Sharing the gift
Santa will be spoilt for choice this Christmas with our pick of the year’s best books for children
PICTURE BOOKS Literary dynamo David Walliams has notched up another success with GERONIMO (HarperCollins
Children’s Books, £12.99), a story about a baby penguin who longs to fly. He is not convinced when his dad tells him it’s impossible so the rest of the colony put their bird brains together and devise a cunning plan to make Geronimo’s dream come true. As ever, Tony Ross’s illustrations are in a class of their own. THE WAY HOME FOR WOLF by Rachel Bright and Jim Field (Orchard Books,
£12.99) is a rhyming tale for pre-schoolers about a fiercely independent wolf cub who loses his way in the Arctic snow. Tired and alone, he discovers that everyone needs a helping hand sometimes. Emily Haworth-Booth’s THE KING WHO BANNED THE DARK
(Pavilion, £6.99) stars a young prince who is so scared of the dark that when he becomes king, he bans it, installing a vast artificial sun and fining anyone who switches their lights off. But then the king starts to wonder whether he’s made a terrible mistake. A beautifully illustrated fable for our times.
In EMILY BROWN AND FATHER CHRISTMAS (Hodder Children’s Books, £12.99) Emily and her sidekick, a rabbit called Stanley, rush to the rescue of Father Christmas when he comes a cropper with modern technology. Written by How To Train Your Dragon author Cressida Cowell and illustrated by Neal Layton, the fifth in the Emily Brown series is fun and festive. Michael Whaite’s 100 DOGS
(Puffin, £6.99) is irresistible, whether you’re a dog lover or not. This rhyming compendium is packed with 100 different hounds, from tiny, whiny and shiny to whiffy and sniffy. It scooped two prizes at this year’s Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards. In DRAGON POST by Emma
Yarlett (Walker, £10.99) Alex is startled to find a dragon in the cellar. So he writes to the fire brigade for advice, setting off a chain of correspondence. Miniature envelopes are glued into this beautifully produced picture book, each containing a letter for little readers to take out and read.
It is a busy day at the Ministry Of Silly Animal Names where the Monkeyface Prickleback, the Shovelnose Guitarfish and the Blue-Footed Booby are among the creatures queuing to change their names.
Even adults will be amused by
YOU’RE CALLED WHAT? by Kes Gray, author of Oi Frog!, and Nikki Dyson (Macmillan, £6.99).
FIVE PLUS
After entrancing readers with Charlie and Lola, Clarice Bean and Ruby Redfort, children’s laureate Lauren Child turns her attention to an enduring classic – Mary Poppins. PL Travers wrote the novel in 1934 and Lauren Child’s illustrated edition MARY POPPINS (HarperCollins
Children’s Books, £20) is a delight, bringing magic to every last detail from the Banks family house in Cherry Tree Lane to the bird woman at St Paul’s Cathedral who sings “feed the birds, tuppence a bag”.
If your children haven’t discovered Alex T. Smith’s
stories about a small dog called Claude, they’re in for a treat. CLAUDE ADVENTURES: THREE STORIES IN ONE (Hodder Children’s Books, £9.99) is a treasury of Claude’s most memorable escapades, including the day he and his best
FESTIVE FUN: Emily and her rabbit Stanley friend Sir Bobblysock stumble on to a film set. The tales are witty, captivating and funny.
Best known for his Reasons To Stay Alive memoir, Matt Haig has now written THE TRUTH PIXIE (Canongate, £9.99), a self-help book for children. Told in rhyme, it’s the story of a small pixie who must tell the truth, whatever the consequences. Warm, inspiring and full of good sense.
PADDINGTON’S SUITCASE by Michael Bond and RW Alley
(HarperCollins, £14.99) is a small, portable blue case containing eight illustrated Paddington tales for a new generation of readers to enjoy.
Enid Blyton holds a special place in many people’s hearts and in FAVOURITE ENID BLYTON STORIES (Hodder Children’s Books,
£19.99), famous names like War Horse creator Michael Morpurgo and TV presenter Mel Giedroyc choose the stories they loved as children.
NINE PLUS
Seventeen years after her first Tracy Beaker novel was published, Jacqueline Wilson revisits one of her feistiest characters. In MY MUM TRACY
BEAKER (Doubleday, £12.99) Tracy is now a grown up, living with her daughter Jess in a rundown tower block. Jess thinks Tracy is the best mum ever but everything changes when much to Jess’s dismay Tracy’s exfootballer boyfriend whisks them off to a new life of luxury. A wonderful read, full of charm. In just over a decade Jeff
Kinney has sold more than 200 million Diary Of A Wimpy Kid books worldwide. Part comic strip and part novel, the thirteenth book in the series is THE MELTDOWN (Puffin, £12.99).A
wintry blast shuts Greg Heffley’s school and chaos ensues.
From Malory Towers to Harry Potter, well-told school stories always go down a storm and David Baddiel’s HEAD KID (HarperCollins Children’s Books,
£12.99) is no exception. Ryan Ward is the naughtiest boy in the school so what happens when he