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Engaging reads for children, from Books go Walkabout

Category: WideEyed Editions

Poetry – Books of poems February 2020

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On February 16, 2020

In All Ages, Books go Walkabout, Children's books, Featured authors, Featured children's book, Featured illustrators, New titles, Otter-Barry, Poetry, WideEyed Editions

Poetry is one of the best ways to have fun with words, explore feelings and use rhyme and patterns together.

This month, February 2020, we have three new books of poems which we love and are great to open the book anywhere and delve straight in!

‘There’s a Crocodile in the House’, from Paul Cookson, has an enormously wide collection of poems with fun, danger, surprise and wonder. Some poems you need to SHOUT!! And some you need to whisper…

Watch out for the lurking crocodile on the armchair, whatever you don’t sit down!! Great illustrations from Liz Million.

‘The Magic of Mums’ is written by Justin Coe and illustrated by Steve Wells. Different Mums in all guises are celebrated here, sometimes comic, sometimes witty or tender and all will find a child with a Mum ‘just like that’!

Otter-Barry Books are the publishers for both There’s a Crocodile in the House’ and The Magic of Mums’. As publishers, making a difference in the landscape of good children’s’ books,  these books are a wonderful addition to their growing poetry genre.

Poems Aloud is our third poetry book this month. This is an anthology of poems from Joseph Coelho and illustrated by Daniel Gray-Barnett. This book shouts out to you from the engaging cover to all the poems inside. There are poems for reading aloud or for being quiet, poems which are good for performance playing and poems which are good for sharing at home time.

Joseph Coelho is an award-winning poet and performer from London with a huge collection of books to his name, along with being BBC’s Teach Poetry presenter (Oct 2018).

 

Daniel Gray-Barnett lives in Tasmania and is an award-winning illustrator, including Grandma Z. His illustrations have been commissioned  by Sydney Opera House, The Boston Globe and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Australia.

Wide Eyed Editions published  and presented this book in their inimitable style making it a work of art itself and a wonderful book to have.

PS My favourite poem is below , because I love bears, shush, it’s a secret!

Sue Martin

 

 

Everybody Counts  by Kristin Roskifte

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On February 5, 2020

In All Ages, BookMonitor, Books go Walkabout, Featured authors, Featured children's book, New titles, WideEyed Editions

An amazingly illustrated book, packed with illustrations to find your way into and beyond, through the story and the numbers. There are hosts of visual stories and things to spot on every page. Counting games from 0-7.5 billion! It celebrates difference throughout the book and it says it all in the title, Everybody Counts! It is the winner of the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize 2019.

In the book, there are an amazing 2768 people! It has been sold already to 26 countries, a great success and crosses the barriers of language. It is also perfect for prompting stories and curiosity, with lots of questions to encourage interaction and thoughtfulness . Celebrating  differences is a keen theme in the book, where the illustrations show everyone is different and every one counts.

It is the winner of the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize 2019 and Martin Salisbury, Professor of Illustration at Cambridge School of Art says, “ Everybody Counts is an extraordinary book for our times, which I’m sure will go on to win many more awards.”

Wide Eyed Editions are delighted to be publishing Everybody Counts in 2020 and release date is 4th February.

Kristin Roskifte is a Norwegian illustrator and author who studied illustration at Cambridge School of Art and Kingston University and she is inspired by differences and similarities between people.

Everybody Counts is a fantastic book to have in your home, at school and in libraries, it will be read, looked through, explored and much more.

Sue Martin

D-Day by Michael Noble and illustrated by Alexander Mostov

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On May 26, 2019

In BookMonitor, Children's books, Featured authors, Featured children's book, Featured illustrators, History, WideEyed Editions

D-Day . book cover, image

D-Day – buy this book here

On the 75th anniversary of D-Day, this incredible book brings you the experience of one of the turning points of  the Second World War.

Brought to life by 20 eye-witness accounts, D-Day is shown through people actively involved in planning, operations and in support  roles.

Every page is like a mood board, a personal testimony of photographs, illustrations and maps.

The information is amazing with details of the operational plan, including new innovations , such as the ‘hedgehog’ German defence systems, and ‘bobbins’, ways of using tanks to ride over each other. The photos of individuals and their thoughts are staggering. It brings D-Day to life as the war progressed onto the beaches of Northern France.

Book icon - image and web linkBuy this book here

Without giving too much away three of the people included in the book are;

 Martha Gelhorn, a journalist with the Allied Forces, who had to stow away on a hospital ship and waded on to the beach to report back. Her husband, Ernest Hemingway, had been selected to go, but never made it out of the ship.

Erwin Rommell, General Field Marshall, who devised the Atlantic Wall, to stop any invaders.

Stanley Hollis, who received the Victoria Cross for bravery as he advanced alone towards the bunkers under full fire.

And many more…

The front page gives a summary of the D-Day and its place in the Second World War, which lasted from 1939-1945 and was the largest conflict the world had ever seen. It identifies the pages of individual stories as “Stories of bravery, sacrifice and innovation.”

 

Michael Noble, is the author, he leads The Centre for Hidden Histories, he has an amazing knowledge of the legacy of war and people’s involvement, engaging with remembrance and commemoration today.

Alexander Mostov, is the illustrator who has created accessible designs with ‘mood board’ like illustrations, perfect for bite size pieces of information.

Wide Eyed Editions, part of Quarto Publishers. D-Day is an outstanding book in their exceptional collections of Information Picture Books (I am thinking this must be a new genre and needs a new name!)

We thoroughly recommend D-Day for ages 7-15 and beyond. It is an amazingly good book, for schools and libraries and for homes too, am sure it will be read time and time again. Mine is definitely staying close by!

This is probably the best book I have read this year!

Sue Martin

 

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Atlas of Adventurers: Wonders of the World

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On November 16, 2018

In 7+ years, 9 to 10 years, All Ages, WideEyed Editions

Wonders of the World - cover image and web link

Buy this book with free delivery here…

A journey of discovery, travel around the world in this huge and wonderful book, packed with amazing illustrations and bite size facts. It is part of the Atlas of Adventures series illustrated by Lucy Letherland and written by Ben Handicott.

Travel around the world to scale the Eiffel Tower, trek the Great Wall of China and raft through the Yosemite Valley.

This awe-inspiring atlas showcases the globe’s most impressive landscaped, iconic buildings and evocative antiquities from the ancient and modern world, this is the most wonderful Atlas adventure yet!

Buy this book with free delivery here…

Wonders of the World is the fifth in the series, which is a ground breaking and best-selling non fiction atlas and source of facts.

Lucy Letherland ‘s illustrations fill the enormous pages with action and detail like the page on Ularu.

Ben Handicott is an inspirational writer of travel and exploration. After studying linguistics and education he went to study Vietnamese and Mandarin.

Wide Eyed, one of our favourite publishers, is part of the Quarto Group.

A great read and a good buy for schools and home .

Sue Martin

Books Go Walkabout

Art Masterclass with Van Gogh and Wassily Kandinsky

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On June 26, 2018

In 9 to 10 years, All Ages, Art, BookMonitor, Children's books, WideEyed Editions

Van H+ogh - cover picture and web link

Buy this book…

Master art with these two new activity books that will teach you how to make art like Van Gogh, the post impressionist painter, and with Kandinsky, a very  famous twentieth century artist.

In each book, you will have 12 masterclasses, an introduction to the artist, a time line, over 50 stickers and a pull-out double-sided poster, which will enable you to create your own Van Gogh or Kandinsky masterpiece.

These are beautiful books to have at home, in the school and the library. The style and layout make them a joy to hold, to read and to look at the pictures from these two great artists.

Van Gogh Cover image and web link

…with free delivery!

In MasterClass Van Gogh, you will do drawing, colouring and collaging activities that show how Van Gogh created the art that has inspired so many.

Kandinsky - cover image and web link

Discover Kandinsky here…

In MasterClass Kandinsky you’ll learn how to draw from your imagination, listen to music for inspiration and use the shapes and stickers to make your own pictures.

Buy this book - button image and web link

…with free delivery!

 

Hanna Konola, from Finland is the illustrator and designer of these beautiful books, and Wide Eyed Editions are the publishers who produce amazing books which inform and inspire.

A beautiful book for the holidays, for art work  and for finding out about art…. take a MasterClass!

Sue Martin

Books Go Walkabout

Plantopedia, A Celebration of Nature’s Greatest Show-offs by Adrienne Barman

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On May 10, 2018

In 6+ Years, All Ages, Books go Walkabout, Featured children's book, Featured illustrators, WideEyed Editions

Plantopedia

Buy this book…

Welcome to the greatest show on earth, featuring the most tremendous trees and tiniest seeds, flowers masquerading as twinkling stars and very confused fruit and vegetables!

This is an incredible, non-edible, fun-loving and intellectually desirable book about plants! Plants from all over the world, chosen for their unique traits and characteristics, their abilities in disguise, and captivation, who is the cleverest, the plants or the insects?

Discover the ‘evergreens’, the ‘edibles’, the ‘elderly’ plants that have outlived the dinosaurs.

The budding naturalists among the students will be absorbed totally by the quirky text, wealth of fascinating information and stylish illustrations.  Watch out for the section on poisonous plants, which is led by an illustration of a skeleton in clothes; it includes plants such as Feverfew, Henbane and Strychnine tree.

It is a book that I keep picking up and reading from, remembering the bite sized pieces of information.

Adrienne Barman is the author and illustrator and produces very colourful and stylish work. She lives in Geneva having illustrated many books.

WideEyed is part of the QuartoKnows publishing group and has an amazingly interesting list of children’s books.

We thoroughly recommend this book for schools and libraries and especially for the families kitchen table, a book to have and to dip into, it will be a joy to have.

Sue Martin

Books Go Walkabout

 

 

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