A book is an adventure you can go on together

‘Reading to my children was a highlight of my life.’ Children’s book reviewer CAROLINE FRANKLIN takes her pick of this month’s lively new releases

JIGSAWS and books have been two of the most important things which have got us through all the boredom and difficulties of the last lockdowned year. Friends of mine who have never until now known the joy of putting the final piece in a 1,000-piece jigsaw are addicts, while books are being regularly exchanged. A neighbour frequently leaves a bag of books on my doorstep and it’s a five-star day when I find them there. Of course we all long to be released back into normal life, but I hope that people, especially those who have, for perhaps the first time, discovered the joy of reading, will carry on enjoying the wealth of words out there.

Reading to my children was a highlight of my life – find books which you and your child of whatever age can share, then laugh with them, turn over the flaps with them and go on adventures with them. You’ll be very pleased you did and here are some suggestions starting with two books for the very young. THREE-to-four-yearolds who prefer wheels and zooming about (the old-fashioned sort of zooming) to sweet little bunnies, will enjoy What’s In The Truck by Philip Ardagh and Jason Chapman. The monster truck on the front page has a secret, for out of the back comes a super-charged racer which zooms down the road and then out of the back comes a limo with gleaming hubcaps and – well you get the picture. Finally the Russian doll-style vehicles end up as a scooter – and a princess who is given the key of, guess what, the monster truck. Pure fun.

Published by Faber and Faber. £6.99 (HB)

Easter is nearly here so what better book to begin with than Little Bunny’s Easter Surprise by Lily Murray and Julia Woolf. I’ve never been sure about the Easter Rabbit figure – he always seemed a bit of a weirdo – but undoubtedly bunnies of the friendly sort have a permanent association with the annual celebrations.

Little Bunny’s big Easter picnic was nearly a disaster, but no worries for in the end it was ‘the merriest the woods had ever seen’. Full of colour, with big flaps perfect for small hands to lift and a game to find 12 hidden eggs in the final picture, Little Bunny’s Easter Surprise would be fun to share with the small person in the family.

Published by

Macmillan

Children’s Books at £6.99 (PB)

ANOTHER bunny tale is Jessica Meserve’s

Beyond the Burrow and it is quite simply, a delight. Rabbits like two things, their own burrow and carrots. So when the young rabbit in the story falls out of the burrow he finds a whole new world with lots of not-rabbits and notcarrots so that altogether he has a very non-rabbity day.

All the not-rabbits are very nice to him, but when night comes he begins to long for his own burrow. Does he get back there? Of course he does. Delightfully illustrated with charm and a sense of humour, both reader and young listener aged four or five would love this rabbity story.

Published by Macmillan Children’s Books at £7.99 (PB)

THE day after her father dies, young Lady Agatha is told that the deceased earl and his wife were not her parents and that the cart is coming to take her off to live with her real father! This shocking news is broken to her by the earl’s heir, Clarence, a nasty piece of work. He is, Aggie is sure, hiding information about the earl’s will and, in particular, a letter concerning her future. Aggie settles down with her dad, Thomas, but is determined to find out the truth. This seems to be bound up with two enormous and valuable opals, the Queen Stone and the King Stone. Another thing – who is the strange misty figure who seems to be connected with her past? How Aggie finally gets to the truth in Lucy Strange’s The Ghost of Gosswater is exciting and a good read for nine- to 11-year-olds. Published by Chicken House at £6.99 (PB) FOLLOWERS of those ace detectives, Daisy and Hazel, will be sorry that Robin Stevens’ Death Sets Sail is likely to be the last in the series. The two keen investigators have solved murders and ‘most unladylike mysteries’ in a variety of situations and now, on a cruise along the Nile, they are once again called upon to track down the villain. Accompanying them on the boat are a strange group of people who like to imagine that they are reincarnations of the ancient Pharaohs and it is their leader, the unpleasant Theodora (Hatshepsut), who becomes the victim in a mystery which Hazel describes as “like the Orient Express”. The twist at the end of the story is excellent and fans aged 10-plus will enjoy every gripping minute.

Published by Puffin Books at £6.99 THERE has been a great deal written about our royal family lately and through it all – trouble with the kids, her husband’s illness and the small matter of having to reign over a country – the Queen has kept going admiration.and earned our

To young children, Queen Elizabeth II is a fabulous figure who possibly eats her cornflakes out of a golden bowl. In The Queen’s Wardrobe Julia Golding and Kate Hindley tell the real story of the Queen and her clothes, from her childhood to the present day. It is full of colourful child-friendly illustrations which bring the little girl who grew up to be a queen to vivid life.

Particularly impressive is the section on the Queen’s crowns and her magnificent jewels. The information about her crowns (there are two) was fascinating. St Edward’s crown, made for Charles II in solid gold (yes, solid gold!) is only worn for coronations whilst the one usually seen, the

Imperial State Crown, is set with nearly 3,000 jewels. I found it endearing to know that at the age of 94, presumably because of its weight, the Queen no longer wears it but keeps it beside her on a velvet cushion at ceremonies.

Some of the glittering jewellery included here has intriguing names such as two of the tiaras, one is described as the Grand Duchess Vladimir tiara and another is that called the Queen Mary’s Girls of Great Britain and Ireland named for the girls who gave it as a wedding present to the Duchess of York, later Queen Mary, in 1893.

In spite of all the grandeur, this book, beautifully illustrated with simple child-friendly images, will help children aged seven and upwards to realise that the Queen who looks after our country is a real person.

Published by Two Hoots, Macmillan Children’s Books at £14.99 (HB).