ACHUKA

children's & YA recommendations on the go

You are here: Home / Archives for achuka

Classic Fables: Tales of wisdom and wit from Bloomsbury Illustrated Classic Collections ill. Charles Folkard

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 15 October 2026

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN: 978180199859

from the Chris Beetles Gallery website: Charles Folkard (1878 – 1963)
Charles Folkard was born in Lewisham, South London, on 6 April 1878, the son of a printer. Educated locally at Colfe’s Grammar School, he began an apprenticeship with a firm of designers, but left to become a conjuror. It was in designing programmes for his shows that he discovered his talent for drawing. He then studied at various art schools – including Goldsmiths’ College and those at St John’s Wood, Blackheath and Sidcup – while beginning to establish a career as an illustrator. Initially contributing humorous drawings to such periodicals as Little Folks and The Tatler, he made his name, in 1910, with illustrations to an edition of Johann Wyss’s The Swiss Family Robinson. A year later, he illustrated The Children’s Shakespeare and Grimm’s Fairy Tales, so initiating a relationship with the publisher, A & C Black, which would last for twenty-seven years.
In 1915, Folkard joined the Daily Mail as a staff artist and, in that position, invented the newspaper’s strip cartoon, ‘Teddy Tail’. When he decided to concentrate on book illustration, his brother, Harry, took over the strip. Another son, Edward, became a sculptor. Having a strong understanding of the appeal of fantasy, he also wrote pantomimes and children’s plays.

Classic Fables is more than a collection of stories; it is a beautifully crafted keepsake. Featuring a gorgeous hardback finish, elegant foil blocking, and a premium ribbon marker, it is the ultimate gift for christenings, birthdays, and the festive season.

Inside, over 100 of Aesop’s most beloved fables are brought to vivid life through the enchanting full-colour watercolours and intricate line drawings of celebrated Golden Age illustrator Charles Folkard. From The Tortoise and the Hare to The Boy Who Cried Wolf, these iconic and lesser-known tales teach gentle lessons in honesty, kindness and wit.

Designed to be read and cherished again and again, this stunning edition will spark children’s imaginations and create moments of shared discovery across generations.

The Book of Planet Earth: Our World in 500+ Facts and Stories by Clive Gifford ill. Paul Boston

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 14 Oct 2026

Publisher: words & pictures, Quarto
ISBN: 9781805700661

Children’s publishers have surpassed themselves this year in providing the pre-Christmas market with lots of general interest non-fiction picture books. Here’s another ACHUKA is happy to recommend. Clive Gifford is a long-standing author of children’s non-fiction and all the bite-sized blocks of text here are highly readable and well-informed. Paul Boston’s illustrations are exactly that: illustrative and explanatory.

Rather than closing with a page of World Top 5 Records (longest rivers, highest mountains etc.), a better way to end might have been to return to the message of the opening What A Planet! section, the contents of the book having confirmed how special our planet truly is.

How much do clouds weigh? Why are there pink lakes? What is the ‘Ring of Fire’? And was Earth really formed from the body of an ice giant? Discover the answers to these questions and so much more! 

Brimming with incredible facts about the extraordinary world around us, The Book of Planet Earth looks at how the world works, how people thought about Earth in the past and the challenges our home faces in the future.

Covering a variety of subjects in a fun way, learn how time, space, nature, science and culture all play a role in shaping Earth into the world we all live in.

Along the way, you’ll learn fascinating facts about:

  • Earth’s place in space
  • The layers of our planet
  • Earthquakes, volcanoes and other geohazards
  • Our oceans
  • The weather and the atmosphere
  • Human’s impact on the environment and climate
  • What we can do to help the planet

Vibrant illustrations and fascinating nuggets of information make this book the perfect crowd-pleaser to entertain and amaze curious young minds. 

Absorbing, entertaining and surprising, The Book of Planet Earth will teach kidsto look at the world in a whole new way.

See more examples of Paul Boston’s work here: https://www.meiklejohn.co.uk/artist/Paul_Boston_MJN

 

Plane: Explore the Most Awesome Flying Machines Ever Built by DK (in-house)

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 13 Oct 2026

Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Ltd
ISBN: 9780241802359

Very much a gift book for the plane-obsessed, this lavish oversize picture book — notable for its extra-wide, panoramic format — has been impressively assembled and produced but the in-house team at Dorling Kindersley.

Take to the skies with this oversized, panoramic guide to the world’s most awesome aircraft, making it the perfect gift for aviation-loving kids.

Roaring down the runway or soaring high in the clouds, gravity-defying machines have always captured our imagination. This extra-wide, giant-format photo book brings the magic of flight to life, offering readers a close-up look at everything from commercial aeroplanes to fast and stealthy military jets.

Inside, readers will gain behind-the-scenes access to the cockpit and learn the fundamentals of flight. It’s an engaging introduction to STEM and engineering, explaining exactly how things work—from the raw power of a jet engine to the explosive mechanics of ejection seats.

Perfect for future pilots and engineers, this oversized book features:

  • A giant panoramic format with extra-long pages that perfectly capture the wide wingspans of modern flyers.
  • Fascinating mechanical details explaining how jet engines operate and the science behind modern transportation.
  • Behind-the-scenes access revealing the secrets of air traffic control and what it takes to be a pilot.
  • A broad range of flying machines, including transport titans, stealth bombers, and futuristic delivery drones.

A brilliant gift for kids aged 9 to 12 who want to understand the science of flight. Plane is an inspiring read that will leave young minds eager to take off.

Follow DK Books on

Kiki and Me by Leo Timmers

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 12 Oct 2026

Publisher: Gecko Press
ISBN: 9798348041700

See also:
The Monster In The Lake [ACHUKA Book of the Day 4 Se 2025]
Bear’s Lost Glasses [ACHUKA Book of the Day 7 Oct 2024]
Elephant Island [One of New York Times Best Children’s Books 2022]

“This tale will easily become a beloved classic on the shelves of horse fans. Heck, even the horse averse will cave under the sheer beauty of the illustrations. Equestrian adoration brought to life via breathtaking artwork—an unequivocal champion.” KIRKUS
“This book stages joy so fully, and resolves heartache with such virtuosity, that it is lifted into rare air.” PublishersWeekly

Leo Timmers, writing on the Gecko Press website:

You could say there is something of me in all of the characters here: the child who got to discover the world, the horse that is left behind when Kiki grows up, and also the father who looks for a solution when the horse is left behind.

Because it’s so personal, it also has a different feel from my other books. There is still humor in it but there is also another side, which is a little bit more serious, a little more poetic. When I first stumbled upon this story, I was a little afraid of it. It didn’t feel like something I would normally make—so I knew I had to make it.

The colour spreads in this really wonderful picture book are all wordless and in the middle there is a sequence of seven such spreads uninterrupted by any printed words, allowing for fresh retelling each time, and for children to make up their own words for this part of the story.

First there was a long, windy road. Then I heard voices. The gate lowered . . . and there she was. Kiki.

It took her a while to get used to me, but she was a fast learner. Kiki did everything for me. She watered me, kept me warm, groomed me, and fed me. Kiki loved me. And I loved her.

Kiki and her horse explore the landscape together and are inseparable. But Kiki grows older and things change. One day, the horse is alone—and thinks it will be forever.

Delicate black-and-white drawings alternate with rich, dramatic paintings to tell a poignant story about inseparable friends and growing up.

You can follow Leo Timmers on

Latitude: A World Atlas from North to South by Philip Parker ill. Bill Bragg

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 9 Oct 2026

Publisher: Magic Cat Publishing
ISBN: 9781917044677

Discover the history of humankind from a new perspective in this extremely appealing non-fiction title.

This fascinating first snapshot of the world’s past, present and future presents the world through the lens of latitude. Travelling north to south, kids will explore how great ideas spread around the globe, from the earliest civilizations to the industrial revolution, how climate has impacted people from the equator to the poles and how wildlife has adapted.

Featuring detailed maps, including:
– The Arctic Circle
– Northern Lights
– Pioneers of Culture
– Trade and Travel
– Tropic of Cancer
– Equator
– Tropic of Capricorn
– Oceans and Deserts
– Fire and Ice
– The Antarctic Circle

Bill Bragg is an award winning British artist and illustrator known for his atmospheric images. He graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2005 and is a co-founder of the narrative art magazine and collective LE GUN. He has illustrated novels by Franz Kafka and Herman Melville for the Folio Society and his work regularly appears in The Guardian and The New Yorker.
Follow him on Instagram and see other examples of his fine work:

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Bill Bragg (@bill_bragg_illustration)

Pomona: Stories of the Cat Witch by Tor Freeman

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 8 Oct 2026
Indie Book of the Month October 2026

Publisher: Guppy Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 9781916558823

See also:
Boss Of The Underworld [ACHUKA Book of the Day 5 Mar 2025]

Pomona lives in a little house in the forest, near her friends Ratso, Prince Frog, Elfis and Grandma Wyona.

In this funny and charming collection of stories, she learns how to bake a cake with love, finds a friend for her lonely pet caterpillar, discovers empathy and confirms that there definitely isn’t enough room for anyone else in her hammock!

Follow Tor Freeman on

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Tor Freeman (@tormalore)

On Board: The epic history of ships, sailors and the voyages they made by Tom Adams ill. Tom Jay

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 7 Oct 2026

Publisher: Wide Eyed
ISBN: 9781836004691

A handsome monster of an illustrated information book with wonderful end papers.

There are feature page spreads interspersed between the main chapters and that can make the sequence seem somewhat surprising at times. However, this is hardly a book to be read from cover to cover, page after page, but rather one to be dipped in and out of. It’s just the kind of book to have in a KS2 class library, available during wet play or for those finishing work ahead of schedule. Better still, have a personal copy in the home library.

Packed with exciting, real-life stories and detailed illustrations, this is the fascinating story of how boats and ships have transformed our world. 

For thousands of years, the only way to cross the oceans was by boat. How must those first voyagers have felt, first hugging the shorelines and eventually venturing out across open seas?  

On Board charts water transport through history, exploring: 

  • Early seafarers and the great journeys that carried people across the globe. 
  • How boats and ships have changed over time, from simple craft to modern engineering. 
  • Famous voyages, including circumnavigations and groundbreaking expeditions. 
  • Life at sea, from navigation and safety to daily routines on board. 
  • Remarkable vessels from history, including iconic ships and ancient discoveries. 
  • Inspiring figures who changed maritime history, such as lighthouse keeper Grace Darling, who saved lives at sea and Hugh Mulzac, the first Black US shipmaster. 
  • Surprising facts, record-breaking ships and unusual designs from around the world. 

Brought to life with rich, detailed illustrations, On Board takes readers deep into the world of seafaring, past and present. From dramatic adventures to quiet moments of discovery, every page reveals something new about how humans have explored and connected across water. 

Perfect for curious readers who love history, technology and adventure – step aboard and start your journey today!  

Take a look behind the scenes with Tom Jay the illustrator on Instagram:

The Paper Girl by Caryl Lewis ill. Kanako Abe

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 6 Oct 2026

Publisher: Frances Lincoln
ISBN: 9781805701828

This title is a work of art – one you will want to keep in your home library forever.

A spellbinding keepsake book about learning to say ‘no’ and the transformative beauty of becoming who you truly are, brought to life with exquisite papercut artwork.

This is the story of a girl made from paper, who is bright and kind and eager to please.

When she is told she should be beautiful, she folds herself into a flower; when she is told she should be clever, she folds herself into a fox; when she is told she should be a ‘shining example to others’, she folds herself into a star.

But nothing she does is ever quite enough – until she does something truly beautiful, clever and shiningly wonderful. She says, ‘No.’

So unfolds this modern fairy tale, powerfully written by the multi-award-winning author, Caryl Lewis. Her words are paired with exquisite papercut artwork by début illustrator Kanako Abe.

Packaged as a beautiful hardback – featuring gilded edges, an embossed cover and an intricate diecut design sitting over the title page – this book is suitable for children and adults alike… An invitation to celebrate your strength and find your true self.

The Little Red Barn by Kim Crumrine

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 5 October 2026

Publisher: Gecko Press
ISBN: 9798348056247

Today’s Book of the Day selection continues our focus on good board books and shows yet again that we rate nearly everything published by Gecko Press.

It’s time for the farm animals to go to sleep in the little red barn. First a mouse, then two cats, three dogs, four chickens, five pigs . . . .

Group by group, the animals trot in, carrying toys and cuddlies and snacks. All of them disappear, bottom by bottom, through the door. But how can so many animals fit inside? Turn the last page to find out how the barn that looks so small has room for everybody!

The Little Red Barn is a goodnight book, a counting book, and a funny joke, as a succession of cheerful farm animals disappear into the very looooong little red barn.

Follow Kim Crumrine on

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Kim Crumrine (@wstreetdesign)

I’m intrigued to discover that the book was originally published in Italian as Il piccolo fienile (2024) and that its translator is Antony Shugaar.