PICTURE BOOKS Fee fi fo fum ... best summer books, here we come!
WHAT THE LADYBIRD HEARD ON HOLIDAY by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Lydia Monks
(Macmillan £11.99) ONE FINE day in the middle of May, the ladybird went on holiday to the vibrant city of London — so begins this lively adventure in which the insect overhears an evil plot by repeat offenders Lanky Len and Hefty Hugh (when will they ever learn?) to steal the Queen’s crown.
She enlists the help of the zoo’s animals and the royal corgis to ensure the thieving pair get their comeuppance.
Donaldson’s jaunty rhyming story is perfectly paired with bright, busy collage pictures, liberally sprinkled with glitter.
THERE IS A TRIBE OF KIDS by Lane Smith
(Two Hoots £6.99) WINNER of this year’s prestigious CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration, this beautiful book is about a small child who travels across the world encountering a pod of whales, a troop of monkeys, a colony of penguins, a smack of jellyfish and many more collections of animals until a tribe of kids provides the perfect home.
A wonderfully clever exploration of the rich variety of nature and a sensitive message about the importance of belonging, this deserves a place on every bookshelf.
GRANDAD’S SECRET GIANT by David Litchfield
(Frances Lincoln £11.99) THERE’S something mesmerising about the way David Litchfield combines traditional and contemporary art techniques to create bursts of shimmering sunlight and smoky shadows.
In this touching and witty book we meet Billy, who is bored by his grandad’s stories about a mysterious giant who keeps them safe and decides to prove him wrong by exposing the giant’s adventures as fairy tales. But what he discovers teaches him valuable lessons about fear, loneliness and friendship.
Funny, touching and visually stunning, you’ll find something new every time you read it.
AGE 6-9 KNIGHTHOOD FOR BEGINNERS by Elys Dolan
(OUP £6.99) BETTER known for her picture books, this first foray into young fiction by Elys Dolan is a laugh-out-loud triumph.
Young Dave is struggling to become a fully rounded dragon — eating villagers makes him feel ‘sicky’ — so when he finds a volume called Knighthood For Beginners he starts a quest to win his spurs instead.
With a sturdy steed — a goat called Albrecht — he sets out on an adventure and discovers that many others are also fulfilling roles to which they are unsuited, including a doctor who wants to be a jester and a princess who wants to marry a frog without it turning into a prince . . .
With plenty of wildly imaginative black-and-white illustrations, this is the perfect step up from picture books.
ST GRIZZLE’S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, GHOSTS AND RUNAWAY GRANNIES by Karen McCombie, illustrated by Becka Moor (Stripes £5.99)
WHEN Dani’s mum goes to study penguins’ bottoms in Antarctica, St Grizelda’s School For Girls seems the perfect place for Dani to stay. So when she is chosen to direct a film called Why We Love Where I Live for a local competition, she’s determined to win.
But the other pupils are undisciplined and only Dani’s granny Viv seems to understand the importance of the project. Fizzing with mayhem, this is a welcome addition to the popular boarding school genre — ideal for the age range.
THE TALE OF ANGELINO BROWN by David Almond, illustrated by Alex T. Smith (Walker Books £10.99)
DAVID ALMOND’S talent for mining the humour and emotion of potentially sad situations is unequalled, no more so than in this story involving the sudden appearance in bus driver Bert’s top pocket of a tiny angel whom he takes home to his wife Betty.
The couple’s only son died some years earlier and they name the sweet (if flatulent) spirit Angelino.
The schoolchildren where Betty is dinner lady adore him, but the acting headteacher certainly does not — and when a plot is hatched by sinister thugs to kidnap Angelino and sell him to the highest bidder, there can be only one winner.
With shades of Pinocchio, this is a warm-hearted lesson in the importance of love, and a reminder that not all learning takes place in the classroom.
AGE 10-13 LETTERS FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE by Emma Carroll (Faber £6.99)
THIS pacy story, set in 1941, sees 12-year-old Olive and her younger brother Cliff evacuated to the South Devon coast after bombing raids in London intensify. Her older sister, Sukie, disappeared in the last attack, but no one will tell Olive what happened to her.
The children stay with a lighthouse keeper who uses Olive to carry messages to people in the village. But she has a secret letter she found in Sukie’s coat — she thinks it’s a code, but for what?
As this wartime story unfolds, Olive learns about prejudice, resistance, bravery and secrecy as she befriends another evacuee who has fled Nazi Germany.
The tension builds until the very end, which doesn’t whitewash the harsh realities of conflict.
BEYOND THE BRIGHT SEA by Lauren Wolk (Corgi £6.99)
LAuREN WOLK’S debut, Wolf Hollow, is one of my favourite books, so the question is — could she sustain such high quality writing in her second novel?
It’s an emphatic yes, as she has created another charismatic heroine in Crow, an orphan washed up as a baby in a wooden boat on a tiny island off America’s Cape Cod with almost nothing to identify her except a birthmark, remnants of a letter and a ruby ring.
Osh, the man who cares for her, is reclusive and secretive, but when a fire breaks out on nearby Penikese Island, a former leper colony, she persuades Osh and their only friend, Miss Maggie, to investigate.
In doing so, she uncovers the heartbreaking truth about her origins. A tense and moving adventure story, this book’s real strength is in the characters and the understated but overwhelming love that binds solitary people, no matter what their blood links may be.