Buying books as Xmas gifts? Here are more recommendations ...
Tots to Teens
Star Mag, 17th December 2006
Eating books for Xmas
AS promised, more Christmas gift recommendations for children who love to read.
Picture Books
THE INCREDIBLE BOOK EATING BOY
By Oliver Jeffers HarperCollins Children’s Books, 32 pages
Publisher:
(ISBN: 0-007-18227-9)
HENRY loves books and he can’t get enough of them, but this is no ordinary love we’re talking about. Henry is no reader, he’s an eater! When he discovers how tasty books are, he starts wolfing them down every chance he gets.
What really rocks is that the more books he eats, the smarter he gets. So why stop gorging on hardbacks and paperbacks? Henry’s voracious appetite could make him the smartest boy on earth! Oliver Jeffers’ style is, as always, witty and understated. This is a book to cheer up the whole family. For ages four to nine.
MEERKAT MAIL
By Emily Gravett
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books, 32 pages
(ISBN: 1-405-05215-5)
SUNNY the meerkat lives in the Kalahari Desert with his huge extended family. He’s pretty happy, digging holes, eating beetles and daydreaming, but he does sometimes wish he had more personal space. And that’s what leads to his decision to go visit the soggy marshland where Great Aunt Flo hangs out with her family.
On the way, he drops in on various eccentric mongoose cousins and realises, as his postcards home reveal, that his own family isn’t all that bad after all! This is as fresh, surprising and unusual a picture book as Emily Gravett’s debut, the Kate Greenaway Medal winning Wolves and its follow-up, Orange Pear Apple Bear. For ages four to nine.
THE ADVENTURES OF THE DISH AND THE SPOON
By Mini Grey
Publisher: Jonathan Cape Children’s Books, 32 pages
(ISBN: 0-224-07037-1)
“AND the dish ran away with the spoon!” So ends that quirky nursery rhyme, Hey Diddle Diddle. But have you ever wondered what happens to the couple after they elope? According to Mini Grey, they move to New York and live the high life as a popular vaudeville act. The Dish, however, has way too expensive tastes and, when they fall on hard times, they have to resort to robbing a bank!
This is a very funny, brilliantly illustrated, action-packed book that, hopefully, will inspire more “sequels”: Did Jill get Jack to the ER on time? What did the maid do after her nose was pecked off by that pesky blackbird? Did Bo Peep’s sheep get a telling off for wandering off, and just what were they doing when they were away? For ages six and up.
Non-Fiction
EXPLORATOPIA
More than 400 Kid-Friendly Experiments and Explorations for Curious Minds
By Pat Murphy, Ellen Macaulay and Exploratorium
Publisher: Little,Brown Young Readers, 373 pages
(ISBN: 0-316-61281-2)
THE Exploratorium is a museum founded by physicist and educator Dr Frank Oppenheimer in 1969. It is housed within San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts and is home to over 600 science, art and human perception interactive exhibits. This book is written by the museum staff and contains dozens of experiments designed to make you think about the way things work. They’re aimed at getting you to ask questions, find answers and then ask even more questions.
If you know a kid who never stops asking “Why?” this is what she needs in her Christmas stocking. But I suspect that Exploratopia will inspire even the most apathetic child to start wondering a little about what’s going on in the world.
THE ART BOOK FOR CHILDREN
By Phaidon Editors
Publisher: Phaidon Press Ltd, 72 pages
(ISBN: 0-714-84511-6)
PHAIDON’s fantastic Art Book series includes a wonderful children’s edition – an A-Z guide to 30 artists (including masters like Van Gogh, Matisse, Rembrandt, Turner and Velazquez, and newer talents like Andy Warhol, Grant Wood and Cindy Sherman) and their most famous works.
The pieces have been selected based on their historical significance as well as their appeal to children, and the book is designed to encourage kids to take a closer look at works of art and consider the motivation and messages behind them. The Art Book for Children: Book Two is now available. For ages four and up.
MAMA
A True Story, in which a Baby Hippo Loses his Mama during a Tsunami, but Finds a New Home, and a New Mama
By Jeanette Winter
Publisher: Harcourt Children’s Books, 32 pages
(ISBN: 0-152-05495-2)
JUST two words and vibrantly coloured illustrations tell the story of Owen, a baby hippo who was a victim of the 2004 tsunami. The baby was found washed up on the beach in Malindi, Kenya, and was taken to Haller Park, a wildlife enclosure near Mombassa, to be rehabilitated. There, he bonded with a 130-year-old tortoise named Mzee.
Owen’s obvious need to be mothered inspired Jeanette Winter to imagine his life before the tsunami and his loving relationship with his mother. With the help of the beautiful and touchingly imagined drawings, a myriad of emotions are powerfully conveyed by the book’s two words (“Mama” and “Baby”). This is a story that will live forever, move hearts and stimulate the imagination of children of all ages.
BIG BOOK OF THE HUMAN BODY Dorling Kindersley, 12 pages
Publisher:
(ISBN: 1-405-31745-0)
THERE are so many kid-friendly human body encyclopaedias available but I still find this one irresistible. Lift-the-flap books are always fun and the way various body parts work offer lots of opportunities for flaps, tabs and wheel pictures. Joints move, skin lifts to reveal bones, lungs fill up with air. Three to six-year-olds will love discovering all about their bodies with this book!
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