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How to Scare Blue Monster by Petr Horácek

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 8 Sep 2026

Publisher: Otter-Barry Books
ISBN: 9781915659897

See also:
Blue Monster [ACHUKA Book of the Day 11 Sep 2024]
Little Chick [ACHUKA Book of the Day 5 Mar 2024]
The Star Whale [ACHUKA Book of the Day 19 Sep 2023]
The Perfect Present [ACHUKA Book of the Day 1 Sep 2022]
A Best Friend For Bear [ACHUKA Book of the Day 8 Apr 2022]
Mister Boo! [ACHUKA Book of the Day 28 May 2021]
The Last Tiger [ACHUKA Book of the Day 15 Oct 2019]

Look how many times we have selected books by Petr Horacek as our Book of the Day selection. That show how much we love his work. And here we have a sequel to last year’s original Blue Monster title. 

Don’t you just love the expressions in this opening spread?

When something HUGE comes clumping through the forest, all the animals are scared. But it’s only their friend, Blue Monster. Blue Monster is surprised – he doesn’t even know what it means to be scared and he asks the animals to teach him!

Fox, Wolf, Racoon and the Rabbits try lots of scary tricks but nothing scares Blue Monster. Then clever Fox has an idea…

Next time Blue Monster goes out he is all alone. He calls out for his friends but nobody replies. What’s happened to them? In his worry for his friends, now Blue Monster really is scared. But the animals have just been hiding and BOO!, they jump out, ready to play. 

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Scaredy Cat by Alex Falase-Koya ill. Ken Wilson-Max

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 15 Jul 2026

Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9781382062954

See also by Alex Falase-Koya:
MARV And The Mega Robot [ACHUKA Book of the Day 4 Feb 2020]

Love this picture book and can’t wait to share it with my grand-daughter when she comes to visit next week. Ken Wilson-Max’s illustrations catch a timid rescue cat’s permanently on-edge expression perfectly. Alex Falase-Koya’s pacing of the story is just right for a picture book. Art the cat is soon nuzzling up beside Gabe the boy to listen to him talking about his comic book.

Gabe is a very shy child, especially at school. But when Gabe’s parents adopt a cat who is even shyer than Gabe, everything begins to change.

Whilst the rest of the family’s attempts to engage with their new pet only send it into hiding, it is Gabe who senses what the cat, Art, needs. Gabe sits quietly reading his favourite comic and slowly, slowly the cat comes out of hiding to join him.

As Gabe and Art bond, both grow in confidence and assurance. So much so that when it is Gabe’s turn to stand up in front of the class and tell them about his favourite book, he surprises himself, and his schoolmates, with his newfound confidence.

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The Blanket by Marie Dorléans tr. Katy Lockwood-Holmes

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 21 Apr 2026

Publisher: Floris Books
ISBN: 9781782509790

See also:
Our Fort [ACHUKA Book of the Year 2022, Book of the Day 3 May 2022]
The Night Walk [ACHUKA Book of the Day 25 Jan 2021]

Oh, this new book from Marie Dorléans is simply marvellous! The story about a a timid boy whose only way of confronting the world is in the presence of a huge, engulfing, comforting red blanket and who then wields the blanket as a source of commanding strength and power sets up some gloriously amusing picture spreads. The resolution, in which he uses his power to intervene in a confrontation between a cat and a bird and ends up alone, in the snow, blanketless, but able to exult in the soft fall of snowflakes, is completely satisfying.  

There has been a 2 year wait for this translation (from the French) and English edition to appear. 

Tommy is afraid of everything. He is afraid of wind, rain, cats, dogs, dragonflies, loud laughs… All of it.

One stormy night, Tommy wraps himself in a big red blanket and discovers that inside his knitted shield, he doesn’t feel so afraid anymore. So, he wears his blanket everywhere. He wears it at home, in the car, at school, in the playground… Everywhere.

Tommy starts to try new things, confident that nothing can hurt him. But his woolly armour has created a new barrier between himself and the world around him. Can he find a way to let go of his blanket and start living fully?

Quirky imagination and gentle humour weave their way through both the words and illustrations in this distinctive picture book about dealing with anxiety and learning to step outside our comfort zone. 

You can follow Marie Dorleans on , where her feed is delightfully free of self-promotion:

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Big Bear Is Coming! by Anuska Allepuz

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 9 Mar 2026

Publisher: Walker Books Ltd
ISBN: 9781406388954

“Allepuz’s forest bursts at the seams with greens, purples, and blues, and the repeated refrain is so frantic that it’s impossible to not shout along. The tale also offers a clever reminder to use all of our senses when making sense of one’s surroundings. Sneaky, suspenseful, and super fun.” KIRKUS
“Repetitive text and opportunities to shout make this book incredibly engaging and fun!” Kate Heap

The sun is setting in the forest, which means it’s time for four little bears to head on home and get ready for bed.

But wait … what’s that growly sound? And hold on – what’s that smelly smell? Oh no, it can only mean one thing: BIG BEAR IS COMING!

Author-illustratorAnuska Allepuz,  captures all the joy and charm of a cherished bedtime game she plays with her own children. Adorable illustrations of a family of bears are paired with irresistible read-along refrains and join-in actions, encouraging readers to use all of their senses to listen, smell and watch out for what (or WHO) is coming next.

A surprise ending is sure to make this a bedtime staple and have children shouting, “Again! Again!”

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Circus of Shadows by Lidia Brankovic

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 2 Dec 2024

Waterstones
Bookshop

Lika has never given much thought to her shadow. Sometimes it’s long, sometimes it’s short… but it’s never anything more than a shadow. That is until the day it starts acting strangely. When Lika waves a hand, Shadow raises a foot. When Lika sits down, Shadow stands up. Lika tries to hide, but the smaller she makes herself, the bigger Shadow becomes. When Shadow whisks Lika off to a curious land of shadows – and right into a spooky shadow circus – she must look deep inside herself to find her way back home.

An uplifting book about exploring and acknowledging the parts of ourselves that we try to hide from and embracing the shadows within.

Lidia was born and raised in Kreuzberg, Berlin.
In 2022, she completed her design studies, focusing her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees on picturebooks.

You can follow her on

 

 
 
 
 
 
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R.L. Stine’s Secret to Scaring the Crap Out of Kids

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Interview with R. L. Stine ahead of a busy month:

DailyBeast

October is a busy month for R.L. Stine.

The author behind the blockbuster Goosebumps and Fear Street book series—pulpy horror novels that became points of obsession for a generation of kids just learning that reading can be fun—has become expectedly accustomed to being associated with the ghouls, spooks, and scares of Halloween season.

“And then in November, they forget about me,” he jokes.

Not that, at least in this particular October, Stine isn’t a bit complicit in his in-demand status. The best-selling author—to the tune of over 400 million copies sold since his first Fear Street book in 1989—is busy promoting the return of his Emmy-winning TV series Saturday on The Hub network, The Haunting Hour: The Series, and just released the first new Fear Street book since ending the series in 1995.

via R.L. Stine’s Secret to Scaring the Crap Out of Kids – The Daily Beast.