When you show a New Person around, it's called giving them The Tour...
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The Blurb
The hilarious and heartfelt debut picture book from Katie Clapham, illustrated by Nadia Shireen - creator of the bestselling, highly acclaimed Grimwood series and Barbara Throws a Wobbler - will help kids feel better about those first-day-at-school nerves, as well as encouraging all children to create a safe and welcoming space for others.
Because, really, starting school can be scary. And being a New Kid in a new school can also be very scary. Luckily, this book will help soothe first-day nerves, make kids feel excited about the challenge and also show children how to be the PERFECT Tour Guide and make any New Kid feel right at home. And did we mention this book is very funny? Because it really is.
So, come along and join THE TOUR with Katie Clapham and Nadia Shireen. First stop? The toilets. Because they're great for singing in. (And also for weeing.) And don't forget to show them the library and its one MILLION books (remember to use your quiet mouse voice!), the playground (where you can play Worldwide Hairdressers!) and ... the EMERGENCY MEET UP PLACE (just in case anyone gets lost). But REMEMBER, sometimes when you're a New Kid it can all be ... a bit too much. And that's when the New Kid doesn't need you to be a tour guide anymore, they need you to be ... a friend.
My Review
This is a delightful picture book, aimed at those about to start school or nursery, and also for those who may just be the tour guide themselves.
I liked this book very much, and I haven't come across another like it. I could well imagine sharing this with my children when they were young. The first day of school/nursery can be an anxious time for little ones, and I think sharing this book with an adult beforehand may well help with easing those anxieties and perhaps would give rise to a conversation about the specifics of a child's fears.
However, I think this would work equally well in a reception school classroom. Teachers could use this to help children become responsible tour guides.
I also loved the humour in this book. Our young tour guide in this book shows the new child where the toilets are, informing them that it is a great place for singing, the soap smells like strawberries and finally, a good place for "weeing." I laughed when that was used as the final bit of information.
The whole book is filled with amusing facts such as that, and culminates in a friendship forming between the two.
A lovely little book that has been nicely illustrated and will have great appeal for young children.
Book Details
ISBN: 978 1529505740
Publisher: Walker Books
Formats: Hardback
No. of Pages: 40
Purchase Links
About the Author
Katie Clapham is the co-owner of independent bookshop Storytellers, Inc. with her mum. Picked by The Bookseller as a rising star, Katie was also named Best Young Bookseller at the British Book Awards. Katie is the author of acclaimed teen comedy Three Girls (UCLan, 2022), and The Missing Bookshop (Stripes, 2019). She lives by the sea with her husband, daughter and dog, where she writes the popular Substack newsletter, Receipt from the Bookshop, as well as working in the bookshop.
You can also find Katie at:
About the Illustrator
Nadia Shireen has been making picture books since 2010, when her debut Good Little Wolf burst onto the scene and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. Since then, she’s written and illustrated many more picture books including Barbara Throws a Wobbler, Billy and the Beast and Geoffrey Gets the Jitters. In 2017, The Bumblebear was distributed to over 700,000 children as part of Booktrust's Time To Read campaign. Her anarchic series for older readers, Grimwood, was a World Book Day title in 2022 and has taken the playgrounds of the nation by storm. Nadia has won the UKLA book prize twice, though she has lost loads of others (she still enjoys being nominated though.) She co-presents a podcast about children’s books called The Island Of Brilliant with writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce.
You can also find Nadia at:
(Book and media courtesy of the publisher)
(author photo courtesy of her instagram page)
(all opinions are my own)
