PICTURE BOOKS
SALLY MORRIS
DINOSAUR JUNIORS: HAPPY HATCHDAY by Rob Biddulph
(HarperCollins £12.99) ANOTHER joyful outing with the award-winning Biddulph, in which Greg, the last of a batch of nine dinosaur eggs to hatch, discovers his siblings have all paired up and are too busy painting, baking, playing musical instruments or blowing balloons to notice their lonely baby brother.
Wandering off disconsolate, a friendly dragonfly shows him the real reason his family is so preoccupied — they are throwing a happy hatchday party for him . . .
Biddulph conveys a dazzling array of emotions in the vivid illustrations and it’s a treat from start to finish.
THE STORY OF TANTRUM O’FURRILY by Cressida Cowell, with illustrations by Mark Nicholas
(Hodder £12.99) COWELL’S superb talents extend across a wide age range and this simple, but uplifting, story about courage will appeal to the very youngest readers.
Stray cat Tantrum and her three kittens are hungry and, as they make their way across the rooftops, she tells them a story about a pampered, overprotected cat, Smallpaw, whose anxious owner wouldn’t let her outside to play with the rough, feral cats.
Bored one night, Smallpaw escapes and, in her unworldly innocence, is almost eaten by a fox — until Tantrum saves her.
‘Be brave and imaginative’ is the message in this rather heartwarming book, which is enhanced by Mark Nicholas’s delicate illustrations.
COCK-ADOODLE by Steve Smallman, with illustrations by Florence Weiser
(Little Tiger £11.99) DOWN on the farm, there’s a terrible pong (well, the animals are pooing there all day long!). You’re always on to a winner with little ones if you make jokes about poo and Steve Smallman has cornered the market in cowpats and sheep pellets.
This latest adventure sees Farmer Jill get in a lather when she suspects the rooster of splatting on her new hairdo after he’s tried learning to fly (using her knicker elastic).
But when a crafty fox sneaks into the hen coop, rooster’s aerial antics save the day.
Fabulous fun with gorgeous illustrations and plenty of poop, pants and pungent pongs.