For Pre-Schoolers

Here are a few recently published books for pre-schoolers. These titles are great to read. The pages are made from card, they have brightly coloured illustrations and the books are FUN!

Whose Wings? Jeannette Rowe (ABC Books)
Jeannette Rowe has created the brightly coloured and sturdy whose series of lift the flap books. In Whose Wings? children can flip the flap and discover who owns the different wings that are revealed on each page. This series has bold colours and animals or features or objects, easily recognised by pre-schoolers. other titles include Whose baby? Whose Teeth? Tail? House? and Whose Poo?

A Wiggly Word House The Wiggles (ABC Books)
The Wiggles are a HIT and they will be a hit with this new series of books especially designed for the pre-schoolers. In Wiggly Word House children explore and learn to love language. There are puzzles, word matching and other language activites to do with your kids. There are even riddles from the Wiggles!

Purr Alison Lester (ABC Books)
One of the titles in a new series - Talk to the Animals. In this book, with colourful images and rhyming text, children are introduced to pet animals (some they might even have) and the sounds that the animals make.

AND

Are You Hungry? Tina Burke (Puffin)
This book was published earlier this year. It is perfect for pre-schoolers. This nearly wordless picture book, about a little girl and her puppy who set off for a picnic and meet a lot of hungry animals along the way, is a story of friendship and sharing. It is a great book for adults and their preschoolers to 'read' and create a story -- together.

Books for Babies and the Very Young

Recently a few books for babies and the very young, especially board books have come across my desk. These books are strong enough to survive investigative teeth, gums and messy fingers and of course focus on the child.

So, have a look at these:

Playmates Jane Tanner (Puffin)

A beautiful book about a young boy Ben, his best friend teddy and the new puppy dog which changes the relationship - but just for a while! This book about sharing and friendship. It has minimal text and is perfect for pre-schoolers.

Cuddle Time Libby Gleeson & Julie Vivas (Walker Books)

Two award winning picture book creators have crafted this title.What do two toddlers do in the early morning when mum and dad are asleep. They visit the monster's cave that is their parents bedroom and when the monsters rise it is time to jump and roll and paly and it is also Cuddle Time.

The Midnight Feast Margaret Wild & Ann James (ABC Books)

What do cheeky babies do when they can't sleep at midnight? They raid the fridge, meet at the middngiht Cafe and feast and party and play dress-ups with the food with other babies. Then just before sunrise, they all say goodbye and waddle home.

A glorious celebration of babies and food!

Recent Picture Books

Here we go with some recent aussie picture books.

Harry Highpants Tony Wilson & Tom Jellett (Scholastic)
Wear your pants high or wear your pants low while reading this book and giggle. This is a picture book that young kids will love becuase they ALL know someone who wears high pants. Older kids will love it too because they don't always want to be like everyone else - and that's just what happens here!

Midsummer Knight Gregory Rogers (A&U)
The Bear is back! And this time he is staging a dramatic royal rescue in a magical faerie kingdom. Here is a swashbuckling story of friendship and courage told with Greg's amazing pictures and of course NO words. This wordless picture book is fantastic - have fun creating the story as you go.

Santa's Aussie holiday Maria Farrer & Anna Walker (Scholastic)
Just in time here comes the answer to the Santa question every child asks at some time ... what does santa do when he's not preparing for Christmas?! why he spends his holiday in Australia of course. this picture book is a cool new aussie Chistmas tale about Santa and his adventures.

An Aussie Night Before Christmas Pops Up! Yvonne Morrison & Kilmeny Niland (Scholastic)
This picture book has been crafted into a gorgeous pop up perfect for kids big and little. See the tale of the night before Christmas told from an Australian view and with pop ups it comes alive!

Ride with Me Jane Tanner (Penguin)
This tender picture books is a lovng story about a girl, her mother's horse and hope and healing. Heartborken because her mother has died, Emma can't tend to the horse they both cared about. As it becomes more timid Emma has a change of heart and with courage faces her loss ... the healing begins.

Annie to the Rescue Deborah Niland (Penguin)
Annie is a brave little girl even when her brother tries to scare her so when her cat gets stuck in a tree it is Annie to the rescue! But things change when Annie realises she is stuck until she works out the way down - all by herself. A great book for young kids about determination and courage.

Here we go

Over the next short time (I won't say how long but the next few weeks) I shall start listing some of the new books that I have received over the past few months with a few liines about each title. I hope that you can use these to add to your library or purchase for presents.

So ... here we go:

PICTURE BOOKS

What Will You Be? Simon French and Donna Rawlins (A&U)
by the wonderful team who created Guess the Baby. Full of insightful text about a school costume parade and a child wearing a rather unusual and very different dress-up costume and Donna's colourful illustrations ... imagine drawing all those kids!

Dimity Dumpty Bob Graham (Walker Books)
Everyone knows of humpty and his 'accident' but did you know he had a sister ... here is her story - by the creator of the Buffy, Max and Jethro Byrd.

Are You Hungry? Tina Burke (Puffin)
A fantastic new author/illustrator Tina's delightful nearly wordless picture book is a must for all pre-schoolers.

No Room for a Mouse Kyle Mewburn & Frey Blackwood (Scholastic)
I don't just like this book because the boy's name is Christopher. It is also a wonderful tale about busyness and friendship and sharing.