A classic children’s book in the making
Children’s book reviewer CAROLINE FRANKLIN tips Hannah Gold’s The Last Bear – ‘unforgettable’ says Michael Morpurgo
DAYS of ice creams and sand between the toes are nearly done and we’re fast moving towards picking blackberries – there’s an abundance this year – and falling leaves.
Where did this year go? If the flowers in the pots in my garden could speak, poor withered girls that they are, they would certainly say for goodness sake let’s not worry about where it went and thank goodness there’s been a drop of RAIN! Rain or shine there are still books to be read and there are so many excellent children’s books to be discovered – tales packed with imagination, excitement, adventure and fun. It’s especially good to see the increase in the good children’s stories that carry a message about how climate change affects our whole world.
ONE such book I came across by accident looking for a present for a 10-year-old was The Last Bear by Hannah Gold.
On the cover is the comment ‘unforgettable’ from Michael Morpurgo, a man who knows a good book when he sees one. So with that recommendation, I had to find out more. The Last Bear is the story of a polar bear who lives on an island where there are no polar bears – or so it is thought. Then young April and her father, a research scientist, come to live in this Arctic lonely outpost for six months so that the temperatures on the island can be monitored.
Her father’s work is all-consuming and so April explores the island on her own and one day finds a very large polar bear with a paw wounded by the strip of blue plastic wrapped tightly around it. The story of April and the bear which follows is extraordinarily touching. Always wonderfully descriptive, sometimes sad, often funny – the polar bear loves the peanut butter April gives him – and compulsive reading – for what will happen to the bear when April leaves the island?
If ever there was a book to encourage children to protect their planet, this is the one. A classic in the making. Published by Harper Collins at £7.99 (PB)
THERE’S a bit of a problem when Elephant and his friend want to have a go on the seesaw, the difficulty being that Elephant’s young friend is a mouse. Not that this stops the pair from getting round this small difficulty in To o ny HNeaevayl’s Elephant! They just call in a few friends to help out and hey presto, all is well – until Elephant’s dad comes along and wants to join in.
This simple, colourful book is full of fun and also has ideas for ways children can experiment with comparing weights of things – not people! – around the home. Published by Oxford University Press at £6.99 (PB) THE British Museum have combined with publishers Nosy Crow in So You Think You’ve Got It Bad – a Kid’s Life In A Medieval Castle.
If your children think they are hard done by, just give them this book to have a look through and see how they might have had to live in medieval times.
What with the problems with sanitary arrangements in a castle, taking the badger for his daily walk or ending up in the ‘notorious bottle dungeon’ there’s every hope that the young reader aged nine or so may decide that after all he or she may be better off today where at least they So don’t You have Think to eat You’ve spiders Got on It toast. Bad – A Kid’s Life In A Medieval Castle, one of a series, is packed with colour, fun and facts for the whole family to enjoy.
Published by Nosy Crow at £7.99 (PB)
ALEX Cotter’s The Mermaid Call is not just another book about beautiful girls with a rather odd arrangement instead of feet. Instead it is the story of two girls, Alice from the big house whose aunt
Stella mysteriously disappeared into the lake several years before and Vivien, who thinks the reason that her mum never comes to see her is because she isn’t beautiful enough.
The prosperity of the village where Vivien lives with her grandmother in a mermaid memento shop is entirely dependent on the legend of the mermaid and the two girls who went to find her long ago but never returned. As the story progresses, Alice’s obsession with discovering the mermaid and the truth about the old story grows rapidly and Vivien finds herself enmeshed in discovering the truth. Everything starts off quite gently, but rapidly becomes a thrilling and eerie maelstrom of a story until finally the facts are known. Was there ever a mermaid?
The nines-plus will enjoy finding out. Published by Nosy Crow at £7.99 (PB)
FREYA wants to make a rainbow. All she has to do is to find one in How To Catch a Rainbow, but that turns out to be not so easy. The only way forward is for Freya to make her own – after all a rainbow is only sun and water. Well, that doesn’t seem to work either and so surely, Freya thinks all she has to do is hunt down one rainbow colour at a time.
It’s not easy, but she perseveres and ends up with all the colours she needs, but truth to tell it’s not a great success. Then she looks out of the window and sees – a rainbow – and learns there are some things you just can’t make, but must simply enjoy. A funny, colourful book to share with very young children.
Published by Oxford University Press at £6.99 (PB)
STUFF by Maddie Moate contains mind-boggling facts about things people around the world use every day to make the most of STUFF to help save our planet.
‘Stay Curious’ it says on the back cover and indeed there are facts galore to enjoy in this book. Did you know, for instance, that Cleopatra made smuggling earthworms out of Egypt a crime punishable by death, so useful were our small wiggly friends?
People all over the world are inventing, recycling and using skills to help our planet survive and that involves not buying new stuff or throwing things away when they are finished with, but finding a way to make them carry on being useful for as long as possible. What can you
make with seaweed, what are 10 mile shoes, what can we do to help clean up our oceans and how can we enjoy a meatless burger?
All these are answered in this book which will inspire young readers to admire what others are doing to help our planet and do their best to join the fight.