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The Twelve Days of Christmas is as much a part of the festive season as sleigh bells jingling and Lara Hawthorne brings the song alive in this gorgeous picture book, filling beautiful scenes with the cavalcade of gifts and giving it all a sense of movement, joy and celebration. The trappings of Christmas are present in each spread – spot the holly, the paper hats, and the Christmas baubles on each page amongst the birds and leaping musicians – but the background outdoor scenes are green fields, particularly suited to her folk-art style illustrations. There’s so much to look at and each turn of the page presents a completely different scene – I particularly liked the ten lords, who go a-leaping right across the roof of a house, so that they’re almost flying across the page. The full lyrics are repeated in the final pages along with a special author’s note about the poem too. A Christmas book to be enjoyed all year round. You can find more wintry & festive stories in our Best Books for Kids this Christmas collection!
This lovely picture book tells a folktale from China and captures too the pleasures of a family gathering, and the importance of spending time together. Its little girl narrator is excited – it’s the night of the mid-Autumn Festival feast and her grandparents are coming round to celebrate. Her favourite part of the meal are the special mooncakes, ‘as small as my hand and as round as the moon’. They are decorated with the image of a beautiful lady and her grandmother tells them the story of Chang’e, the Lady in the Moon. It is a tale of courage, love and self-sacrifice, one to light up an autumn evening. As the book concludes, the little girl knows exactly what wish she will make for the coming year: like the lady in the moon, she wishes to be kind of heart and wise of mind. The story will be new to most readers in this country and, with a message of thanksgiving and unity and its insight into another culture, is a great one to share as we enjoy the autumn. There’s even a recipe for the delicious sounding mooncakes too.
We first met Mrs Noah in Mrs Noah’s Pockets whilst the family were all on the Ark. Now the Ark has made land and whilst Noah makes the Ark into a home, Mrs Noah sets about planting a garden in the fresh new earth. Her always deep pockets furnish all the seeds needed for the job, the ark provides the trees they have nurtured along the way and she enlists the children to help her tend the new garden. A deceptively simple story –it is in the illustrations that we see the development of the garden as the pictures move from a dark rocky palette, to a more organised series of garden terraces, with colour gradually growing in each spread as we progress through the book – until at last we have a wonderful explosion of plants and animals for all the birds, bees and humans to share. A wonderful celebration of the joys of planting and growing, I can see it being used to seed discussions around how you might create a garden – in school or at home. Plus, as the publisher points out, it provides a positive way of encouraging discussion around migrants and refugees – as Mrs Noah and her family build a new home in a foreign land. I can see this becoming a firm favourite in classrooms all over the country.
This collaboration, between the first American Olympic medallist to compete wearing a hijab and an award-winning Muslim YA author, is a beautiful story of sisterly love as well as a thoughtful depiction of the significance of wearing the hijab. Expressed in terms of family pride and self determination rather than in terms of faith, makes the message particularly accessible to all young readers regardless of their background. Faizah is excited for her first day of school, with her light up shoes and new backpack, but even more excited for her older sister, Asiya with her brand-new blue hijab. As Faizah walks to the school she admires her sister who looks like ‘a princess’ in her blue head scarf. Their mother has prepared the girls with wise words, which they remember as they encounter different reactions, and these are shown on dreamy spreads of Faiza’s thoughts and their mother’s words. When the kids in the school bully Asiya, she remembers her mother’s advice to not carry hurtful words as “they are not yours to keep. They belong only to those who said them” The bullies are cleverly depicted as faceless, raceless, anonymous shadows thus avoiding apportioning blame to any one sector. The vivid colour and expressive illustration are just as powerful as words in conveying the passionate message of how to be proud of one’s culture, individuality, and religion and how to stay strong protected by the armour of family love. This is an excellent book about identity and self-confidence for young readers who can see themselves in Asiya or know someone like her and essential for Empathy collections.
This is a superb well written in simple language for young children and superbly illustrated with a lovely drawing that will appeal to youngsters. This is a small book covering a large range of everyday topics that are currently occurring every day. The author has written about dealing with death, deforestation, extinction of animals and other similar topics in a first-class way that can allow grown-up to approach the subjects with a child with a positive perspective instead of the difficulty of explaining the sad things in life that some grown-ups may feel difficult to approach. A great book for children who are both dealing and not dealing with the topics covered in the book and allow youngsters and grown up to be able to discuss the topics openly Superb book and expertly written. Catherine Bryce, A LoveReading4Kids Ambassador
Experience 13 special days from cultures around the world! Rhyming text and vibrant illustrations throughout encourages beginning readers, while educational notes at the end brim with facts about the special days for older children to explore. Complete with a calendar to reinforce learning, Let’s Celebrate! makes for a fun and informative companion to the award-winning Barefoot Books Children of the World.
Explore the warmth, wisdom and compassion of the Buddhist tradition with these charming stories from India, China, Japan and Tibet. Gentle illustrations and an insightful foreword provide context for the tales that is helpful for those new to Buddhist thought.
If you are of a certain generation, you may remember reading, or having read to you, the original Grimm's Fairy tales. This collection of stories took me back to those childhood days. They are a little bit dark; somewhat unusual in their content, but very readable. I found the endings of some of them unsatisfactory, and I question how appropriate it is for a nine year old to read about a premature birth, in quite a bit of detail. Some of the stories have an Aesop's Fables slant to them, they certainly have a message to deliver, and I personally felt uncomfortable reading the Christian based tales, but that's just me. What I really liked was the dictionary at the end of each story which explains some of the more unusual, less common words. Each story is aimed at a particular age group, from age 9 to age 12, but that of course is just a rough guide. Each story is just long enough for a child to read at bedtime, and the collection provides a range of stories from different genres and cultures. An interesting change from some of the more generic short stories on offer today.
Aru is only just getting the hang of this whole Pandava thing when the Otherworld goes into full panic mode. The god of love's bow and arrow have gone missing, and the thief isn't playing Cupid. Instead, they're turning people into heartless fighting-machine zombies. If that weren't bad enough, somehow Aru gets framed as the thief. If she doesn't find the arrow by the next full moon, she'll be kicked out of the Otherworld. For good. But, for better or worse, she won't be going it alone. Along with her soul-sister, Mini, Aru will team up with Brynne, an ultra-strong girl who knows more than she lets on, and Aiden, the boy wholives across the street and is also hiding plenty of secrets. Together they'll battle demons, travel through a glittering and dangerous serpent realm, and discover that their enemy isn't at all who they expected.
Shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2018 | The first novel by acclaimed poet Tony Mitton (winner of the CLPE Poetry Award - the only award for published poetry for children in the UK). Potter's Boy is a moving and beautiful story about finding your true path in life. The Branford Boase Judges said : ‘beautiful storytelling’; ‘a slow read for the modern child but one that will draw them in’; ‘uses a particularly rich vocabulary’; poignant and unusual’; ‘I learned something from it’.
With an engaging rhyming text that’s ideal for reading aloud, this picture book is a warm-hearted way for Muslim pre-schoolers and those of infants school age to understand and celebrate what it means to be Muslim. It would also make a great tool for teachers and parents to introduce all children to the principles of the faith. It’s underpinned by a warm message of inclusivity – “we don't all look the same”, Muslims are “different colours, shapes and sizes” – and accompanied by soft, fuzzy illustrations of all kinds of toddlers enjoying each others company in harmony and a spirit of kindness.
Adapted for a younger readership from the author’s celebrated adult book of the same name, this illustrated history of the Silk Roads, bound in a majestic gold and blue package, is the perfect present for fledging historians. The book’s journey leads armchair adventurers along thrilling, far-reaching roads, taking in the history of ancient Persia, Constantinople, Rome, Attila the Hun, the emergence of Islam, Viking slavery, Genghis Khan, Columbus - and more - from a holistic perspective. “You might even think of the Silk Roads as the world’s central nervous system, linking all the organs of the body together”, the author suggests in the introduction, and his engaging exploration of the interplay between politics, science, religion and trade certainly gives this book far greater tang than your standard textbook. Indeed, generously spiced with exquisite illustrations and maps that inform as they enthrall, young history buffs will undoubtedly devour this pitch-perfect treasure, and grown-ups will get much from it too.
The majestic story of Christmas, from the Annunciation to the Epiphany, has long inspired great artists. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection is particularly rich in medieval and Renaissance paintings that depict this timeless story. Gathered here are paintings by Rogier van der Weyden, Petrus Christus, Hans Memling, and Gerard David, among others, sensitively coupled with excerpts from the King James Bible. The perfect book for the entire family, The Christmas Story is a treasure to be enjoyed year after year.
One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | There should be more books like this: in bright, appealing illustrations it tells children how people of different faiths cover their heads to show their love for God. Working on the principle that learning about each other makes it easy for us to be more understanding and therefore tolerant, each page features a man, woman or child with a short, friendly line of text to explain who they are and to name their headpiece (phonetic pronunciation is provided too). Amongst others, we’re introduced to a Sikh man in a Turban, a woman in a Tichel and a young boy in a Kippah. Their smiling faces immediately engage our attention making this a great book to encourage dialogue and discussion. ~ Andrea Reece For free colouring sheets, teaching tools and a look inside the book, please visit www.hatsoffaith.com
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