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Michelle Robinson grew up in Gloucestershire and loved making up stories and being silly. She put that to good use by getting a job as a copywriter. She wrote over 6000 radio adverts before moving on to television and the web and devised websites for big brands like Coca-Cola, Guinness and Cadburys. She soon got bored though, which is when she started writing funny stories for children and their parents to enjoy reading umpteen times. Her picture book There's a Lion in My Cornflakes won the Sainsbury's Children's Book Awards. Michelle lives in Frome with her husband, young son and daughter and a tragically empty tin of Quality Street.
Children have been through a lot this year and this lovely book, bursting with hope and reasons to look forward, provides the comfort and reassurance they’ve been needing, plus a sense of the joy that’s been missing for too long. It stars a young sister and brother, plus their sometimes frazzled parents, and describes the creation of a rainbow image for their window. Painting the rainbow brings back good memories as well as some sad ones, but ultimately reminds them of the really important things in life – family and friends – and that “we’ll still have each other/when this rainstorm ends!” Michelle Robinson’s rhyme is on the beat throughout, seamlessly mixing realism, understanding and optimism, while Emily Hamilton’s illustrations have a sense of companionship and energy that makes everything feel better. A great book to read and to look at, and a really useful and important one to share with children.
This awesome, rawsome, rhyming picture book chomps through gender stereotypes with wit, vitality and a whole lot of dinosaur dynamism – it’s a cautionary tale with swashbuckling twists in its T. Rex tail. And the message? Boys – beware of mansplaining dinosaurs to girls. “Dinos are for boys,” claims Ed, Maisy’s less than enlightened brother as he refuses to share his toys with her. But Maisy knows that’s simply not true. And besides, she doesn’t even need Ed’s toys because she knows T. Rex’s sister, who’s big, bright and every bit as fierce as boy dinosaurs. “My dinosaurs are mean, for sure/And boy, oh boy, can these girls ROAR!” she asserts with convincing glee as Deborah Allwright’s pounce-off-the-page illustrations depict a range of rollicking, roaring, rock ‘n’ rolling dinosaurs in gargantuan glory. As Maisy’s passion gathers apace, so Ed asserts his expertise on the matter, resulting in an uproarious down-to-earth-with-a-bump ending, and an excellent final twist. For more books with girl-power take a look at Work It Girl - Inspiring and Informative Books on Feminism for All Ages
A tale of sausages and their fight for freedom, this rollicking picture book will have everyone laughing. We begin with ten sausages, of course, but as their friends go pop and bang, some of them decide to hop out of the pan, with varying degrees of success. Poor sausage number two ends up down the drain, while there’s an even worse fate for sausage number four – the liquidizer. Sausage number eight is eaten by the cat but the silliest sausages of all are numbers nine and ten, who hide themselves in the hot dog roll! Michelle Robinson’s energetic storytelling creates something funny or surprising on every page, and it’s great fun to read aloud. Tor Freeman gives each sausage its own personality, no mean feat, and makes us sympathise with them even while we’re laughing.
July 2017 Book of the Month This picture book puts a quirky spin on the ‘I want a pet’ theme. Imagine if, instead of goldfish, the fair was giving away giraffes as prizes. Of course you’d want to keep it, but how would you persuade your parents to let you, and if they said no, how would you hide your new pet? The little girl’s plans get increasingly wild – I particularly liked the suggestion that you paint your whole house like a giraffe, or your whole giraffe like a house for camouflage purposes – but in the end she agrees they’ll just have to take her new pet home to the jungle, which allows for a lovely twist. Imaginative, silly and heartwarming, this is also a wonderful celebration of family love. ~ Andrea Reece
Longlisted for the UKLA 2017 Book Award and Julia Eccleshare's Pick of the Month, February 2016 Feel brave enough to go on a huge adventure? If so, this is the book to guide you! Bearspotting can be a scary business and it is best to know as much as possible about the different bears you might see. In particular, there are brown bears and black bears. And both can be very, very dangerous. Each needs to be handled in a different way: with a black bear you must walk away backwards and very slowly; with a brown bear, you must just play dead! But what if you meet both at the same time? Wittily illustrated by David Roberts, this is a playful and engaging picture book. ~ Julia Eccleshare
Everyone will enjoy this epic tale of true love and steadfastness, no less heroic or inspiring for starring a pair of woolly socks! Sosh and Suki are made for one another and their life on a fresh pair of feet is idyllic, until Sosh spots something that fills him with dread – a little hole in Suki’s big toe. The dire warnings from old sock Big Bob seem to come true when Sosh wakes up alone, but he’s determined to find his other half. Author and illustrator both go to town, creating a fabulously funny and inventive story of true sock love, with a surprise ending that will leave everyone smiling. Great fun, and the sock drawer will never be the same again! ~ Andrea Reece
Tim Peake’s voyage to the International Space Station has caught the imagination of children everywhere and this picture book is perfect for the very young. Two space mad little boys getting ready for bed are careful to say goodnight to their daddy, ‘a spaceman far away’. In their dreams they climb aboard a rocket and fly up to the ESA to join their daddy and the crew. Floating in the starry sky they can say goodnight to the planets and the shooting stars before a final orbit past the moon and home time. As ever in this deservedly popular series the rhyming text is perfect for bedtime reading while the pictures are particularly appealing. It also contains a letter to readers from Tim Peake, himself the father of two little boys, making it even more special. ~ Andrea Reece See below for a letter from astronaut Tim Peake.
Longlisted for the UKLA 2017 Book Award and Julia Eccleshare's Pick of the Month, February 2016 Feel brave enough to go on a huge adventure? If so, this is the book to guide you! Bearspotting can be a scary business and it is best to know as much as possible about the different bears you might see. In particular, there are brown bears and black bears. And both can be very, very dangerous. Each needs to be handled in a different way: with a black bear you must walk away backwards and very slowly; with a brown bear, you must just play dead! But what if you meet both at the same time? Wittily illustrated by David Roberts, this is a playful and engaging picture book. ~ Julia Eccleshare
Chicken Nugget is a hilarious new picture book by Michelle Robinson and Tom McLaughlin. My name is Nugget. Chicken Nugget. This is my family. I'm the smallest. And when you're the smallest, nobody ever listens.
Everyone will enjoy this epic tale of true love and steadfastness, no less heroic or inspiring for starring a pair of woolly socks! Sosh and Suki are made for one another and their life on a fresh pair of feet is idyllic, until Sosh spots something that fills him with dread – a little hole in Suki’s big toe. The dire warnings from old sock Big Bob seem to come true when Sosh wakes up alone, but he’s determined to find his other half. Author and illustrator both go to town, creating a fabulously funny and inventive story of true sock love, with a surprise ending that will leave everyone smiling. Great fun, and the sock drawer will never be the same again! ~ Andrea Reece
A super cute and funny book which investigates the best way to wash your woolly mammoth - should yours need a wash! It's not a very easy thing to do, as you can probably imagine.
A brand-new picture book from the bestselling creators of The Day the Banana Went Bad! When Jelly is entered into the 'Best Food Competition', it makes her wobble with worry. Everyone loves chicken nuggets and pizza - but does everyone love jelly? Suddenly she's filled with self-doubt. But soon Jelly learns that the things that make us different should be celebrated... and that it's definitely OK to have a wobble every now and then. A fantastically funny book about being true to ourselves and letting our emotions shine.
Children have been through a lot this year and this lovely book, bursting with hope and reasons to look forward, provides the comfort and reassurance they’ve been needing, plus a sense of the joy that’s been missing for too long. It stars a young sister and brother, plus their sometimes frazzled parents, and describes the creation of a rainbow image for their window. Painting the rainbow brings back good memories as well as some sad ones, but ultimately reminds them of the really important things in life – family and friends – and that “we’ll still have each other/when this rainstorm ends!” Michelle Robinson’s rhyme is on the beat throughout, seamlessly mixing realism, understanding and optimism, while Emily Hamilton’s illustrations have a sense of companionship and energy that makes everything feel better. A great book to read and to look at, and a really useful and important one to share with children.
Let's paint a big rainbow to put on display. When people pass by it and see it, they'll say ... 'All rainstorms must end, and this rainstorm will too.' And they'll feel a bit happier, all thanks to you. Light can't shine without dark. Rainbows can't colour the sky without rain. And the world is always full of hope and possibility, even when we feel lost and alone. Inspired by the rainbows that children across the world have been creating and displaying in their windows, The World Made a Rainbow is a beautiful story with a hopeful message of staying connected to the people we love, and a proportion of proceeds will be donated to Save the Children UK. Bestselling author Michelle Robinson was desperate to find a way to help small children navigate their way through the complex emotions caused by the 2020 lockdown. She has written a story that matters now, but will last for ever. With charming illustrations from new talent Emily Hamilton, The World Made a Rainbow will reassure, uplift and is the perfect reminder of fun, hope and togetherness. The Save the Children Fund is a charity registered in England and Wales (213890) and Scotland (SC039570)
Maisy's brother's Ed won't let her play with his toys. He says, 'Dinos are for boys!' But Ed hasn't met T. Rex's BIGGER sister ... She Rex is a big and burly, multi-coloured dino girly. And Maisy is about to show her brother that stomping, chomping She Rex is as fierce and as loud as any boy dinosaur. Watch out, Ed, you may just discover that dino toys are for girls and boys! The perfect picture book for all dino-fans.
Two intrepid girls go from ladies-in-waiting to knights-in-action when they rip up the rule book and go searching for adventure! Wondermere is the luckiest kingdom in the land, all thanks to the dragons that nest on top of the castle. Nobody wants them to fly away, so everyone has to FOLLOW THE RULES and make sure everything STAYS THE SAME to keep the dragons HAPPY. Princess Grace HATES the rules. They stop her doing everything she loves, like PLAYING TROLL-O and WEARING TROUSERS and training to be a BRAVE KNIGHT. Why do boys get all the FUN! Determined to prove that the rules are a LOAD OF OLD SWAMP ROT, Grace and her sister Princess Portia secretly enter the year's BIGGEST TROLL-O TOURNAMENT. A couple of rule-breakers couldn't possibly disturb the dragons ... could they? Cheeky, charming and laugh-out-loud funny, the debut young fiction series from bestselling picture book author Michelle Robinson is chock-full of chuckles (and grumpy unicorns). Perfect for fans of Cressida Cowell, Pamela Butchart and Emer Stamp.
The legend of the Pied Piper gets an adorably feline twist. The leading lady of this tale longs for a pet cat to cuddle and call her own - a furry fluffball, just like the one in her book. So, after studying her grandma's cat, Hector, she lays a trail with all the things that she knows cats love - balls of wool, saucers of milk, cardboard boxes and catnip aplenty. And then she waits for a cat to come... The legend of the Pied Piper gets an adorably feline twist in this new story from Goodnight Tractor author Michelle Robinson and is brought beautifully to life by illustrator Chinlun Lee.
Think that being a tooth fairy is all about sparkly fairy dust, shiny coins and collecting teeny-tiny teeth from cute, sleeping children? Well, think again. Tate's big sister May is taking her out on her very first tooth-collecting mission, and it's going to be a little ... well, dangerous. It will involve trekking through the deep, dark jungle, plunging into the murky ocean, and facing the ice of the Arctic. Because it's not just sweet, slumbering little children that lose their pearly whites, oh no... All kinds of toothy predators lose their gnashers, too! Can Tate collect missing teeth from crocs, sharks and anacondas ... and all without waking up a single creature? A fast-paced, funny and action-packed adventure story, which introduces two tough brave new fairies (and many a ferocious animal!) to the picture book world.
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