Smallprint - Your guide to the world of children's books

Review: Bruno

Publisher: Robinswood Press
Author: Guy Hallifax
Illustrator: Rebecca Sands
Age range: 3-6
Price: £7.95 (paperback)
Website: www.robinswoodpress.com

Bruno flumped down on the back
doorstep. This was not good.
Not a good day at all. He’d got his
mouth all ready for biscuits. He
really, really wanted biscuits.

He closed his eyes for a big think.

Bruno, the little bassett hound puppy in this book by Guy Hallifax, does a lot of thinking – but then, there’s a lot to think about when you’re the smallest puppy in the litter and you need to work hard to get noticed.

Bruno contains three stories, ‘Bruno and the big think’, ‘Bruno and the biscuits’ and ‘Bruno and the snowy stuff’. The illustrations, by Rebecca Sands, steal the show. Bruno himself is an extremely lovable creation, perfectly capturing the charm of a puppy.

Review: The Emperor of Absurdia

Publisher: Macmillan
Author/Illustrator: Chris Riddell
Age range: 3+
Price: £10.99 (hardback)
Website: www.panmacmillan.com

The Emperor of Absurdia was having
the most extraordinary dream.

All of a sudden
he woke to the
hoots of the sky
fish nibbling the
umbrella trees.

Absurdia is a very strange place indeed. A place where lunch is served immediately after supper. A place where emperors go on dragon hunts (and, for that matter, a place where dragons go on emperor hunts).

Having dressed with the help of his loyal subject the Wardrobe Monster, the young Emperor navigates umbrella trees, pillow hills and bouncy mountains in search of a little dragon.

Review: Our Stripy Baby

Publisher: Macmillan
Author: Gillian Shields
Illustrator: Paula Metcalf
Age range: 3+
Price: £10.99 (hardback), £5.99 (paperback)
Website: www.panmacmillan.com

Zack didn’t have spots,
like everyone else.
He had stripes.
The stripiest stripes
Zara had ever seen!

When Zara’s new baby brother arrives, it is something of a shock. Everyone in Zara’s world has colourful spots, but Zack is stripy. At first, Zara is hugely disappointed – Zack just doesn’t seem like a ‘proper’ baby at all, and she looks with envy at Max, her friend’s little brother.

Review: Robot Dog

Publisher: Little Tiger Press
Author/Illustrator: Mark Oliver
Age range: 3-7
Price: £5.99 (paperback)
Website: www.littletigerpress.com

‘Not rusty or dusty,
Not battered or bent,
No patches or scratches,
But there is a dent!
SCRAP!’

Scrap is one of the robot dogs the huge factory on the hill churns out and he’s very excited about leaving because all dogs, even robot dogs, want an owner.

Unfortunately, Scrap is so excited he bounces around and dents his ear. He is condemned as scrap (hence the name) and thrown onto the rubbish heap. Here, he meets all sorts of other robot dog rejects, the ‘yard dogs’ who have made a place for themselves amid all the junk.

Review: Dino-Dinners

Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Author: Mick Manning
Illustrator: Brita Granström
Age range: 3-6
Price: £10.99 (hardback), £5.99 (paperback)
Website: www.franceslincoln.com

I eat plants – but be warned!
I’ll charge anyone, anytime!
My horns have six tons of muscle
and bone behind them.
I am a very dangerous veggie.
You’ll soon see,
if you ever mess with me!

Another book to tap into the limitless appeal of dinosaurs, this one is produced in association with the Natural History Museum, so you can be confident that the facts are accurate.

Review: I Very Really Miss You

Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Authors: Jane Kemp and Clare Walters
Illustrator: Jonathan Langley
Age range: 3–5
Price: £10.99 (hardback)
Website: www.franceslincoln.com

Today’s a special day. Today’s the day
my big brother Ben is going away…
on a school trip to an adventure camp…
for one whole week!

And I’m GLAD!

Sam, in common with many little brothers, finds that his big brother can be a bit overwhelming at times. He can be bossy, messy and scary, for a start. He can ignore Sam, leave him behind, tease him and even fight with him, so it’s not surprising that Sam thinks a week without his big brother will be wonderful.

Review: Tick! Tock! Jungle Clock

Publisher: Egmont
Illustrator: Thomas Taylor
Age range: 3–6
Price: £5.99 (board book)
Website: www.egmont.co.uk

At 7 o’clock in the morning,
one sleepy leopard wakes up.
At 8 o’clock, two hungry
Monkeys have breakfast.

As the title suggests, this colourful board book is all about telling the time – jungle time. From 7 o’clock in the morning to 6 o’clock in the evening, we are given an insight into the daily life of all the familiar jungle characters, hour by hour.

Review: Circles, Squares, Rectangles, Triangles

Publisher: Mathew Price
Illustrator: Graham Percy
Age range: 1–3
Price: £3.99 each (board books)

This series of four colourful board books covers all the basics of shape learning in a charming and a rather original format. The books are not bound in the usual way but completely unfold so they can be laid flat on the floor, making it fun and practical for toddlers and adults to play together.

Review: Rosie’s Hat

Publisher: Macmillan
Author: Julia Donaldson
Illustrator: Anna Currey
Age range: 2+
Price: £5.99 (paperback)
Website: www.panmacmillan.com

The wind blows high, the wind blows low.
PUFF, PUFF! BLOW, BLOW!
Rosie’s hat blows off a cliff.
BOO-HOO! SNIFF, SNIFF!

Rosie’s Hat is the latest in a string of charming books from the author of The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson. This book is aimed at slightly younger readers, aged 2+, and tells the story of Rosie’s hat, from when it is blown from the little girl’s head one windy day at the beach to when she finds it again many years later.

Review: Calm Down, Boris!

Publisher: Templar
Author/illustrator: Sam Lloyd
Age range: 1+
Price: £8.99
Website: www.templarpublishing.co.uk

“Thank you!” says Boris. “Kissy, kissy, kissy, kissy…”
Stop Boris! Calm down! It tickles!

Boris is a very affectionate monster. He likes nothing better than showering everyone with kisses and, though endearing, it can also be very ticklish.

Boris loves everyone and can’t help showing it. He kisses you for checking his fur for bugs, he kisses you for feeding him, he kisses you for stroking him – he kisses you for just about everything, in fact.