May 2021

Month

Thu
27 ^th

Bad Apple
by Huw Lewis Jones & Ben Sanders

Hands up if you have a child with a dark sense of humour!

In most respects Ivy is a sensitive little soul but she loves stories which feature a shady character or an unexpected plot twist. As soon as I picked up this book – Bad Apple by Huw Lewis Jones and Ben Sanders – I knew it was going to be a hit with her.

Apple is not a very nice character. He steals Pear’s chair. He drinks Pea’s tea. He steals Cat’s hat. He even pushes Spud in the mud. He seems to enjoy making life miserable for those around him and he shows absolutely no remorse. As we move from page to page Apple’s behaviour gets worse and worse, but eventually he makes a mistake by underestimating Snake. Will he get the comeuppance he deserves?

Wed
26 ^th

When A Dragon Meets A Baby
by Caryl Hart & Rosalind Beardshaw

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The prospect of a new sibling is very exciting but most children struggle with the sudden shift in the family dynamic when a baby actually arrives. This beautifully illustrated book is perfect for reading in those final months of pregnancy, to help your little one process the changes that might lie ahead.

Dragons, much like toddlers, tend to have an air of mischief about them and this story plays on their ‘naughty’ reputation to great effect. How would you expect a little dragon to behave when they are no longer the centre of attention? Surely they will stomp their feet, huff and puff and breathe some fire, right? Well no. It turns out that little dragons now exactly how to behave around a new baby and they have lots of great advice to share. Children will want to align themselves with the dragon’s positive behaviour because she’s such a cute and kind character.

Thu
20 ^th

Interview: Kate Dalgleish,
Author of ‘Edmund The Elephant Who Forgot’

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Hello Kate! Thank you so much for chatting to me about your new book ‘Edmund The Elephant Who Forgot’. Could you give us a quick overview of what the book is about?

Edmund is a little different from other elephants in that he’s quite forgetful. And so, when his mother sends him to the shop to collect things for his brother’s birthday party, his ears wiggle with worry. Equipped with a little memory song to sing, he makes his way around town with hilariously disastrous results. There is a hidden message that good can come from even the trickiest of situations!

What inspired you to write this story?

I’m a big collector of notebooks! And whenever an idea, be it a title, funny word, or character’s name pops into my head, I have to scribble it down there and then. One day I think I was joking about elephants never forgetting and Edmund’s little memory song just popped in my head; the story just unfolded from there.

Sat
08 ^th

Meet the Publisher: Formy Books

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Established in early 2020, Formy Books is an independent family-run publisher, with a passion for own voices children’s books. Formy Books is dedicated to delivering striking children’s books by Black creators from across the diaspora.

Here, Co-Founder Ebony Lyon reflects on the importance of accurate representation in children’s books and tells us how Formy Books seeks to positively depict the richness of Black culture in the stories which they publish.

“Children need to see themselves reflected back from the books they read, yes. However we must ensure that the reflections are accurate, not distorted.

In her seminal essay, Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Doors, Rudine Sims Bishop Stated “When children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read, or when the images are distorted, negative, or laughable, they learn a valuable lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part.”