Andy Mulligan’s Dog (Pushkin), though less overtly fantastical, is another animal story with a difference. At its heart is the pain of rejection, felt both by unhappy boy Tom and by Spider, the runty reject puppy with the projecting tooth to whom Tom gives his heart after his parents’ separation. But Spider’s expensive mishaps and Tom’s ferocious anger – not to mention school bullies and the cruelties of an arachnid called Thread – seem to militate against a happy ending. Poignant, funny, savage and ultimately uplifting, this is Mulligan at the top of his challenging form. Mrs Noah saved several mythical animals, including unicorns, dragons and griffins. Make a zig zag book for your child to draw illustrations of them. You could write some information together too ( see links below). Make up a story together

Jackie Morris Artist Book List - Jackie Morris Artist

Mrs Noah told her children stories about unicorns, dragons and other mythical creatures. Try making up one together one or more of the mythical animals. Children could decide which animals are in the story and you could take turns Make a rainy-day picture Talk about the decisions the characters made in the story – Mr Noah deciding to get rid of ‘troublesome’ creatures and Mrs Noah deciding to save them. Those with strong stomachs, and a taste for still more sinister tales, should plunge with relish into Christmas Dinner of Souls (Faber), a splendidly rancid read from Ross Montgomery, with bug-eyed pictures from David Litchfield. An errant boy finds himself doomed to serve a disgusting Christmas dinner to the unsavoury faculty of Soul’s College – and to hear the gruesome stories accompanying each course. Will he make it through the night alive? This gleefully grisly departure from Montgomery’s gentler previous style should appeal to Goosebumps fans.Find out about different types of weather, using the internet and information books. Talk about the difference between a shower and torrential rain that causes floods. Talk about climate change Mr Noah is busy building the ark and sorting out the pairs of animals to join him, anxious at the same time to ensure that the ‘troublesome creatures’ are not included. There is no explanation of which animals fall into this category. Meanwhile, Mrs Noah is busy sewing, clue in the title, and visiting parts of the woods that are her special domain. Mysterious and intriguing, what she is doing is not revealed until the ark finally finds land after the great rains and we see, in a series of beautiful illustrations, the fantastical creatures she has saved.

Children’s books roundup: the best new picture books and Children’s books roundup: the best new picture books and

Mayhew uses paper collage and linocut illustrations to achieve wonderful colours and depth. The use of blue, the darkening of the colours during the rains, the wonderful lightness as the sun reappears and the rain stops, is very effective. The illustrations of the rain with vertical lines changing in intensity and the swirling clouds and tempestuous seas are very effective. This contrasts brilliantly with the calm still bright blue after the storm. The mythical creatures are each wonderful collages. Mrs Noah’s Garden is forthcoming in 2020….Mr Noah builds a house from the ark while Mrs Noah develops her garden. One to look forward to. What might Mr Noah say when he finds the creatures he tried to get rid of still exist? You pretend to be Mr Noah and Mrs Noah and have an imaginary conversation.The language is beautiful, opening with the extremely simple sentence “it rained” and continuing with rich evocative sentences, until “then one morning everyone awoke to silence”.