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Our favourite pig is making a long awaited comeback to bookshelves later this year. It has been three years long years since Ian Falconer gave us the last Olivia book.

The new book is Olivia Goes to Venice… 

Olivia said to her mother with an edge of hysteria in her voice, “Oh please – OH, PLEASE MOTHER – can’t we live in a palazzo on the Grand Canal?”

You can see these illustrations better here

Ian Falconer has also illustrated an adult David Sedaris book that is also due later in 2010. The book is called Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary and this is from the books description – In “The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck,” three strangers commiserate about animal bureaucracy while waiting in a complaint line. In “Hello Kitty,” a cynical feline struggles to sit through his prison-mandated AA meetings. In “The Squirrel and the Chipmunk,” a pair of star-crossed lovers is separated by prejudiced family members.

Thanks to Sara O’Leary for the prompt to write this post.

See more here

Marc Boutavant is one of our very favourite new illustrators. We were first introduced to him through Around the World with Mouk, a true visual feast of quirky characters and amazing colours.

So we were very excited to hear about not one but two new books illustrated by Marc - Lou first posted about For Just One Day here and he has another new release called All Kinds of Families.

The cute concept at the heart of All Kinds of Families is that you can find a family in all sorts of everyday objects - the food in the fridge, buttons on a shelf and fingers on a hand! Dozens of types of families are mentioned in the text, and the graphic genius of Marc Boutavant contains even more to spot.

Gently and in cute rhyming verse, this book sheds light on the concept of a family in a beautifully child-friendly way…

For Just One Day also has a strong concept at its core - asking the reader to imagine a day in the life of a variety of animals. Marc Boutavant’s illustrations really shine, as he cleverly gives animal features to his human characters and quirky human elements to the animals.

The matt pages and funky colours will make this book, like Mouk, an object of desire for lots of adults as well as littlies. I really adore this book!

||All Kinds of Families and For Just One Day are available in the We Heart Books store||

The Tiger Who Came to Tea is one of those books that I don’t recall having on my bookshelf as a child, but it nevertheless made a big impression on me and I remember it very fondly. It has been on my mental wishlist for ages, and when some colleagues gave me a bookstore gift voucher before I went on maternity leave last month, I used it to buy two picture books. One had to be a beautiful hardback edition of this book.

Rowan is into tigers in a big way at the moment - he is obsessed with David Attenborough documentaries - so we have both loved reading this book together.

A little girl called Sophie opens the door one day to find a big, furry, stripey tiger on her doorstep. When the tiger asks if he can join them for tea, Sophie’s mummy invites him in. But the tiger turns out to be very, very hungry - he not only eats all the food and drink on the tea table but proceeds to raid the kitchen, eating all the food on the stove, in the fridge, and even all the water from the taps.

Eventually the tiger leaves, and Sophie and her mummy are left to figure out what to do - there is nothing for supper and Sophie can’t even have a bath because all the water has been drunk from the taps…

First published in 1968, The Tiger Who Came to Tea is gloriously old-fashioned. Taking place in the days of the milkman and the grocery boy, it is a time when daddy’s supper was prepared in time for his arrival home and going out for dinner was practically unheard of. I love Sophie and her mummy’s outfits; Sophie’s purple pinafore and checkerboard tights are perfect!

I think one of the reasons I loved this book was the fact that it presented elements of fantasy as real. The scenario of a tiger appearing at the door appears perfectly reasonable, as is the idea that the water can be drunk from the taps. When Sophie and her mummy go to the supermarket to replenish supplies, they make sure that they buy a big tin of tiger food. What else do you buy in case a tiger were to stop by?!

The text is beautifully understated - I especially love the page showing the family walking down the High Street on their way out to supper. You can tell how special the outing is to Sophie, how rare it is for her to be out in the street after dark…

So they went out in the dark, and all the street lamps were lit, and all the cars had their lights on, and they walked down the road to a cafe.

Judith Kerr also wrote the series of picture books about Mog the cat, and I only realised tonight that she was author of a young adult novel that I dearly loved, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. If you are familiar with her books, you should definitely read this lovely interview with Judith published in the Telegraph.

||The Tiger Who Came to Tea is available from Amazon||

We are having lots of exciting times at We Heart Books - we have been celebrating little Otto joining the fold and now we are frantically getting ready for TWO beautiful Magnolia Square markets before Christmas.

We are gathering some beautiful books and other lovely things to take. We will be running story times and having lots of fun.

Katie and I plan to do all our Christmas shopping at Magnolia Square because the line up of incredibly talented people is just incredible. Pop the dates in your diaries now and come by and say hello.

Isn’t this little guy gorgeous? It’s an image from the picture book Harry and Horsie due in Australia in November.

I’m going to get it for Ned for Christmas. You can have a little peek inside on the Harper Collins US website and it is one of the most gorgeous things I’ve ever seen. The illustrations are so funky, I’m thinking I’d like to frame them up for Ned’s walls.

Harry is a little boy who undertakes a deep space adventure with his trusty toy Horsie, who he never goes anywhere without.

Ned is so keen on Space and stars and also has his pal ‘Hutchy’ who goes everywhere with him so this book sounds quite appropriate.

The Harry and Horsie story started out as a homemade gift from a nanny, Katie Van Camp for a little boy called Harry who is actually the son of David Letterman. Have a look at the gorgeous website for the book here.

If you know a 2 to 5 year old Harry, this just has to be the perfect gift!

We love irreverent picture books in our house because we can all have a laugh together. While at the beach over the weekend we bought a copy of Peek A Poo What’s In Your Nappy? by Guido Van Genechten because while we were in the shop Ned’s dad and I couldn’t stop giggling so we just knew Ned would like it too.

The main character is a mouse who is very inquisitive and decides that he would like to discover what is in each of his friends pants. The friends have nappies that are lift the flap so that when Mouse asks if he can have a look, it’s the reader who can reveal what is in the nappy! We see rabbit has seven pellets, dog has a poo with a pointy end, cow has ‘One Big fresh cow pat’ etc

Besides the fact that we all find it terribly funny there is actually a message in the madness. When his friends ask Mouse what is his nappy he proudly shows them that it is empty.

Mouse does his poo in the potty, he shows his friends and then they all want to have a go. Ned has related really well to the story both for it’s humerous style and also for it’s practical description of both what is in the nappies and about going to the toilet. He doesn’t like going to the potty at all but will sit on the toilet and I think he thinks that they are one in the same anyway.

Like Katie’s post about potty training books I liked this book because no one used the potty as a hat and although the Mouse likes to look in the nappy of his friends there is no playing with the contents!  The illustrations are great and it is fun to read aloud - a little gem of a book.

I have always loved Lauren Child but Ned has suddenly fallen in love with Charlie and Lola or Charlielola (all one word) as he calls them. We need to read the books every night now and I have discovered the joys of reading Lauren Child’s original books rather than the TV adaptation books. Has anyone else found them awkward to read?

Ned loves the moon. When we go out at night he is always looking for the moon and stars and his dad has even taught him to give a little wolf howl when he sees it.

On Friday I saw the beautiful picture book called The Sea of Tranquility and I just had to buy it. Written by The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time author Mark Haddon, it is based on his personal love as a child for space and his memories of the moon landing by Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong.

It is a lovely coincidence that today marks the 40th anniversary of that moon landing and the Apollo 11 mission.

The book is not new, it was actually released in 1996 but it has been re jacketed beautifully and has been made much larger than the original A4 size paperback it was then.

Mark’s language in this picture book is beautiful and you can sense it is very personal. He tells of being a little boy fascinated by space and what I really love is when he describes his excitement at staying up all night till dawn watching the grainy pictures on TV of Neil and Buzz landing on the moon. That must have been such an amazing moment as a child in 1969 to witness history in the making.

‘…And there they were,
on the flickery screen,
bouncing slowly through the dust
in the Sea of Tranquility,
like giants in slow motion.’

Illustrations by the Christian Birmingham, who is a big favorite of mine, make this story really special. His reproductions in paint of some of the original photos from the moon landing are absolutely incredible. They really conjur up the feelings of the young boy who is in absolute awe of outer space and the achievement of these men walking on the moon.

Both the story and the illustrations just evoke the time so well and make this a really peaceful and enchanting bedtime story that Ned - and I - will continue to enjoy for years to come. We also showed the book to Ned’s grandpa, or ‘bump-pa’, the other night who could relate to the story and has recently re read newspapers he has kept for 40 years since the landing.

‘And then I think of those two astronauts,
and how the prints they made with their big boots
will still be there tonight,
tomorrow night and every night
for millions of years to come.’

Is this not the sweetest thing? Handmade by the very talented Fiona who writes the beautiful blog Hop Skip and Jump from Adelaide. I’m in love. She is currently out of stock unfortunately at the Hop, Skip and Jump store but there are other very lovely toys in stock.

Ned’s favorite bedtime story at the moment, and we have to read it every night, is the pop up edition of Lauren Child’s Beware of the Storybook Wolves. He calls the book ’Big Wolf’ beacuse the main character is being read Little Red Riding Hood however the story gets a little corrupted when Herb’s mum leaves the room and the Big Bad Wolf and the Back Cover Wolf escape the book.

Ned particularly loves it when Herb screeches ‘HELP‘ and always joins in reading that bit. The pop ups are lovely and just make for even more added amusement to Lauren Child’s already spectacular illustrations. The thing is that the book is just so funny also for mummy and daddy - and we do have to read it every night! I love a good fractured fairytale.

This unassuming collection of stories and poems made a disproportionately big impression on me when I was little. I spent many, many hours reading Ward Lock’s Book of First Stories. You can tell how loved it was by the split spine and dog-eared pages, and my sister Jane confirmed tonight that she loved it just as much, 10 years after me.

The book is designed to be a first collection of stories and poems designed for 2- to 7-year-olds. Ward Lock was a British publisher, established in the 1850s and eventually bought out by Penguin, but not before this book was published in 1975. It includes classic fairy tales like The Three Little Pigs and The Little Red Hen, and other stories and poems that I haven’t seen in any other collections. My favourites were ‘The 621 Friends of Aaron Zee’ by Ann Tompert and ‘I Went to the Zoo in the Rain’ by Betty Lacey. As a mum, I think I sometimes underestimate the appeal of collections of short stories and veer towards single volume picture books. But revisiting this book reminds me how much I loved this format myself.

What holds this collection together and shines brightly through it even today are the illustrations by June Goldsborough. Her artwork has a distinctive 70s style, and I love the details of the hairstyles, clothes and interiors. Lots of pinks and oranges and purples wash the pages with the look of that era too.

Pixigenné, who makes the most beautiful decoupage suitscases for Mahar Drygoods, made an exquisite tear-drop case using some of June Goldsborough’s illustrations. Check out her whole Flickr set for some equally amazing productions using children’s picture books. Sometimes I justify buying a particularly damaged edition of a picture book by my intentions to use the illustrations for some sort of decoupage project - but I can never bring myself to take out the scissors!

There are more examples of June Goldsborough’s picture book illustrations viewable on Flickr.

Happy Earth Day!

Illustration by Marc Simont from A Tree Is Nice 1956.

Helen of Orange You Lucky talks about how her children love Charlie and Lola - Look After Your Planet and how proud she is of their recycling skills.

My introduction to Australian poetry was via this volume of verse by one of Australia’s most famous poets, C.J.Dennis.

C.J.Dennis was a turn of the century writer - and was most famous for his verse novel, The Songs of the Sentimental Bloke, published in 1916 - one of the highest selling verse novels ever published in Australia.

C.J.Dennis’s poetry for children, A Book for Kids, was published some years later. He and his wife had no children of their own, but he wrote his first story for children for a friend’s son who was in hopsital.

My volume contains 16 of the poems, and when I read them now, I can hear them being recited in my mum and dad’s voices. There must have had many, many readings… There is definitely a sense of nationalism that comes through the verse, and I imagine this is one of the things that made the poetry of C.J.Dennis so popular at the time.

One of my favourites was The Triantiwontigongolope:

There’s a very funny insect that you do not often spy,
And it isn’t quite a spider, and it isn’t quite a fly;
It is something like a beetle, and a little like a bee,
But nothing like a woolly grub that climbs upon a tree.
Its name is quite a hard one, but you’ll learn it soon, I hope.
So, try:
           Tri-
                     Tri-anti-wonti-
                                 Triantiwontigongolope. 

The illustrations are by Lee Whitmore. I adored the colourful artwork and all the little details. I must have spent many hours looking at the cover itself, as when I look at it now, I almost feel like I have been to that fun-fair, and slid down that slippery-dip!

Like Lou showed last week, with her fabulous illustration of Clifford, one of my artistic endeavours was inspired by this book. I did my own version of an illustration of The Dawn Dance - very strongly influenced by Lee Whitmore’s version - for a melamine Pictureplate in 1984…

For Christmas we gave Ned a baby doll. His Granny and I spent ages in the doll isle at Kmart inspecting every doll until we came across one that we thought looks suitably like a real baby. Ned has always been fascinated by babies and the local health nurse had suggested getting a doll as a nice way to instill gentle, caring behaviour in children.  Ned christened the doll ‘Bubba’ and now Bubba goes many places with us in the stroller and gets lots of kisses and cuddles.

Yesterday while walking home from a trip to the park Ned held baby the whole way, cradling it in his arms and even holding it’s hand and gentling stroking it with his thumb, like I do to him when I hold his hand. He then eventually feel asleep still holding his baby.

It reminded me of a picture book I had once come across on the net and must track down. The book is called William’s Doll written by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated by William Pene du Bois, published in 1973.

The book begins;

“William wanted a doll.
 He wanted to hug it
and cradle it in his arms…”

William’s brother and the neighbours call him a sissy for wanting a doll and his father buys him all sorts of ‘boy’ toys, which he likes but he’d still like a doll. His Grandma comes to visit and she buys him a doll and explains to his father…

“so that when he’s a father like you, 
he’ll know how to take care of his baby 
and feed him 
and love him 
and bring him the things he wants, 
like a doll so that he can 
practice being a father. “

That sounds a bit harsh but good on Charlotte Zolotow for creating such a lovely picture book in a time when the concept was possibly controversial. Is it still controversial? We would love to hear from you who know this picture book and of others that challenge traditional gender roles.

Although Ned has a plethora of trains and trucks and ‘boy’ things, I’m glad that he has chosen to also nurture and care for ’Bubba’.

William’s Doll was also made into a short film, it’s quite cute -  you can see a clip of it over at good old Youtube.

||William’s Doll is available from Amazon||

This is truly inspiring! Ned and I have just sat here entranced by this video of the President of the United States reading Where the Wild Things Are to a lucky group of children at the White House Easter Egg Roll. I love his version of the ‘Wild Rumpus’.

Thank you to Educating Alice for this link.

I hope everybody saw this post on Loobylu this week.

The quintessential Easter book is The Country Bunny and the Little Golden Shoes, first published in 1939 and a true classic. Today reviewed on the funky blog Tutu’s and Turtle’s and also the delicious prize on Vintage Kid’s Books My Kid Loves - Great Monday Give (also see the review here).

There have been lots of theories about this book since its first publication, about subtle or not so subtle messages of feminism, race and inequality but I think mostly it’s just a nice story about a strong little mummy rabbit (of 21 children!) who against the odds achieves her career goal and earns a pretty pair of shoes.

If you loved Katie’s post on the Little Grey Rabbit you will love the rabbits in this book, so delicately drawn in their little overalls and dresses.

For some beautiful internal shots visit here.

Last week I was lucky to be given a copy of one of my favorite Golden Books, The Monster at the End of This Book: Starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover, by Katie and Rowan.

As a child I loved watching Sesame Street, my favorite character was always Grover, and especially his alter ego, Super Grover! The cute little blue monster is excitable, caring and compulsive, perhaps bordering on neurotic (as an adult I can see why I relate to him so well).

Author Jon Stone cleverly makes Grover speak directly to the reader of this little book, capturing the curiosity, suspense and humor of waiting and wanting to see what actually is at the end of the book. Stone was Sesame Street’s first head writer, as well as one of the show’s primary directors and producers for over 24 years.

First published by Golden Books in 1971, The Monster at the End of this Book is illustrated perfectly by Mike Smollin who translates Grover seamlessly into print. His illustrations are simple and distinctly 70s which still makes this book so adorably cool.

This book is a lot of fun to read aloud and perfect for toddlers. As I write this Ned’s dad has just read him the book causing much hilarity, now Ned is reading(!?) the book to himself and trying to emulate the way dad read it with squeals in all the right places.

Grover speaks out of the book to his audience, so they can become involved, each page turned by the reader brings them and Grover closer to the looming Monster at the end.

‘Shhh. Listen, I have an idea. If you do not turn any pages, we will never get to the end of this book. And that is good, because there is a Monster at the end of this book. So please do not turn the page’

There is no real fear in this book of actually finding a Monster. Spoiler Alert - the Monster is actually Grover! The book is more about humor and giving reassurance that the feeling of being a little scared is normal and that mostly what you were afraid of in the first place doesn’t actually eventuate.

It is currently season 37 of Sesame Street and Grover now has a new role as ‘Global Grover’ who introduces children to the world around them, and teaches them to be sensitive and respectful of our differences. The Sesame Workshop website is an amazing resource about everything to do with what, I think, is one of the most important television productions ever made for children.

Reviewed by Carmel Bird in The Age this weekend was a fascinating book called Golden Legacy by Leonard S. Marcus. The book chronicles the publishing phenomenon of Golden Books from the first release in 1942, detailing their criticism and praise as well as including wonderful archival photographs and original artwork. The New York Times review is here, there is also a great review here and the book can be found on Amazon. The customer reviews on Amazon show overwhelmingly just how much people love the Golden series of books.

Must be time for another Golden Book… I recently discovered this book was also a favourite of my mum’s so it pre-dates my 1970s childhood. It was published in 1953. The story and pictures are by Richard Scarry, although this book is very different from his Busy Town and Best Ever Word books. Right now in our house, this is not a bad thing. We are going through a phase when the little person would read our copy of The Big Busy Book of Richard Scarry every storytime, while the big people are a little bit over it…

Rabbit and his Friends tells the tale of a Rabbit who discovers a roly-poly egg outside his hole one day. Thinking it belongs to Mrs Hen, he quickly runs to tell her. But when the egg hatches, they discover it is not a chick, but a very strange animal with a tail and fur coat like their friend the Beaver, webbed feet just like Duck, and who is shy like Squirrel. The other animals all come to meet him, but soon have to rush home to supper, leaving the strange-looking animal (who we can see is a platypus) to fend for himself. The next day, his new friends return, but cannot find him, until they come across a circus and when they are let in, they discover the platypus has a new home - the circus man has asked him to be in his cricus and given him a diving board and swimming pool. And best of all, he has lots of animal friends - and he is a little bit like them all.

Richard Scarry is famous for his anthropomorphic illustrations where animals have human characteristics. The animals in this book have clothes, but are a bit more naturalistic, and less stylised than Scarry’s more famous ones. Perhaps this is because it was one of his earlier books. But a glance at the interpretation of Rabbit shows he is clearly a relative the rabbits of Busy Town.

There is a fascinating side-by-side comparison of a select few pages from a 1963 and a 1991 edition of Richard Scarry illustrations found here. Have a look if you are interested in the decisions made to make the illustrations more politically correct - the comments made to this Flickr site are also interesting.

This lovely blog shows what looks like an earlier edition of Rabbit and his Friends which has some additional illustrations to the my 1977 edition.

There is also a lengthy and slightly tongue-in-cheek biography of Richard Scarry to be found here. It describes the process of illustration Scarry used, drawing them in pencil on frosted acetate and filling in each colour one-by-one.

I will leave the last word of this post to Richard Scarry himself:

I’m not interested in creating a book that is read once and then placed on the shelf and forgotten. I am very happy when people have worn out my books, or that they’re held together by Scotch tape.

This will undoubtedly be true in our house.

One of the things I love about going on outings with Ned is watching the way he interacts with other children, and adults for that matter. He is a very social little boy, it’s part of his personality but I think it is part of all children to be really open to meeting new people and making friends.

I love observing Ned watching other children and I can often see in his eyes the hope that they will notice him and talk to him, not in a sad way, just a hopeful, inquisitive way. He is never afraid to inch closer to another child and quietly join in to a game or garbled conversation.

Recently I have taken my favorite picture book about friendship off the shelf and I hope to start reading it to Ned soon.  Leon and Bob by Simon James is a simple but really powerful picture book and one that won my heart the instant I read it.

Leon has moved house; he lives with his mum and his dad is away in the army.  Leon is lonely so he creates Bob, an imaginary friend who only he can see.

‘He always walked to school with Bob.
He always had Bob to talk to.’

On Saturday Leon looks to the house next door and he sees a new family moving in and a boy just like him. Leon keeps thinking about the boy and decides in the morning to visit the boy but only if Bob goes too.

But Bob leaves Leon just as he is about to ring the door bell and Leon must summon up his courage to do it alone.

‘Leon rang the bell and waited.
The door opened.
“Hello,” said the boy.’

The ending to this beautiful picture book is just gorgeous as Leon makes a ‘real’ friend and guess what his ‘real’ friend’s name is…?

Simon James’ watercolour-and-ink illustrations are simply divine, his characters and settings are so realistic. I adore his use of light in the illustrations and the shadows that his characters cast. There is an image of Leon walking up the steps to the neighbour’s house - the steps and the house seem so huge and Leon so small with his little shadow beside him on the stairs. The elongated format of the picture book also helps give that sense of being small and longing.

Just like what I see in Ned’s eyes though, the story is not sad - it is happy and hopeful. The endpapers sum up the story perfectly, at the front of the book the park that spreads over the double page is quiet and empty and on the last double spread Leon and his new friend are playing soccer, gleeful to have found each other.

Simon James has written and illustrated many critically acclaimed beautiful picture books, he has a fantastic website which contains many of his lovely illustrations and a bio. I love this quote…

“Watching children draw, it is easy to see drawing as a natural joy, well beyond criticism or judgement. It’s a kind of conversation with one’s self.
Drawing is good for you.”

There are some really gorgeous picture books about friendship and I have many more favorites that I will write about over the next couple of weeks. But now I’m off to admire my Stephanie Meyer boxset that arrived from the US today - yippee!

||Leon and Bob is published by Walker Books in Australia||

A little spotlight on our store, as we start to get some lovely new stock in for the new year.

In the box I opened today was one of the books that quickly and quietly ran off our shelves before Christmas. Before we even had a chance to promote it, this book sold out!

My Village is a collection of twenty-two rhymes from around the world, each one presented in its original language (and script where applicable) accompanied by an English translation. A colourful double-page spread illustration accompanies each rhyme, fashioned from beautiful collages by Mique Moriuchi. As in all good picture books, Moriuchi’s illustrations compliment and build on the text, and help to bring further meaning to the rhyme with the inclusion of culturally appropriate details. 

It’s never too early to help kids to learn that other people have a different way of communicating than they do, and that a language can convey much about a culture. At the same time, this book serves as a lovely introduction to poetry - the short rhymes and colourful illustrations will hold even a small child’s attention. The rhyme chosen for France is one of my favourites, Que fait ma main? and I’m sure all the others have been selected with fondness and love.

Danielle Wright, who collected the rhymes, has a great website, with information about her journey working on the book, and lots more, including a collection of great tips on ‘raising a reader’. 

I’m also thrilled that another of our favourite books with an international flavour is now in stock. A while ago I reviewed Laura Ljungkvist’s Follow the Line, and we love her follow-up, Follow the Line Around the World just as much. Using one single continuous line, on bold graphic backgrounds, Ljungkvist cleverly traces a whole world of animals, plants, people and planets. It includes interesting facts about individual countries. The funky design in this hardback makes it a book that grownups will cherish too.

||My Village available at the We Heart Books store||

||Follow the Line Around the World available at the We Heart Books store||

When Kirsten at Assemblage blogged about the blue kangaroo soft toy she crafted for her little girl, she reminded me of the lovely series of books by Emma Chichester Clark. So I re-acquainted myself and borrowed all the volumes held in our local library.

Blue Kangaroo is a beautifully understated character, who never says anything, but is very thoughtful. Through him, Emma Chichester Clark has made the make-believe world of childhood magical: a place where favourite soft toys really do things - under the cover of darkness, of course. She also very gently and subtly conveys some important messages for toddlers, through the actions of Blue Kangaroo’s owner, Lily, and those around her. For this reason, I like these books now even more than I did before I became a mum.

In It Was You, Blue Kangaroo!, we follow Lily on a particularly naughty day, and each time she is confronted about the spills, Lily blames poor Blue Kangaroo. It’s impossible not to identify simultaneously with both Lily - who does all the things that any toddler would do - and with blue kangaroo, who watches on silently, and says nothing when Lily dobs on him. Not many books can successfully help toddlers see how telling tales affects others, and can come back to bite you, but this book does it effortlessly.

What Shall We Do, Blue Kangaroo? resonates particularly with me at the moment, as we are going through a stage when Rowan wants a lot of my attention while he’s playing. Like Rowan, Lily finds the adults in her life busy doing other things, but discovers that, when she tries, she can do many things all by herself. But she forgets one thing: Tiny Teddy left out in the rain, but Blue Kangaroo remembers and helps save the day.

In Happy Birthday to You, Blue Kangaroo!, it’s Lily’s (and Blue Kangaroo’s) birthday. Like many little girls, she wants everything to be PINK! There are pink party clothes and pink presents, pink party games and pink food. Understandably, Blue Kangaroo starts to feel a little outnumbered, and miserably leaves the party. Lily notices of course, and helps make Blue Kangaroo feel loved and included again.

There is also a lovely Christmas book in the series, Just For You, Blue Kangaroo! which shows that Christmas isn’t about big fancy gifts, but about thoughtful gestures, made from the heart.

These books convey such a lovely warmth in Lily’s life, without ever seeming to be didactic or sappy. Through simple situations that children will relate to, the stories show that there are ways to be thoughtful and giving, even when you are small.

If you are looking for something a bit different and quirky in a Christmas book then you might like these favorites of ours…

Olive The Other Reindeer is J.otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh’s story of a little dog, Olive, who has a few identity issues. While listening to the lyrics of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, instead of hearing ‘All of the other reindeer’ she hears ‘Olive, the other reindeer’. Of course! Believing she must be one of Santa’s helpers, Olive jumps on the polar express and heads to the North Pole to report for duty.

Released this year, there is a gorgeous tenth anniversary deluxe edition of the original story.

The new edition is a larger version of the original book, and it features flaps to lift, spots to scratch and sniff – including gumdrop and gingerbread smells - yum, and a most magnificent pop-up of the North Pole as a grand finale.

Although a rather silly story the charm of this book is definitely in the very funky and modern artwork for the illustrations. The book does have a great sense of humour and now the deluxe edition with its bits and bobs has just added a whole new lovely dimension to it.

||Olive the Other Reindeer Deluxe Edition available from the We Heart Books Store||

The whole series of the Toot and Puddle books by Holly Hobbie are simply gorgeous but I’ll be Home For Christmas is probably my favorite. These little pink pigs are best mates and they LOVE Christmas but this year Puddle is waiting at home for Toot to return from his trip to Scotland. Wouldn’t you know it, Toot’s flights are cancelled because of bad weather and the pair fear that they won’t spend Christmas together. Forever the optimists they both make the best of their situations and finally they are together again.

The classic illustrations in this book make it a beautiful keepsake for Christmas but don’t be fooled by its cuteness, there are funny little twists to each illustration giving the book a really quirky edge that parents will appreciate - like the page where Toot is carolling cheerfully in the snow accompanied by some very adoring sheep in Scotland.

||Toot and Puddle I’ll Be Home For Christmas available from Amazon||

Sophie Kringle lives with her family in a penthouse in New York City that is decorated for Christmas all year round. The penthouse belongs to her great aunt, Auntie Claus who always has a reminder for Sophie:

“And darling, always remember my first and final rule–whether it’s birthdays, Christmas, or Halloween, it is far better to give than to receive!”

Auntie Claus dresses in a luscious red dress with white trim and mysteriously disappears on a business trip each Halloween and is not seen again until Valentines Day. So Sophie decides to stow away and find out what her Auntie Claus is really up too.

Elise Primavera’s story is pretty heavy on the text so Auntie Claus and its sequel Auntie Claus and the Key to Christmas are picture books for ages four to five plus. Primavera’s illustrations can only be described as magical. They are deliciously warm, textured and really have that Christmasy feel. I’m very surprised that no-one has made a film of this picture book yet; as based on the subtle moral message, it could be another Miracle on 34th Street.

||Auntie Claus available from Amazon||

All children love books where they need to find things within the pictures. Ned at the moment pours over illustrations, running his fingers over the page and pointing at things that he may or may not have seen before. Walter Wick has created a brilliant series called Can You See What I See? and his Christmas book is called Can You See What I See? The Night Before Christmas. Wick and his team passionately create each scene for the books, making models and lots of tiny little props to make the spreads look so realistic. Each scene is photographed and then instructions are given in the books to find certain objects within each illustration.

Walter Wick has an amazing website where you can actually follow the process of how they create the books - oh how I would love a job there!

||Can You See What I See? Night Before Christmas available from Amazon||

And finally for something completely different, there is The Elf on the Shelf gift box. The description of the concept is…

‘This children’s book explains that Santa knows who is naughty and/or nice because he sends a scout elf to every home. During the holiday season, the elf watches children by day and reports to Santa each night. When children awake, the elf has returned from the North Pole and can be found hiding in a different location. This activity allows The Elf on the Shelf to become a delightful hide-and-seek game. ’

I’m not sure I’m up with the concept of the Elf appearing somewhere different each morning. Creepy or cute? Design Mom wrote a post last year on using The Elf on the Shelf at her house.

||Elf on the Shelf Website||

Last year we talked about some Christmas faves too, you can find that post here. And also a lovely post by Melbourne mum Sing a Song about The Christmas Book by Dick Bruna and her amazing advent calendar.

A guest post by Nicci, mum to Nuwan, aged 2 years

I’ve noticed a mild and lovely Japanese bent in some of the We heart Books posts. So, since my two-year-old, Nuwan, and I have been enjoying some books from/about Japan, I thought I’d add them to the mix.

Emily’s Balloon by Komako Sakai came into our hands at just the right time. After letting go of his helium balloon after a party, Nuwan was having terrible trouble working out where it had gone to. With simple pictures and just a few words, Komako Sakai explains much better than I could. And yet the concepts in the book are not so simple.

The idea of imagination is introduced: before her balloon is blown away, Emily had imagined that she would eat dinner with her floating friend, and that they would clean their teeth and go to bed together. The illustrations depict what Emily had imagined rather than what really happened; it is extremely difficult for a young child to understand this idea, but it spurs some good ‘discussion’. Also, there is no cut-and-dried ending to this book; the balloon finishes up in a tree and doesn’t necessarily come down, although Emily’s mother promises to try to retrieve it. The pictures have very few colours and the scenes are very domestic, yet Nuwan loves it – especially the beautiful balloon-moon at the end.

Wabi Sabi is more a book for me than for my son, although he is fascinated by the different textures in the beautiful collages on each page – he reaches out to touch them and is surprised when they feel only like paper. Written by Mark Reibstein, who has lived in Japan, and illustrated by Ed Young, Wabi Sabi is the name of a cat who lives in Kyoto. Determined to discover the meaning of her name, she embarks on a journey. But no one she meets along the way can describe the concept of ‘wabi sabi’ in terms she understands. Eventually, while drinking tea from a simple, beautiful cup, she comes to understand for herself. As Reibstein says:

Wabi sabi is a way of seeing the world that is at the heart of Japanese culture. It finds beauty and harmony in what is simple, imperfect, natural, modest, and mysterious. It can be a little dark, but it is also warm and comfortable. It may best be understood as a feeling, rather than as an idea.

Reibstein is ambitious in writing a philosophical picture book apparently aimed at young children – and the vertical format (the spine is at the top) means that it is difficult to read together in the most practical sense. But the haiku poem included on each page, together with Young’s collages, charm the eyes and ears of children and adults. And I am particularly attracted to the idea of wabi sabi because it perfectly describes the way I felt about my favourite picture books as a child. I understood the books as feelings rather than as ideas and, although they were often a little frightening on one level, they were ultimately of great comfort.

Finally, and in contrast, All About Scabs by Genichiro Yagyu (translated by Amanda Mayer Stinchecum) is one of those books that children love but their parents may hate. Kane/Miller is a small, specialised publisher that picks up books from all over the world and translates them for children in the US because ‘American children need to learn not just about the United States, but about the world’.  All About Scabs is . . . well, all about scabs. What happens when you pick them. Whether they’re nice to eat. Whether they’re the poop of a sore. What lies underneath. But there’s some ‘sensible’ stuff here too – an explanation of why scabs form and what their function is (two-year-olds won’t be interested in this, but three- and four-year-olds will). Other books by Genichiro Yagyu on the Kane/Miller website are The Holes in Your Nose and Breasts. Tackle them with your child when you dare.

||Emily’s Balloon available from Amazon||

||Wabi Sabi available from Amazon||

||All About Scabs available from Amazon||

Today Ned and I started swimming lessons again after a rather long absence. Although we have been to the pool as a family and splashed around, Ned was not sure about the water today at all.

This afternoon I dug out a book for us to read together called Swim, Little Wombat, Swim! by one of my favorite illustrators, Charles Fuge. Little Wombat has the most amazing expressions and is such a loveable little character.

In this book Wombat meets Platypus and has a little giggle at him because he looks funny and walks differently. When wombat falls in the stream Platypus rescues him and begins to teach him how to swim.

‘That afternoon, Little Wombat learnt to paddle like a dog…and dive like a frog!

The real centre of the storyline is friendship and accepting others differences but it is also a great book for introducing children to the concept of swimming and being taught to swim. Fuge’s illustrations are so expressive that they clearly show little ones the confidence and joy that Wombat gains from Platypus teaching him swimming skills.

There is a beautiful bind up edition of all the Wombat stories currently available called The Adventures of Little Wombat.

Another gorgeous book about swimming for older children is the picture book The Deep written by arguably Australia’s best storyteller, Tim Winton and beautifully illustrated by Karen Louise. This book is about the ocean rather than a pool. The main character is Alice who despite living by the sea is scared of the ocean, the deep. Her brothers and sisters love the sea but Alice is afraid of what she can’t see beneath the surface. I can really relate to this book as I too am not sure about the sea and have never been quite comfortable in it but just as Alice finds sometimes you can just let yourself relax and discover it’s beauty.

||Swim, Little Wombat, Swim! available online from Amazon||

||The Deep available online from Amazon||

||The Adventures of Little Wombat available online from Amazon||