Learning & Development: Book choice
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
- Really Want to Eat a Child by Sylviane Donnio and Dorothee de Monfreid
Hodder Children's Books, paperback, £5.99
Achilles, the baby crocodile, is tired of eating bananas every day. What he wants to eat is a child. His mother and father try to tempt him with a sausage and cake instead, without success. But his encounter with a child shows that he's not as big and fierce as he thinks he is. Children will love it!
- Please Don't Torment Tootsie by Margaret Chamberlain
Hodder Children's Books, paperback, £5.99
A cautionary tale about what children should and shouldn't do around animals: 'PLEASE don't torment Tootsie, or provoke Poochie. Don't madden Mutley, or disturb Dixi. Do not bully Bitsy, or even think of teasing Trixi. You'd be MAD to wind up Whitney ...'
This is a warm and funny book, with wonderful rhythmic text and illustrations that are both expressive and effective in their use of only a single colour in each spread.
- Blackest Hole in Space written by Penny Little and illustrated by Vincent Vigla
Hodder Children's Books, paperback, £5.99
Charlie, his dad and their dog Doggo have spent all afternoon making a space rocket with alien receptors, a black-hole tracker and a time-travel switch. When Dad goes downstairs and before Charlie can say 'sizzling satellites', the rocket takes off.
Die-cut holes add to the tension, showing how Charlie and Doggo and are sucked ever deeper into the black hole, while (on the opposite pages), planet Earth is seen far below. On the bottom of each page are interesting facts and figures about space. This is a book that will delight space enthusiasts.
- Snap! By Margaret Mayo and Alex Ayliffe
Orchard Books, hardback, £10.99
Big, bright and bold illustrations of sea creatures are combined with rich, descriptive and repetitive language to create an animal book that children will love. 'Sharks are good at snap, snap, snapping, Whoosh! - dashing, tails lashing, spiky teeth ready for snap, snapping. So snap, sharks, snap!'
- A Present From Lulu by Caroline Uff
Orchard Books, hardback, £10.99
In this latest addition to the Lulu series, Lulu and Granny go shopping for the perfect present for Mummy. There are so many things to choose from, and Lulu has to work out what her mummy would like best.
