CHILDREN’S BOOKS Emily Bearn
Fairies and schoolgirl witches are being shooed from the limelight by grandparents, who have star billing in the picture books this spring. Tea
with the Queen by Pip Jones (Faber, 32pp, £12.99) is devoted to the most famous grandmother of all, using catchy rhyming couplets to tell what happens when Ava and her invisible cat meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace: ‘What fun to meet such an imaginative girl! / You’re now a Duchess, and Mcfluff is an Earl.’
My Grandma and Me (Walker, 32pp, £11.99) by Mina Javaherbin tells the touching story of the author’s relationship with her own grandmother while growing up in Iran: ‘In this big universe full of many moons, I have travelled and seen many wonders, but I have never loved anything or anyone the way I love my grandma.’ And for babies, don’t miss the new board book version of My
Grandpa is Amazing (Walker, 26pp, £5.99), Nick Butterworth’s much-loved story about a grandfather who can cycle, dance and build the best sandcastles. ‘It’s great to have a grandpa like mine!’ the book concludes – and no baby will argue with that. But The Oldie’s picture book of the month must go to The Truth
About Old People (Two Hoots, 32pp, £11.99) by Elina Ellis, which presents old age through the eyes of a little boy, playing with his grandparents. Some people have told him that old people are ‘not much fun’. But as Ellis’s drawings charmingly reveal, the truth is very different. ‘Old people are … AMAZING!’ the boy concludes, as his grandparents race into the sunset on a tandem.
For chapter-book readers, Captain Cat and the Treasure Map! (Macmillan, 160 pp, £5.99) is the first in a cracking new pirate series by Sue Mongredien, author of the bestselling Secret
Mermaid books. In the first instalment we meet Patch the Cat as she sets sail on the
Golden Earring, and comes to the rescue of her inept pirate crew, led by the curmudgeonly Captain Halibut. Wizard vs. Lizard by Simon Philip (Simon & Schuster, 176pp, £5.99) will appeal to readers of a similar age. This time the hero is Fred, a boy wizard who is ‘completely, mindbogglingly TERRIBLE at magic’, and botches all his spells. The clumsy child magician is a familiar plot device, but Philip is an ebullient writer, who makes the story thoroughly his own. For older readers, A Pinch of Magic (Simon & Schuster, 368pp, £6.99) is the eagerly awaited new novel by Michelle Harrison, author of The Thirteen
Treasures. This time, with Gothic aplomb, the action takes place on the eerie marshes of Crowstone, where three sisters must break free from a deadly curse. And The
Midnight Hour (Chicken House, 288pp, £6.99) is a thrilling Victorian fantasy, co-written by the debut novelists Benjamin Read and
‘Old people are … AMAZING!’ the boy concludes, as his grandparents race into the sunset on a tandem
Laura Trinder. With a mixture of suspense and farce, the story follows the outspoken heroine Emily as she sets out to find her missing parents, accompanied by a stowaway hedgehog. There are more Victorian high-jinx in The Steam Whistle Theatre Company (Walker, 304pp, £6.99), a fast-paced family saga by the prolific Vivian French. (At a recent count, her books numbered more than 250.) With dastardly villains, lost heiresses, and an impoverished family theatre-troupe, French cleverly embraces some of the most familiar Victorian tropes and creates a story with a breezy modern feel. And adding to the season’s bumper crop of historical fiction is Lightning Mary (Andersen, 272pp, £6.99), a first novel by the picture-book author Anthea Simmons. Here, with some skilful artistic licence, she recounts the fascinating life of the 19th-century fossil collector Mary Anning, famous for her discoveries along the Dorset coast.
In nonfiction, highlights include the first picture book edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of
Species (Puffin, 64pp, £12.99), retold by the biologist Sabina Radeva. Aimed at readers of 6 to 100, the simple text and sumptuous illustrations will appeal both to budding young scientists and to grown ups who never read the original. (Own up.) And the fashion for children’s self-help books gains ever greater pace, with a flood of new ‘mindfulness’ titles aimed at the under 12s. The Unworry Book (Usborne, 96pp, £8.99) by the former primary school teacher Alice James is typical of the genre, taking the form of an illustrated activity book, full of ‘calm-down tactics’. When you feel stressed, she advises, ‘get a piece of paper out of the recycling bin and scribble all over it. Then scrunch it up and throw it away again.’ Hmm. Let’s give it a go.