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| Mick Inkpen |
| Hodder Children's Books |
| 0340911395 |
| Sep 2006 |
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One of the most familiar and favoured dogs in children’s literature makes a return in this annual account of life. Beginning in January, Kipper takes photographs with his new camera – used to photograph key events in each month – and makes a New Year’s resolve not to throw snowballs at Tiger. This is quickly broken, however, as in February the snowfall proves too tempting to pay no heed towards. March, April and May elapse with high winds, ponds full of frogs and tadpoles and blossom and ducklings.
The summer months of June, July and August pass in a reverie watching insects in the long grasses, of hot, hot storms and of summer holidays. Autumn arrives and with it the months of September, October and November bring brambles full of blackberries, pumpkins, twiggy branches and warm, misty breath in frozen air. The story concludes in December as Kipper prepares for Christmas, making a special present for his friend Tiger, this it transpires is the yearbook with all of the photographs he has taken throughout the course of the book. Special mention must be made of the different palettes Mick Inkpen sensitively utilises to successfully evoke each of the seasons, the blues and white of winters, the fresh greens of spring, the bright colours of summer and the golden browns of Autumn.
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Picture Books: December 2006 Archives
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| Sandra Klaassen |
| Floris Books |
| 0863155618 |
| Sep 2006 |
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Uan is Gaelic for lamb. Set upon a small, somewhat old-fashioned, though beautiful island in the sea, a farming family live, battling against the elements to secure a livelihood. One springtime an abandoned newborn lamb is found of the shoreline.
Bedraggled and famished, the lamb is rubbed dry, given milk and placed in a box next to the range. The family adopt the lamb and take special care of her to compensate for the absence of her mother. She is played with and cuddled and as she grows in size and strength, so too she grows in confidence following the children of the family everywhere. Eventually Uan has grown big enough to join the other lambs in the field, where she plays games with them and has fun. She becomes a sheep and one day has a lamb herself, becoming the best mother in the world. This is a tender, sweet story evoking the love and care that enables children – of whatever species! – to grow and develop, finally being able to utilise the knowledge and experiences of their own childhood experiences responsively.
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| Judy Sierra, ill. Marc Brown |
| Frances Lincoln |
| 1845075269 |
| Jul 2006 |
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In the summer of 2002, Springfield librarian Molly McGrew drives her mobile library into the zoo. Initially, the animals are suspicious and resistant and it appears folly, but librarian Molly, armed with knowledge of the best story to read to conquer the biggest level of resistance, attracts a mink and a moose by reading aloud from good Dr Seuss.
Shortly thereafter a stampede for reading begins with each animal and creature having his or her own particular penchant. The giraffes love tall books, the geckos love stick to the wall books, the pandas love Chinese books, the otters love water proof Harry Potter, the llamas love dramas and the hyenas and snakes love joke books. ‘Wild About Books’ succeeds brilliantly in showing the diverse reading tastes that can accompany a love of books, it emphases the importance of discussion, of dialogue and of debate. Reading is not show here as being solitary and isolated, but real culture for reading is depicted. A marvellous achievement and one itself that reads aloud in a group brilliantly well and is a gift for the level of tie-in craft sessions and activities that could so easily be themed around the story.
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| Hiawyn Oram, ill. Satoshi Kitamura |
| Andersen Press |
| 1842705806 |
| Sep 2006 |
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The eagerness to care, look after and show warmth towards a creature, to find companionship and closeness, together with the fascination for dinosaurs, forms the basis of one of Hiawyn Oram and Satoshi Kitamura’s justly acclaimed collaborations. “A boy wants a dinosaur” is re-issued again this year by Andersen Press.
Ben has a dog, Alice has two snails, but poor Alex is desperate for a dinosaur, showing compassion his grandfather states “A boy wants a dinosaur this much, a boy should have a dinosaur”. So it is that the pair take a trip to the gargantuan glass ‘dino-store’ – a veritable haven for those who desire a dinosaur! After much agonising over species selection, Alex chooses a Massospondylus, a dinosaur that eats everything. Alex calls her Fred. Fred requires ample food, ample sleep, ample water for her bath and ample walks… shortly after gaining perspective into the cumbersome practicalities of having a dinosaur as a pet, Alex awakes, finding he had only dreamt of having a dinosaur, together with grandfather he decides a rabbit would make a far better suited pet! Indulgent text and lavishly good humoured illustrations combine to make this a richly imaginative and fiendishly funny story with a considerate caution about the responsibility a pet entails. |
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| Kate Petty |
| Frances Lincoln |
| 1845073320 |
| Sep 2006 |
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Although cultural constructions of the child vary and – at times - collide, where the “Around the World” series succeeds is in laying out the shared common ground that unites these constructions, regardless of geographical location, of background economic vitality etc.
“Playtime” explores the forms and means that play takes for different children around the world. Cidinha and friends in Brazil play tug-of’war, Sasha in Russia plays in a hidey-hole carved out of the snow, Timo in Mali plays with toy boats, Shakeel in India plays football, Giorgi in Azerbaijan races go-karts, Gianni in Albania has made a toy helicopter, families in Sudan play with animals modelled from clay Linh in Vietnam plays have made catapults from elastic bands and much more… The series breaks down barriers of understanding and unfamiliarity by outlining areas of commonality and shared experience. Each double-page spread features a bold photograph of the children playing, a brief explanation of who they are, whereabouts in the world they are based and the times of games and toys they play with. Children themselves are given the opportunity to further elucidate through means of speech bubbles. The close of the book features a map of the world with each place featured clearly indicated through the use of a miniature photograph.
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