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Bea had an idea, in fact a BIG idea! She wanted to play a Big Musical Thing, in fact she wanted to create her own music and why not indeed!

In Caroline Magerl’s latest picture book Piano Fingers, we are invited to celebrate the point at which all endeavours begin. This is the story of Bea who wants to play, and she takes a deep dive into the fantastical world of Maestro Gus; a cat resplendent in a plush tail coat, who lives outside the old piano and plays the agent provocateur in this musical adventure.

‘Watching my own daughter learn a musical instrument was the inspiration for Piano Fingers’ says Caroline Magerl. ‘This book is about a musical journey, but also a love letter to all kinds of wishful plinking.’

Caroline Magerl  is the author and illustrator. She was born near Frankfurt in Germany and went to Australia when she was two. She lived on the yacht her family built until she was fourteen. In 2001 Caroline won the Children's Book Council of Australia Crichton Award for new talent in children's book illustration for her picture book Grandma's Shoes. Since then she has been awarded a May Gibbs Fellowship and received an ASA children's picture book grant to work on her book Hasel and Rose.

Walker Books are the publishers of this beautiful, hardback picture book published on April 7th 2022. It is part of their extensive and excellent picture books which are such a joy. They are transformational for young children and a sharing adult, as they explore the exquisite picture, full of character and determination.

I loved reading through this book and have found so many of the pages just a delight to spend time exploring the images.

Sue Martin Children’s Literacy Specialist

 


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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Picture Books with style, meaning and love. New books from Otter-Barry Books are why I love picture books for young children. Through wonderful illustrations and engaging text they express deep meanings.

The Fussy Flamingo

By Jonnie Wild and Illustrated by Brita Granström

A fourth exciting adventure featuring the Five Flamingos.

"I don't like flingo weed," says Baby. "I'm going to find a family that eats something delicious."

Baby Flamingo is a very fussy eater! He visits the monkeys, the bats, the giraffes and the anteater, but he doesn't like ANY of their food. So he goes to the river to see what Crocodile likes to eat!

Each page is full of spectacularly coloured illustrations and make wonderful reading.

 

 

 

 

As this book is about conservation and Reforest Africa,  the author's royalties will be donated in support of wildlife habitat conservation projects in Africa.

And...

I Love You ,Blue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Love You, Blue

By Barroux

A touching love story with an important message about ocean pollution through plastics.

When Jonas the lighthouse-keeper is rescued from the stormy sea by a whale, they become friends. But soon Blue the whale is in great danger too, and now he needs help from Jonas...

This touching love story from world-renowned picture book creator, Barroux, beautifully highlights the urgency of saving our whales and our oceans.

Such a moving book, says so much in a few words, but the illustrations are so expressive. We all need to look after our seas and oceans.

Living close to the sea, I enjoy walks along the shore, seeing the shells and stones brought onto the sand banks, but saddened by the pieces of plastic.

Watch this amazing video from Barroux. Jonas and the whale respecting each other.

I love both of these books and highly recommend for home, nurseries and schools.

Sue Martin  Children's Literacy Specialist

 


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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A beautifully illustrated picture book...

My Own Way is a simple and inclusive introduction to the freedom in gender expression. A beautifully illustrated picture book which expresses the ways in which children can look beyond stereotypes and find the way they want to be. NO longer defined by the boy/girl scenario.

‘Your gender is not defined by what you wear, what you look like or what you do. It’s defined by how you feel inside.

‘ Boy or Girl doesn’t cover everyone. You might be both. You might be none!’

Some great images and concepts which will help children and adults to understand this wonderful change in stereo types and freedoms.

The authors are Joana Estrela and Jay Hulme , published by Wide Eyed Editions, part of the Quarto Knows group.

I am deeply impressed by this book which has already enabled me to have conversations and see a positive future  for us all. a great book to have in school and at home.

Sue Martin


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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A brand new series of books...

A brand new series of books by an exciting new author. Imagine a world where children grow up never doubting whether they are included, seeing the world how it should be.

Then finding a way to create a world where life is fair for everyone, no stereotypes, no preconceived ideas of who may be better than someone else. This is the concept for the series expertly written by Esther Marshall.

As a new parent Esther realised  she wanted her child to grow up in a fairer world, and set about writing books , not just for her son but for others too. Now Esther visits schools and places where children are gathered and has some excellent resources to work with children of all ages.

Her first book Sophie Says I can, I will, is an exciting positive take on children's  hope for their world and their future, a dream and a vision for all their life experiences. Whether in our own country or abroad, families are ambitious for their children and it is only different life chances that get in the way.

The second book has a great title, Sophie Says, It’s Okay Not to Be Okay. It follows children  in different situations when they feel uncomfortable about their place with friends and school. It is a really great book to use showing how even the hardest feelings can be okay and not last forever.

All the books teach about aspects of mental health , increasingly important for young people.  With these books as a resource, they will be helped to work with others and challenge their own negative thoughts.

Esther Marshall is the author and Buzz Burry the illustrator.

Books are available through  Sophie Says it's Official, along with further resources.

Highly recommend these books as an excellent help in exploring positive well being and mental health, for all schools and Early Years settings and counsellors working with children.

https://youtu.be/20LdrSdk5co

Plus this brand new video for Mental Health Week !!

Sue Martin Children's Literacy Specialist

 

 


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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When you have a heart as big and brave as a wolf but everything around you makes you feel small, then is the time to dress up like a wolf and feel free. This is a beautiful book about overcoming shyness and finding yourself. The illustrations are exquisite and you really feel you're in the forest with trees and snowflakes, how Sophie plucked up courage just to speak to her friends when she felt so desperately shy was wonderfully illustrated.

Sophie tries to fit in at school, but everyone laughs and whispers behind her back. One day something extraordinary happens, she is whisked away to a snowy land and meets a wolf and her cub! They have the best time together, rolling around and howling in the snow. Sophie has finally found friends and nothing can ruin her day, until a big angry bear bear appears. But Sophie has found her voice now and she's found the courage she's been looking for all along.

Joe Loring-Fisher is an illustrator storyteller and mum of four. She lives in bath with her family, loves the natural world and enjoys creating images using a range of materials producing wonderful illustrations her other picture books include taking time and just like you.

Frances Lincoln Children's Books part of the Quarto Knows group are the publishers. They have a wealth of beautiful and meaningful children's books. Wolf Girl is a fantastic addition to their publications.

From the depths of the cover illustrations with wolf girl, a wolf, snowflakes and an owl you and any children will be intrigued and keep turning the pages.

It is  a wonderful book to have,  to read and to share.

Sue Martin Children's Literacy Specialist


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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The Katha Chest - cover image
A wonderful book about families...

A wonderful book about family and stories, tales of people in the past who are woven into the magic of the sari material into katha quilts.

Six-year-old Asiya loves to go to Nanu's house. Best among all of Nanu's treasures is the big old chest filled with quilts that tell the stories of the women in Asyia's family.

With gorgeous, fresh and beautifully colourful illustrations inspired by Bangladeshi katha quilts and traditional West Bengali pattachitra panel illustrations, The Katha Chest is a beautifully woven tale about the bonds of love, culture and memory.

Radhiah Chowdhury is the author, and she is passionate about stories that reflect all the magnificent, different facets and experiences of our community, and has been an advocate for representative publishing in her work as both an editor and an author. She lives in southwest Sydney, where she recreationally grows mutant potted plants, and is currently outnumbered by her cats.

Lavanya Naidu is an animator, designer and award-winning children's book illustrator, born and raised in Kolkata, India. She has illustrated for numerous children's books.

Allen and Unwin are the Australian publishers with a global reach and The Katha Chest is available in the UK and across the world.

 

Sue Martin - Children's Literacy Specialist


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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Christmas - with a little help from the toys...

A beautiful, gold foiled Christmas story about Father Christmas making sure each child has the right gift - with a little help from their toys!

It is Christmas Eve and Noah’s toy elephant Fanfan has gone missing!

But Fanfan has an important place to go to. Every year he and other toys travel to the same place in a clearing in the woods where a very special person is waiting to see them all.

This person who wears red clothes and has a large white beard is writing a list for all the toys’ children.

The illustrations are truly beautiful with a far away feel to them, perfect for the story of The Toys Christmas. Genevieve Godbout has a unique style, excellent for children’s books and has captured the essence of this story.

The author Claire Clement has written the story which is a delight and so good for a Christmas bedtime tale.

Genevieve lives in Montreal where she works as a children's book and fashion illustrator. She studied traditional animation in Montreal and at the prestigious school of Gobelins in Paris. Genevieve was born and raised in Quebec, but spent seven years in London, UK, after her stay in France.

Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, part of the Quarto Group have a wonderful flair for publishing amazing children’s books with high quality illustrations and text.

The Toys’ Christmas is a beautiful hard back picture book which will make the perfect present for children aged from 2- 6 years.

Sue Martin - Children's Literacy Specialist

 

 


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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The Little Fir Tree is by Hans Christian Andersen and re-imagined by Christopher Corr in this beautiful paper back picture book from Frances Lincoln Children’s Books.

When the tree is taken into town at Christmas it feels like all his dreams have come true. But what happens after Christmas?

A delightful retelling of this original story with  text set amidst illustrations from Christopher Corr, which are bright, engaging and tell the story in their own right.

The Little Fir Tree wishes and dreams of all the things he could see and places he could visit but the birds laughed at him and said,

“ Don’t wish your life away, little tree, Every moment is precious. Look at the sunlight falling through the green leaves. It is so beautiful.”

And then the little fir tree is cut down by some lumberjacks and taken into town where  he is bought and carried into a grand house and placed in a beautiful room. Children come and decorate him with wonderful things and he feels he very proud.

So when he  is taken out of the house he doesn’t know what will happen to him… But all ends well and what happens next is for you to read in the book itself!

Just the right gift for Christmas, and why not put it on your own Christmas tree, or maybe a present for the tree itself!

I am saving my book for story time around the tree on Christmas Eve...

Sue Martin     Children's Literacy Specialist

Dolphin Book Blog, part of Books Go Walkabout

 

 


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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Big Green Crocodile - cover image
A beautiful book with rhymes and actions...

Rhymes to Say and Play

A beautiful book full of rhymes with actions, easy to say and fun to do. A star book for Early Years Settings and homes. A new and original rhyme action book to help creative play with babies and toddlers.

A great big crocodile lay down for a nap.

I lay down beside him until he went …SNAP!

Sixteen original play-rhymes, devised and tested to entertain the very young, but also to help develop vital cognitive skills and prevent dyslexia. They cover the events of a child's day from breakfast to bedtime, on themes like animals, bees, crocodiles, tractors, and many more.

My favourite page is Here Comes the Farmer… the red tractor has a load of hay and on its way to the horses, and then the cows and pigs. There are actions and suggestion on every page, easy to do and  easily remembered by the toddler. Learning will flow, discovering which action goes with which page.

Jane Newberry is the author and creator of the rhymes, she lives in Cornwall and has many years experience of working with children, creating play rhymes and songs for early years.

The illustrator who magically brings the rhymes to life is Carolina Rabei, who has a BA in Graphic Design from Moldova and a distinction from the Cambridge School of Art in the Children’s Book Illustrations course.

Otter Barry Books are the publishers and Big Green Crocodile is an engaging book, part of their delightful poetry collections for children. They are an insightful and creative publishers who excel at bringing a uniqueness to children's books with colour and imagination, making a difference in children’s lives.

Greatly recommend A Big Green Crocodile for Early Years Settings and anyone who reads, laughs and has fun with young children.

Sue Martin - Children’s Literacy Specialist  

 

 

 

 


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.


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Charles Dickens - book cover image
A great story-teller...

A brilliant book which describes the challenging early life of Charles Dickens and his meteoric rise to fame as an established author and an amazing story teller. As a little boy, Charles was fascinated by everyday challenges and life in Victorian Britain, He loved to make up stories based on people he had met.

 

When his own father was sent to a debtors prison he left school and started work in a factory, full of grime and hard work. The video tells more about the way Charles Dickens moved from working in a factory to becoming a written publisher.

Through determination he became one of the most inspiring writers of all time and tells of life in all its downside and glories. He always used inspirational characters with unforgettable names such as Mr Micawber  and Ebenezer Scrooge.

The Little People, Big Dreams series is published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books and written by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara, illustrated uniquely buy Isobel Ross. The text is stunningly created for children around 5-8 years and provides much information for project writing and inspiration about life in Victorian Britain.

I thoroughly recommend Charles Dickens, in Little People, Big Dreams for children  in school and at home.

Sue Martin       Children's Literacy Specialist


Dolphinbooksellers.co.uk is part of SmithMartin LLP

A retail resource for the best children's books, entry point into our children's and community library procurement and supply service. Offering a miscellany of news and featured authors for all our readers, whatever their age.