Sally Morris picks the best of this month's kid's books: OH DEAR, LOOK WHAT I GOT! by Michael Rosen Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, UNFAIRIES by Huw Aaron, SMALL WONDER by Ross Montgomery
By SALLY MORRIS
Published: | Updated:
Oh Dear, Look What I've Done is available now from the Mail Bookshop
IT’S more than 35 years since Rosen and Oxenbury created We’re Going On A Bear Hunt but this reunion is full of similar fun, repetition and rhyme.
A child heads to the shops to buy a carrot but ends up with a parrot – ‘Oh Dear, look what I got! Do I want that? No, I do NOT!’ Each purchase results in an unwanted animal: hat/cat; cake/snake; chair/bear provoking the disappointed chorus that demands to be chanted out loud.
The illustrations are full of humour and expression, children will love guessing which animal is revealed next and there’s an exuberant ending too. Do we LOVE this? – Yes, We DO!
Age 3+
Unfairies is available now from the Mail Bookshop
GRAPHIC novels are enjoying a surge in popularity so take a step into the anarchic world of The Garden, populated by greedy, lying, scheming and fond-of-fisticuffs Fairies and you’ll see why.
When Pip, a disco-loving fairy from the Root Stores of Oakhold, is dispatched with a message to the higher powers that the winter food supply is rotting, you might expect a quest with a hero. But Pip is manic, reckless and lacking in judgment which leads to political shenanigans and infighting that threaten the kingdom.
Bursting with Thwacks, Biffs and naughty jokes – it’s exhilarating, exhausting and wildly entertaining. You’ll never look at fairies the same again.
6+
Small Wonder is available now from the Mail Bookshop
YOUNG Tick lives in the forest of Ellia kingdom with his younger brother, Leaf, and Pebble, his dead grandfather’s horse. But when the enemy Drene army invades and a hunter arrives at their home, Tick knows he must escape across the mountains to the sanctuary of King’s Keep castle, to save Leaf.
What follows is Tick’s epic journey, battling bandits and knights, using all the skills his grandfather taught him while relying on the power of Pebble. Just as in his award-winning I Am Rebel, Montgomery builds an emotional connection between a boy and an animal and wrings every drop of tension from the action.
This is high-quality drama from a writer at his peak.
9+
Daily Mail
