6 more good February reads for kids
Winnie the Pooh and Me is a gentle rhyming version of AA Milne’s original poem. This is a charming addition for those who love the tales of Christopher Robin and the famous bear, says children’s book reviewer CAROLINE FRANKLIN
The air is distinctly chilly as I write this. However, the sun is shining and if this continues it may not be all to the good as an old saying tells me it is better to see a troop of wolves than have a fine February. Let’s take our chance and hope for sun anyway – looking out for the wolves just to be on the safe side. The word February apparently comes from the Latin word februa which means to cleanse and is named after the Roman festival of purification and atonement, Februalia. Perhaps that’s where the rather more down to earth idea of spring cleaning comes from. Any day now people will start thinking about all those jobs they were going to do last Februalia and just never got round to.
Anyway, cold, damp, frosty weather is just the time for reading and already the choice of children’s books for 2023 have started coming through my door. For example:
Winnie the Pooh and Me is a gentle rhyming version of AA Milne’s original poem, Us Two. Written by Jeanne Willis and beautifully illustrated by Mark Burgess in the style of EH Shepard, this is a charming addition for those who love the tales of Christopher Robin and the famous bear.
Children as young as three will love this return to the enchanting world of the Hundred Acre Wood and those who live there.
Published by Macmillan at £12.99 (HB)
Emily Gravett’s name on the cover of a book always guarantees it will be enjoyable and 10 Dogs is no exception.
Short on words, but large on fun, this is sheer delight from cover to cover and begins with 10 differing dogs and 10 sausages. You could say this is a book to help infants with their counting, but I think they will just enjoy it anyway and if they learn a bit on the way, well that’s good. Brilliant!
Published by Two Hoots at £12.99 (HB)
As we approach the day of the coronation, there will no doubt be more and more books on a variety of royal subjects. The first to land on my desk is Royal Animals – An Illustrated History and it is a glorious telling of the animals which the kings and queens of England have been given over the years – and what happened to them. The lions given to Henry III in 1235 posed a problem. Well, it would, wouldn’t it? Henry’s solution was to build a palace with a large strong wall – the Tower of London. They weren’t the only exotic animals to be given to English monarchs. You can’t help feeling sorry for Henry who, already by then having a bear and three lions, was given an elephant by the King of France.
More manageable animals – swans, spaniels, pomeranians, horses and of course those corgis have all played their parts in the life of our royal family. (Oh, I forgot the giraffe from Muhammad Ali.) This is an absorbing and interesting peep into yet another problem that our royals have to cope with – whilst being very grateful to the giver, of course!
Published by Two Hoots at £16.99 (HB)
Anna Milbourne’s book with holes is about a little girl who is fed up and bored stiff when she is told she has to cut down on the time she spends watching cartoons or playing games staring at a screen. “Being bored”, her dad tells her, “is what comes just before having a Really Good Idea” and in I’m (almost) Never Bored his daughter discovers he is absolutely right. Once she has started looking through holes she discovers all sorts of things and using her imagination can see things such as a flying unicorn in a washing machine (with the odd socks, of course).
Colourful and vibrant, hopefully this book will encourage children aged three or so to discover there are other fun ways to spend time which don’t involve watching a screen.
Published by Usborne at £12.99 (HB)
As its title implies, Blackbeard’s Treasure is a swashbuckler of a story set in 1718. On the Caribbean island where Abigail lives with her rich father, her life is very boring for, although she has lovely clothes and lives the life of a rich girl, she has no friends – and actually she doesn’t like her father very much.
Then pirates attack, Abigail has to become a boy to survive and from that moment her life changes forever – and she loves it. A rattling good adventure story for children aged eight-plus.
Published by Bloomsbury at £7.99 (PB)
Build a House by Grammy Award-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens is described as a history of resilience and the journey to freedom and in this picture book she depicts a family’s resilience in the face of slavery and prejudice.
Determined not to simply survive, they want to tell their own story. Based on the rhythm of her song Build a House she tells the story of brave people and the music that sustained them.
Although the background to the story is serious, reading this rhythmically to a small child while looking at the illustrations would just bring enjoyment to reader and listender.
Published by Walker Books at £12.99 (HB)