The Tour at School (Because You're the New Kid!) by Katie Clapham and Nadia Shireen - #bookreview

 

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

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK

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:

 Instagram

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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:

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Instagram

Facebook

Bluesky

(Book and media courtesy of the publisher)

(author photo courtesy of her instagram page)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

The Box by Jo Linsdell - #bookreview #blogtour

 

Because a box is just a box, except when it's not.

***

Join in the creative fun as a little boy explains why his box is his favourite toy.

My Review

This is a charming book that young children will love.

As a parent I can recall many happy days of playing with a box with my boys. Their favourite game was to play Jack in the Box. One of them would pop up and the rest of us would feign surprise. Happy days!

This is just what this book is about. How something as simple as a cardboard box can be the spring board to imaginative play. We see the little boy use his box for so many different purposes. It becomes a football net, a spaceship, a racing car and many other things besides. 

I think young children will love the repetitive phrase of "because a box is just a box, except when it's not," which occurs regularly throughout the book. The author has illustrated this herself in a fun and simple way.

I really think preschoolers will love this, and it would also be ideal for those who are just beginning to read. This book deserves to be in every preschool/nursery library, and I recommend it for sharing with the little ones in your life.

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1497344648

Formats: e-book and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)

No. of Pages:  44 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the Author:

Jo Linsdell is a best selling author and illustrator and internationally recognized marketing expert. To find out more about Jo and her projects visit her website https://www.jolinsdell.com/.

You can also find Jo at:

Amazon

Good Reads

Twitter / X

Facebook

Linked In

You Tube

(ARC and media courtesy of Jo Linsdell)

(all opinions are my own)

Snack, Please! by Georgie Birkett - #bookreview

 

When she was a baby, Gertie LOVED food. She would eat mashed-up veg, mushed-up fruit...smooshed-up anything really...

As Gertie got older, she would still eat most things... and once she even ate a slug! (Yuck!)

***

Tired of chopping fruit, cubing cheese, fishing rice cakes out of a backpack and generally fielding incessant snack requests? Then Snack, Please! is the book for you – all about the joy of making and sharing food, together!

Gertie LOVES snacks: sofa snacks, bath snacks, bedtime snacks … it’s a snack life! She abandons almost every mealtime in favour of snacking. Her daddy can’t help but feel frustrated – how can he convince her to try new food? Or to even talk about something other than snacks? A day in Granny's allotment might just provide all the inspiration that's needed. In this funny, warm companion title to Carry Me!, Georgie Birkett explores small children’s exasperating eating habits and, once more, through a very endearing father-daughter mouse duo, she perfectly captures the ups and downs of parenting life.

***

When the lovely people at Walker Books sent me a copy of this book, I was instantly attracted by the title. The reason being that "snack" was my grandson's first word. He completely skipped "mama, dada" and "nana" and went straight in at "snack." Clearly a boy who knows his own mind.

As you will see from the quote above, Gertie, the main character in the book, eats a slug! This brought to mind a slightly horrific occasion when my son did the same thing when he was little. Thankfully, I had got to him before he actually swallowed!  So, you can understand why this book resonated with me. 

It is such a lovely book too. It's characters, Gertie and her Daddy are delightfully portrayed, both in words and illustration. There is so much that children will find in the artwork to support the text as it is shared with them.

The book is aimed at a pre-school audience, but early readers will enjoy reading this too. It is amusing to read, and I think most little ones will identify with Gertie and her love of snacks.

I cannot wait to share this with my grandson, who is two. It is delightful book which I highly recommend.

About the Author:

Georgie Birkett is an illustrator and writer of many children’s books, she won the Booktrust Early Years award with Is This My Nose? and was longlisted for the Kate Greenaway medal. She lives in Lewes in Sussex with her one husband, two sons and two cats. She absolutely loves working in her garden cabin with one of the cats sleeping by her side.

(book and media courtesy of the publisher)

(all opinions are my own)

L is for Love by Atinuke - Illustrated by Angela Brooksbank - #bookreview

 

L is for Love and L is for Lemons.

L is for Leaving, L is for Linger...

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A whole family set off to sell their luscious lemons at the market in Lagos. They leave before dawn with lamps in hand and loads on heads. They have quite an adventure ahead of them … over logs, on a leaky lorry, through lightning, past lions and leopards until eventually reaching Lagos. The city is bustling and loud – there are lots of legs to get lost between! – but they can finally sell their luscious lemons.

From the creators of B Is for Baby comes L Is for Love, a beautiful first book of words perfect for pre-schoolers learning their ABC. Children will love sounding out the words in this playful, adventurous and vibrantly illustrated story set in West Africa.

***

Today is Valentine's Day, so what better day to review this lovely book for pre-schoolers, L is for Love.

 Today does not necessarily have to be about romantic love. It equally applies to loving a parent or child, or even a friend or a pet. This lovely picture book is a love-letter to Lagos, the place of the author's birth and where she partly grew up.

The illustrations tell a story all on their own. The text is simple in format, ideal for very early readers, with the artistic illustrations telling the story and moving it along. 

I have previously read and reviewed a book by this author, Too Small Tola Makes It Count, which you can read by clicking on the title. It was an equally lovely book, aimed at slightly older children than this book.

L is for Love is a joyous book. I can well imagine pre-schoolers poring over the illustrations of this delightful book, and equally enjoy the text being read to them. I highly recommend this book.

ISBN:  978 1529501483

Publisher:  Walker Books

Formats:  Hardcover/Picture Book

No. of Pages:  40

About the Author:

Atinuke was born in Nigeria and spent her childhhod in both Afrika and the UK. She is the author of the bestselling Anna Hibiscus and No. 1 Car Spotter series, as well as Africa, Amazing Africa, B Is for Baby and Catch That Chicken among others. Atinuke started her career as an oral storyteller of tales from the African continent; now she writes about contemporary life in Nigeria. Atinuke lives on a mountain overlooking the sea in Wales.

About the Illustrator:

Angela Brooksbank worked as a designer and art director in the children's book industry before undertaking an MA at the Cambridge School of Art, and turning her hand to her own illustration. About her picture book inspiration, Angela says, "I am constantly inspired by children’s energy and unique response to life and hope that my work conveys some of their playful spirit." Baby Goes to Market, written by Atinuke, is her debut picture book. Find her online at angelabrooksbank.com.

(book courtesy of the publisher)

(author/illustrator bio info and photo courtesy of Walker Books / Paul Musso)

(all opinions are my own)