There is still time to pop down to your local bookshop for some last-minute Christmas presents. Here is a picture book which comes highly recommended by our student reviewer.
Get lost in time on an exciting adventure in a park hideout with the brilliantly brave Hannah, and her shy friend, the Odd Furry Creature. Hannah is creative and resourceful as she makes the Odd Furry Creature feel at home in their hideout. She makes them both capes out of feathers and beds out of leaves before roasting pigeons on the fire for tea. As the world goes by outside, Hannah and the Odd Furry Creature enjoy living in their ‘happy place’, until we hear a voice, loud and clear, say, ‘Where are you?’, and Hannah helps her hesitant friend to feel brave and leave the hideout.
Exploring themes of the world of the imagination, the importance of the outdoors, identity and belonging, and managing feelings; this book is a brilliant piece of literature that belongs both in educational settings and at home, for children aged four and above.
Between Susanna Mattiangeli’s exceptional writing, and Felicity Sala’s immersive illustrations and translation skills from Italian to English, they have created a book that captures the essence of the child’s imagination, like that of Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak.
Read on for the answers to our Christmas quiz (previous post)…
1. Owl Babies, by Martin Waddell
2. A walk (Lily takes a walk, by Satoshi Kitamura)
3. Soon (2015); Maybe (2017) and, potentially, Always (not yet published: award yourself a bonus point if you got this one). These are in order of publication, after Once (2005); Then (2009), Now (2010); After (2012), all by Morris Gleitzman. In chronological order of Felix’s life, it would be: Once; Then; After; Soon; Maybe; Now. Award yourself double points for either sequence.
4. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. The first Brighton City Read was in 2005
5. A bar-tailed godwit
6. Dogger is a stuffed toy.
7. Funnybones, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
8. Shirley (Come away from the water, Shirley and Time to get out of the bath, Shirley)
9. The Lost Words, by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris – Crowd-funded campaigns resulted in the book being bought and donated to more than three-quarters of primary schools in England, Wales and Scotland and to every hospice in the country. The independent bookseller Henry Layte of The Book Hive donated copies of The Lost Words to Norfolk primary schools.
10. Mrs Large, aiming for a soothing bubble bath in Five Minutes’ Peace, by Jill Murphy.
