22 minute read
Picture Books
Flying Scotsman and the Best Birthday Ever
Michael Morpurgo Illustrated by Michael Foreman
In association with the National Railway Museum, York
For ages 5+
An inspiring tale from Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman celebrating the world’s most iconic train, Flying Scotsman, and its greatest fan, a girl named Iris
Iris knows everything there is to know about Flying Scotsman. Her dad is the famous train’s driver, and every year her favourite birthday treat is a trip to see him at work. But each time Flying Scotsman pulls away, Iris wishes more than anything that she could be in the driver’s cab, just like her dad. Then again, who’s to stop her… Published in association with the National Railway Museum, York, Flying Scotsman and the Best Birthday Ever takes readers on a journey through the golden age of steam travel, paying tribute to the women who drove the trains and kept the railways running during the Second World War. With family at its heart, the story is warmly written and joyously illustrated by national treasures Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman.
Michael Morpurgo is one of the UK’s best-loved authors and storytellers. He has written more than 150 books, including the internationally celebrated War Horse, and was appointed Children’s Laureate in 2003. Morpurgo was awarded a knighthood in 2018 for services to literature and charity. Michael Foreman is an internationally renowned, multi-award-winning children’s book illustrator and author. He has twice won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal for British children’s book illustration. 21.4 x 28.8cm 32pp ISBN 978 0 500 652947 October £12.99
Picture Books
Beatrice Alemagna is a bestselling author and illustrator of children’s books. She is the winner of numerous awards, including the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book Award and the Hans Christian Andersen Award.
26.0 x 21.0cm 48pp paperback ISBN 978 0 500 296936 July £7.99
Never, Not Ever!
Beatrice Alemagna
New in paperback
For ages 3+
A laugh-out-loud tribute to little kids everywhere who would prefer not to leave home on the first day of school
Also available
Harold Snipperpot’s Best Disaster Ever 978 0 500 652503
The Marvellous Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty 978 0 500 651933
On a Magical Do-Nothing Day 978 0 500 651797 It's the first day of school and all the animals are excited to get there – except Pascaline the bat. School is the last place she wants to go. 'Never, not ever!' she shrieks loudly. So loudly, that something magic happens...
Beatrice Alemagna, one of the most admired picture book illustrators of our time, uses art and story to explore the depths of children’s feelings as few other illustrators do. In Never, Not Ever! she does something very special: she shares both the parent’s and the child’s points of view in a battle of wills over school attendance. Alemagna’s colours, her characters’ expressions, and her nontraditional selftaught style point to an inner playfulness and warmth that goes straight to the heart.
‘Truly delightful ... Alemagna humorously takes us through the difficulty of a young child settling into school ... a lovely, original approach to the theme, beautifully
illustrated’ The School Librarian
‘Utterly charming ... a must-read for those about to take the next step to school’ @ bookgiftblogger
Ann Rand (1918–2012) was an American author, painter and architect who trained with Mies van der Rohe. She wrote ten children’s books during her career, four of which were illustrated by her first husband, the iconic graphic designer Paul Rand. Olle Eksell (1918–2007) was a Swedish illustrator and graphic designer. He is particularly well known for his advertising work for Mazetti and Nessim, and his work was exhibited internationally including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museé du Louvre in Paris, and the Biennale in Venice.
24.6 x 17.2cm 40pp ISBN 978 0 500 653029 August £12.99
Edward and the Horse
Ann Rand Illustrated by Ole Eskell
A 20th-Century Children’s Classic
For ages 3+
First published in 1961, this charming story tells the story of a small boy named Edward who lives in the tall city of New York
Edward lives on the twenty-first floor of a large apartment block and would love a pet to keep him company. But the sign in the lobby is clear: ‘No dogs or cats allowed’. However, it doesn’t say anything about horses... With its bold mid-century design aesthetic and meandering text, Edward and the Horse will charm a new generation of readers and designers alike. Olle Eksell’s illustrations are printed here in bright spot colours to replicate the original 1961 edition as faithfully as possible. An afterword by Ruthel Eksell sheds light on the book’s genesis.
Didier Lévy has written over forty books for children, including How to Light Your Dragon, also published by Thames & Hudson. Fred Benaglia is artistic director at Bayard Presse in France, and has also illustrated many children's books. 24.5 x 31.5cm 32pp ISBN 978 0 500 653128 September £12.99
Life With My Dragon
5 Heart-warming Tales
Didier Lévy Illustrated by Fred Benaglia
For ages 3+
A follow-up to How to
Light Your Dragon
Also available In this heart-warming follow-up to How to Light Your Dragon, our young protagonist reveals the delights – and dangers – of life with a fiery dragon. The child plays at being a fireman and a doctor, while the dragon becomes a walking Christmas tree, and turns himself into a helicopter by mistake. And when he snores, he makes little sparks that attract fireflies... The pure magic on these pages will set wonderful dreams in motion!
Sunday Times, Children’s Book of the Week
As read on CBeebies Bedtime Stories
$00.00 (can. $00.00)
If I had a vampire bat
Gabby Dawnay Illustrated by Alex Barrow
26.0 x 23.8cm 32pp ISBN 978 0 500 652961 October £11.99
I really want a spooky pet that flaps around and hangs. A toothy type of swoopy pet with shiny pointed fangs... Imagine if I had a... vampire bat!
For ages 3+
A laugh-out-loud bedtime story in which a little girl imagines what it would be like to have a vampire bat for a pet
This charming addition to the popular If I had a... series is timed perfectly for Halloween, and features a sharptoothed but adorable vampire bat as its main star. Taking inspiration from the Addams Family, it imagines what it would be like to live a nocturnal lifestyle and the funny scenarios one might encounter trick-or-treating or at the funfair with a vampire bat as your pal. Facts about vampire bats combine with seasonal spookiness and positive messages about dental hygiene in this brilliant book for bedtime.
Also in the series Gabby Dawnay is a writer and poet. She contributes to OKIDO magazine and is a scriptwriter for children’s television. She is the author of several children’s books, including A Song for Bear, A House for Mouse and If I had a dinosaur. Alex Barrow, a Londonbased illustrator, is art director for and a regular contributor to OKIDO magazine. He has worked with Gabby Dawnay on many picture books published by Thames & Hudson.
Now available as a board book If I had a unicorn
Gabby Dawnay Illustrated by Alex Barrow
18.5 x 17.1cm 28pp board ISBN 978 0 500 653166 October £6.99
Huw Lewis Jones is a polarexploring author and historian who lives in Cornwall, UK. His books include Explorers’ Sketchbooks, The Writer’s Map and Archipelago (all Thames & Hudson). Ben Sanders is an award-winning illustrator and graphic designer based in Ballarat, Australia. He is the author and illustrator of I’ve an Uncle Ivan and I Could Wear That Hat! (both Thames & Hudson Australia).
24.4 x 24.4cm 32pp ISBN 978 0 500 652831 August £11.99
Party Pooper
Huw Lewis Jones Illustrated by Ben Sanders
For ages 3+
The third title in the laugh-out-loud series of picture books starring Bad Apple, a truly terrible piece of fruit
It’s Granny Smith’s birthday party and everybody is invited. There’s face painting, a piñata, a pile of presents and one of Snake’s finest cakes... Bad Apple can’t wait to spoil the fun! But it looks like this party pooper’s luck might have run out. Pineapple has had enough of Apple’s bad behaviour and is ready to teach him a lesson.
In the third instalment of Huw Lewis Jones’s hilarious series of picture books, a truly terrible piece of fruit is once more wreaking havoc far beyond the rim of the fruit bowl. Illustrated in a deadpan, painterly style by Ben Sanders, Party Pooper will entertain the entire family.
Also available Praise for Bad Apple
Michael Wagner, of Bad Apple
David Litchfield, of Bad Apple
Shortlisted in the Teach Primary Book Awards 2021
Shinsuke Yoshitake is the author-illustrator of many picture books, including It Might Be an Apple, Can I Build Another Me?, What Happens Next?, Why Do I Feel Like This? and It’s My Rubber Band!
20.3 x 20.3cm 52pp ISBN 978 0 500 653111 September £10.99
Is It Just Me?
Shinsuke Yoshitake
For ages 3+
A humorous new book from the acclaimed author-illustrator Shinsuke Yoshitake
Also available Everyone has something that makes them feel selfconscious. It might be the smell of your breath, the size of your nose, or the way your shirt sleeves bunch up under your jumper. At the centre of this story is a little boy who has a small but embarrassing problem: every time he pees, a few drops dribble on to his underpants. Curious, he asks other children if they have the same issue. He soon discovers a simple life lesson: everyone is battling some kind of irritation. Shinsuke Yoshitake is a master at addressing children’s concerns and recasting them in an approachable, witty way that offers his young readers reassurance.
978 0 500 650486 978 0 500 650783
The Library Book
Gabby Dawnay Illustrated by Ian Morris
Zach isn’t convinced that books are for him – they’re too long, they’re boring and he would rather watch TV. But thanks to his friend Ro’s stubborn efforts, Zach falls for books hook, line and sinker, and loses himself in a world of dinosaurs, princesses, pirates, football and rocketships – anything and everything the library has to offer.
New in paperback
For ages 3+
‘Glorious!’ Chris Riddell Through lively rhymes and dynamic illustrations, The Library Book helps early readers understand the plethora of books available to them through their local library and encourages parents, guardians and teachers to help children find books that appeal to their personal interests. Written in a catchy rhyming style by bestselling author Gabby Dawnay, The Library Book will trigger a love of words in readers of all abilities, while Ian Morris’ inventive watercolour illustrations make Zach’s emotional journey come alive. The combination is a picture book that will inspire a love of libraries, reading, books and words in even the most reluctant reader.
‘Imagine Dr Seuss meets Quentin Blake ... stunningly good and lots of fun’ The School Librarian
@BookBairn
Longlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize 2022
Gabby Dawnay is the author of over ten books for children, including the bestselling If I had a Dinosaur, as seen on CBeebies Bedtime Stories. Ian Morris has an MA in illustration from the Manchester School of Art and in 2017 was named as one of the top 10 Upcoming Image Makers by the Association of Illustrators.
30.0 x 23.3cm 32pp paperback ISBN 978 0 500 652602 July £7.99
Mary Richards is a publisher, author and illustrator. She is the author of numerous books for children, including the bestselling A History of... series and Splat!: The most exciting artists of all time (both Thames & Hudson). Rose Blake is an award-winning artist and illustrator who has illustrated many books for children and adults, including the A History of... series.
27.9 x 21.6cm 96pp ISBN 978 0 500 652824 September £14.99
A History of Words for Children
Mary Richards Illustrated by Rose Blake
For ages 7+
A history of the world told through the prism of language, from Shakespeare to Anne Frank, Martin Luther King to Greta Thunberg
From hieroglyphs to haiku, sign language to Shakespeare, humans have invented endless ways to communicate using words. Written in a lively narrative style, A History of Words for Children explores human development through the prism of language, introducing readers to the civilizations, inventions and wordsmiths who have shaped the way we communicate. The book explores what words are and how humans communicate using spoken language and sign; the development of written scripts and writing implements, including paper; the history of manuscripts and printed books, including worldwide bestsellers and famous libraries; the process of learning another language; dialects and accents and the way they reflect our identity; the power of words to calm, inspire, rally crowds and rule nations; graffiti’s role in spreading messages; codes and invented languages; the patterns of poetry; the future of words, including emojis; and languages facing extinction.
Also available
Winner of the BolognaRagazzi New Horizons Award 2019
‘This trove of a book is … to be cherished’
Daily Telegraph
Mark Ellen
1. The First Word
14 Born to Talk
Our brains and bodies are designed so that, from a very
young age, we try to communicate with others. We might do this by making and copying sounds, creating different facial expressions or using our body movements to get across what we are thinking and feeling. Most importantly, we also use our brains to interpret and understand those actions. Let’s think about the way many babies learn to talk. In the first weeks of their life they will make a few different noises, which might at first sound like nonsense. But by the age of 2 or 3 they are able to put together strings of words and even talk in sentences. Put together, these groups of sounds and words make a language. Languages can sound very different, and speakers around the globe use their mouths, tongues and throats in different ways – from click languages like Xhosa (which is one of many languages spoken in South Africa – it includes a series of ‘clicking’ sounds) to European languages like German (whose ‘rolled’ ‘R’ is produced in the back of the mouth). But wherever we live on the planet, the way we learn language is the same. Our neurons (the tiny electronic messengers in our brains) fire up and make new connections and pathways. As we’ll go on to discover later in this book, the skills of reading and writing were invented many, many years later after humans learned to speak – and they take a little longer to master. Still, by the time we are 7 or 8 years old, we can recognise hundreds of characters and words. Fast forward ten years, and we are able to understand even trickier texts and ideas. In fact, our flexible human brains are designed so that we never stop learning.
3. Reading Words ONCE UPON
A TIME...
Reading Stories
What stories do you like reading? Do you like tales where
characters go on an epic adventure? Fantastical stories where animals speak and humans have magical powers? Or perhaps you prefer real-life tales set in an actual historical place?
For centuries, and in lands across the world, stories have started with phrases like: ‘Once Upon A Time…’ or ‘A Long Time Ago…’ These words tell the reader that they must leave behind what they know, and get ready to enter a new, exciting world. When we open a book and start reading, we bring our own experiences with us. We think of all the stories we’ve ever read, and compare the lives and actions of the story characters with our own. This is what makes every book different for every reader. Scholars have noticed that many of the world’s most popular stories have quite a similar structure. The plots of some popular stories can be traced right back to one of the first recorded stories, the 4,000-year-old Epic of Gilgamesh – which tells of the adventures of the hero-king of Uruk as he searches for the secret of eternal life. One scholar, Joseph Campbell, wrote a book that explored myths and legends from around the world, and noted what they all shared – the journey of a hero and their return with new insights or powers. He called it The Hero With A Thousand Faces (1949). Inspired by that book, George Lucas used its ideas to write a rather famous film script – Star Wars.
Can you think of any other books that tell stories of heroes, quests and returns? Maybe you’ll write one yourself, one day.
‘WORM’
REFERS TO AN OBSOLETE GROUPING,
‘VERMES’ USED BY CARL L INNAEUS AND JEAN-BAPTISTE LAMARK FOR ALL NON-ANTHROPOD INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS, NOW SEEN TO BE POLYPHYLETIC.
TAXONOMY OF WORMS
WORM FACTS 1. The First Word
15
THE FIRST WORD
How do we use words?
I’m a blue whale. I talk to my friends using a range of deep, groaning sounds – and they can sometimes hear me up to 1,000 miles away!
I’m Helen Keller. I lost my senses of sight and hearing when I was 19 months old. I learned to speak, read and write, and was the author of many books.
I’m Christine Sun Kim. I make art about the way people communicate.
GO! GO!
GO!
3. Reading Words
Lauren O’Hara lives in Dublin. She is the illustrator of Sophie Dahl’s children’s book Madame Badobedah, which was a Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Year and has been nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal twice. With her sister Natalia O’Hara as author, she illustrated Hortense and the Shadow and The Bandit Queen.
29.5 x 24.5cm 40pp ISBN 978 0 500 652510 July £12.99
Curtain Up!
Behind the Scenes at the Royal Opera House
Illustrated by Lauren O’Hara
For ages 7+
Figaro the cat takes readers on a backstage tour of London’s magnificent Royal Opera House
It’s opening night of The Nutcracker and the ballet dancers, singers and performers at the Royal Opera House are getting ready to step out into the spotlight. Backstage a team of craftspeople, designers and engineers are working against the clock, preparing for the director to say, ‘Curtain up!’. Figaro the cat takes readers on a backstage tour to discover what it takes to put on a performance. Featuring examples from key works of opera and ballet, highlights include trying on the Mad Hatter’s wig from Alice in Wonderland; practising a fighting scene from Romeo and Juliet; perfecting the Sugar Plum Fairy’s tutu; learning to ‘play dead’; and creating explosions on stage. With an introduction to a classical orchestra, key ballet terms and basic stage directions, the book encourages readers to explore the many ways they can get involved.
Dame Darcey Bussell, former Principal Ballerina with The Royal Ballet
Ylva Hillström is a curator at the Modern Art Museum in Stockholm. She was involved in the major Hilma af Klint exhibition in Stockholm in 2013. Karin Eklund has an MA in Children’s Book Illustration from Cambridge School of Art. She wrote and illustrated the book Kids Yoga, which was long-listed for the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2018.
28.0 x 21.0cm 64pp ww September £14.99
The Art and Life of Hilma af Klint
Ylva Hillström Illustrated by Karin Eklund
For ages 8+
The first children’s picture book on Hilma af Klint and her pioneering work
Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) began painting her abstract and highly symbolic images as early as 1906, long before Kandinsky and Malevich arrived at what is generally regarded as the birth of modern abstract art. She was heavily influenced by spiritual ideologies and claimed that she painted on instruction from the spirit world, for the future. Until recently overlooked by art historians, she is now lauded around the world, and will be the subject of a major exhibition at Tate Modern in 2023. This book is not only about Hilma af Klint’s art, but also about the magic that surrounded her. Brimming with quality reproductions of the artist’s work and with illustrations by Karin Eklund, it will appeal to all children wanting to learn more about the thrilling life and work of this groundbreaking artist.
Alice Harman is the author of more than forty books for children, including Modern Art Explorer, and developed the award-winning Why is art full of naked people? with Susie Hodge. Quentin Blake is an internationally celebrated illustrator, known for his collaborations with authors such as Roald Dahl, Russell Hoban, John Yeoman, David Walliams and Joan Aiken.
27.9 x 21.6cm 96pp ISBN 978 0 500 652749 September £14.99
Mona Lisa and the Others
Alice Harman Illustrated by Quentin Blake
For ages 7+
A witty introduction to the Louvre’s many masterpieces, told from the perspective of the subjects themselves
Millions of people visit the Louvre Museum every year to gaze and gawp at its all-star art collection. But there’s one star who gets a lot more attention than anyone else – and her very own special queuing system, if you can believe it! Well, the Louvre’s many other masterpieces aren’t too happy about being overshadowed – and they’re here to tell everyone what makes them just as worthy of the Mona Lisa’s teeming crowds. Written in a light-hearted and contemporary style by Alice Harman, and illustrated with the energetic artwork of Sir Quentin Blake, Mona Lisa and the Others is an entertaining introduction to the Louvre Museum’s collection that will appeal to children, parents, guardians and teachers from all walks of life.
Also available
30.0 x 23.0cm 48pp ISBN 978 0 500 652763 August £12.99 Huw Lewis Jones is a polarexploring author and naturalist who is lucky enough to have met many bears in the wild. He is Associate Professor at Falmouth University, and has written history books about photography, icebergs, mountains and maps. He is also the author of the Bad Apple book series. Sam Caldwell is an illustrator based in Glasgow, Scotland. He studied painting at the Edinburgh College of Art and is the illustrator of four books for children, including Weird, Wild, Amazing!.
Do Bears Poop in the Woods?
Huw Lewis Jones Illustrated by Sam Caldwell
For ages 6+
Field guide Huw Lewis Jones takes readers out into the wild to discover all there is to know and love about the eight different species of bears
Do you know your panda from your polar bear? Can you spot the difference between a sun bear and a sloth bear? Follow your expert field guide as we travel deep into the woods to learn all the ‘bear’ necessities. Bears are familiar to us all, but what you might not realise is that behind their big, grizzly image are wild animals who really need our help. So put on your walking boots, grab your binoculars and come along on a journey to see the eight incredible bear species in the wild. Not only will you discover why bears poop so much, you’ll also find out how to avoid getting eaten by one, and what we can do to protect them.
