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Lucy Cousins is the multi-award-winning creator of Maisy. Her unique titles fascinate toddlers with their child-like simplicity, bold outlines and vivid colours. Lucy Cousins works from her home in Hampshire, England. Oher titles include the Smarties Book Prize-winner Jazzy in the Jungle, Hooray for Fish! - which now appears in animation in Japan; the bestselling New York Times Top 10 Best Illustrated Children's Book Yummy; the critcally acclaimed I'm the Best; and more recently Peck Peck Peck, which won Best Picutre Book Awards, as well as the British Book Design and Production Award in the Children's Trade category.
Click here to visit the special Maisy website full of activities and games.
Here's a video of Lucy creating artwork for the Maisy books:
Join Maisy, every toddler's best friend, for her first experience of going to hospital. Maisy has broken her leg playing on the trampoline, and now she's in hospital for the night. At first it's a bit scary being all on her own, but she soon makes friends with Dotty in the next bed, and when Cyril and Tallulah visit the next day, Maisy begins to feel much better!
There’s lots of lovely fishy fun to be had in this gorgeous, shaped board book by the inimitable Lucy Cousins. Little Fish describes a day out with Mummy Fish and the fun they have playing games and learning new things. Each page is of course bright, bold and colourful, Cousins’ distinctive artwork is always eye-catching and full of things for the very young to spot, count and name. And it all ends, as the best family days do, with a big kiss. A really good first reading experience.
Bright and cheerful in his gorgeous undersea world filled with friends Little Fish is an adorable character for the very young, but the addition of a finger puppet allowing him to pop up and bob about on every page make this irresistible! It’s great fun to send Little Fish swimming through the colourful, brightly patterned weeds, or to wiggle his tail to change speed (a clear demonstration of the concepts of fast and slow), and you can even make him give his mummy a kiss. Lucy Cousins’ artwork and characters are perfect for tinies and there’ll be lots of learning going on alongside the fun. ~ Andrea Reece
What a gorgeous counting book! Lucy Cousins’ boldly drawn fish and equally colourful numbers are wonderfully eye-catching and the accompanying rhyming text is lots of fun to read and repeat. The fish come in all shapes, sizes, colours and patterns and they gleam on the sturdy matt boards, tempting little fingers to touch, trace and count them. Fishy fun for the littlest in the family! ~ Andrea Reece
Gorgeous to look at, this delightful lift-the-flap book is great to share with the very young. With her strong, simple colours and bold line, Lucy Cousins’ fish and underwater creatures are eye-catching and full of life, and each flap reveals a hidden surprise, with a particularly lovely one on the last page. Little children will learn about colours and shapes while reading the book, and the sturdy flaps will develop their hand-eye co-ordination. ~ Andrea Reece
March 2018 Book of the Month | A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month March 2018 A watery celebration for a little duckling who loves the rain! Lucy Cousins’ bold and brightly coloured illustrations bring out all the fun that a duckling has with his friends including a frog, a swan, a wriggly worm and a couple of slugs. The noisy Quack! quack! quack! of his refrain will delighted all young listeners. ~ Julia Eccleshare Julia Eccleshare's Picks of the Month for March 2018 The Lotterys Plus One by Emma Donoghue King Coo by Adam Stower Splish, Splash, Ducky! by Lucy Cousins We Are Not Frogs! (Little Gems) by Michael Morpurgo The Sorry Tale of Fox and Bear by Margrete Lamond Song of the Dolphin Boy by Elizabeth Laird What Do People Do All Day? (50th anniversary edition) by Richard Scarry Bird House by Libby Walden Bug Hotel by Libby Walden Alone Together by Clayton Junior The Lost Penguin by Claire Freedman
Loveable Maisy’s visit to a bookshop gives her a taste of the magic of stories. In book after book she finds a wonderful story. There seem to be books about everything! When Maisy’s friends turn up in the library they each find a story they love. And sharing them with their friends makes them even more special! Published as one of Maisy’s ‘First Experiences’ this is an excellent introduction to a bookshop and to books in general. ~ Julia Eccleshare
A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month February 2018 Best-selling Lucy Cousins‘s boldly drawn birds inspire the imagination as she illustrates the wonderful things that different kinds of birds can do. Lively, colourful birds fill each page beautifully as she illustrates them flying, hopping, pecking, swooping, singing and running in a charming book that leads perfectly to bedtime. ~ Julia Eccleshare Julia Eccleshare's Picks of the Month for February 2018 Kevin by Rob Biddulph Eliza Rose by Lucy Worsley Lots: The Diversity of Life by Nicola Davies A Busy Day for Birds by Lucy Cousins Words and Your Heart by Kate Jane Neal The Iron Man by Ted Hughes
Best-selling Lucy Cousins‘s boldly drawn birds inspire the imagination as she illustrates the wonderful things that different kinds of birds can do. Lively, colourful birds fill each page beautifully as she illustrates them flying, hopping, pecking, swooping, singing and running in a charming book that leads perfectly to bedtime. ~ Julia Eccleshare
A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month June 2017 Loveable Maisy’s visit to a bookshop gives her a taste of the magic of stories. In book after book she finds a wonderful story. There seem to be books about everything! When Maisy’s friends turn up in the library they each find a story they love. And sharing them with their friends makes them even more special! Published as one of Maisy’s ‘First Experiences’ this is an excellent introduction to a bookshop and to books in general. ~ Julia Eccleshare Julia Eccleshare's Picks of the Month for June 2017 Aubrey and the Terrible Ladybirds by Horatio Clare Adventures of John Blake, The: Mystery of the Ghost Ship by Philip Pullman Axel Scheffler's Flip Flap Ocean by Axel Scheffler Maisy Goes to the Bookshop by Lucy Cousins Tender Earth by Sita Brahmachari Old Hat by Emily Gravett The Cow Who Fell to Earth by Nadia Shireen
Maisy makes everything fun, and here she takes young readers on a wonderful day out in London, starting at King’s Cross station, taking in Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, and even the Aquarium. If you’re planning a trip to the capital it would be a great way to prepare children and get them excited, but if you’re not then it’s still an excellent picture book with lots to look at and talk about, and many opportunities for impromptu early learning. As ever with Lucy Cousins, it’s wonderfully bright and vivid, and full of little surprises (keep an eye on the toucan!). ~ Andrea Reece
A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month | February 2017 Book of the Month Best-selling Lucy Cousins‘s boldly drawn birds inspire the imagination as she illustrates the wonderful things that different kinds of birds can do. Lively, colourful birds fill each page beautifully as she illustrates them flying, hopping, pecking, swooping, singing and running in a charming book that leads perfectly to bedtime. ~ Julia Eccleshare Julia Eccleshare's Picks of the Month for February 2017 Young Magicians and the Thieves' Almanac by Nick Mohammed A Busy Day for Birds by Lucy Cousins Mind the Gap by Phil Earle The Bolds on Holiday by Julian Clary The Unexpected Love Story of Alfred Fiddleduckling by Timothy Basil Ering The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis
Maisy is the perfect Christmas guest, guaranteed to bring smiles and happiness wherever she goes. Naturally she’s bought presents for all her friends and little hands can open them on each page via clever pop-ups or flaps (there’s a written clue to the contents of each parcel too also hidden under a flap). Maisy even includes a special gift for the reader, an extra little book tucked into a parcel on the last page. Lucy Cousin’s strong, simple colours and line are full of Christmas cheer and toddlers will love her take on the festive season. ~ Andrea Reece "Maisy does things that children all over the world do", Lucy Cousins says of her superstar mouse. "The way she dresses, the way she acts, are typical of children all over the world."
First experiences and early learning are lots of fun with Maisy, and this lively, interactive pop-up book makes it easy for the youngest children to understand space and space travel. Maisy watches the sun go down and the moon come up; in the morning she climbs into her rocket and blasts off into space. It takes three days to travel to the moon, readers are told. Next a fun pop-up cleverly demonstrates weightlessness in space. After her adventure Maisy returns to earth, her control module floating down into the sea. Panels down the side of each spread feature details - parachute, monitor, crater, landing module etc – each one named. Another joyful learning experience with this favourite character. ~ Andrea Reece
Brilliant Lucy Cousins has created a fabulous new book which is full of holes! The young woodpecker is taught to peck by its father. The only trouble is…once it has learnt to peck a hole, it just can’t stop! There are holes in everything and young readers will love to explore them with their little fingers while they laugh at the ridiculous places the woodpecker has pecked. ~ Julia Eccleshare One of our Books of the Year 2014
Celebrate twenty-five years of Maisy with this classic novelty book reissue that remains as popular today as it was 25 years ago! Lift the flaps and pull the tabs, it's time for Maisy to go to bed! First she drinks her bedtime drink, then she has to brush her teeth, wash her hands, put on her pyjamas and read her book. There's lots to do.
Maisy makes everything fun and is the perfect friend to explain a new experience for a young child, taking away any worries or apprehension they may have. Reading Maisy Goes by Plane is the perfect way to prepare little children for their first flight. Maisy is flying out to see her friend Ella and the book’s bright, cheery pictures show everything that she does, from arriving at the airport, going through security and the flight itself (including her visit to the plane’s toilet). A really useful little book, and as always, a delight to look at – Maisy’s fellow passengers are a lively lot! ~ Andrea Reece
No child need feel anxious about sports day with Maisy there to introduce it. Maisy and her friends are very excited about sports day, and no wonder, it’s great fun with all sorts of races and games, and a chance for everyone to compete. Eddie the elephant drops his egg in the egg and spoon race, but he helps his team win the tug of war! As always, Lucy Cousins’ strong, simple colours are enormously satisfying to the eye and her quirky sense of humour – watch out for that crocodile playing quoits! – will keep readers giggling. ~ Andrea Reece
Maisy makes everything fun, and here she takes young readers on a wonderful day out in London, starting at King’s Cross station, taking in Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, and even the Aquarium. If you’re planning a trip to the capital it would be a great way to prepare children and get them excited, but if you’re not then it’s still an excellent picture book with lots to look at and talk about, and many opportunities for impromptu early learning. As ever with Lucy Cousins, it’s wonderfully bright and vivid, and full of little surprises (keep an eye on the toucan!). ~ Andrea Reece
Smiling, cheerful, independent, no wonder toddlers everywhere love Maisy, and she makes all early learning experiences fun and exciting. This story sees her helping Mummy Hen find her ten chicks, who are hiding around the farm. There are flaps on each page to be opened – a stable door, tractor cabin, tree branches – and each one conceals a chick, plus friend. Gradually, ten chicks are found, counted and put to bed. There are lots of counting books but the illustration style - bold black outlines and bright colours on snowy white backgrounds - makes this feels fresh and appealing and you can always rely on Lucy Cousins for a surprise or two (is that an elephant in the flower bed?)! ~ Andrea Reece Click here to download some special Maisy Activity Sheets - make a sparkly crown or do some magic wax painting!
Set sail in search of treasure with this brand new title in Maisy's Pop-up-and-Play Book series! Perfect for any pint-sized pirate, this interactive book can be easily transported to keep little ones entertained on the go - and when they've finished playing the press-out characters can then be stowed away in a keep-safe pocket at the end.
Make-and-do with Maisy with this great big beautiful book, now in paperback! With seventeen simple, exciting and fun craft ideas, from making a shoe box house to a magic wax painting, every spread is a feast for the eyes! The book blends together easy-to-follow instructions, classic Maisy illustrations, and spectacular photos of the finished crafts - all made by the inimitable Lucy Cousins herself! And with wipe-clean pages, this title is perfect for messy hands!
Join Maisy and all of her friends for a sunny day by the sea, using your stickers to fill in the fun on every page! Build sandcastles on the beach, have a picnic, fly a kite and ride on the rollercoaster!
Maisy and her friends enjoy dressing up and playing in this fun-to-explore pop-up picture book. Everyone can play a part in this wonderful story about knights and castles and there is even a dragon to be slain. Perfect for bringing the past alive to young readers.
Maisy and her friends are busy getting ready for Christmas in this cleverly Christmas-tree shaped board book which is just perfect for small hands. Cyril strings up the lights, Tallulah adds the brightly coloured balls, Charley hangs up the sugar cane sticks and Eddie uses his long trunk to put the angel on the top. When Maisy has wrapped the presents and put them all carefully under the tree everything is ready for a wonderful day!
One of our Books of the Year 2014 Brilliant Lucy Cousins has created a fabulous new book which is full of holes! The young woodpecker is taught to peck by its father. The only trouble is…once it has learnt to peck a hole, it just can’t stop! There are holes in everything and young readers will love to explore them with their little fingers while they laugh at the ridiculous places the woodpecker has pecked. ~ Julia Eccleshare
First gentle nursery rhymes with wonderful illustrations in Lucy Cousins' heartwarming style (creator of Maisy Mouse). The perfect start to a peacful night. Campbell Books lead the field in books for babies, and this little hardback board book is certain to become a favourite with parents, the perfect book to share with babies and young toddlers.
Maisy is off to a birthday party in her plane. She loops the loop, says hello to the sun and the clouds and gives a very special present to Eddie before she lands safely at his birthday party. A simple story beautifully presented in a chunky board book.
Enjoy a day on the farm with Maisy who is out and about in a tractor. Maisy takes bales of hay to the cows and brings the lambs back to the barn in her trailer. Where is the last lamb? Clever Maisy finds the lamb and gets it home.
Everyone will love Maisy’s football game! She and her friends divide into two teams. They do all their warming up exercises before beginning an exciting game. They love kicking and passing and diving and scoring. Luckily, both sides score a goal before the final whistle goes and it is all over. All the friends agree it was a great game!
Loveable Maisy and her friends love their swimming time. They collect up everything they need and head for the pool. Changing, swimming, floating and blowing bubbles are all part of the fun for the friends.
Loveable Maisy introduces some of the wildlife from particular regions in beautiful pictures with tabs to pull to reveal special secrets. There are penguins at the South Pole with flaps which reveal how they keep their babies from catching cold; zebras, giraffes and hippos in the Savannah with a lion who can be released from his hiding place in the long grass and lots of wonderful creatures hiding in the deep, deep water of the ocean.
Best-loved Maisy has a new adventure in this riotous pull-out and pop-up story. Maisy and her friends are off to the Funfair. Pull the tabs and watch them bump and thump on the bumper cars, bounce up high on the bouncy castle and swoosh up and down on the thrilling roller-coaster.
Brilliant Lucy Cousins has created a fabulous new book which is full of holes! The young woodpecker is taught to peck by its father. The only trouble is…once it has learnt to peck a hole, it just can’t stop! There are holes in everything and young readers will love to explore them with their little fingers while they laugh at the ridiculous places the woodpecker has pecked.
Young artists will love to follow Maisy’s lead by filling in the spaces she leaves in her art book. There’s the chance to draw all the fish in the sea, to add the passengers to the bus Maisy is driving or to give a family of worms to the mummy and daddy worms that Maisy has created. A golden opportunity for all children to be artists – with a bit of help from their favourite character!
Enjoy Maisy’s favourite colours – a basket full of oranges, a bunch of yellow bananas, some lovely green peas. Little fingers can feel the shiny images of them in the bumpy pictures on every page. This gorgeous board book combines bright, vibrant hues with embossing and textures making learning about colours an exciting, tactile adventure. Part of a new series of Maisy look-and-touch books that reinforce early learning concepts.
Helps you count numbers with mouse. This book combines colours with embossing and texture, and makes learning about numbers an exciting, tactile adventure. Stylish and desirable, this book makes a perfect baby gift purchase. Textured and shiny surfaces for sensory stimulation and the perfect companion to Maisy's First Colours. These titles form part of a new series of Maisy look-and-touch board books that reinforce early learning concepts.
Maisy never knew sleepovers could be so fun! Non-stop chatter, dancing, chasing, exploring, a huge feast, LOTS of jumping on beds and plenty of snuggling...young children will revel in the energy and fun of this new Maisy title. It captures both the excitement and anxiety that accompanies a child's first sleepover in a house that is not their own.
Maisy and her friends are off for a dip in the pool. Maisy is looking forward to it but soon finds that there is a lot to learn if you want to stay afloat! Maisy’s efforts are well rewarded and young readers will enjoy learning all about swimming with her.
Loveable Maisy the Mouse has many skills. Here she plants and tends a wonderful garden. Pull the tabs and help her! In the Spring, it is digging and planting and watering. Then, up come the first shoots! After that, it is weeding before the garden is full of wonderful flowers and vegetables. Working with Maisy is a great way of showing children what plants need to make them grow which makes this a perfect introduction to the first steps in science.
Maisy and all her friends love making music and, tonight, they're going to have a concert. Time to practise everyone! With all their musical instruments - the piano, the triangle, drums and the double bass - they get a jam going, chinka-ching, rat-a-tat-tat, doo-ba-be-doo, tum-te-tum! What a show it will be.
Lovely bold illustrations capture Dog’s boundless and boastful enthusiasm. Dog loves his friends; he thinks they are brilliant but he also thinks that he is the best. How Dog’s friends show him how loveable he is, even if he is not the best, is warm hearted and touching.
A colourful large-format board book that has a die-cut window revealing a chunky, clunky clock with real hands and cogs that can be turned to show the time on each page. Young children will love pointing them to the correct time for each activity Maisy is doing. This title is full of fun, and a colourful, interactive introduction to telling the time with everyone's favourite character.
Whatever the weather, it's always fun with Maisy! Snow, rain or sun, Maisy always has fun. This book includes tabs to pull and wheels to turn that will keep little hands delighted.
A gorgeous package of four Maisy titles packed together in a lovely slipcase. Bold, lively illustrations accompanied by simple first words will have youngsters chuckling with delight. The concepts of the four books are, toys, animals, food and clothes and vibrant pictures are accompanied by first words. Easy and fun to share and makes a perfect first mini-library. Utterly irresistible.
Big and bold illustrations portray the title of this large format collection in no uncertain terms whilst also capturing the big dramas that lie at the heart of these eight favourite nursery stories. Grandmother is dramatically gulped down by the wolf before being equally dramatically rescued by the woodcutter in Little Red Riding Hood, while the three billy goats gruff face a huge, hairy troll in their attempts to cross into the grassy meadow. There’s more eating in other stories as well as a very careless Goldilocks breaks the bear’s furniture before they send her packing. A new look in a big book format filled with some familiar classics. Don't be put off by the price. This is a big book with a big heart! Why not CLICK HERE to download some yummy recipe cards? Perfect companions to this yummy book.
Best-selling Maisy is back in a fabulous new, all singing all dancing Pop-up- and-Play title. Maisy and her friends are putting on a show and through a number of tabs and flaps young readers can make them twirl and whirl as they practise for the great moment. As ever, Maisy is a great character and her friends are delightful. The LoveReading Comment: To celebrate 20 years of Maisy, this book is without doubt the biggest, brightest, sparkliest and most interactive Maisy book yet so jump in and join Maisy and her friends as they don their costumes and hit the stage for all sorts of fun. Pull the tabs on every page and at the end you'll find an absolutely fabulous 3-d pull-out stage. Maisy has surpassed herself.
Lovely bold illustrations capture Dog’s boundless and boastful enthusiasm. Dog loves his friends; he thinks they are brilliant but he also thinks that he is the best. How Dog’s friends show him how loveable he is, even if he is not the best, is warm hearted and touching.
Big and bold illustrations portray the title of this collection in no uncertain terms whilst also capturing the big dramas that lie at the heart of these eight favourite nursery stories. Grandmother is dramatically gulped down by the wolf before being equally dramatically rescued by the woodcutter in Little Red Riding Hood, while the three billy goats gruff face a huge, hairy troll in their attempts to cross into the grassy meadow. There’s more eating in other stories as well as a very careless Goldilocks breaks the bear’s furniture before they send her packing. A new look in a big book format filled with some familiar classics.
Loveable Maisy is back in this enjoyable exploration of the concept of opposites. Thus, Maisy young, Maisy old; Maisy hot, Maisy cold and so on. Lucy Cousins’s incredibly expressive pictures provide a rich drama to support the concepts. Big and small, hot and cold, happy and sad – help loveably Maisy find all the opposites she needs in this large format book.
Maisy is getting a pet! Join her as she chooses the perfect kitten and takes it home to look after. This bright and humorous story is ideal for teaching little ones about responsible pet ownership. Penguin's cat has had kittens, and Maisy is taking one home! First she chooses a name for her new friend: Little Black Cat. Next, she learns how to look after a pet responsibly by feeding it, handling it gently, cleaning up after it and taking it to the vet! There's plenty of time for playing, too! This adorable and humorous story is full of fun and gives clear instructions on how to look after a furry friend. An ideal book for teaching little ones about responsible pet ownership.
Maisy is going to her first theatre show! Join Maisy and her friends as they collect their tickets, watch the curtain rise and cheer for their favourite stars. This colourful storybook is perfect for teaching little ones what to expect at a live performance. Now in paperback! Maisy and her friends are going to their first theatre show! It's an all-singing all-dancing play called Funny Feathers, starring the fabulous actress Flora Fantastica! Join Maisy and her friends as they collect their tickets, watch the curtain rise and sing along with their favourite stars. This read-aloud story from the multi-award-winning Lucy Cousins is perfect for teaching toddlers what to expect when they attend a live performance, from a school production to a West End show, and anything in between.
Swim with Little Fish and all his friends in this exuberant under-the-sea board book from the creator of Maisy. Meet Little Fish and all his fishy friends in this splishy-sploshy riot of colour and rhyme under the sea. A simple, bright, board book delight from award-winning artist Lucy Cousins, creator of Maisy.
Learn your shapes with Little Fish in this fun, rhyming book. With finger trails for little hands, children will love tracing shapes in this deep-sea delight from Lucy Cousins, creator of Hooray for Fish! Hello! I am Little Fish, swimming in the sea. I love seeing shapes. Come along with me! Join Little Fish on a fun adventure, tracing shapes along the way! Inspired by Hooray for Fish! this charming board book features all the key shapes for little ones to learn and a bouncy, rhyming text. Young children will love tracing and learning shapes in this sturdy finger trail board book from the multi-award-winning Lucy Cousins.
Maisy is on holiday! She writes letters and sends them back to all her friends, including you! Open the envelopes to find games, souvenirs and more. Maisy is on holiday! Join her on an exciting journey as she hikes up a mountain, visits a market, rows along the river, goes to a funfair and relaxes on the beach. For every adventure, Maisy sends home a letter to each one of her friends ... including one for you! This story includes six real envelopes containing letters, souvenirs, games and a special postcard just for you!
It's time to learn with Maisy! This brilliant tabbed board book features fun, themed pages exploring incredible creatures from around the globe. Join Maisy as she spots amazing insects and birds, mammals and fish. Each spread is themed around different habitats including desert, Arctic, mountains, savannah, ocean, jungle, garden and farm. With bright, colourful, clearly labelled pictures to help broaden vocabulary and understanding and bold, easy-to-use tabs which are perfect for helping little ones to locate their favourite pages again and again. Early learning is so much fun!
It's time to learn with Maisy! This brilliant tabbed board book features fun, themed pages covering key words to help the very young take their first steps in to the world of science. Join Maisy as she investigates the world around her. Each spread is themed around different early science concepts; weather, changing seasons, plants and insects, growing, life cycles, parts of the body, textures, sounds and electricity. With bright, colourful, clearly labelled pictures to help broaden vocabulary and understanding and bold, easy-to-use tabs which are perfect for helping little ones to locate their favourite pages again and again. Early learning is so much fun!
Splash in puddles, dance with raindrops and join in with Ducky Duckling on a lovely, rainy day. Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack, quack, quack! Ducky Duckling loves playing outside in the rain. He hops with frog, squirms with wriggly worm and splashes with the fishes. But when the rain stops, Ducky feels sad. Can Daddy help cheer him up? With bright, bold illustrations and a rhythmic text from multi-award-winning Lucy Cousins, this book shows younger readers the joys of a rainy day. This delightful story also highlights the special bond between father and child. A bouncy read-aloud book to be enjoyed; beautifully illustrated and packed with all sorts of outdoors fun!
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