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Category: Featured children’s book

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the jackalThe cover illustration on The Jackal Who Thought he Was a Peacock just makes you want to open the cover.

It is based on a fable by Rumi, a Persian mystic and poet and is retold by Fereshteh Sarlak.

Jackal is unhappy with his dull brown and grey. He dreams of looking resplendent like a peacock. He thinks that this new beauty will win him friendship, rather like the leopard who changes his spots.

The illustrations from Firoozeh Golmohammadi are very exciting and exotic and really engage with the text.

We recommend the book for 5 - 10 yr olds.

The Orange HouseThe Orange House written and illustrated by Nahid Kazemi and translated by Azita Rassi. Nahid is an award winning author born in Iran and currently living in Canada.

The small Orange House stands at the end of the alley and is feeling sad and left out as all the other buildings are tall and new.Workmen arrive and head towards the Orange House and eventually she has new things too and knows just how good it feels.

The story is all about relationships and isolation and will help children to find new ways to make friends.

These books are both from Tiny Owl Publishers, they have the most beautiful website, which reflects the care and imagination in their books. Tiny Owl

We recommend this book for 5- 8 year olds.

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers and 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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Wonder GardenSometimes you come across a book that is just wonderful in every way and The Wonder Garden is one of those! Written by Jenny Broom and illustrated by Kristjana S Williams it is one of the brilliant books from Wide Eyed Editions.

It is an exploration of five of the world's Wildest Habitats' the Amazon, the Himalayas, the Chihuahuan Desert, the Black Forest and the Great Barrier Reef.

The illustrations are stunning and the information is well crafted by Jenny into immediately inspiring texts.

We recommend for ages 7 -11 years.

One Thousand ThingsOne Thousand Things by Anna Kovecses is a beautiful and very tactile book in hard back. It has a range of words and objects and is an introduction to vocabulary,with wonderful illustrations and a Little Mouse who helps you through the book.

An excellent book for schools and at home.

We recommend for ages 4 - 6 years.

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers and 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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Human BodyTwo great books in this new series from QED Publishers. A Journey Through the Human Body, and A Journey Through Space are written by award winning author Steve Parker and illustrated by John Haslam.

The Human Body starts what it means to be human, why we are different to other animals and then takes a journey through the main functions of the body; breathing and the journey of air and into the blood stream, the journey of food. Mmmmm..., the journey of thoughts and the brain and the central nervous system. A real journey and once you've read the book there is not much more that you would need to know!

A Journey Through Space will see you take a journey from your doorstep into outer space!

Find your way through the Solar System,explore craters on Mars,journey through towards the Sun.Space

Both books have a wonderful poster in the book cover and are excellent non fiction books for children in school and at home. We recommend for ages 6 and upwards.

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers


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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How to codeWe were really impressed with this series from QED-publishing and the books How to Code and How to Cook in 10 Easy Lessons are just brill!!

They are very attractively illustrated and the hard covers and spiral binding make them very practical and long lasting.

How to Code by Sean McManus gives plans that in 10 lessons, helps to understand coding, use Scratch to start programming, manipulate graphics, fix bugs and just about everything you need to know about coding to get started.

Coding is not one of my strengths and to be honest I haven't even tried,we have a team thought that 'even I' may now be able to code!

Sean has a brilliant website included in the book index, along with other really useful stuff.

How to Cook in 10 Easy Lessons by Wendy Sweetser gives a whole range of skills for cooking in 10 lessons. From peeling and grating to making sweet and savoury sauces, each section has 4 recipes that I immediately wanted to try; carrot and pecan muffins, chicken satay or vegetable fried rice.How to Cook

A great series, 2 spectacularly good books. We recommend for children from 8 years and onwards in schools and in the homes.

Would make some excellent presents in Father Christmas's sack!

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers & 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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50 Things H Body50 Things You should Know about the Human Body by Angel Royston

This has everything you would need to know about the Human Body, unless you are about to embark on a medical degree!!

The facts are really clearly presented with illustrations that are accurate and easy to identify how parts of the body are working. The pages are well laid out and text and illustrations are combined to make an engaging impact. Each section has a different colour and the glossary and index at the back of the book will point the reader to the right places in the book without being off putting to children with any reading difficulties.

The start of the 50 Things You Should Know About Series from QED Publishing, well worth buying for home, school or the library. We suggest the book for 6-9 year olds and beyond.

50 Things You should Know about Pre-Historic Britain by Claire Hibbert 50 Pre His

From The Old Stone Age, through the Ice Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and touching on the Romans, this book has everything you need to start work on prehistoric Britain and to lead the reader into all sorts of interesting directions.

Particularly good section on an Iron Age Village and dwellings in Scotland called, crannogs, brochs and wheelhouses. For instance a crannog is a roundhouse that stood on a jetty and Loch Tay there were 18 crannogs.

We suggest the book for 6 - 9 year olds and beyond.

Great new series from QED Publishing and is part of their new books published in November 2015.

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers and 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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Snowman and the sunThe Snowman and the Sun is written by Susan Taghdis and illustrated by Ali Mafakheri.

It is a delightful story about a snowman and his journey. You may think that a snowman stays firmly put on the ground. But in fact in this story the sun warms him and first of all he melts and then he evaporates and climbs high into the sky.

He turns into a cloud drifting free in the sky until it gets cold again and he falls as snow on the ground. Along come the children and once again he becomes a snowman.

A story about change and an explanation about how water is everywhere, the water cycle explained for young children.

The book is translated by Azita Rassi and published by the brilliant new publishers Tiny Owl, publishers to watch out for.

We recommend this book for 3- 7 years, either reading together or late on their own.

Sue Martin - Dolphin Booksellers and 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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An amazing visual adventure through the tomb of Egypt's most famous Pharaoh, Tutankhamun. This hard back book is full of inviting flaps and pop ups as you journey through the Kingdom of the Nile and the Valley of the Kings.

The journey with the archaeologist, Howard Carter in 1922 takes place as he discovers the steps leading down into the tomb, which had not been walked on for over 3000 years, and as he glimpsed the treasures that lay in the tomb of Tutankhamun.

TutankhamunWritten by Jen Green and Julie Renee Anderson and published by QED, this book is a real gem of a book for design, information and readability.

Each page is packed with facts in intriguing layout of the text, there are lots of opportunities for learning and adventure. The book would be an invaluable tool for KS2 work on the Egyptians or as a book at home or in the library for an avid explorer.

My favourite page was about Sailing across the Heavens, and a pop up model of a boat that was in the tomb for Tutankhamun to use to sail into the heavens. Sailing was important for the Egyptians and they believed that even the gods sailed in boats.

Packed from start to finish the information in the book will give those who read it a real interest and understanding about Tutankhamun and the Ancient Egyptians.

We recommend the book for 8 years to adult and beyond!

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers and 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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FirefighterIt's a busy day for Frank the Firefighter. There's a fire at the school, the guinea pig is still inside!

This is a great series of books from publishers QED. From firefighters, teachers, vets and doctors, the words and the pictures are very clear, easy to follow and have a good story line too.

The text is well laid out and with enough space between the words and on the page for early readers to be able to follow themselves.

They are a great reassurance too for children when they have to meet 'busy people' and will take away some of the worries that can happen.

They are a great resource in nurseries and schools.

QED publishing has an amazing range of titles for schools, libraries and for reading at home. They sell their titles across the world and produce books that are good quality and great fun .Image 2

We recommend the Busy People from QED series for 2- 5 years.

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers - the best in children's books always on line

Dolphin rt


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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cezanneThis is a story of a father and son and their relationship, and a story about a genius with a new style of painting, Cezanne and the Apple Boy.

It is the seventh book in Laurence Anholt acclaimed Anholt's Artist Series and is published by Frances Lincoln.

The illustrations are really engaging, romantic and expressive and as Paul the son finds Paul, his father, they live off apples as he paints scenes in the mountains.

Eventually the work of Cezanne became recognised as a new style and as the work of a genius even though he was never a person to live within the normal confines of society. He preferred the mountains to the towns.

His son became a picture dealer and sold his father's paintings all over the world.

A truly remarkable story about Cezanne with information about his life as a painter and a story that will stay in your thoughts.

A great book for anyone and for schools and libraries. We recommend it for children ages 7 - 11 years.

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers - the best in children's books always on line


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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Juidth Kerr exhibitThe Judith Kerr exhibition had been held and produced by Seven Stories and was available to view in the Jewish Museum, London.

Fortunately for me I had a few hours to spare and couldn't have found a better place than this exhibition. There is something about Judith Kerr in her work and in her expression of her life that is so wonderfully understated, but yet so powerful in evoking the characters and the settings for the stories.

The Tiger who Came to Tea, just has so much appeal and his appetite for all the food and drink was insatiable! There is a life size model in the exhibition amongst a chaotic kitchen.

Mog, of course, is just everyone's favourite cat, and is the perfect pet at times and at others shows how contrary all cats can be, ie Mog at Christmas. Also in the exhibition was my favourite place, a huge cat basket with books for reading. Just right for curling up within!

And When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, the pictures from Judith's own drawings and paintings at the time were on display, and some of the events that were happening around her, and just why they had to flee from Berlin.

She is quoted as saying, " If we had tried to leave Germany a day later, if I hadn't been stopped from asking questions on the train... I can never forget how lucky I am."

I could have spent a whole day here, but had to catch the train, homeward bound.

Sue Martin Books Go Walkabout and Dolphin Booksellers

Mog


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.