Our picture book editor Maria Tunney is back, and this time with exclusive top tips on the perfect page-turners for your little ones this Christmas. So if you're starting your festive shopping this weekend, here are a few top titles that will bring fun, friendship and adventure together under the tree...
I’m back … with more picture book chat! And this lot of books are all about “finding” − finding a job, finding a friend, finding yourself and even finding some peace and quiet!

At the end of the interview you say, “Please may I have the job?”
And The Boss says, “OK, here it is.”

For us here in picture books, one of the most joyous things is to discover and nurture truly original new people, particularly author-illustrators. Icelandic illustrator Birgitta Sif is one such person! We signed her up last year after seeing her work in the Cambridge MA catalogue and now she is publishing her very first picture book with us, Oliver. Hurrah! The Oliver in her story is a little boy very much absorbed in his own imaginary world, having adventures with his stuffed toys − his only friends − and he feels “different” but not for long… Birgitta’s Oliver is a beautiful tribute to the power of friendship and, more than that, it shows us that it’s alright to be solitary, a bit different and a bit goofy. (Top tip #2: when you look back through the pages of this book, keep an eye out for the little girl in red, and for the tiny mouse as well…)
Watch our behind the scenes video and hear Birgitta talk about how the story came about.


So, what I would recommend is: find a nice cosy spot and spend a while with these great authors and illustrators − with Sally Lloyd-Jones, Sue Heap, Birgitta Sif, Malachy Doyle and Ed Vere. In spending time with them, I hope that you will “find” something among these titles that speaks to you, something that make you want to read them … over and over again.
Join in the fun and download your free activity sheets here!