Bear and hare

Bear and Hare by Emily Gravett

Macmillan, 9780230745391

2014-02-20 13.47.33

 

A lovely new book by this favourite author.Bear and hare go fishing and bear catches a wide variety of objects, much to the consternation and                       discomfort of hare.

Finally they are successful, but not in a way you would imagine.

This is full of humour and colour and a great book aimed at Emily’s younger readers.  I look forward to reading this to younger members of the family.

 

 

Let’s Celebrate

Yet again we have a bumper crop of anniversaries this year and there is a little bit of something for almost everyone.

Picture book characters that are celebrating include:

 

Product Details

 

Elmer, the beloved patchwork elephant from David McKee, who will be 25 years old.  He is such a favourite not only in  the UK but right across the world and particularly in Japan.  I have to say I am very proud of my ipad case with a picture of Elmer on it.

 

 

 

Katie, by James Mayhew, who has introduced so many children to the world’s greatest artists, is also 25 years old.  The books can be read as beautifully illustrated stories, but they have a real place in  schools helping pupils understand and appreciate art and artists.

 

Kipper, by Mick Inkpen will be 18 years old.  Mick Inkpen has produced some of the most loved children’ s characters over the years and Kipper is possibly his most well known creation.  My particular favourite is Kipper’s Christmas Eve but that is so much younger than the original.

Clarice Bean is 15 years old. This character has developed as the years have gone on and we now have the Ruby Redfort books by Lauren Child, based on a character found in the Clarice books.

Geoffrey in “Giraffes don’t dance”  by Giles Andreae is also 15 years.  This has always brought out the extrovert in me, quite difficult really, but you just want to dance and share the enjoyment of finding your own particular way of doing it.

“We’re going on a Bear Hunt” by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury is also 25 years old this year.  This is a true classic, with so many children able to tell you the story, even if they only remember the images and rhthms.

I find all of this quite traumatic as I remember them all and it only seems like yesterday since they first appeared at book selection or as a flyer from the publisher.

 

Books for older children start with

 

“Charlie and the Chocolate factory”.  Can you believe that he is 50 years old this year, whilst Dahl’s “Dirty Beasts” will be 30 years old.  See my article about the celebration for this wonderful book.

Also celebrating 50 years is “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” by Ian Fleming.  It has also been so much of our lives for so many years that we think it has always been around.. However for many people their memory is of the Lionel Jeffries and Dick van Dyke film, rather than the book itself.  I can remember seeing the actual car parked outside the cinema in Weston-super-mare, publicising the film showing; happy days!

 

 

Other books published in 1964 which were very popular but are no longer so easy to find are “The book of three” by Lloyd Alexander and “Harriet the Spy” by Louise Fitzhugh.  I have to admit that I found these books when I started work in a library because as a teenager in the 1960s I had been transferred to the adult library and was discovering Georgette Heyer and Agatha Christie, as well as more intellectual writers.

 

 

 

 

Christmas is coming

Where does time go to?  The older I get, the quicker time passes and I am faced with another Christmas just around the corner.  However this time is slightly different as I have my first grandchild to welcome to the festivities.  This led me to think about the picture books that I can introduce him to over the next few years.  There are some fantastic ones out there, ranging from the very early years to the more sophisticated retelling of stories such as a Christmas Carol.  Here are a few of my favourites

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There should be something for everyone

in this collection.  The only other one I would

put in is “Kipper’s Christmas eve” with the

lovely surprise for the children on the last page.

Happy Christmas and good reading.