -Wilder’ (by the same author) because in both books children had to set out on expeditions without adults.
I tend to let her lead book discussions because I want her to view them as enjoyable and interesting rather than ‘chore-like’. Generally she initiates conversations about why characters are behaving in particular ways and makes connections to our own life experiences.
 
Zoe’s favourite part of The Explorer was where ‘the children made their own food out of natural sources’ because she loves cooking and liked imagining how to cook in the jungle. She made her own version of the ‘chocolate pancakes’. She also said that the loved the part about the children swimming with dolphins because, like the children, she had a  pleasant surprise to discover the dolphins were not sharks after all.
Lila is her favourite character because she likes animals and is funny. Zoe said she dislikes Con but then immediately corrected herself by saying that she’d liked all the characters but hadn’t liked Con when she was grumpy or Max when he was annoying. She reflected that Con became nicer over the course of the book; she’d made friends with the other children and Max sometimes wanted Con to look after him. It did seem that talking about the book encouraged a more nuanced response.’

Things to make and do

• Make a setting from the story in a shoe box opened down two sides using paint, collage twigs and foliage to decorate it.

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• Make a zig zag book about the characters in the story with drawings and labels

• Write a letter Fred, Con, Lila or Max would have liked to write to the Explorer after returning home

• Using a scrap book make an information book about the Amazon. Research information using library books or the links below on the Amazon River, the rainforest, its wildlife, stories of lost cities or explorers who have disappeared.

  
  

  See our print-off activity book with some of these ideas and other activities

Find out more

Read more books by Katherine Rundell. Titles include Rooftoppers and The Wolf Wilder

Find out more about the inspiration for The Explorer here

And here

For another adventure story set in the Amazon see The Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson.

Find out more about the rainforest

For information on surviving in the rainforest see here

Find out more about Percy Fawcett and other explorers who disappeared in the Amazonian rainforest.

 

Buy here

 

Janet and Allan Ahlberg
Puffin
Age 5-7

Burglar Bill is a modern classic with a likeable villain who can’t resist stealing. But one day he takes a box containing a big surprise – a baby! When Bill himself is burgled he meets Burglar Betty, the woman of his dreams who happens to be the mother of the baby. There’s a happy ending when they decide to live an honest life – together!

Share the story

Read aloud
Read the story aloud and leave space for your child to join in with the repeated phrases, such as “I’ll have that!” Stop now and again to talk about it together, commenting on the pictures or what is happening in the story.

Talk about the story
Ask children to choose their favourite page and tell you what they like about it. Is there anything they don’t like?

Tell the story
Children can tell the story as Bill, with a torch, a swag-bag over their shoulders and a cardboard box with a toy baby inside.

Watch the story

From DOB 31 CHILDREN’S STORIES & FUN 

Things to make and do

Make a wanted poster
Using paper, pens and crayons, children can make a wanted poster for Burglar Bill. What does he look like? They can draw him, write a description of him and maybe offer a reward for his capture.

Write a letter to say sorry
Burglar Bill decides to lead an honest life and wants to write to apologise to all the people he has stolen from. Children can write a letter, as Bill, to say sorry and suggest what he can do to make amends, or you can scribe it for them.

Play a memory game
On a tray, put five small objects from around the house ‘stolen’ by Burglar Bill.

Give children a few minutes to look at them and remember them. Then hide the tray and ask them to recall the stolen objects for the ‘police report’. Add another object and let them try again. Alternatively, remove one object and see if children can identify the missing article. You can repeat this, removing a different object each time.

 

Find out more

See an animated extract of Burglar Bill:

mjcmodels

Read more books by Janet and Allan Ahlberg:

The Boyhood of Burglar Bill (for age 8+)

Cops and Robbers

Peepo

The Baby’s Catalogue

Each Peach Pear Plum

The Jolly Postman

The Jolly Christmas Postman

 

Buy online

 

 

 

 

Here’s a complete list of all our book activity pages – click on the link and it will take you to the activity page

V = Video
AB = Activity Book

A

Aaaarrgghh Spider Lydia Monks  V

The Acorn Edward Gibbs       

Albert Talbot Master of Disguise Ben Manley, illus. Aurélie Guillerey   V

Alfie Gets in first Shirley Hughes  V      

Almost Anything  Sophy Henn                

The Animal Boogie Debbie Harter  V        

The Astounding Broccoli Boy Frank Cottrell Boyce, illus. Steve Lenton   AB 

Avocado Baby John Burningham  

B

The Bad Bunnies Magic Show Mini Grey

Banana! Ed Vere  V 

Bear and Bird Jarvis V

The Bear and the Piano David Litchfield  V

Bear Shaped Dawn Coulter-Cruttenden   V

Beetle Boy  MG Leonard  V  AB             

Be Brave Little Penguin Giles Andrae, illus. Guy Parker Rees

Beegu  Alexis Deacon             

Betty goes Bananas  Steve Antony  V   

Big Green Crocodile  Jane Newberry, illus. Carolina Rabei  V

A Big Mooncake for Little Star Grace Lin V

The BFG Roald Dahl    AB               

Billy and the Beast Nadia Shireen  V           

Billy’s Bucket  Kes Gray, llus Garry Parsons  V

Biscuit Bear Mini Grey  V                 

A Bit Lost Chris Haughton   V        

Black Cat White Cat Silvia Borando            

Blue Chameleon Emily Gravett    

Bog Baby   Jeanne Willis, ill. Gwen Millward

Boot: Small Robot Big Adventure Shane Hegarty   AB       

Boundless Sky Amanda Addison, illus. Manuela Adreani

The Boy at the Back of the Class Onjali Rauf, illus. Pippa Curnick   AB

The Boy who Climbed into the Moon David Almond    AB

The Boy who Sailed the World Julia Green, illus. Alex Latimer

Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?   Bill Martin Jnr, illus Eric Carle

Buckle and Squash and the Monstrous Moat Dragon Sarah Courtauld

Burglar Bill  Allan Ahlberg, illus  Janet Ahlberg  V

C

Car, Car, Truck, Jeep  Katrina Charman, illus. Nick Sharratt  V

Can I Sit in the Middle Susanne Strasser V

Charlotte’s Web EB White  V    AB                

The Chinese Emperor New Clothes  Ying Yang Competine, illus David Roberts  V   AB

Chocolate cake Michael Rosen, illus Kevin Waldron  V

The Christmas Eve Tree Delia Huddy,  illus Emily Sutton  

Cinderella of the Nile Beverley Naidoo  V   AB

Clean up!  Nathan Bryon, illus. Dapo Adeola

Clever Polly & the Stupid Wolf  Catherine Storr   

The Comet Joe Todd Stanton

The Cooking Club Detectives  Ewa Jozefkowicz

Coyote’s Soundbite – a poem for our planet  John Agard, illus. Piet Grobler    AB

The Crocodile who didn’t like water Gemma Merino   V     

D

The Darkest Dark Chris Hadfield, illus The Fan Brothers  V

The Dawn Chorus Suzanne Barton

Dear Dinosaur Chae Strathie, Nicola O’Byrne

Dear Zoo Rod Campbell             

Dig dig digging Margaret Mayo, illus Alex Ayliffe  V

Diggersaurs Michael Whaite  V         

Dinosaur chase Benedict Blathwayt    

Dinosaur roar Paul Strickland, illus Henrietta Strickland

Dinosaurs and all that rubbish  Michael Foreman  V     

Do not enter the monster zoo Amy Sparkes, illus Sara Ogilvie

Don’t worry little crab  Chris Haughton

A Dog So Small Philippa Pearce   V        

Dogger Shirley Hughes  V   

A Dollop of Ghee and a Drop of Wisdom   Chitra Soundar, illus. Uma Krishnaswamy V

Down by the station Jess Stockham

The Dragon in the Library, Louie Stowell

Dragon Mountain  Katie and Kevin Tsang  V   AB

The Drum  Ken Wilson Max, illus Catell Ronca   V

Dylan’s amazing dinosaurs EJ Harper, illus Dan Taylor

E

Each Peach Pear Plum  Allan Ahlberg, illus Janet Ahlberg   V

The Elephants umbrella Laleh Jaffari,  illus Ali Khodai    V

Eliot Midnight Superhero Anne Cottringer, illus Alex T Smith

Elmer David McKee  V

Eloise Undercover Sarah Baker    AB        

The Everywhere Bear Julia Donaldson, illus Rebecca Cobb

The Explorer  Katherine Rundell   AB   

The Extraordinary Gardener Sam Boughton   V  

Everybody’s Welcome Patricia Hegarty, illus Greg Abbott

F

Fair Shares Pippa Goodhart, illus Anna Doherty

Farmer Duck Martin Waddell, illus Helen Oxenbury

The Fastest Tortoise in Town Howard Calvert, ill. Karen Obuhanych

Fire Fox  Alexandra Page, illus. Stef Murphy   V

The Firework Maker’s Daughter  Philip Pullman   AB

Five little men in a flying saucer Dan Crisp    V               

Five Minutes Peace Jill Murphy                 

Flora and Ulysses, the illuminated adventures Kate Camillo     V   AB

Flooded Mariajo Ilustrajo V

The Forgettery Rachel Ip, ill. Laura Hughes   

Fortunately the Milk Neil Gaiman, illus Chris Riddell

Frindleswylde, Natalia and Lauren O’Hara

Gaspard the Fox  Zeb Soanes, illus. James Mayhew

G

Gerald the lion Jessica Souhami          

The Ghost train Allan Ahlberg, illus Andre Amstutz   V

Gigantic Rob Biddulph V

The Gigantic Turnip Alexsei Tolstoy, illus Naimh Sharkey  V

Giraffes Can’t Dance  Giles Andreae, Guy Parker Rees    V 

The Girl and the dinosaur Hollie Hughes, illus Sarah Massini  

Gloria’s Porridge  Elizabeth Laird, illus. Toby Newsome

The Glassmaker’s Daughter Diane Hofmeyr, Illus Jane Reay  V

Goodbye Grandma Melanie Walsh           

Goodnight Spaceman Michelle Robinson, illus Nick East   V

Grace and Family  Mary Hoffman, illus Caroline Binch   V

Granpa John Burningham   V    

A Great Big Cuddle Michael Rosen, illus Chris Riddell   V

Grobblechops Elizabeth Laird, illlus Jenny Lucander   V

The Gruffalo  Julia Donaldson, illus Axel Scheffler

Grumpy Frog  Ed Vere    V       

H

   

The Hairy toe Daniel Postgate   V

Handas surprise Eileen Browne  V         

Hairy MacLary from Donaldson’s Dairy, Lynley Dodd  V

Harry and the bucket of dinosaurs Ian WhyBrow, illus Adrian Reynolds

Have you seen Elephant David Barrow V

Here come the aliens Colin McNaughton   

The Highwayman Alfred Noyes   V   AB

The Highway Rat  Julia Donaldson, illus Axel Scheffler   V

Honey biscuits  Meredith Hooper, illus Alison Bartlett

Hooray for Fish Lucy Cousins   V

Hooray for Bread  Allan Ahlberg, illus  Brice Ingman

Hortense and the Shadows O’Hara Sisters             

How to hide a lion Helen Stephens   V      

I

I am Absolutely TOO Small for school Lauren Child    V           

I am Henry Finch Alexis Deacon             

I Love you Blue Kangaroo Emily Gravett    V         

I want to be in a scary story Sean Taylor                

I was made for you David Lucas                

If I had a dinosaur Gabby Dawnay, illus Alex Barrow

If I Had a Sleepy Sloth Gabby Dawnay, illus Alex Barrow

If you meet a dinosaur Paul Bright, illus Hannah George

In the dark dark wood Jessica Souhami   

Iris and Isaac Catherine Rayner V

The Iron Man Ted Hughes    AB   

J

 The Jasmine Sneeze  Nadine Kaadan

Jolly Christmas Postman Allan Ahlberg, illus Janet Ahlberg   V

The Journey Home Frann Preston Gannon

Julian is a mermaid Jessica Lowe

The Jumblies Edward Lear  V    AB 

          

K

Katie & the dinosaurs James Mayhew           

The King who Banned the Dark Emily Haworth Booth

The King With Dirty Feet  Sally Pomme Clayton, illus. Rhiannon Sanderson

Kipper’s Birthday Mick Inkpen    V             

Knuffle Bunny Mo Willem    V     

L

The Last Wolf Mini Grey  

Last: The Story of the White Rhino Nicola Davies   V

Leon the Extraordinary Jamar Nicholas V

The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch Ronda and David Armitage V

Lima’s Red Hot Chilli David Mills, ill. Derek Brazell V

The Lion Inside Rachel Bright   

Little Bad Man and the Killer Aunties Humza Arshad and Henry White,  Illus Aleksei Bitskoff   V   AB

Little Monkey  Marta Altés  V 

Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears Emily Gravett  

Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion Alex T Smith   

LIttle Rabbit Foo Foo Michael Rosen, Arthur Robins (illus) 

The Littlest Yak Lu Fraser, ill. Kate Hindley     V

Look Up! Nathan Bryon, illus Dapo Adeola

Lost and Found Oliver Jeffers              

Lullabyhullababboo Mick Inkpen               

Lulu gets a cat Anna McQuinn, illus Rosalind Beardshaw

The Lumberjack’s beard  Duncan Beedie           

Luna Loves library day Joseph Coelho, illus Fiona Lumbers

Lunchtime Rebecca Cobb  

M

Macavity T S Eliot    V   AB       

Man on the Moon, a Day in the life of Bob  Simon Bartram           

Mango and Bambang, The Not-a-Pig  Polly Faber, illlus Clara Vulliamy

The Marvellous Moon Map Teresa Heapy, illus David Litchfield

Matisse’s Magical Trail Tim Hopgood, illus Sam Boughton

Max the Brave Ed Vere

Maybe… Chris Haughton V

Meg and Mog Helen Nicholl ,illus Jan Pienkwski

Miró’s Magic Animals Antony Penrose V

Mister Magnolia Quentin Blake            

Meet the Parents Peter Bently, illus Sara Ogilvie

Mog the Forgetful Cat Judith Kerr                 

Monkey and Me Emily Gravett             

Mr Bunny’s Chocolate Factory Elys Dolan                  

Mr Gumpy’s Outing John Burningham       

Mrs Noah’s pockets Jackie Morris, illus James Mayhew

My Brother is a Superhero David Solomons   AB

My Dad Anthony Browne        

My Green Day Melanie Walsh   

My Must-Have Mum   Maudie Smith, illus. Jen Khatun

My Sister is an alien Rachel Bright    

          

N

Naughty Bus Jan and Jerry Oke       

A New House for Mouse Petr Horacek              

The New Neighbours Sarah McIntyre           

The New Small Person Lauren Child               

The Night Pirates Peter Harris, illus Deborah Allwright

Nimesh the Adventurer Ranjit Singh, illus Mehrdokht Amini

No Dinner Jessica Souhami          

Not Now Bernard David McKee     

         

O

The Odd Egg Emily Gravett             

Oh No George! Chris Haughton           

Oi! Get off our train John Burningham       

Oliver’s Vegetables Vivian French, illus  Alison Bartlett

On Sudden Hill Linda Sarah, illus Benji Davies

On the Moon Anna Milbourne, illus Benji Davies

Once upon a star  James Carter, illus Mar Hernandez

One dog and his boy Eva Ibbotson      AB        

Orange Pear Apple Bear  Emily Gravett             

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat Chris Riddell               

The Outlaw Varjak Paw SF Said      V    AB               

The Owl and the Pussycat Edward Lear  

P

             

Pandora  Victoria Turnbull         

The Paper Dolls  Julia Donaldson, illus Axel Scheffler

Pattan’s pumpkin  Chitra Soundar, illus Frane Lessac

Peace at Last  Jill Murphy                 

Peck Peck Peck Lucy Cousins 

Phoenix S F Said    V     AB

Pirate Stew   Neil Gaiman, illus. Chris Riddell   V

Please Mr Magic Fish Jessica Souhami          

Please Mr Panda Steve Antony              

Pom Pom is Super Sophy Henn   
  
The Princess and the Greedy Pea , Leigh Hodgkinson 

Pugs of the Frozen North  Philip Reeve, illus Sarah McIntyre

Pumpkin Soup Helen Cooper             

Q

Quiet Tom Percival, ill. Richard Jones V

Quill Soup Alan Durant   

Q Pootle 5 Nick Butterworth       

             

R

Rama & the Demon King Jessica Souhami          

Red Car Red Bus  Susan Stegall 

Rigatoni the Pasta Cat  Michael Rosen, Illus. Tony Ross

Robin’s Winter Song  Suzanne Barton          

Rocketmole  Matt Carr                   

Room on the Broom Julia Donaldson, Illus Axel Scheffler

Rosie’s Walk Pat Hutchins  

S

   

The Secret Sky Garden Linda Sarah  

Saving Winslow Sharon Creech  AB

Secret of the Tattered Shoes Jackie Morris, illus. Ehsan Abdollahi    V    AB

Shark in the park Nick Sharrat  

Shhh!   Sally Grindley, illus. Peter Upton

Shh we have a plan Chris Haughton           

Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam Tracey Corderoy, illus Steven Lenton

The Skull Jon Klassen V

Silly Suzy Goose Petr Horacek              

The Snail and the Whale  Julia Donaldson, illus Axel Scheffler

Snow  Sam Usher                 

The Snowbear Sean Taylor 

The Snowflake Benji Davies     

So Much Trisha Cooke, illus Helen Oxenbury

The Something Rebecca Cobb

Sona Sharma, Looking After Planet Earth  Chitra Soundar, illus Jen Khatun    AB      

Sophie and the new Baby Catherine & Laurence Anholt

Space Dog Mini Grey                   

Space Tortoise  Ross Montgomery, illlus David Litchfield

Stanley’s Stick  John Hegley, illus Neal Layton

Steven Seagull Action Hero Elys Dolan                  

Stomp Chomp Big Roars! Here come the Dinosaurs Margaret Mayo, illus Alex Ayliffe

Stomp Dinosaur Stomp Kate Umansky, illus Nick Sharratt

Stop the Clock  Pippa Goodhart, illus. Maria Christiana V

The Storm Whale Benji Davies               

A Story about Afiya James Berry, illus Anna Cunha                                                                                                               

Sunk! Rob Biddulph             

Superbat Matt Carr    

SuperJoe does not do cuddles Michael Catchpool, illus. Emma Proctor

Super Milly and the Super School Day  Stephanie Clarkson, illus. Gwen Millward    V 

T

Tad Benji Davies               

The Tale of Angelino Brown David Almond       AB     

10 things I can do to help my world Melanie Walsh 

Ten Delicious Teachers   Ross Montgomery, illus. Sarah Warburton V

The Three Happy Lions  Louise Fatio, illus. Roger Duvoisin

Tilly and the Time Machine Ade Edmondson, illustrated by Danny Noble    

That rabbit belongs to Emily Brown Cressida Cowell          

There’s a rang tan in my bedroom  James Sellick, illus Frann Preston-Gannon

There’s a tiger in the garden Lizzy Stewart V

This is Our House Michael Rosen, illus Bob Graham

The Thunk Michelle Robinson, illus. Deborah Allwright

Tidy Emily Gravett             

Tiger Walk Dianne Hofmeyr, illus Jesse Hodgson

The Tiger who came to Tea Judith Kerr                 

The Tin Forest  Helen Ward, illus Wayne Anderson

Titch  Pat Hutchins     

Tomorrow Nadine Kaadan          

Tom’s Sausage Lion Michael Morpurgo      AB

Toys in space  Mini Grey                   

Traction man  is here!  Mini Grey                   

Train  Judi Abott                  

The Train Ride June Crebbin, illus Stephen Lambert

Tyger SF Said, iIllus Dave McKean V AB

Tyrranosaurus Drip Julia Donaldson   

 

U

Uncle Gobb and the Dread shed Michael Rosen, illus Neal Layton

V

Valentine’s Guest House Sam Sharland V

Varjak Paw  SF Said      AB               

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle   

           

W

The Way Back Home Oliver Jeffers   

The Weed Quentin Blake           

We’re going on a Bearhunt Michael Rosen, illus Helen Oxenbury

We’re Going to Find the Monster Malorie Blackman, illus. Dapo Adeola   V

What the Ladybird Heard Julia Donaldson, illus Lydia Monks

Whatever Next Jill Murphy                 

The Wheels on the Bus Annie Kubler

Where my feet go Birgitta Sif                  

Where the Wild Things Are  Maurice Sendak          

Where’s my Teddy? Jez Alborough             

Where’s Spot? Eric Hill                      

Window Jeannie Baker    

When the Sky Falls Phil Earle V AB

The Wolf Wilder  Katherine Rundell     V    AB

The Wooden camel Wanuri Kahiu, illus Manuela Adreani

Y

You’re snug with  me Chitra Soundar

Z

The Zebra’s Great Escape Katherine Rundell, ill. Sara Ogilvie V AB

Zombierella Fairy Tales Gone Bad Joseph Coelho, illus. Freya Hartas  V   AB                                                     

 

Rachel Bright, illus. Jim Field
Orchard Books
Age 3-7 years

A little mouse is fed up of feeling overlooked, he envies lion on top of his rock, he is so imposing and so confident. Mouse thinks that if he could roar like lion instead of squeak then maybe the other animals would notice him, and he would make friends. He realises the best way to learn to roar is to ask lion himself. Very bravely he climbs up to lion on his rock. Imagine his surprise when he finds out that lion is more frightened of him than he is of lion.

This is a story that acknowledges we are all scared sometimes but if we dare to be brave we can find our inner lion. It also shows there is no need to shout to make your self heard. Written in rhyme with some lovely words such as ‘tinyful’ and ‘toothsome’ this story is a delight to read aloud and fun return to. The bold illustrations are wonderful with some amazing close ups which emphasise the animals’ feelings.

Share the story

Read aloud
Before you start reading the book aloud look at the pictures on the cover and the title page and think together about what might happen in this story.

Read the story aloud taking time to pause to look closely at the wonderful illustrations or talk about what is happening when your child wants to.

Join in
When you return to the book children will love joining in with the roars, squeaks and other sound effects.

 

Talk about the story

• Can you spot the lion on top of the rocks on the title pages and the first page of the story?

• Talk about how the mouse and the lion feel at different points in the story – look back at the pictures to remind you.

• Share favourite pictures, parts of the story and words. Give your ideas first eg ‘I like it when the lion is described as ‘toothsome’ – he sounds very scary.’

Things to make and do

Make the story world

• Your child could make a little house for mouse out of construction bricks

• Collect together boxes or cushions and stack them on top of each other to make lion’s rock if you have a model lion your child could put this on top

• If you have other small animal toys you could arrange those too like the animals in the story

Play the story

• Walk or pose like a proud lion.

• Give your child a mirror so they practice growling like mouse does. They could roar like lion too and try looking scared.

• Have an imaginary conversation between mouse and lion with one of you pretending to be lion and the other mouse.

Paint a picture

Give your child a large sheet of paper and some paints so that they can paint a big close-up picture of mouse and lion together. Talk with them about what they have painted afterwards.

Find out more

Read more books by author Rachel Bright here

Titles include:

My Sister is an alien

Love Monster

Also,  with the same illustrator Jim Field 

The Squirrels who squabbled

The Koala who could

Jim Field also illustrated the highly popular Oi Frog series of books with Kes Gray

Find out about another story about a lion and a mouse
Here is an animated version of Aesop’s fable of the lion and the mouse

 

 

David Lucas
Andersen Press  
Age 3-5

Mummy finishes knitting Cat and wraps him up a surprise gift for Daisy. But Cat is confused, why was he made? He decides to try and find out wriggling free of the wrapping paper, leaving the house and setting out on an adventure, asking the darkness, the stars and the trees why he was made. They all have their own sense of purpose; the snow was made for dancing and the stars to shine. None of this helps Cat until Sun tells him he was made to give himself. Suddenly Cat realises why he was wrapped up with a ribbon. However, throughout his adventure Cat has been unravelling, will he be able to get back to his house? Fortunately he is rescued, Mummy gathers up the wool and remakes Cat who discovers the pleasure of being made especially for Daisy.

A story about seeking a sense of purpose, love and how special a homemade gift can be.

 

Share the story

Read aloud
When you read the story aloud to your child try changing your voice – whispering for the darkness and sounding deep and strong for rock.

Join in
When you re read the book children could join in with Cat’s repeated question or the answers he was given. You could point out the words in bold print and children could join in with the sound effects ‘whoosh’ and ‘splash.’

Talk about the story

Retell the story
Your child could retell the story in their own words using the pictures to help them.

 

Things to make and do

Watch someone knitting
If you can knit, or know someone who can, your child could watch how the knitting grows and what happens if the wool is unravelled.

Find out what your toys are made from
Make a collection of toys made from different materials, are any of them made from wool? Talk about the difference between them and how they feel.

Make something for someone you know
Make a picture, a card or a model for someone in the family.

Follow a trail
Use wool or string tie one end around a table leg and make a trail around the furniture for your child to follow. Perhaps a favourite toy could be at the other end of the trail to discover.

Find out more

Find out about David Lucas here

 

Read other books by David Lucas, titles include:

Lost in the Toy Museum

The Robot and the Bluebird

This is my Rock

A letter for Bear

How to knit
If you are interested in teaching your child to knit this video is a useful introduction  nb recommended for older children, 6/7+

Incey Winceys Preschool sets a reading challenge for families

Mick Kingswell, preschool manager at Incey Winceys Preschool in North East London is working hard to encourage parents to share books at home and it is great to hear they are making really good use of the resources on www.lovemybooks.co.uk.

Mick told us about a 10,000 hour fund raising reading challenge they held in July. At the launch meeting they told parents about Lovemybooks, put up posters, gave out postcards and encouraged parents to spend time looking at the website.

We asked Mick how the challenge went:

‘We successfully reached our 10,000 minute reading goal we finally managed 10,211 minutes in total. Our charity target was £300 but to my surprise we made £545 for our local children’s centre and Salvation Army and will enable us to give out 100 or so high quality books to disadvantaged children in the local community.’

He said some parents found the reading challenge tough and not everyone got involved, some gave up after day one. The experience of sharing books on a daily basis was new to a number of parents some of whom admitted giving their child time on an iPad in lieu of a quality story time. However there were some big successes:

‘One or two parents said that they felt closer to their children. One dad mentioned how good it was for him to bond with his child. We see this as a huge success.’

‘The children responded well and were excited to read every day and were keen to tell me how many books they read the day before! One child said “my mummy forgot” and then this mum read twice as many stories that night! We could see obvious improvements in communication, concentration and vocabulary.’

A few parents made comments about Lovemybooks:

“I found the Lovemybooks website to be full of fun activities. We almost forgot to read sometimes because we got caught doing other things and had so much fun. We will check back for new books”.

“We used the website you gave us to look at what books to buy. Some of Jack’s books were too long, which put us off reading”.

 

Incey Winceys are finding the website useful in their setting as well. Mick told us:

‘We tend to look on Lovemybooks for ideas for activities or games. When we were looking at emotions we read Grumpy Frog , We used the ideas on the website to make frog puppets and used them in emotion role play.  With Elmer  where you suggested creating colourful elephants we went a bit mad and made a giant elephant together!’

‘We have bookmarked the site on the children’s iPads. We use the video links to watch a story at nap time. This has a calming effect and helps children especially those with SEN with their routine.

‘We also use the site for looking at books we don’t have, or for finding age appropriate books and use the ideas on the site to convince the finance people to buy the books we would like.’

Teachers and school leaders – Are you sharing www.lovemybooks.co.uk with parents in your school or setting too? Do let us know if so, we’d love to hear and share your experiences in our newsletters too. Email info@lovemybooks.co.uk.

 

Rhyme is a way of playing with words
Michael Rosen

When we make two words sound the same, there’s a tiny moment when instead of listening for the meaning, we’re listening to the sounds of the words: less about ‘sense’, more about ‘sound’. This makes rhyme ideal for non-sense – nonsense. It’s also good for jokes. Rhyme does this through setting up expectations. A good deal of humour works from setting something up, and then knocking it down with a surprise.

• 

• 

• 

Think of the most famous joke of all, person walks along the road and falls over. The expectation is that the person will go on walking down the road – but they don’t. Rhyme often does something similar: it sets up an expectation, we start to predict what kind of word is coming, and then it doesn’t. We laugh. Or maybe rhyme will set up an expectation and when the rhyming word comes along, it feels like completing, or ‘closure’ as they said. ‘Closure’ is satisfying to the ear and mind, rather like music when we’re on the major scale and the tune finishes on the ‘tonic’ note, or the ‘doh’ of the scale.

So, rhyme can do all these kinds of jobs for us, and we end up with a sense of pleasure from it. For young children there is the added possibility that it connects them with the ‘physical’ side of language. Sound is ‘physical’ because we make it by exciting atoms and molecules in our throats and ears. Meaning is about our mental apparatus: thought, consciousness, awareness, mind…

Quite a lot of the time, very young children can hear the physical side of language: sound, volume, pitch, speed of talking without fully ‘getting’ the meaning. It’s quite often puzzling. What do all these people on the TV and radio mean? What do parents and grandparents mean when they’re talking to each other.

When we create language that focusses on the physical, I think it connects children to this state of mind they are in where they perceive language as more to do with the physical than the mental, more to do with sound than meaning.

It must be a relief for them to hear ‘vooby, vooby, vooby’ instead of this constant atmosphere of stuff you don’t quite understand. If, for a moment, as with rhyme, it can seen that language is mocking real words, with its echo and chiming effect, then my view is that that’s a relief too. It’s like saying to children, ‘Listen to this and just enjoy the fun of sound and the meaning may or may not come along later.’

 

 

The Grotlyn
Benji Davies
Age 5-7

Since hearing an organ tune Rubi has a strange rhyme in her head about a Grotlyn visiting houses at night. Soon she and others in the town report hearing strange noises, sightings, objects disappearing. Rumours about a Grotlyn are spreading. But in the words of the story ‘..don’t be afraid to sleep – to dream! For things are not quite what they seem.’ A mysterious rhyming picture book to cuddle up and share, with just the right amount of spookiness, wonderfully rich illustrations and a surprise ending.

Share the story

Before starting to read the story:

Spend time talking together about the double page spread at the beginning of the book. What can you see in the picture?

Think together about the title and the possible meaning of introductory line ‘I know when the Grotlyn’s been slipping through your house unseen’

Read aloud
Read the story aloud, making sure you are cuddled up close!  Pause to talk about the pictures and what is happening. When you finish reading, look back at the illustrations for clues about what the Grotlyn really is.  It might be fun to read the story in a whisper or read it in the dark using a torch to shine on the pages.

Talk about the story

Talk about the line ‘But what at first we think to be the eye does blindly make us see’

Look at the page of things the Grotlyn stole, were these random or stolen for a reason?

Talk about the final pictures – how are the organ grinder and the monkey feeling?

Watch a trailer

Harper Collins Children’s Book

Things to make and do

Play the story
Together you could pretend to be some of the people who saw the Grotlyn talking about what they saw or heard using words from the story or making up some of your own.

Children could pretend to be a Grotlyn ( or monkey!) creeping through a house and stealing things for their escape plan.

Create a dark den, for example with a blanket covering a table children can create a camp inside and play with a torch.

Draw an escape plan
Children could imagine they are the monkey and plot their escape, what will they need? What will they build? Draw a diagram like the monkey’s picture and add notes to it.

Be a news reporter
Take turns role playing interviews between a reporter and people in the town about what they saw or heard.

Write a news report
Write a news report about the mysterious Grotlyn.

Write a postcard
Write a postcard from the monkey to the organ grinder explaining why he wanted to escape.

Find out more

Read more books by Benji Davies

Titles include

The Storm Whale

The Storm Whale in Winter

Grandad’s Island

On Sudden Hill with Linda Sarah

Goodnight Already with Jory John

Find out about organ grinders and their monkeys, watch a video:

freddydalby

It is often hard to know how to choose new picture books from the thousands published every year.
Here is a selection of some of our current favourites from 2017. You and your child will meet a range of appealing characters in these beautifully illustrated picture books and discover amusing, intriguing and thought provoking stories. We hope you enjoy them.