Picture Books

Tiny Crab is a Tidy Crab – Paula Bowles

July 22, 2022 by penny Leave a Comment

We were sent a copy of Tiny Crab is a Tidy Crab to review. Please see full disclosure at the end of this post.

Just before the heatwave hit us here in England this week we managed to squeeze in a trip to our favourite beach. One that we love because it’s not over commercialised and is beautifully litter free. There’s loads of space for children to run around on the sand and play in the sea, and at the end of the day the only thing we leave behind on the beach is our footprints to be washed away by the sea. A perfect beach location for us to read Tiny Crab is a Tidy Crab.

A copy of Tiny Crab is a Tidy Crab placed on a sandy beach with two small shells next to the book

Beach lover

Tiny Crab is someone else who loves the beach. And he also loves keeping the beach clean and tidy. In fact, he loved the beach so much that he wanted to share it with some of his friends. His friends come and enjoy the beach, but when they leave Tiny Crab finds that they have left rubbish everywhere.

He clears up after his friends, but the next day they return again, and bring their friends with them too. It’s clear that they love being at the beach, like Tiny Crab does, but it’s also clear that they don’t know how to keep it clean and tidy. Tiny Crab may be tiny, but he knows that if he’s going to look after his beach then he needs to speak up for it. And so that’s exactly what he does.

Creating mini eco activists

Tiny Crab is a Tidy Crab is quite simply a perfect book for helping young children understand about taking care of our beaches and our planet as a whole. That’s not where the book’s message ends though. Children, even tiny young ones, are encouraged to speak up for what they believe in. It may be that they need to make themselves heard to those who are bigger than them too, but if they believe in something then that is exactly what they should do.

There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re at a tipping point with climate change right now. The horrific fires that followed the heatwave have been a wake up call for many of us as to what the results of climate change can be on our lives. But the environmental message goes even further. We need to remove rubbish from our beaches and oceans. We need to reduce our reliance on single use plastic. It’s our children’s tomorrow that is being affected and we need to help and enable them to make changes for their tomorrows. Tiny Crab is a Tidy Crab does exactly that. Shows them how to speak out and be heard.

A three year old girl, wrapped in a towel, sat in a camping chair on a beach reading a copy of Tiny Crab is a Tidy Crab

It was absolutely perfect to share this book with our three year old at the beach. She loved the bright and busy illustrations accompanying the story. As we read the book I could see her looking around at everyone playing on the beach and she started asking questions about whether or not they were all going to take their rubbish home with them. I’m pleased to say that they did. As did we. With the tide chasing us up the beach there was a final check to make sure that all we left behind were footprints and the remnants of a sandcastle that the sea was reclaiming. Exactly how it should be left.

Tiny Crab is a Tidy Crab by Paula Bowles was published by Simon & Schuster on 7th July 2022. Paperback RRP £6.99, ISBN: 9781471191794 It can be purchased online here.

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of Tiny Crab is a Tidy Crab for the purposes of this review. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links. If you arrive at Amazon via one of my links and buy anything it costs you no more than if you had arrived there under your own steam, but I receive a small commission for which I am very grateful. Thank you.

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The Invisible – Tom Percival

January 31, 2021 by penny Leave a Comment

Children’s books can be some of the most powerful things that you read. Even as an adult. They give children access to other worlds. Worlds that they might never travel to outside their own imagination, and worlds that other children they know might already inhabit. Books can be a lifeline for so many children, and a way of learning so much more about what goes on in the world around them. They can also inspire alongside educating.

But not all children are fortunate enough to have access to books. Some children’s parents are struggling to put enough food on the table and to keep their children warm and fed. This was the case before Covid hit and sadly the situation has escalated further as adults have lost jobs or been furloughed by their employers.

The Children’s Society estimate that there are over 4 million children who live in poverty here in the UK. That’s a startling figure. Some attention may have been drawn to these children by the wonderful work done by footballer Marcus Rashford recently to ensure that all children entitled to a free school meal don’t go hungry whilst schools remain closed to most pupils and also during school holidays. Whilst these news headlines have made people think about the plight of some children, many more children and their families are left feeling invisible. Tom Percival’s wonderful new book The Invisible tells the story of one of these children – Isabel.

When they are no longer able to pay their bills, Isabel and her family have to leave the family home that they love and move across the city to somewhere completely new. When they do so Isabel starts to feel invisible; cold, sad and lonely. Then she starts to notice other invisible people around her. People who like her need help not to feel so invisible. So she stops to help, and doing so has amazing results.

The Invisible tells Isabel’s story beautifully – both through words and pictures. It shows that you can find beauty all around you if you look hard enough, and that you don’t necessarily need lots of material possessions to be happy. There are some lovely subtle messages in the illustrations where there are signs advertising to “buy stuff” and when you see these next to Isabel’s story it really makes you realise just how unnecessary some of that “stuff” is.

What Isabel wants is to not feel invisible and one key to doing that is by noticing everyone else around her, including those others who might feel invisible like her. Such an important thing for all children and adults to try to do.

The Invisible is published by Simon & Schuster and released on 4 February 2021. ISBN 978-1-4711-9130-5. Paperback £6.99. It is available to buy online here.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of The Invisible for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains an affiliate link. If you follow this link and make a purchase I will receive a small commission. It will cost you no more than if you had visited the site independently. All purchases and subsequent commissions are very much appreciated. Thank you.

Barry the Fish With Fingers – 10th Anniversary Edition

April 30, 2019 by penny Leave a Comment

It seems somewhat appropriate to be celebrating the 10th anniversary of Barry the Fish with Fingers, seeing as that’s how many fingers he has!

I’ve said it before here on Penny Reads, and I’ll happily say it again, we’re massive fans of Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet in this house. For years now I’ve been reviewing their books and their characters such as Supertato, Norman the Slug, No-Bot and Dough the Bug are firm favourites, especially with Master C. Strangely though Barry the Fish with Fingers has passed us by, until now. Possibly because as a ten year old we missed him originally as Little Miss C is only just turning nine now. That’s why this 10th Anniversary Edition of Barry is perfectly timed. Master C is excited to meet a new creation from Sue and Paul and it’s lovely for Tube Stop Baby to be building up her own library of picture books already.

Barry is, much as his name suggests, a Fish with Fingers. And even better, his fingers are Fish Fingers! The other fish used to be amazed by the puffer fish who could blow bubbles, but that was nothing once Barry came along. Suddenly their world is opened up to all these different things that you can do when you have fingers. Everything from knitting and finger painting to finger puppets. But even better still – fingers mean that you can tickle!

What fun the fish we’re having. Well, all except one. Puffy the Puffer Fish was feeling rather sad that no one was interested in his bubble show any more. But then Barry put his fingers to good use and by doing something that only a fish with fingers can do he saved Puffy’s life.

There’s no doubt about it, Barry the Fish with Fingers is a delightful book. As with all of Sue and Paul’s books the illustrations are delightful – full of colour and fun. The story itself is again perfect to be shared with a small child, especially one that likes being tickled!

The 10th anniversary edition of the book is a brilliant way of introducing Barry the Fish with Fingers to families that might have missed out on him when he was first released. There’s a new celebratory cover with sparkly foil bits on the front, and on the back it features Sue and Paul’s other well loved characters – Keith the Cat, Doug the Bug, Supertato and Norman the Slug.

Barry the Fish with Fingers 10th Anniversary Edition is released on 16th May 2019. ISBN 978-1-4711-7818-4 and the Paperback is priced at £6.99. It is available to buy / pre-order online here.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Barry the Fish with Fingers for the purpose of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post, and others linked to in it, contain affiliate links.

In the City – Dominika Lipniewska

March 26, 2019 by penny Leave a Comment

To young children everything is fascinating. They especially seem to love the hustle and bustle of busy places and I’ve always found that my children are completely mesmerised whenever I take them into London. Cities have so much going on. Much that us adults just take for granted, but through a child’s eyes everything can be new and exciting. In the City is a wonderful way to take a look at all the different things children might find in a city.

In the City is actually quite a long book, and as a result goes into quite a bit of depth about all the different things you might see, and hear, in a busy city. There are pages devoted to the buildings you might see, the people you might meet, the animals that call the city home, the different sounds you might hear, the various modes of transport, the food you can eat and the things you can do whilst in the city.

The text in the book had loads of prompts in it for you to use to start conversations with your children about what they can see in the pictures. It might be simply counting animals or boats, or maybe asking them about what types of food they like, or what modes of transport they have travelled on. This is particularly brilliant for any adults who are not natural storytellers and find sharing books with their children a bit challenging at times. It’s an excellent way of introducing lots of things that you can talk about with them.

The whole book is illustrated by Dominika in a very bold and distinctive fun graphical style. Her illustrations have lots of shapes in them, which may sound like a slightly weird thing to say, but when you look at the pages of the book (or the fab trailer above) you’ll see what I mean. Not everything looks exactly like it might do in real life, but again that is a brilliant conversation starter with the child that you’re sharing a book with. I can also see it as a brilliant way of encouraging a child to recognise shapes and also to draw. If you start them off with some basic shapes like a rectangle or a semi-circle and show them how the book has used some of these shapes to draw a car, a baby’s pram or a playground.

Sharing the book with one of my children I loved just how much there was to see and talk about in the illustrations. The bold style of them made them great for attracting children’s attention and both of us felt drawn to point at the pictures with our fingers to point things out to each other or to count things.

I liked the fact that In the City doesn’t actually state which city they are talking about. The N29 night bus is a bit of a nod towards London where Dominika lives, but as the book doesn’t focus on any distinctive landmarks it is quite possible to apply it to any city that you child might know, or might be about to visit. I think it would make a wonderful gift for a young child before a weekend trip to the city and it would be a brilliant conversation starter for talking about what cities are like and all the different and similar things that they might find there.

In the City by Dominika Lipniewska is published in Hardback by Button Books in April 2019. ISBN 9781787080300. £12.99. It is aimed at children aged 2 – 5 years.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of In the City for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.

Superkitty – Hannah Whitty and Paula Bowles

February 15, 2019 by penny Leave a Comment

A crime fighting kitty? Not what you might expect at the Sensational Superhero Agency, but that’s exactly what kitty wants to do. She’s sick and tired of just answering the phones whilst Cheetah, Wildebeest, Lion, Elephant, Rhino and Bear are out in Big City chasing crooks and solving crimes.

One day a call comes in from Dr Fossil at the Big City Museum. Someone has stolen one of the bones from her new dinosaur exhibit. The one that was supposed to be revealed to the public tonight.

Kitty takes the call and decides that this time she’s not taking no for an answer. She heads out with the others to try to find the criminal behind the theft. On their way to the museum the others question whether or not Kitty can make it, but also show their own weaknesses by having to stop off en-route. Once they reach the museum Kitty shows that she very much has what it takes to be a Superhero in her own right. She is Superkitty!

It’s a lovely tale of believing in your own abilities to succeed at something and showing that you shouldn’t always judge someone else’s abilities by their external appearance alone.

This fast moving story is accompanied by some gorgeous illustrations that really help to bring it to life. A couple of the outdoor nighttime scenes may be a little dark to read in a dimly lit bedroom, but Master C enjoyed the excuse to put the “big light” on for that part of the story! He loved the story and it provoked some great conversation afterwards about how anyone can be a superhero even if they are a cute fluffy little kitten!

Superkitty by Hannah Whitty and Paula Bowles is published by Simon and Schuster on 21 February 2019. Hardback priced at £12.99 and paperback priced at £6.99. It is available to buy online here.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Superkitty for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.

We Are Family – Claire Freedman & Judi Abott

September 20, 2018 by penny Leave a Comment

We Are Family

Families come in all different shapes and sizes and as many of you will know, my family has changed shape considerably over the last couple of years. No matter what size or shape your family is though, the simple message of “We Are Family” is what trumps everything and that’s what comes across in this delightful book from Claire Freedman and Judi Abbot.

Focussing on the bond between siblings it talks about all the fun things that brothers and sisters do together and how they stick up for one another. They may be some fallings out, but they always make up fast as underneath everything they are best friends.

Little Miss C and Master C certainly have their ups and downs, but I know that deep down they do love each other and that becomes clear when you look at how they look out for each other and how they’ve stuck together through the ups and downs of the last year. Earlier this week Master C had a session with a speech and language therapist and one thing that melted me in the de-brief afterwards was when she said she spoke to him about friends and his understanding of friendship. She said that he talked happily about his friends from school, but particularly said that he wanted more friends like his sister. I still well up thinking about that.

Bringing We Are Family into our home comes at a perfect time really as the pair of them will be welcoming a new half-brother or sister in the next couple of months. I know that it will mean changes to the family dynamic once again, but I’m hoping that reading this together will help them both see that it is an extension of their family rather than anything else.

We Are Family really is perfectly pitched for children who may not have had a brother or sister before and are wanting to understand how much fun siblings can be. It’s beautifully written and Judi Abbot’s accompanying illustrations are gorgeous.

We’ve recently shared a Claire Freedman book before, when we reviewed How To Nab A Rabbit, but this is a totally different style of book. That to me shows her versatility as a children’s writer, but also how having a range of books to read with your children is so important. Picture books can be shared not just for enjoyment, but also as a way of helping children understand different things happening in their lives.

We Are Family was published by Simon & Schuster on 12 July 2018. Paperback ISBN 978-1-4711-1716-9 Priced at £6.99. It can be bought online via Amazon here.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of We Are Family for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.