PICTURE BOOKS
Three Little Monkeys Quentin Blake/Emma Chichester Clark HarperCollins €16.99
This is illustrator Quentin Blake’s first book writing for his former student’s pictures. Every day, when saintly Hilda Snibbs goes out, her mischievous pet monkeys, Tim, Sam and Lulu, wreak havoc. That is until, one day, she returns to a pristine house with no monkeys in sight…
A Dot In The Snow Corrinne Averiss/ Fiona Woodcock Oxford €16.79
A polar bear and a little girl become unlikely friends in this heartwarming book from Corrinne Averiss and illustrator Fiona Woodcock. Miki the polar bear doesn’t want to watch his mum fish – he wants to play. So when he spots a red dot in the snow, he goes to investigate. The simple text and lovely images make this perfect for bedtime reading aloud or early independent readers.
The Extraordinary Exploding Frog Jonathan Stevenson/ Mark Beech Yoshbosh €8.50
Lovers of slime and goo will delight in this laugh-out-loud book stuffed with fun rhyming prose and entertaining pictures. Milo isn’t allowed pets, but sneaks some tadpoles home from the park and gets a nasty surprise when one becomes an enormous frog which devours the contents of his house and school (including his horrible headmaster).
They All Saw A Cat Brendan Wenzel Chronicle €20.30
This startlingly original book helps to introduce children to the notion of perception by showing a cat through the eyes of different animals. For the child it looks soft and friendly, but through the eyes of a mouse it is enormous with scary claws and teeth; for the bee it appears as just a series of coloured dots. There are very few words but the concept and debut author and illustrator Wenzel’s unusual images will raise lots of questions in young minds.
Odd Dog Out Rob Biddulph HarperCollins €18.19
Appreciating our individuality is the important message at the heart of Biddulph’s latest jaunty rhyming book about a sausage dog who feels she doesn’t fit in. Arriving in Doggywood, she is initially delighted to find lots of other dogs just like her. Then she notices one looks different. With his help she realises ‘being different’s really great!’