Monday 10 April 2017

Top picture book picks for April

April showers bring...our top five picture book picks! Add some sunshine to your children's bookshelves with a forgetful mole, a hungry cat, and some beautifully-illustrated tales of the flora and fauna of our world. Check out our top picks for this month here!


From Jarvis, the creator of Alan’s Big, Scary Teeth, comes another unmissable, hilarious adventure about a daddy mole who has mislaid his spectacles. Morris can’t find them anywhere. So, he decides to go on without them, trusting his instincts to lead him home to his waiting family and delicious dinner of worm noodles. “Mrs Mole, I’m homeeee!” he sings, as he burrows right into some poor unsuspecting rabbit family’s hole. Oh dear. Without his spectacles, Morris really can’t see a thing – how will he ever get home? Jarvis will have all readers rooting for Morris and rejoicing in the idea that – glasses or no glasses – you can always make your way back to home sweet home.



Trees change through the seasons – springing to life, bearing fruit and losing their leaves. They clean the air we breathe, provide seeds and homes for creatures and extend their shade to everyone equally. Trees is a poetic picture book that invites the reader to take a closer look at the magnificent trees that surround us.











From the award-winning team behind Tiny: The Invisible World of Microbes comes Lots, a beautifully illustrated introduction to the concept of biodiversity for younger readers. There are living things everywhere: the more we look, the more we find. There are creatures on the tops of the tallest jungle trees, at the bottom of the coldest oceans, even under the feathers of birds and in boiling volcanic pools. So how many different kinds are there? One, two, three... lots! With beautiful words from Nicola Davies and exquisite illustrations by Emily Sutton, this groundbreaking book is certain to enchant and inspire children.








Stunning illustrations by Sydney Smith, the award-winning illustrator of Footpath Flowers, show the striking contrast between a sparkling seaside day and the darkness underground where the miners dig. The ever-present ocean and inevitable pattern of life in a mining town will enthral children and move adult readers, as a young boy wakes up to the sound of the sea, visits his grandfather's grave after lunch and comes home to a cosy dinner with his family, but all the while his mind strays to his father digging for coal deep down under the sea.




A wicked, wild read-aloud romp from Timothy Knapman, author of Soon, and Simona Ciraolo, winner of the Sebastian Walker Prize, this is the story of Jake, the fastest mouse there ever was. NO ONE can catch him. Not the fox, not the wolf, not even the bear. “Can’t catch me,” teases Jake. “I’m the fastest mouse in the world!” But cunning Old Tom Cat has his eye on that sweet, young mouse for his dinner and he’s got a plan…








You can get your paws on all these books at your local bookshopHappy reading!