One-Minute Review: We’re Going on a Teddy Hunt

We’re Going on a Teddy Hunt is the latest book in the charming series The Bunnies of Hoppity Hill, written by Martha Mumford and illustrated by Cherie Zamazing.

Follow along with four sweet bunnies as they set off to find their bedtime teddies. Along the way they meet other sweet animals preparing for bed.

There are flaps to search behind and lots of delightful details in every spread for children to discover.

Review: Beast Feast

You have been cordially invited to a Beast Feast – this is no ordinary dinner party. Only the finest ingredients have been prepared along with a selective guest list.

Meet Beast, a hungry, giant, pink, furry well beast. Who on a very dark gloomy hungry day manages to catch dinner – a young boy. Only to discover Dinner was not very happy about being dinner?

Beast is so happy with his prize catch that he draws up an invitation for his friends to share in his good fortune. 

Review: Maisy's Preschool

Complete with durable pop-up play scene and press-out pieces, this book is ideal for preparing little ones for preschool.

A look into a day at preschool shows Maisy and her friends playing dress-ups as cowboys, pirates, fire fighters, and train drivers.

There is building with blocks, counting, and drawing pictures. Mr Peacock reads a story. Everyone has fun and lots of play is shared with Maisy’s friends Dotty, Cyril, Tallula, Eddie and Charlie. Panda is always nearby watching on.

Review: Winnie-the-Pooh and the day of Important Letters

Novelty books that contain envelope flaps with letters inside them, are as exciting as receiving a letter in your own mail box.

Inside Winnie-the-Pooh and the day of Important Letters you will discover six letters, a map and a special event hat. It is a tale of mystery and intrigue. Who has sent these letters to our friends, from the Hundred Acre Wood, and why?

Review: Make and Play: Space

Make and Play: Space is a fabulously fun and intergalactic activity book, perfect for keeping young space fans happy for hours.

Review: The Very Hungry Caterpillar's Birthday Party

The classic picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar has turned 50, and what better way to celebrate than with this fabulously fun, glittery board book.

Today’s a special day, there’s excitement in the air! In classic Eric Carle fashion an enticing and rhythmic story leading to a very familiar caterpillar’s birthday party follows, featuring flowers, balloons, birds and more.

Review: Maisy's Farm

Maisy’s Farm is the newest addition to the long list of books about the little white mouse named Maisy, this time with a novelty pop-out play scene.

Farms are fun, but they’re a lot of work too! Maisy and her friends Cyril and Tallulah go to the farm where they complete chores such as driving the tractor, gathering eggs, feeding chicks, collecting produce and milking the cows.

Review: The Odd Egg

Welcome to the board book version of The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett, an endearing story about patience and love.

Unlike the other birds who laid an egg, Duck found his. He thinks that his huge egg with green spots is beautiful. The other birds think that it is an odd egg. Once all the other eggs have hatched Duck still has to wait for his new arrival. Ah, what a beautiful family they make.

Review: Dear Zoo

Rod Campbell's lift-the-flap book, Dear Zoo, combines a young child's love of zoo animals and playing hide and seek. This winning combination has made it a family favourite for over three decades.

In Dear Zoo a child writes a letter to the zoo asking them to send them a pet. What zoo animal would you like as a pet? Maybe it is an elephant, a lion, or a frog.

As the story unfolds we discover that some animals are just not suitable as a pet. I wonder which animal will be a the perfect pet? The ending will be a huge surprise.

Review: Rhyme Cordial

As a child we often play with words that rhyme and this flaps board book, Rhyme Cordial by Antonia Pesenti, uses wordplay to create a delightful, funny, whimsical and clever concept book.

The book presents an ordinary object or food and then turns them into an extraordinary rhyme. These new word combinations will make children giggle and guffaw at the corresponding illustrations behind the flap. They will see 'FRESH ORANGE JUICE' turn into 'FRESH ORANGE GOOSE.'

There are some disgusting rhymes that will have children snorting - what might have 'SNEEZE ON TOAST' originally rhymed with?

Review: Dragon Post

A heartwarming and entertaining story built around asking for help, making decisions and the relationship formed between a young boy and the dragon he finds under his stairs.

With interactive letters to read, and gorgeous illustrations Dragon Post is a fabulous novelty book.

Review: My First Pop-Up Dinosaurs

My First Pop-Up Dinosaurs is a beautiful and quite robust book for dinosaur-lovers, created by Owen Davey.

Pop-up books seem to have a real attraction for young and old, and this is a perfect example, with one pop-up per double-page spread.

Some pop-ups extend a long dinosaur neck, others open a roaring mouth, or flap wings.

There's simplicity in the design and content, which makes it appealing. Pages have lots of white space around the dinosaurs, making them clearly the feature.

The Rabbit, The Dark and the Biscuit Tin

In The Rabbit, The Dark and the Biscuit Tin, by multi-award-winning author and illustrator Nicola O’Byrne, Rabbit does not want to go to bed and nothing, it seems, will sway his determined stance on this matter. Motivated by his strong desire to avoid bed at all costs, Rabbit comes up with a simple plan; he will kidnap The Dark.

When Rabbit succeeds in trapping the polite and patient character of The Dark, he is highly satisfied with his own achievement, but, as the story progresses, Rabbit begins to look beyond himself and slowly realises the importance of The Dark and the needs of those who rely upon it.

O’Byrne’s words and illustrations work seamlessly together to provide a multi-layered story.

Review: Alphabet Street

Alphabet Street is a fabulously fun and unique publication. A sturdy, house shaped lift-the-flap concertina book with rhyming text and super cute animal characters. It folds out into a large free standing street of shops with an outdoor park scene on the reverse.

Each page features a shop such as ‘Elegant Fashions’ and ‘Uptown Vacuums’ with two flaps to open, in most cases, the downstairs shopfront contains a business scene and the upstairs window shows a scene which is a little more domestic and relatable to family life.

Review: Roald Dahl's Opposites & Roald Dahl's 1 2 3

Two companion books of Roald Dahl’s, Opposites and 1 2 3, delightfully illustrated by the talented Quentin Blake, share the same main character, a hungry crocodile.

In Opposites there are seven pages of words and their opposites, with flaps shaped like trees on every second page, that hide beneath them one of the two subjects.

There is a delightful mouse hiding in fear of his life, an upside-down crocodile in an uncomfortable position, a tiny echidna scurrying to safety, and a tiny frog leaping for joy.

Review: What's Next Door?

Ohh a peep window in the front cover! This promises that the book should be lots of fun and interactive. What's Next Door? by Nicola O'Byrne lives up to my expectations.

The first page is dark and I can only see an outline of a large animal with glowing yellow eyes '...clap your hands to turn on the light!'

Oh it's a crocodile named Carter who needs help to get him home.

I'm committed to help him as my finger traces doors onto pages, as I tip the book left and right to get his big body though the doorway, as I blow on Cater to make him dry or as I shake the book to keep him warm.

Review: Hello Farm

Ludo the cat is visiting the farm. He’s come to play with the animals. 

The cow family is in the barn. He calls to Otis. Bianca is still in bed. It’s onwards to the henhouse. The chickens are working but the chicks are more than happy to go off with Ludo.

Then there is a search for more friends.  Children will meet the sheep family, and the pig family with piglet in bed snoring his head off. A tickle on his tummy soon takes care of that. 

Review: Axel Scheffler's Flip Flap Pets

I just adore flip flap books. The combinations are so much fun!

What better way to discover 11 different pets than to read and play with Axel Scheffler's Flip Flap Pets book. When you read each page without mixing up the animal flaps you find out information about each pet's appearance, likes, sounds and other facts. The pet types range from the common family pet dog and cat to unusual pets like reptiles and insects.

Review: Green

Have you ever wondered how many shades of the colour green there is in our world?

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger explores this very idea. It shows shades of green from forest and khaki green to lime and pea green. The story takes readers into jungles, gardens and under the sea.

Green unfolds using two words on each page, accompanied by textural pictures that contain little peek-a-boo windows giving children a hint about the next page's shade of green.

Review: Pop-Up Things That Go!

This absolutely fantastic pop-up book is ideal for first experiences in early learning. 

Compact and chunky, its eye-catching blue cover depicting a boy in a helicopter on the front, and the same boy on a skateboard on the back, will call from the bookshelves. The end promises a surprise!

It gets better! A tractor, ice cream van, bicycle, fire engine and other machines that move, come alive as each one appears.  

The pages are made of strong board with a lighter similar type used to create the moveables.