November is picture book month, and we are continuing to blog our week of picture books… this time we are bringing you three books from the local publisher: Imagnary House. We have really been trying to show case local books on our blog this year, books that will engage and inspire South African children, they are packed with a local vibe, the rainbow that is the South African nature. These three books are all that and more, they will totally appeal to local and overseas children… enjoy them.
Something for Artists
The Chalk Giraffe by Kirsty Paxton and Megan Lötter
Love this book, it feels chunky, the black pages with bright chalk drawings on them are brilliant. Another appealing feature is that the story rhymes and we love a rhyming story. It is the story of a girl who draws a chalk giraffe, and he turns out to be more than a slightly grumpy giraffe.
She does her best to cheer him up, but to no avail… she tries and tries… until she puts herself in the giraffes shoes, so to speak, and realises what the problem is. This is a sweet story about friendship and empathy… and the illustrations totally make it and inspired my kids to explore a little craftiness…
If you are looking for other animal crafts then you can take a peek at our Beastly Bunting or Wild Beasts made from Index Cards.
Something Wild
What on Earth Am I? By Lara Salomon and Megan Bird
Another rhyming story, but this time a story for the child who is into all things creepy, it would make the perfect Halloween book for junior Halloween lovers… it is the story of a small child who has been reading lots of stories. And you know how you can get lost in a story? Well she has gotten slightly lost in her books and confused about who she is…
Turns out that she isn’t hairy enough to be a werewolf, she doesn’t howl and she can’t fly… she’s glad she’s not an alien… the list goes on and she eventually asks her mum for help…
The illustrations are great and there is a magnificent dragon in this book… which made it for my dragon lover. If your child is intrigued by scary creatures then this book presents them in a light hearted way.
Something for Ocean Lovers
The Brave Turtle
by B.D.Harris and Megan Bird.This is beautifully illustrated story about Sam and her turtle Neville. Neville is a rescue turtle that they plan to take to the rescue centre the next day. Sam is desperate for just one more story, and her mum tells the story of a great flood and how all the animals came to the rescue… and as Sam drifts off to sleep, the story becomes her dream. The water floods and Neville helps her to get out of the house safely.
It is all very dream like, they pass a miserable baboon on a raft made of junk. And with the help of all sorts of sea creatures, Sam and a penguin and Neville, the turtle, swim off to find her parents. And that is only the beginning of the book. Neville grows really fast and before you know it he is bigger than Sam and they head into the open ocean chatting to ocean animals all the way. Penguins, an octopus, a blue whale…
This book is a dreamy adventure of friendships that have to work in order to reach their goal of finding Sam’s parents and as they adventure along there are lots of facts about the ocean and sea creatures woven into the book. Facts in a story sounds a little dry, but these facts have been carefully crafted into the story and listening to this story will leave a young ocean lover both both content with a good story and thrilled that they have learnt so much.
This book looks like a picture book, and it is, the illustrations are out of this world beautiful, the sort of pictures that you would like to swim into… But it is also chapter book, there are ten short chapters and a fair number of words. This is a read-aloud… a book that a young child would love to browse and have read to them, and a child at beginner chapter book level would enjoy reading.
I love that the story is proudly South African, with lots of South Africanisms inside it, as well as a glossary of terms.
I really love the tie-in to the Two Oceans Aquarium and their turtle rescue programme, and there is a page on what to do if you find a turtle along our coastline. There is a reading of this book by the author, at The Two Oceans Aquarium this Saturday, 1 December, at 11:30 am.
The Book Collection
All these books are available from The Imagnary House website and in local bookshops.
Supporting Local
Since we are supporting local over here… can we give a little shout out for the Book Lounge this weekend… their story time is always fantastic. And can I just say, free cake!!!
Thank you so much to Imagnary House Book Publishers, who gave us these books for review purposes. This is not a sponsored post and all opinions are entirely our own.