Debi Gliori has always been able to get away with more sentimentality than most because she is a virtuoso at narratives for young readers. Her latest is a splendidly constructed tale about a dragon who adopts a penguin and brings him up on top of an active volcano. This might not sound as though you would need to reach for your handkerchief but… you will. And never fear, no incineration is in store. Young readers will rejoice in Gliori’s jauntily orange dragon population, her inspiring optimism and the pluck of her penguins. (Age: 4+)
Photograph: Bloomsbury
This is a wonderful, witty, adorable winter yarn – about yarn. Anyone who has ever knitted will be tickled by the way that the mini-heroine, who never runs out of wool, knits unstoppably: woollens for everyone including her teacher, her classmates, sundry dogs and the local nutter (my verdict) and does not stop there: buildings get woolly coats too. Klassen gives us a spindly, monochrome winter landscape, enlivened by merry stocking stitch reds, greens and yellows, all created by… extra yarn. A purl of a book. (Age: 2+)
Photograph: Walker
A pig covered in frantic pink scribbles and a magician with incompletely drawn arms wait inside this original book. They are not ready for us: ‘Hey! Someone’s watching us!’ they exclaim, as we reach the third page. Herve Jullet has concocted the most delicious work-in-progress during which he is caught out in his study – bone idle, surprised and very French – a passport snap tells all. ‘Um, how did you get in here?” he asks from beneath his Anglepoise. A story about story-telling to divert readers of all ages. (Age: 2+)
Photograph: Walker
Children tend to respond to the immediacy of books illustrated by photographs and these gently educative snaps taken in an Eastern Nigerian village have enormous charm. The story of Ife’s first haircut – a reason to throw a party apparently – shows a quizzical toddler who stares at us uncertainly after the scissors have done their work. Vicky has a fever and we escort her to the doctor. There is a particularly sweet picture of her rejecting rice offered by her mother. Perfectly pitched, sympathetic books. (Age: 2+)
Photograph: Frances Lincoln
This is a book I coveted as soon as I clapped eyes on it. It is the size of a large school atlas. Each double page spread gives you the shape of the country and a wonderful crowd of drawings of the things by which each country is known. Pick a country at random – say, Iceland. Cranberry flowers, Hekla Volkano, Atlantic Puffins, blue whitings… The illustrations are engrossing with the right amount of detail (avoiding information overkill). It is a book that invites you to brood, browse – and travel. (Age: 5+)
Photograph: Big Pictures Press
Seeing a hare in the countryside is a marvel and Jackie Morris has captured the excitement in her painterly illustrations of hares. The book is on the edge of fairy-tale and its mix of fantasy – hares sing to woo their queens – and naturalism is striking. Adults may feel wistful as they read of the island where golden hares fetch up: hare’s heaven. Children are told that if they are good, they may glimpse it. All readers will want to hunt the hare to the last page. (Age: 5+)
Photograph: Frances Lincoln
This is a skilful book in which words and pictures conspire in an apparently effortless (but actually hard to pull off) collaboration. There are several layers here: a mother reads a story about a bear to her child, mirroring what is happening as this book is read aloud at bedtime. Hallensleben’s warm, bright paintings (they look like oils) of a hibernating black bear, thickly falling snow and comfortable beds bring on an irresistibly snoozy mood for pre-Christmas readers and their exhausted parents. (Age: 3+)
Photograph: Andersen Press
What would a world without greenery be like? Laura Carlin knows. This is her first picture book and it is superb. She plunges us into a haunting, hunted, feral world of greys, off-whites and beiges where the people have downturned mouths. The narrator steals an old lady’s bag – expecting money or food and finds: acorns. You can guess the rest as she goes on a plantathon transforming roundabouts, abandoned parks and lifeless streets. Nicola Davies’s tale of transformation is timely, compelling and beautifully told. Seeds for thought. (Age: 4+)
Photograph: Walker
This is a marvellous, unusual picture book for older children and adults – a brave ballad about Wayland, the Smith from the far North, who came to England with the Vikings: ‘For, although he was massive and awkward,/his making was second to none./And those who came seeking his craftskill/would gasp when the work was done.’ It is a poem in praise of simplicity although Wayland’s domestic affairs are complicated: his wife turns into a swan and deserts him. Lawrence’s tremendous black-and-white engravings complement the master craftsman story. (Age: 11+)
Photograph: David Fickling Books
A charming, epistolary Winter’s Tale. Henry writes to his grandfather informing him of the existence of Charley, a puppy eccentrically possessed of a surname: ‘the same last name as me, Korn’. Oxenbury’s familiar style is reassuring. There is order to her universe, even with a paper-shredding puppy thrown in. Granpa writes back from a book-lined study, hinting at his ambivalence about dogs. But when Granpa visits in deep snow, Charley’s retrieval of his flyaway hat redeems all. An affectionate and anything but bleak mid-winter pick-me-up. (Age: 3+) Photograph: PR
