By Maureen Tai, 24 November 2018An exuberant rabbit invites his grumpy mouse friend to an outdoor picnic. No sooner has the picnic basket been opened, the clouds take over the skies and it begins to pour. Using just 5 words in the entire picture book, Good News Bad News tells the humorous and charming tale of what happens next to this engaging pair. Continue reading
“But the girl wasn’t just a girl. She was a witch!”
‘Tis the witching season and what better than to curl up under a blanket with a flashlight, a pile of spooky storybooks and a plate of chocolate chip cookies (mind the crumbs). For the youngest of little ones with faint hearts and short attention spans, Ghosts in the House! is the perfect Halloween read. Boldly illustrated and sparsely written (155 words in all), it is delightful.
And there are lots and lots of ghosts …
Our thin paperback copy of My wobbly tooth must not ever NEVER fall out is battered and bruised, like the banana that Ben brought home from school the other day. Most of the pages have been cello-taped back together, the spine has rubbed off and the majority of the free stickers are on the underside of my mum’s coffee table in Malaysia.
We acquired our Charlie and Lola books over a decade ago, before we discovered the TV series, and read them to Anna on an almost daily basis – sometimes twice daily – for much of her toddler years. I wonder if Anna still remembers them … Continue reading
“Each Peach Pear Plum, I spy Tom Thumb…”
If your middle grade child can still remember the first few lines of a board book that she had read to her since before she could walk, it must be a bit of a gem. That is what Each Peach Pear Plum is, the perfect rhyming “I Spy” picture book for really little ones and their sleep-deprived care-givers.
The board book in my hand is over a decade old, its edges fraying, deep furrows along the spine. The story itself is even older. Each Peach Pear Plum celebrated its 40th birthday in 2018 as the author, Allan Ahlberg celebrated his 80th. Ahlberg is a maestro of rhyme, and a prolific children’s book writer, having written – at last count – over 150 books. Continue reading
Stories That Stay With Us 